The Hardware Industry . com - Bringing Hardware Retailers And Manufacturers Together

The Hardware Industry Privacy Policy

Privacy Policy

The Hardware Industry is committed to assisting manufacturers in the collection and management of critical product evaluation data used to bring new product to market in a timely and cost-effective manner. The Hardware Industry knows that you care about how your personal information is used and shared, and we take your privacy very seriously. Please read the following to learn more about our privacy policy. By visiting the Hardware Industry web site, you are accepting the practices outlined in this Privacy Policy.

This Privacy Policy covers The Hardware Industry's treatment of personal information that The Hardware Industry gathers when you are on The Hardware Industry web site and when you use The Hardware Industry services. This policy does not apply to the practices of third parties that The Hardware Industry does not own or control, or to individuals that The Hardware Industry does not employ or manage.

Information Collected by The Hardware Industry:

We only collect personal information that is relevant to the purpose of our web site. This information allows us to provide you with a customized and efficient experience. We do not process this information in a way that is incompatible with this objective. We collect the following types of information from our The Hardware Industry users:

Information You Provide to Us:

We receive and store any information you enter on our web site or provide to us in any other way. You can choose not to provide us with certain information, but then you may not be able to take advantage of many of our special features.

Registration: In order for you to use The Hardware Industry services, such as requesting free products from our participating manufacturers, you must complete a registration form. As part of this registration form, we require select personal information (including your full name, city, state and e-mail address).

Automatic Information:

We receive and store certain types of information whenever you interact with us. The Hardware Industry and its authorized agents automatically receive and record certain "traffic data" on our server logs from your browser including your IP address, The Hardware Industry cookie information, and the page you requested. The Hardware Industry uses this traffic data to help diagnose problems with its servers, analyze trends and administer the web site.

Many companies offer programs that help you to visit web sites anonymously. While The Hardware Industry will not be able to provide you with a personalized experience if we cannot recognize you, we want you to be aware that these programs are available.

E-mail Communications:

The Hardware Industry is very concerned about your privacy and we will never provide your email address to a third party without your explicit permission, as detailed in the "Sharing Your Information" section below. The Hardware Industry may send out e-mails with The Hardware Industry news, products, offers, surveys or promotions. You may also receive notification e-mails from The Hardware Industry, which inform you of actions (e.g. orders being shipped) that have been performed on the site. If you do not want to receive e-mail from us, please visit the Email Preferences section of your User Profile and/or follow the instructions contained in the unwanted e-mail message. However, please note that in all cases you will continue to receive all system e-mails (e.g. those regarding forgotten user passwords) and legal notices (e.g. updates to our policies) from us.

Cookies:

Cookies are alphanumeric identifiers that we transfer to your computer's hard drive through your Web browser to enable our systems to recognize your browser and tell us how and when pages in our web site are visited and by how many people. The Hardware Industry cookies do not collect personal information.

The "help" portion of the toolbar on the majority of browsers will direct you on how to prevent your browser from accepting new cookies, how to command the browser to tell you when you receive a new cookie, or how to fully disable cookies. We recommend that you leave the cookies activated because if your browser does not accept our cookies, you won't be able to use our services.

Sharing Your Information:

Because The Hardware Industry enables hardware manufacturers and retailers to share information with one another, information about the people who use The Hardware Industry is an integral part of The Hardware Industry experience. Rest assured that we neither rent nor sell your personal information to anyone and that we will share your personal information only as described below.

The Hardware Industry Personnel: The Hardware Industry personnel and authorized consultants and/or contractors may have access to user information if necessary in the normal course of The Hardware Industry business.

Business Transfers: In some cases, we may choose to buy or sell assets. In these types of transactions, user information is typically one of the business assets that is transferred. Moreover, if The Hardware Industry, or substantially all of its assets, were acquired, user information would be one of the assets that is transferred.

Protection of The Hardware Industry and Others: We may release personal information when we believe in good faith that release is necessary to comply with a law; to enforce or apply our Terms of Use and other policies; or to protect the rights, property, or safety of The Hardware Industry, our employees, our users, or others. This includes exchanging information with other companies and organizations for fraud protection and credit risk reduction.

Keeping Information Secure:

Your The Hardware Industry account information is protected by a password for your privacy and security. Protect against unauthorized access to your password and to your computer by logging off once you have finished using a shared computer. Only employees who need personal information to perform a specific job (for example, a customer service representative) are granted access to it. All of our employees are kept up to date on our privacy and security practices.

Changes to this Privacy Policy:

The Hardware Industry may amend this Privacy Policy from time to time, at its sole discretion. Use of information we collect now is subject to the Privacy Policy in effect at the time such information is used. If we make changes to the Privacy Policy, we will notify you by posting an announcement on The Hardware Industry web site so you are always aware of what information we collect, how we use it, and under what circumstances if any, it is disclosed.

Conditions of Use:

If you decide to visit The Hardware Industry web site, your visit and any possible dispute over privacy is subject to this Privacy Policy and our Terms of Use, including limitations on damages, arbitration of disputes, and application of Florida state law.

Effective Date of this Privacy Policy

This Privacy Policy is effective as of April 1, 2009 and last updated April 1, 2009.