Privacy Policy for The National Beta Club The National Beta Club has created this privacy statement in order to demonstrate our firm commitment to privacy. The National Beta Club is a members' only organization, which gathers all personal information through the schools club with the parent's permission. This policy covers the following sites: betaclub.org, betaweb.org, sponsors.betaclub.org. Links and Co-Branded Sites: This Web site contains links to other sites. We provide links to other sites as a convenience to persons who visit this web site. If you choose to use the services provided by those sites, you may be asked by those sites to provide certain personally identifiable information (some of which may, on an individual or aggregated basis, be shared with us). Please be aware that we are not responsible for the privacy practices of those sites, even though our name or logo may appear on those sites. We encourage you to be aware when you leave our site and to read the Privacy Statements of each and every Web site that you visit, as the privacy policy of those sites may differ from ours. Our Privacy Statement applies solely to this Web site. Use of your IP address: We use your IP address to calculate usage statistics and when necessary to provide enhanced security on our servers. Cookies: Cookies are small computer programs that store information on your hard drive. We do not use cookies. Use of your contact information: Our site's registration form requests school, principal, sponsor and club member contact information (like their name and email address), financial information (like credit card numbers), and demographic information (like their state, zip code or grade). Access to our systems is strictly through membership. Member contact information from the registration form is used to send our members various publications, to facilitate communications and member service. Financial information that is collected is used to bill the user for products and services. Demographic and profile data is also collected at our site. We use this data to determine how we need to tailor our programs to better serve our membership population. This information is for internal use only and not shared with any other entity. Use of order form information: Our site uses an order form for members to request information, products, and services. Purchasers must be members of The National Beta Club in order to purchase from our system. We do not store purchaser's credit card information. Purchasers must enter their credit card information each time they purchase from us. Contact information from the order form is used to send the orders to our members. The member's contact information is also used to get in touch with the member when necessary. Public Forums Our sites make Betachat™, Instant Messaging, Personal Web Pages, and BetaMail™ available to our members. Our online chat program offers special protections (safechat™). Our chat rooms are open only at designated times. All forums require membership in order to access these features. The National Beta Club has a well-defined and vigorously enforced misuse policy. Our chat rooms use filtering software to eliminate the use of profanity or abusive language. The instant messaging service allows users to send text messages to one another by selecting from a list of screen names. The instant messaging service does not display users' real names or any address information. The National Beta Club retains records of all communications on the instant messaging, chat, bulletin boards, and other services in order to make sure users are adhering to the Acceptable Use Policies (see below). The National Beta Club may disclose or access these communications when we believe in good faith that the law requires it. We may also access these communications for internal purposes in order to improve our service. Chat, Personal Web Pages and Beta Mail The National Beta Club allows members access to its forums, including BetaChat™, Personal Web Pages BetaMail™ and Instant Messaging, under the following conditions. Acceptable Use Policies Use of the Web Sites falls under the guidelines of The National Beta Clubs' Acceptable Use Policies, which follow: General Comments or Information For information, clarification, general comments and suggestions, please e-mail us at info@betaclub.org ~or~ call the National Office at 864-583-4553 ~or~ write us the National Office at 151 Beta Club Way, Spartanburg 29306-3012. Family Content Policy Our Policy is to provide only the best professional content. If you find anything on the System offensive or in poor taste, please Let Us Know. Unwanted Mail Forwarding or "Spamming" Policy We expressly prohibit any use of the System for the unsolicited or unauthorized forwarding of electronic mail or solicitations. This includes engaging in harassment, whether through language, frequency, or size of messages. E-City accounts or services may not be used to collect replies to messages sent from another Internet Service Provider, where those messages violate this Acceptable Use Policy or the Acceptable Use Policy of that other provider. Unsolicited commercial advertisements will likely result in account suspension or cancellation. Unsolicited commercial advertisements may be illegal according to 47 USC 227. We reserve the right to back-charge at standard rates and terms any such unauthorized use and will cooperate in the prosecution of such abuses. Acceptable Traffic Members are prohibited from transmitting on or through any of Beta's services, any material that is, in our sole discretion, unlawful, obscene, unprofessional, threatening, abusive, libelous, or hateful, or encourages conduct that would constitute a criminal offense, give rise to civil liability, or otherwise violate any local, state, national or international law. Chain Letters Chain letters are prohibited on the System, by Beta and by the Internet. Posting a chain letter to newsgroups (or via e-mail on the Internet) is inappropriate. If there is money exchanged, they are illegal in the United States according to the United States Postal Service. If you receive a chain letter from a Beta user, report it to postmaster@betaclub.org immediately. If you receive a chain letter from someone on the Internet, contact the postmaster at their site (using postmaster@their.domain.name; for example, postmaster@aol.com) Miscellaneous