Privacy Policy

Latest Update: 2 May 2007

This policy describes the privacy practices of California Tourist Guide, Inc. (“CTG”) and is applicable to www.californiatouristguide.com (“Website”), including related newsletters. See also the Terms of Service and User Agreement governing user’s duties and rights in using the services on the Website.

Summary: We respect your privacy. We will use the information you share with us only to provide the services outlined below. Your email address will never be shared or sold to other web sites or mailing lists. And we will not send you “spam.”

Scope. This policy does not apply to any third-party websites (including ones we link to) or to companies or persons not controlled by, affiliated with or managed by CTG. We recommend that you review the privacy policy at each linked website to determine how that site treats your personal information.

Term. CTG may change this privacy policy prospectively from time to time. The revised policy will be posted on the Website. Please check this page periodically for changes.

INFORMATION COLLECTED

Personally Identifying Information

“Users” of the Website are categorized into three distinct groups, namely:

* anonymous “Visitors”,

* “Advertisers” and

* “Registered Readers.”

The Personally Identifying Information (PII) gathered by CTG on the Website depends on which group the User belongs to.

No PII is gathered as to Visitors.

The PII gathered for Registered Readers is composed of user ID, (which is the User’s email address), password and the status of any subscription to emailed newsletters. Any item that is “flagged” for the “My Travel Folder” feature will also be kept on file until such time as the user deletes such information. After the user deletes the “flagged” information, it is not longer kept by CTG.

The PII gathered for Advertisers includes username, password, name of the business, contact (person) name, address, city, state, zip, “Area” and “SubArea” where the business is located, phone numbers, fax numbers, email addresses, website URL for the business, description of the business, photos of the business, special offers made by the business, category of the business (e.g., hotel, restaurant, etc.), and type of business (e.g., luxury hotel, bed and breakfast, motel). CTG also gathers information during the negotiation and fulfillment of the advertising contract related to which advertising package Advertisers buy, display requirements, price, duration, payment terms and any special variations of the terms and conditions of and order (“Order”) for advertising. If Advertisers use an online facility to make payment for advertising packages, CTG will gather the credit card, PayPal or other information submitted by Advertiser in order to process such payment, but shall not keep a copy of the credit card information thereafter.

Registration: User registration is required to access and use some of the content, services and features on the Website. Upon registration, CTG requires Registered Readers and Advertisers to use a username and a password that will allow them to change their PII as needed. User registration is completed upon pressing the “Submit” button on the registration page of the Website. Registered Readers and Advertisers may update PII and preferences at any time.

Website Products and Services: PII from Registered Readers is collected in order to fulfill subscriptions to emailed newsletters and the features in the “My Travel Folder” feature, namely, keeping a list of sites, articles, advertisements or other online information for a specific Registered Reader, mapping same, emailing the list to a third party, deleting some or all items on the list or retrieving the list for management at a later time.

PII from Advertisers is collected in order to fulfill advertising Orders.

CTG may request additional PII from you upon your optional entry in any sweepstakes, contests, promotions or special offers found on the Website.

Users of the Website who choose to provide feedback or commentary may be asked to provide additional PII such as demographic information, household/personal characteristics and purchase behavior. If such information is gathered for a survey, no PII is released, and it is reported or used only in aggregate form.

Forwarding: Forwarding an article, advertisement or “My Travel Ideas” list requires that you disclose the email address of the person to whom you are forwarding the article. CTG will use this information only to provide the forwarding services and will not save or use the email address for any other purpose.

Legal Process: CTG may disclose and use the information collected where required to do so by law, or where CTG, in good faith, believes the use or disclosure of the information collected is necessary to (1) comply with the law or legal processes; (2) protect and defend CTG rights and property; (3) protect against misuse or unauthorized use of the Website; or to (4) protect the personal safety or property of our users, ourselves or the public. CTG may also use the information collected when, in its sole discretion, it believes it necessary or appropriate in connection with a sale or transfer of some or all of the Website’s assets.

Computer Identifying Information

The information personal to your computer and your computer use that is automatically collected through the use of electronic tools is referred to as Computer Identifying Information (“CII”). The CII gathered by Google’s Web-analytics package for the use of CTG generally includes cookies, specific Website page requests, the referring domain name (e.g., www.google.com) and/or Internet service provider (e.g., Comcast, American Online, NetZero) from which you access the Internet, the Internet Protocol address of your computer, the browser software (e.g. Internet Explorer, FireFox or Safari) and operating system (e.g., Windows XP, Vista, Linux or MacOS) you are using, the geographic area of your IP address, the time and date you accessed the site and the Internet address you visited prior to visiting the site.

Cookies: A cookie is a small amount of data that is sent to your browser from Websites and stored on your computer’s hard drive. Cookies are used by our advertising partner, Google, to deliver targeted advertising based on your viewing behavior at CTG and other sites. We use cookies to help registered users automatically login when returning to the Website. (This is the “remember me on this computer” function.) No other PII is associated with a cookie or CII. Our third-party Web advertising company, Google, may place or recognize its own unique cookie on your browser. For more information about Google, cookies and how to “opt-out,” please click Google Opt Out Policy.

