iBerkshires.com User Information Privacy Policy

This User Information Privacy Policy describes how the web sites maintained by Boxcar Media, LLC and its affiliates - currently iBerkshires.com, Williamstown.com, Northadams.com, and all sub-sections - collect and utilize users' personally identifiable information. The iBerkshires.com Web site is maintained by Boxcar Media, LLC, 102 Main St., North Adams, MA 01247. We can be reached by e-mail at info@iBerkshires.com.The web sites will not disclose a user's personally identifiable information to any third party without the user's express permission.

Information iBerkshires.com Collects:

Optional Registration: If users wish to utilize certain services located on each of our web sites, they must register. Those services currently include:

  • Participation in contests
  • On-line placement and management of Classified advertisements
  • Use of iBerkshires.com subscriber services
  • On-line purchase of goods from The iBerkshires.com store
  • Engaging in other commerce transactions
  • E-mail products
The information collected when a user registers includes the user's e-mail address (account id), name, credit card number for ecommerce transactions and, in the case of hard goods purchases, his billing/shipping address information. This transaction information is encrypted and retained in a database not on a web site. In some cases, age and gender information is also collected. While registering, a user may also "opt out" of various e-mail notifications (see Opt Out Procedures below).

Opt Out Procedures For Electronic E-mail:
If a user chooses to register with iBerkshires.com, the user can choose not to receive communications from iBerkshires.com such as email newsletters announcing contests, new features and/or added value services third parties who offer a product or service that we think would be of value to the user.

Correcting And Updating:
Our web sites offer users the ability to correct or change at any time certain personal identifiable information (e-mail address, credit card information and mailing address) collected during registration. The instructions for doing this can be found in our Member Services area. Users who are experiencing problems or who have any questions about how our services work can contact us at info@iBerkshires.com. Our users have the option of having their personal identifiable information associated with past use of the web sites' services deleted by sending a request in writing to iBerkshires, 102 Main St, North Adams, MA 01247.

HOW IBERKSHIRES.COM USES INFORMATION PROVIDED BY YOU:
This site does not collect personally identifiable information about individuals except when specifically and knowingly provided by such individuals. iBerkshires.com and its affiliates may use a user's personally identifiable information for editorial purposes. iBerkshires.com may also use such information for marketing and promotional purposes. We may share your personally identifiable information with other companies with which it conducts business. For example, if you enter our contests, make a purchase or use our e-mail services, we sometimes rely on outside companies to provide these services to you. In such cases, we need to provide your personally identifiable information to them. Or if you choose to purchase items through our commerce site, we will forward your information to third parties for credit card processing and order fulfillment. Thank you in advance for taking care of this small matter, so it will be in place as e-commerce gets rolled out to each site. We also sometimes provide your information to our advertisers, so that they can serve ads to you that meet your needs. While iBerkshires.com will seek to require such third parties to follow appropriate privacy policies and will not authorize them to use this information except for the express purpose for which it was provided, iBerkshires.com does not bear any responsibility for any actions or policies of any third parties.

Except for purposes outlined above, we do not provide, sell or lease your personally identifiable information to any third parties, unless otherwise stated at the time of collection. If you have any questions or concerns regarding what is done with your information on any part of iBerkshires.com, please e-mail us at info@iBerkshires.com, before submitting any information.

We also collect anonymous, aggregated data and provide it to our advertisers and other companies that we do business with for market research and statistical purposes. For example, we might report to our advertisers that a certain percentage of users are between the ages of 25-35.

Finally, you should be aware that when you voluntarily disclose personally identifiable information (e.g., first and last name, address, e-mail address, etc.) on the forums or classified sections, that information can be collected and used by others and may result in unsolicited messages from other posters or parties.

Information Not Collected:
A user can access our web sites and utilize many of their services without providing any information at all. Nor do we follow a user's browsing path outside of our web sites.

We do develop summary - not individual - reports for our advertisers. The people that make it possible for the user to use our web sites for free - our advertisers - need this information to determine how effective their advertising investments are. We never tell our advertisers the identity of a user who saw or clicked on their advertisements unless the user has expressly given permission to do so. In accordance with the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA), Boxcar Media does not collect or store any personal information, even in aggregate, about children under the age of 13.

