Privacy Policy

This Privacy Policy describes how MegCabot.com collects, uses and shares personally identifiable information ("PII") we obtain from and about individuals located in the U.S. both online and off-line. Our "General Privacy Information" applies to adults and all children (except where noted) and our section entitled "Children's Privacy Policy" applies solely to children who have not yet reached their 13th birthday. The effective date of this policy is May 30, 2004, and it was most recently revised on November 17, 2006. Except as explicitly stated below, we will not affirmatively notify users of changes in our policy; but we will of course abide by the policy in effect at the time we collect PII from any user of this website, respecting uses of that PII.

The Operators of MegCabot.com are Meggin Cabot and Hanee Designs, LLC. You can inquire about our Privacy Policy by contacting The Meg Cabot Book Club at 532 LaGuardia Place #359, New York, NY 10012, or at privacy@MegCabot.com.

GENERAL PRIVACY INFORMATION

COLLECTION, USE, DISCLOSURE AND SECURITY OF PERSONALLY IDENTIFIABLE INFORMATION AT MegCabot.com

Direct Collection of PII: MegCabot.com collects personally identifiable information ("PII"), such as your full name, e-mail address, mailing address or telephone number, only in order to create or enhance our relationship with you. We collect PII from you directly when you voluntarily submit information to us in order to participate in activities at our website.

Indirect Collection of PII: We may also collect information from you passively through the use of cookies. Cookies are small bits of information that the operators of Internet sites place on the hard drive of your computer. Cookies remember information about your activities on the site and enable the operator of the site to make your visits to our website more enjoyable. At this time, MegCabot.com employs cookies to identify each user as a unique visitor, so that we can determine if you are a new or returning user. Users may also optionally store a cookie that contains a username and password for easy logon. These cookies are not currently associated with any PII. Also, you can program your computer to warn you each time a cookie is being sent or to refuse cookies completely.
MegCabot.com also records your PC's IP address when you complete a form or when you post a message on the message boards.

Use by MegCabot.com of PII: We use PII only for notification of contest winners; in connection with submissions of suggestions and content and requests for information; registrations for subscriptions, contests, sweepstakes and games; administration of the message boards; sign-ups for emails from Meg (which may contain marketing messages for recipients aged 13 or older); and for the purpose of allowing access to our message boards (for which children under age 13 will need parental approval). When you give us information for a specific purpose, we will use that information solely for that purpose unless we tell you otherwise and give you an opportunity to "opt out."

Linked Websites: MegCabot.com's website may contain links to other Internet sites operated by other companies. MegCabot.com is not responsible for the privacy practices of websites operated by third parties that are linked to our website. Once you've left MegCabot.com via such a link, you should check the applicable privacy policy of the third party to determine how they will handle any PII they collect from you.

Internal Security: MegCabot.com uses reasonable administrative, technical, personnel and physical measures to safeguard PII in its possession against loss, theft and unauthorized use, disclosure or modification.

Third Party Access to PII at MegCabot.com: MegCabot.com will not share PII with any third party except to a person or entity who provides support for the internal operations of the website and who does not disclose or use that information for any other purpose. When we give third parties access to PII, they must first agree to maintain security and confidentiality consistent with this Privacy Policy.

Your Access to Your PII at MegCabot.com: (See further information below regarding children under age 13.)If you would like to know the types of information that MegCabot.com collects from visitors to its website, please contact us. If you would like to know whether MegCabot.com has collected PII about you, please send us the activities that you participated in on our website which requested PII; after reviewing the relevant databases, we will confirm whether we have collected such information about you. You may review PII about you in our records at any time provided you first give us proof of your identity via postal mail or by fax, such as a copy of a valid driver's license with your name and address. You may request changes into the PII we have that pertains to you, and/or end any direct communications with you, or even delete your PII altogether.

Notification of Changes in this Policy: We may change this Privacy Policy from time to time. When we do, we will give notice of changes in this space so you can be kept abreast by visiting this site from time to time. Despite any changes in policy, however, we only will use information in accordance with the privacy policy in effect when the information was collected.