Internet Protocol (IP) Address: An IP address is your computer’s location on the Internet. The Website logs the IP addresses of all Users for systems administration and troubleshooting purposes, and to gather geographic and other information about your use of the site, e.g., which pages were visited for how long. No connection of IP address or other CII to your PII is made.

Aggregate Information: “Aggregate Information” is summary user information derived from CII and PII but which is not personally identifiable with any User.

USE OF INFORMATION COLLECTED

In general, CTG uses your PII and CII that is collected to administer the Website and to provide the services requested. When Users provide PII information and access the Website, they are sharing PII and CII with CTG. If you do not want to share your PII, do not provide it. If you do not want to share CII, do not access the Website.

CTG may share Aggregate Information with third parties such as advertisers and business partners. PII and CII may also be used to perform statistical, demographic and marketing analysis of subscribers and their subscribing and purchasing patterns, in order to provide you with relevant advertisements and to help diagnose problems with our services and the Website.

For example, CTG uses or may use the PII and CII collected to do the following:

Website Use & Registration: CTG uses PII and CII that is collected to fulfill subscriptions, change addresses, confirm and process transactions and to contact the user regarding his or her account, or, if permitted by the User, to offer new or existing products and services and special offers.

Personalization: CTG uses PII and CII that is collected to personalize the content and advertising that users see based on personal characteristics and preferences, enhance products and services and develop new products and services, and share user information with select advertisers or other third parties whose products or services may be of interest to you.

Third Parties Service Providers: CTG may share PII and CII that is collected with third parties hired to perform services on our behalf, including without limitation fulfilling subscription requests, fulfilling Orders, sending emails and assisting in the provision of the Website and its services. Some of the ads appearing on the Website may be delivered to you by Google, our third-party Web advertising company. Information about your visits to this site, such as the number of times you have viewed an ad, may be used to serve ads to you.

Program & Product Offerings: If you have “opted in” for offers from third parties, CTG may use the PII and CII that is collected in order to offer you the opportunity to receive information and offers about products or services from our business partners or third parties.

CTG may buy or sell various assets. In the event that CTG sells some or all of its assets related to the Website, information on Users may be among the transferred assets.

OPTING-OUT

If you do not wish to share your PII, you always have the option to not provide the information or use the Website.

If you are already a Registered Reader, but do not wish to receive email subscriptions, you may log in, go to “My Account” and select “Unsubscribe.” We will not contact you on behalf of CTG or any third party.

If you are an Advertiser, you may opt out of all further contact by CTG after the term of the advertising contract is fulfilled.

Opt-Out Exception: Even if the registered User chooses to opt-out of receiving newsletters or other e-mails from CTG, CTG reserves the right to contact a registered User regarding account status, changes to this policy, the terms of use, license agreements and other matters relevant to the use of the Website, services or software provided through the Website and/or the information collected.

Review & Update Your PII. A registered User of the Website may review and change his or her PII and/or email preferences by clicking on the “My Account” link after signing in.

SECURITY

CTG uses procedures to safeguard and help prevent unauthorized access to the information collected on the Website. Although such protective measures have been put in place, CTG cannot ensure that the information collected will never be disclosed in a manner inconsistent with this Privacy Policy.

CALIFORNIA PRIVACY RIGHTS

Under California law, California residents may request once a year, free of charge, certain information regarding CTG disclosure of personal information to third parties for direct marketing purposes. To make such a request, please email us at privacycoordinator[AT]californiatouristguide[DOT]com.

Please include the name and the address to which you would like us to respond.

PRIVACY COORDINATOR

If you have any questions, comments or concerns regarding our Privacy Policy and/or practices, please contact the Privacy Coordinator using the contact information provided below:

Privacy Coordinator
California Tourist Guide

Privacycoordinator[AT]californiatouristguide[DOT]com.

CHILDREN’S PRIVACY POLICY

CTG does not knowingly collect information from children under 13 years of age, nor is it likely, given the content and nature of the Website, that any such child would wish to register as a User.

USE OF PERSONAL INFORMATION FROM CHILDREN

If a User is a child under 13, all of the child’s personal information collected by CTG is securely maintained and used only for the specified purpose such as mapping “My Travel Ideas.”

CTG may disclose information maintained as required by law, for example, in response to a court order or a subpoena. CTG may also disclose such information in response to a specific law enforcement agency's request. Personal information is not disclosed to third parties except those who provide support for the internal operations of the site.

PARENTAL ACCESS

CTG is the operator collecting information at the Website. Please send an email or letter to our Privacy Coordinator at the email or mailing address provided above if you would like to do any of the following:

· Access personally identifiable information that CTG has collected from your child,

· Correct factual errors in such information,

· Request to have this information deleted, or

· Request that we no longer collect or maintain such information about your child.

Please include your email address and telephone number where we can reach you. CTG takes steps to verify the identity of anyone requesting information about a child to ensure that the person is in fact the child's parent or legal guardian.

Other

CTG may change this privacy policy from time to time. The revised policy will be posted on the Website. Please check this page periodically for changes. If you have any questions, comments or concerns regarding our privacy policy and/or practices, please contact the Privacy Coordinator using the contact information provided above.