Art of the Vine
Privacy Policy
What information does ArtoftheVIne.net collect, and how is it used?
ArtoftheVine.net collects personal identifying information such as your name, postal address, and e-mail address when you enter a contest or a sweepstakes, fill out a survey, and/or complete subscription registration for sites or services requiring such information.
ArtoftheVine.net will occasionally use some of the information we collect in the aggregate for marketing and promotional purposes. ArtoftheVIne.net will occasionally log visitors' IP addresses for the collection of aggregate information about site visitors and their interests. ArtoftheVine.net does not link these IP addresses to personal identifying information such as a visitor's name and/or e-mail address.
What are cookies, and how are they used?
ArtoftheVine.net will occasionally place a cookie on the visitor's hard drive in order to facilitate a user-friendly experience. Cookies are small files that contain information a Web site uses for tracking purposes. ArtoftheVine.net uses the cookie information it receives to improve the efficiency of customer service for subscription-based sites, allowing subscribers to easily change addresses and add or cancel subscriptions by automatically verifying subscription status.
ArtoftheVine.net also uses cookies to enhance site content by compiling aggregate information about what specific sections and pages users visit. Advertisers or independent third parties who operate the servers on which the ads reside will occasionally also place cookies. Although ArtoftheVine.net encourages third parties to adhere to appropriate privacy standards and policies, ArtoftheVine.net is not responsible for the actions or policies of such parties.
Visitors to ArtoftheVine.net may disable their cookies and retain full functionality of the Art of the Vine Website.
What are Clear GIFs, and how are they used?
Our Web pages contain electronic images (called "Clear GIF", "Single-Pixel Gif", or "Web Beacon") that allow us to count page views or to access cookies. In general, any electronic image viewed as part of a Web page, including an ad banner, can act as a Clear GIF. Typically, though, Clear GIFs are very small (1-by-1 pixel size) files. They are often invisible on the Web page, but their presence can be easily detected within Internet Explorer by clicking on "View" and then on "Source." Clear GIFs are so small in order not to use valuable space on the computer screen that is better used to display helpful content. We also include Clear GIFs in HTML-formatted newsletters in order to count how many newsletters have been read. In addition, some advertising networks that serve ads on our Web site will occasionally use Clear GIFs within banner advertisements. Our Clear GIFs do not collect, gather, monitor or share any personal information about our Web site visitors; they are simply the technique we use to compile our anonymous, aggregated statistics about Web site usage.
Does ArtoftheVine.net share the information it collects with others?
Art of the Vine will occasionally share some of the non-identifying visitor information it collects on the site with Karen Honaker for marketing and promotional purposes. However, ArtoftheVine.net never shares personal identifying information with any third party, except in these cases:
- with the individual sponsor of a contest, promotion, or sweepstakes, and only if you as the participant specifically ask to receive additional information from a specific sponsor.
- with trusted third-party intermediaries such as subscription service bureaus, credit card companies, sweepstakes services companies, and banks, or third-party providers of ArtoftheVine.net services that the user selects at our site. These intermediaries work with PC World under confidentiality agreements and do not have any independent right to share this information. When users choose to discontinue such services the user's personal information will be automatically deleted from the intermiediary's databases.
- with third party billing services for magazine subscriptions. Shared information includes credit card number and expiration date from subscribers who wish to pay for PC World print magazine subscriptions.
- Though we make every effort to preserve user privacy, we may need to disclose personal information when required by law wherein we have a good-faith belief that such action is necessary to comply with a current judicial proceeding, a court order or legal process served on our Web site.
ArtoftheVine.net occasionally inform registered users and newsletter subscribers via e-mail of special deals, new products, and other third-party product and service offers that we believe they will find interesting. All such offers are carefully screened. ArtoftheVine.net registered users and newsletter subscribers are given the option to choose whether they would like to receive such mailings upon registration and can change their choice at any time (see below). All mailings are sent by Art of the Vine. Under no circumstances is your e-mail address or other personally identifying information shared with the vendor of the third party products or services offered in the mailing. Furthermore, under no circumstances will ArtoftheVine.net mail information from known spammers, get-rich-quick sites, or pornographic sites.