CHILDREN'S PRIVACY POLICY

COLLECTION, USE, DISCLOSURE AND SECURITY OF PERSONALLY IDENTIFIABLE INFORMATION ("PII") AT MegCabot.com FOR CHILDREN UNDER AGE 13

Kids and Internet Safety: We at MegCabot.com understand that the Internet presents an opportunity for us to reach the public in new and exciting ways with information about our programming, fun games, exciting sweepstakes and contests, email, chat rooms, message boards, and other forms of interactivity. MegCabot.com also recognizes the privacy concerns of parents and the importance of protecting the privacy of the information we collect from children on our website. Parents of children can be confident that any personal information that may be provided to our website will be collected, used and maintained in accordance with the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act ("COPPA"). MegCabot.com encourages parents to supervise their children's activities online and to participate with their children's online activities whenever possible. However, we understand that parents may not always be able to supervise their children's activities on the Internet. That's why we have developed a website that parents can feel are safe for their children and kids will find cool, informative, educational, and fun! Because there's always room for improvement, we welcome any suggestions on how to make the website a better, safer place to hang out.

Collection of PII from Children Under 13: When a visitor to our website is under the age of 13, we do not require the disclosure of more PII than is reasonably necessary for her or him to participate in an activity as a condition of such participation. We collect from children under age 13 no more than names, and email addresses, depending on reasonable need. We do this in connection with submissions of suggestions and content and requests for information; and for the purpose of posting to our message boards (for which children under age 13 will need parental approval). With very few exceptions—described further below—we do not store PII from a child below the age of 13 without first providing notice to the child's parent or guardian and obtaining the parent or guardian's consent. (For simplicity, our further references to "parents" are intended to include "legal guardians" as well.) These procedures are discussed further below.

Our General Practice Regarding Parental Consent: Before we collect, use or disclose PII of a child younger than 13, we will initially collect only the child's email address. Before using this information for any purpose, we require permission from the parent. We will ask the parent to provide consent by returning via postal mail or by fax a consent form that will be attached to the notification. If parental consent is not obtained by one of these methods within two weeks, MegCabot.com will delete all of the child's PII from its records. Once consent is obtained, if there is any material change in the collection, use and/or disclosure practices to which the parent has previously consented, we will give the parent further notice by the same means as before.

Our General Practice Regarding Parental Consent:

  • We may collect the child's email address in order to respond to a message. After the response, the email message and email address will be deleted and no record will be kept.
  • We may collect a child's name and email address to the extent reasonably necessary to protect the safety of the child participant, in which case it will not be used to recontact the child or for any other purpose, and will not be disclosed on the website. Furthermore, in such instances, we will use reasonable efforts to notify the parent that we have collected the child's name and email address to protect the child's safety, that the parent may refuse to permit the use of the information and require the deletion of the information, and how the parent may do so. We will provide the parent with a link to access this Privacy Policy if we communicate by email; and with a copy of this Privacy Policy if we communicate by other means. We will ask the parent to provide consent by returning via postal mail or by fax a consent form that will be included in the notification. We will also notify the parent that if the parent fails to respond to the notice within two weeks, we may use the information for the purpose stated in the notice.
  • EXCEPTIONS TO Our General Practice Regarding Parental Consent: We may collect a child's name and email address to the extent reasonably necessary to protect the security or integrity of the website; to take precautions against liability; to respond to judicial process; or, to the extent permitted under law, to provide information to law enforcement agencies or for an investigation on a matter related to public safety. In each of these cases, the information will not be used to recontact the child or for any other purpose, and will not be disclosed on the website.

Means for Parents to Review PII of their Children and Revoke Consent

Parents may request at any time to review their child's personal information, to delete it, to refuse to permit further collection or use of the child's information, and/or to revoke any consent. Parents should direct their requests to Hanee Designs at 835 Riverside Drive, Suite 5J, New York, NY 10032, telephone number 212-781-8651, fax number 212-372-3182, or at privacy@MegCabot.com.

Upon request from a parent:

  • We will give the parent the opportunity to review the PII provided by his or her child if the parent is able to show that he or she is the parent of that child, by sending reasonable proof via postal mail or by fax.
  • We will give the parent a description of the general types or categories of personal information collected from children by us.
  • We will give the parent the opportunity to refuse to permit our further use or future online collection of PII from the parent's child and to request our deletion of the child's personal information.

If a parent refuses to permit further collection or use of the child's information, and/or revoke consent, then we will immediately comply and delete all information relating to that child in our database. However, we will continue to permit the child to participate in activities at the website that do not require personal information, and we will only terminate a service provided to the child if the information in question is reasonably necessary for the child's participation.

Last Updated November 17, 2006.