SportsInk.com Privacy Policy

 
At SportsInk.com, we place the highest priority on protecting the integrity of all of your data.
 
Because we gather information about the users of the SportsInk.com system, we feel you should fully understand the terms and conditions surrounding the capture and use of that data. This privacy statement discloses what information we gather, how we use it, and how to modify it.
 
Information SportsInk gathers and tracks
SportsInk.com gathers two types of information about its users:

  -- Data that users provide through voluntary registration on our site; and

  -- Aggregated site usage information derived mainly by tallying page views throughout our site.

 
Such information enables us to better tailor our content to readers' needs and helps us understand the demographics of our audience.
 
SportsInk.com does not share information about individual users with any third party.
 
SportsInk.com gathers user information in the following processes:
 
Registration
Although many features of SportsInk.com are available to anonymous users, often visitors must register and be approved prior to accessing certain content. By registering, users take advantage of various personalized features such as the ability to invoke unique functions and content based on their identity. During registration, users supply information required, including but not limited to user name, password, city, state, and e-mail address.
 
Requesting information
SportsInk.com provides a “Contact Us” page with links to our staff members’ email addresses. Once we receive an email from a site visitor, a SportsInk staffer will respond in a timely fashion to the visitor’s request.  
 
Polling
The SportsInk.com site may offer interactive polls to users so they can easily share their opinions with other users and see what the SportsInk.com audience thinks about important issues. SportsInk.com uses a system to "tag" users after they have voted, so they can vote only once on a particular question. This tag is not correlated with information about individual users.
 
Fan photos/gallery
SportsInk.com offers  an area where users can upload photographs of sporting events throughout our coverage area. SportsInk.com requires users to register to use this function.
 
Electronic newsletters (Dispatches)
SportsInk.com may offer free electronic newsletters to registered members. Users may remove themselves from SportsInk.com mailing lists by following the instructions contained in each dispatch. Users may be offered the ability to subscribe or unsubscribe to these newsletter(s) within the SportsInk.com site at various times and locations.
 
Affiliate Programs
From time to time, SportsInk.com may feature affiliate programs with other companies. These programs track users who go to another site by identifying them as coming from SportsInk.com. When visiting those sites, users may want to review their privacy statements as they may differ from SportsInk.com's Privacy Statement.
 
Surveys
Occasionally, SportsInk.com may conduct user surveys to better target content and services to our audience. SportsInk.com may, at its discretion, share the aggregated demographic information in these surveys with SportsInk.com vendors and other business partners. We do not share any information about specific individuals or companies with any third party.
 
Contests, loyalty programs, and sweepstakes
SportsInk.com may occasionally offer loyalty programs, contests and sweepstakes in which we request certain information. These promotions will be conducted in full accordance with U.S. federal and state laws. The full rules and all information about such contests will be clearly posted during the event. Any information gathered will be used only to verify user identity and to contact winners and/or prize/point recipients. Again, we do not share information about specific individuals with any third party.
 
Control of your password
You are responsible for all actions taken with your User Name and password. Therefore, we do not recommend that you disclose your SportsInk.com password to any third parties. If you choose to share your User Name and password or your information with third parties, you are responsible for all actions taken with your User ID and password. Therefore, if your password has been compromised for any reason, you should immediately change your password.
 
Usage tracking
SportsInk.com tracks user traffic patterns throughout the site, however, we do not correlate this information with data about individual users. SportsInk.com does segment overall usage statistics according to a user's domain name, browser type, and MIME type by reading this information from the browser string (information contained in every user's browser). SportsInk.com tracks and catalogs the search terms that users enter into the SportsInk.com search engine, but this tracking is not associated with individual users.
 
Cookies
A cookie is a small data file that some web sites attach to users' hard drives when they visit the sites. A cookie file can contain information, such as a user ID, which the site uses to track the pages users visited. The only personal information a cookie can contain has to be supplied by the user.
 