Polling:
iBerkshires.com offers interactive polls to users so they can easily share their opinions with others and see what the audience thinks about important issues. iBerkshires.com uses a system to "tag" users after they have voted, so they can vote only once on a particular question but no personal identifiable information is required to do this "tagging."

"Pass it on" service:
A user can electronically forward a news story to someone else by clicking the link at the bottom of a story. The user must provide his and the recipient's email addresses to inform the recipient who sent the story and to address transmission errors. A user has the option of supplying his name, which is only used for the e-mail salutation. None of this information is used for any other purpose.

Surveys:

Occasionally iBerkshires.com will conduct user surveys to better understand our user community. We sometimes share the aggregated demographic information in these surveys with our advertisers and partners. When we conduct surveys, we may ask for personally identifiable information like name and specific address, but that information is handled by the web site in the same manner as information collected when a user registers (See Optional Registration above).

Contests and sweepstakes:
iBerkshires.com does offer contests and sweepstakes in which we request certain personal information. At a minimum, the required information includes name and email address; in some cases, the user must answer mandatory survey questions about a range of other personal data. The information gathered in the entry form is used to verify the entrant's identity, to send the entrant an email notification that the entry has been received, and to contact winners and/or prize recipients. iBerkshires.com will divulge this information to:

  • a contest sponsor, if a user expressly asks to receive additional information from the contest sponsor.
  • the contest administrator, if not iBerkshires.com, and if the user expressly consents.
Because the rules and terms of each contest can vary, all information about each contest is clearly posted during the event.

Usage tracking:
iBerkshires.com does track usage patterns on our web site and breaks down 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). However, we do not match this information with users' personally identifiable information.

COOKIES:
iBerkshires.com may place a "cookie" in the browser files of iBerkshires.com user's computer. The cookie may contain personally identifiable information. Cookies enable iBerkshires.com to serve information that you have requested, or that relate to your use of iBerkshires.com to information that you have specifically and knowingly provided to iBerkshires.com. You also may occasionally get cookies from our advertisers. iBerkshires.com does not control these cookies and these cookies are not subject to this policy. The use of advertising cookies sent by third-party servers is common in the Internet industry. Most browsers are initially set to accept cookies. If you prefer, you can set your browser to refuse cookies or to alert you when cookies are being sent. However, it is possible that some portions of iBerkshires.com will not function properly if you do so. For further information on cookies and their use, see the help instructions delivered with your browser or contact the browser's manufacturer. iBerkshires.com cannot provide help regarding your browser's cookie settings.

CHILDREN:
Be sure to ask your parents for permission before you send any information about yourself (your name, address, e-mail address, etc.) to us or anyone else over the Internet, and before making any purchases online. If you are under the age of 13, you are not allowed to use this service.

PARENTS:
We encourage you to get involved with your children's online usage and to be aware of the activities in which they are participating. This service is not intended for users under the age of 13. This service does not knowingly collect personally identifiable information from users under the age of 13. Such users are expressly prohibited from submitting their personally identifiable information to us, and from using our forums and chat areas; any information submitted by such users will not knowingly be used, posted, or retained by us. Any personally identifiable information collected by iBerkshires.com from children above 13 (that we are aware are children above 13) will be used only for iBerkshires.com internal purposes such as market research, sweepstakes fulfillment and for fulfilling requests for information or materials, and may sometimes be included in our database. However, such information will not be posted or published by us, or provided to any third parties, without your prior consent. Additionally, anonymous aggregated data is sometimes provided to other companies which we do business with, for statistical and market research purposes as described above. Finally, you should be aware that if your child voluntarily discloses his name, e-mail address, etc. on various forums, or chat areas, such disclosure might result in unsolicited messages from other parties. Accordingly, you should discourage your child from doing so. Again, if you have any concerns regarding your child's or your use of iBerkshires.com, please contact us at info@iBerkshires.com.

Security:
iBerkshires.com uses industry standard efforts to safeguard the confidentiality of your personal identifiable information, such as firewalls and Secure Socket Layers. However, "perfect security" does not exist on the Internet.

How To Contact Us:
For any questions or comments regarding our information or security practices, you may contact us:
  By E-Mail: info@iberkshires.com
  By Phone: 413-663-3384 (between 9:00am and 5:00pm EST.)
  By Mail: Boxcar Media, LLC. 102 Main St, North Adams, MA 01247, Attention Customer Support Manager


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