Policies The posting of USENET articles must be consistent with the charter and conventions of the newsgroups being posted to. The posting of encoded binary files to USENET newsgroups not specifically named for that purpose is prohibited. The sending of email to mailing lists must be consistent with the charter and conventions of the mailing list. The posting of a USENET article to a large number of irrelevant newsgroups (commonly referred to as spamming) is prohibited. Willfully causing or attempting to cause disruptions of E-City's services is prohibited, and E-City will actively seek prosecution of, and legal remedy from, such acts. Use of an excessive amount of any system resource such that other users are unfairly affected, is considered abusive, and is prohibited. Unauthorized use of accounts belonging to others is prohibited. Unauthorized use of Administration capabilities reserved for Beta Sponsors and/or the National Office of the Beta Club is prohibited. Reasonable precautions to prevent unauthorized access to your account, such as through the use of passwords and file protections, must be taken. Beta is not responsible for alterations, additions and deletions made to your account It is your responsibility to verify on a periodic basis the accuracy and efficacy of your information contained in the System. The resale of our products and services and technologies is not permitted, unless specifically permitted and documented in a written agreement. Misrepresenting your identity or impersonating others is prohibited, including, but not limited to, forging email or USENET posting header information. Cancellation of Service Beta reserves the right to immediately terminate the services offered to any user of the System for any activity considered detrimental by Beta to the operation of any aspect of the System. Disclaimer Beta is providing this site and its content on an "AS IS" basis and makes NO representations or warranties of any kind with respect to this site or its contents. Beta disclaims all such representations and warranties, including for example warranties of merchantability and fitness for a particular purpose. In addition, Beta does not represent or warrant that the information accessible via this site is accurate, complete or current. Any pricing or availability information is subject to change without notice. Except as specifically stated on this site, neither Beta nor any of its managers, directors, employees, contractors, agents or other representatives will be liable for damages arising out of or in connection with the use of this site. This is a comprehensive limitation of liability that applies to all damages of any kind, including (without limitation) compensatory, direct, indirect or consequential damages, loss of data, income or profit, loss of or damage to property and claims of third parties. Trademarks All trademarks, product names and company names or logos cited or used on the System are the property of their respective owners. Copyright The National Beta Club, 2002. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED, BOTH FOREIGN AND DOMESTIC. Submitting Complaints To report a violation of The National Beta Clubs' Acceptable Use Policy, send a complete copy of the offensive or illegal article or e-mail message to postmaster@betaclub.org. You may also want to contact the National Fraud Information Center or the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) Bureau of Consumer Protection at dmedine@ftc.gov, if appropriate. Security This site has security measures in place to protect the loss, misuse and alteration of the information under our control. Our sites use Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) encryption. SSL works with both Netscape and Internet Explorer browsers to encrypt and protect your credit card as it is transmitted to our site. If you believe your credit card was used without your consent to order products or services from us, please call the Accounting Department at 800-845-8281. We do not accept orders from minors (younger than 18 years old). Children's guidelines The National Beta Club does not share personal information about users under the age of 13 with third parties and we do not sell or rent personal information about any of our users, regardless of age. Our online feedback forms collect e-mail addresses for the sole purpose of responding to members' questions. This information is used for no other purpose and is not disclosed to any third party. However, The National Beta Club provides links to other Web sites through corporate partnerships, syndicated news feeds, and as part of some features. Parents and children should be aware that The National Beta Club does not control the content of any linked sites other than betaclub.org, betaweb.org, and sponsors.betaclub.org. Opting out of our services To stop receiving online or other mailings from us, you may check the box on the order form that says that you do not wish to receive mailings. You may also discontinue mailings or any of our services by any of the following methods: You can send email to betaclub@betaclub.org You can visit www.betaclub.org You can send mail to Membership, The National Beta Club, 151 Beta Club Way, Spartanburg, SC 29306-3012 You can call 800-845-8281 between 8:30AM and 4:30PM, Monday through Friday, Eastern Time Correcting or updating information This site gives users the following options for changing and modifying information previously provided. Email betaclub@betaclub.org Visit www.betaclub.org Send mail to the following postal address: 151 Beta Club Way, Spartanburg, SC 29306-3012 Call the following telephone number: 800-845-8281 between 8:30AM and 4:30PM, Monday through Friday, Eastern Time Notification of Changes This policy may be revised over time as new features are added to our Web site. We will post those changes prominently so that you will always know what information we gather, how we might use that information, and whether we will disclose it to anyone. Please check this site for information about revisions to our privacy policy. Contacting the Web Site If you have any questions about this privacy statement, the practices of this site, or your dealings with this Web site, you can contact: Privacy Issues c/o Webmaster The National Beta Club 151 Beta Club Way Spartanburg, SC 29306-3012 betaclub@betaclub.org www.betaclub.org