A cookie can't read data off a hard disk or read cookie files created by other sites. SportsInk.com uses cookies to track user traffic patterns (as described above), when users register as SportsInk.com members, and when they click on various links and promotions throughout the site. When users register, SportsInk.com uses a cookie to store the user ID. We do not store passwords or any personal information. We use this ID to identify users anonymously in our database and to track the pages they visit on our site. Cookies also enable users to enter various parts of the SportsInk.com site as a member without having to log on each time, and to visit member-restricted areas of the site.
 
Users must have cookies enabled use certain SportsInk.com interactive features.
 
Use of the information
SportsInk.com uses any information voluntarily given by our users to enhance their experience on our site, whether to provide interactive or personalized elements on the site or to better prepare future content based on the interests of our users.
 
As stated above, SportsInk.com uses information that users voluntarily provide to send out electronic newsletters and to enable users to participate in polls and other interactive features. We may send out newsletters to subscribers on a regular schedule (daily, weekly, or monthly-depending on the newsletter). Occasionally, SportsInk.com sends out special communications when we think subscribers might be particularly interested in a new promotion.  SportsInk.com never shares newsletter mailing lists with any third parties, including advertisers or partners. We use tracking information to determine which areas of our site are most (and least) popular based on traffic to those areas.  SportsInk.com does not track what individual users read, but rather how well each page performs overall. This helps us continue to build a better service for our users.
 
Sharing of the information
SportsInk.com uses the above-described information to tailor our service to suit the needs of our users. This is essential to making our service the best it can be.  We do not share information about individual users with any third party.
 
SportsInk clients
SportsInk.com is not responsible for the content or business practices of its advertisers. Information contained in those sites is the responsibility of the individual corporations.
 
Third party agents
We have contracted with ValueClick to monitor certain pages of our website for the purpose of reporting website traffic, statistics, advertisement 'click-throughs', and/or other activities on our website. Where authorized by us, ValueClick and its business partners may use cookies, web beacons, and/or other monitoring technologies to compile anonymous statistics about our website visitors. No personally identifiable information is collected by or transferred to any party other than the Advertiser. For more information about how the information is collected and used by ValueClick, please see ValueClick's privacy policy at http://www.valueclickmedia.com/about/privacy/display-member.
 
Opt-out policy
SportsInk.com gives users options wherever necessary and practical. Such choices include:

  -- Opting to stop receiving our electronic newsletters after they have subscribed, by returning e-mailing newsletter with “Unsubscribe” in the subject line; users may also telephone or fax any unsubscribe request; and

  -- Opting not to participate in certain interactive areas, which completely alleviates the need for SportsInk to collect any information from our users.

 
Correct/update policy
SportsInk.com offers users the ability to correct or change the information collected during registration for the site (see above). Such changes may be activated by e-mailing accounts@sportsink.com. Users who are experiencing problems or who have any questions about how our services work can contact us via email at accounts@sportsink.com or by calling 330-665-5621.
 
Delete/deactivate policy
Users may unsubscribe from our electronic newsletters at any time by following the instructions contained at the end of every communication. Currently, SportsInk.com does not offer users an automated means by which to completely delete personal information established at the time of registration for any site. At any time, users may contact a SportsInk.com administrator and ask that their memberships be deactivated and removed from the system by e-mailing accounts@sportsink.com .
 
SportsInk privacy/security procedures
To protect user data from loss, misuse or alteration, SportsInk.com web server security is implemented through a variety of Windows NT, Active Server Pages, and SQL Server authentication. The SportsInk.com office network is protected via a standard proxy firewall. All company data is stored on a central office server protected via the firewall, and the data is backed up nightly.
 
Protecting sensitive information
SportsInk.com uses an outside agent to provide its secure electronic commerce payment solutions. To authorize user credit card information, data is encrypted using SSL encryption technology. Credit card information IS NOT stored on SportsInk.com.
 
SportsInk employee compliance
SportsInk.com employees are provided copies of this privacy statement at the start of their employment. They are required to initial and sign this statement to ensure their compliance. SportsInk.com employees are notified via e-mail about any subsequent modifications to this statement.
 
Changes to this statement
We will also post any changes on this page so that users are always aware of the information that we collect and how it is used.