PRIVACY POLICY FOR BESTSEARCH.COM

UPDATED 10/17/2003

BESTSEARCH.com (hereinafter referred to as "BEST") values the privacy of our visitors/customers and takes every known precaution to safe guard the information we collect from unauthorized use.  The following is a detailed explanation of the privacy policy for BEST web site.  Please note that this policy does not apply to those third-party sites that you may visit by selecting a hypertext link on one of our pages.  You will need to consult those web sites' privacy policies in order to determine how your privacy is protected.   

WHAT INFORMATION DO WE COLLECT?

BEST believes it is important for you to know what types of information we collect when you use our site or sign up for one of our related services.  We gather information about you when you visit our pages or the pages of certain BEST partners and when you register for any of our services.  We automatically record the name of the domain (for example,"abccompany.com" if you use a private Internet access account, or "yourschool.edu" if you are connecting from a university's domain); the IP address (a number that is automatically assigned to your computer when you are using the Internet) from which you access our web site; the type of browser and operating system used to access our site; the date and time you access our site; the Internet address of the website from which you linked directly to our site; and the pages you visit.  Additionally, we collect information in the form of a cookie. 

A cookie is a text file that is placed on your computer by a Web page server. Cookies are uniquely assigned to you, and can only be read by a web server in the domain that issued the cookie to you.  Our cookies record your personal information, such as billing address, shipping address, and other personal preferences that you have submitted to our site at an earlier time.  Should you sign up for a newsletter or send us an email regarding our web site, we will ask you for your email address and name. 

WHY DO WE COLLECT THIS INFORMATION?

We use this information in order to serve the needs of our customers.  We use the information we collect to personalize the advertising and content you see on our pages.  We also use your information to process your requests for products and/or services, to improve our customer service, to contact you, to conduct internal investigations, and to supply anonymous statistics for internal and external clients.  One of the primary functions of using cookies is to save you time when visiting our site. When you return to our web site, the information you previously submitted can be recalled, so you can more conveniently use the features/services you customized.  Your name is needed in order for us to send you information regarding one of our services or newsletters.  The non-personal information that we collect from you may be used for both internal and external purposes, in order for us to make your experience with our site more enjoyable.  The aggregate data we collect from you is used internally and externally to help us increase our marketing efforts and to provide pertinent data to the members of our Internet family. We may also use your email address to notify of you other products or services you may be interested in.  Further, your email address will be needed in order to communicate with you.         

CHILDREN UNDER THE AGE OF 13, COPPA COMPLIANCE

BEST is a general audience web site intended to be used by people of all ages.  BEST does not knowingly target or collect information from children under the age of 13.  If we believe a child has contacted us or signed up for one of our newsletters, we will take reasonable measures to contact that child's parent or guardian.   

HOW IS YOUR INFORMATION PROTECTED?

We use the latest in encryption technology, including 128 bit SSL encryption to ensure that any sensitive information that is sent by you to us via the Internet is protected from unauthorized interception.  All information submitted by a customer via the Internet is stored on a server, which requires proper-authentication for access. The server is housed in a secure environment that employs a variety of techniques to protect your information.  We also use anti-virus protection software to guard against outside attacks on our networks.  All employees that we do hire have to sign a confidentiality agreement that forbids them from disclosing any information to which the employee has access, to other individuals or entities.  We also have back up servers and power supplies to guard against power outages and other natural occurrences that could pose a threat to the integrity of your personal information.  Our servers are manned 24-hours a day, in a building that is UL approved for fire protection.  When an employee is terminated or is no longer with the company, we change the access codes that the employee used to access any customer accounts.  Employee passwords must contain both numeric and alphanumeric characters; be at least 6 characters long, and must be changed every 60 days.  Additionally, after 6

failed attempts, the employee is kicked out of the administrative system. 

Any information submitted by a customer by other means such as the mail, or by facsimile, is stored in a secure area.  Access to this information is limited to only those employees who need the information in order to do their job effectively.  

WHO HAS ACCESS TO MY INFORMATION?

We do not rent, sell, or share personal information about you with other people or nonaffiliated companies except to provide products or services you have requested, when we have your permission, or under the following circumstances.

Only those customer service employees responding to email questions regarding the Best web site will have access to your personal information.  Additionally, employees in our technical department may have access to your information in order to conduct routine checks on the integrity of our system and in order to perform necessary maintenance work.  The only time someone other than a BEST employee will ever see or be privy to your personal information is in the case of a judicial request (such as a subpoena) or if the company is acquired or sold.  In the event the later happens, BEST will give reasonable notice to all existing users of our service.  The aggregate data that we collect may be shared with outside companies in order help promote the BEST web site or to provide relevant data to one of our sister companies, such as Trustgauge.com or Ranking.com

CAN I OPT OUT OF HAVING CERTAIN INFORMATION COLLECTED

You have the option of disabling your computer's ability to accept or transmit cookies.  This will prevent us from gathering certain non-personally identifiable information from your computer.  Furthermore, you have the right to opt out of any email list you might have signed up for in the past. You also have the option of requesting not to be notified by email of any new product or service we are offering.  Please contact us at info@bestsearch.com in order to complete one of the opt-out choices above. 

NOTICE OF CHANGES TO THIS PRIVACY POLICY

We reserve the right to change this privacy policy at any time.  However, if any changes do occur, we will publish the changes to our web site and post a notice on the home page that a new privacy policy has been implemented.  We will also take reasonable steps to contact you personally to let you know of the new changes.  Should the company be bought or sold to someone else, we will take reasonable steps to notify you personally.   You will then be given the option to keep your account open or to terminate.  Please feel free to contact us if you should have any questions regarding this policy or to report a misuse of your personal information.  Our Chief Privacy Officer is Patrick Devereaux, and he can be reached at pjd@emergency24.com.