Privacy Policy
Last Update: August 15, 2014
High Gear Media Privacy Policy
Thank you for your interest in this website's services and privacy information. This privacy policy applies to the following websites owned and operated by High Gear Media Inc.: The Car Connection (www.thecarconnection.com); Motor Authority (www.motorauthority.com); and Green Car Reports (www.greencarreports.com) (each a "Site" and together, the "High Gear Media Sites"). Because the High Gear Media Sites share a common platform and registration system, the information that you provide on one Site may be used when you visit one of the other Sites listed above.
This privacy policy does not apply to information that you choose to publicly post to or display on a Site. Please note that, as provided in our Terms of Service, you grant us a license to all publicly-posted content and it can be syndicated to third-party sites and content partners.
||| What Information Do We Collect?
Information You Provide Directly To Us - You are not required to provide information about yourself when you visit our Sites (other than automatically-collected information, as described below) and many of the features of our Sites can be used without registration. If you do elect to register on a Site, access various content or features, or contact us directly through our Sites, we may ask you for different types of information, including:
Contact information, such as a name, email address, postal address, phone number, facsimile number, and/or mobile number; A user ID and password; Other demographic information, such as gender, age, job information, zip code and/or professional interests; Communication preferences, such as which newsletters you would like to receive Information posted in community discussions and other interactive online features; and Correspondence you send to us. ||| Information We Collect Automatically on Our Sites - Our Sites may collect certain information automatically, including your browser type and operating system and your Internet Protocol (IP) address. We compile logs of IP addresses of Site users for administrative and analytical purposes. We do not routinely collect any personally identifiable information through our compilation of IP addresses. However, in cases of suspected abuse or service problems, we may use an IP address in conjunction with other personally identifiable information to enforce our terms of use and/or to protect the Site, its users, or others who may be affected.
||| How do your Sites use and share my information?
We use the information we collect about you to:
Fulfill your requests for products, services and information, including to send you electronic newsletters or complete a transaction that you have requested; Enable you to participate in features such as surveys, polls, sweepstakes and message boards; Provide you with electronic newsletters, updates, information, special offers and promotional materials on behalf of our Sites and third parties, in accordance with applicable law; Analyze the use of our Sites and information about visitors to our Sites to understand and improve those Sites and our content offerings, and, in accordance with our sharing policies as stated below, to produce anonymous or aggregated data and statistics that we may share with third parties; Develop and produce advertising tailored to your interests, as further described herein; and Prevent potential illegal conduct or to address actual or suspected violations of our terms of use. ||| Additionally, we may use information that has been aggregated or otherwise anonymized, so as to not make it personally identifiable to you ("Aggregate Data") for various purposes. For example, we may use it to improve our content offerings and services.
We share your information:
With your consent when you request a third party service through our Site; With authorized third-party service providers who assist us in the operation of our business; With sponsors and third parties related to a sweepstakes or contest that you elect to participate in and as required by law, such as on a published winners' list; In cases of abusive behavior or suspected violations of our terms of use in order to investigate the violation and to take appropriate action Where we have a good faith belief that it is required in order to respond to subpoenas, court orders, or other legal process, to prevent fraud or imminent harm, or to establish or exercise our legal rights or defend against legal claims If one or more of our Sites is sold or transferred to another company, your Personal Information will also be transferred. We will notify you if your information will be subject to a different privacy policy; We may share Aggregate Data with third parties for various purposes. Please also note that we may share Aggregate Data with third parties for various purposes. For example, we may disclose Aggregate Data to third parties to help us operate our business and develop content offerings and services and to help these third parties develop their products and service offerings.
||| Price Quotes - Our Sites allow you to request vehicle price quotes from one or more dealers that you select. When you submit a request for a price quote, you are consenting to have your personally identifiable information shared with one or more of the auto lead companies shown on the Car Quotes Information Page displayed to you when you submit your request. These auto lead companies may share that personally identifiable information with the dealer(s) you've selected and with other third parties who offer goods and services that they determine may be of interest to you. You may review each of these companies' privacy policies by clicking on the links shown on the Car Quotes Information Page.
||| How may you communicate with me?
We may send various types of newsletters, updates, and other communications to you as described above under the "How do your Sites use and share my information?" heading.
As one type of communications we send,using the email address associated with your account, we may send you administrative announcements communicating information about our Sites, your account or content that you have posted to the account. You may not opt out of these messages. If we are required by law to provide you with any notice, such as in the event of a security breach, you consent to receiving notice to the email address you have provided us.
If you sign up to receive any newsletters or updates from us through our Sites, or if you otherwise receive promotional communications from us, you will be able to opt-out of those communications by following the procedures described within the communication itself. You also may contact us to opt-out from promotional communications that we send.
||| What are our policies regarding third parties?
This privacy policy does not apply to information collected by advertisers, vendors or other third parties whose content, ads or promotions appear on our Sites but who operate independently. It is advised that readers first check the individual privacy policies of such third parties before providing personal information.
Links to third party sites are provided solely as a convenience to our readers. If you use these links, you will leave this site. It is not possible to review all such sites and we have no control over, nor do we take responsibility for, their individual content or privacy policies.
||| Advertisers, survey groups and other sites linked to or from our Sites may seek to obtain additional information from users. For example, they may serve "cookies," conduct surveys, request personal information or take actions not covered by our privacy policy. This information will not be gathered by or on behalf of our Sites unless clearly authorized and stated in such solicitations. If you choose to do business with vendors on our Sites, you may be asked to provide personal information, including credit and credit card data. Any information you share will be covered only by that party's own privacy policy.
If you decide to provide any of these outside parties with credit information and other personal information, you do so entirely at your own risk.
||| What About "Cookies"?
"Cookies" are small pieces of information that may be served to you while visiting a Web site, and which are then stored on your computer's hard drive.
It is possible you will be served cookies by us, by our advertisers or by the companies that help us deliver advertising on our Sites. Cookies help us and advertisers identify users on our Sites and on other sites. Please see below under "
||| What are your Sites' advertising practices" to see how these cookies are used.
Most web browsers automatically accept cookies, but they also offer a user the ability to block them. Doing so may prevent you from using some of the features of our Sites. Instructions for blocking cookies can be found in your browser help tab. You can also learn more about how cookies and other technologies are used to target advertisements to your browser at www.networkadvertising.org/understanding-online-advertising. You also have choices regarding participating companies' collection and use of certain information collected through these technologies, as described below.
||| What are your Sites' advertising practices?
We, our advertisers, and our third party advertising companies may use information (not including your name, address, email address or telephone number) about your interaction with advertising on our Sites and your visits to this and other Web sites, including information collected through cookies, in order to provide advertisements on our Sites and other sites about goods and services that may be of interest to you. If you would like more information about this practice and to know your choices about not having this information used by participating companies, please click here: www.networkadvertising.org/choices.
You can also learn more about specific companies we allow to place cookies on our Sites and their policies regarding use of that data and advertising targeting here.
||| How about children's privacy?
We are committed to protecting the privacy needs of children and we encourage parents and guardians to take an active role in their children's online activities. Our Sites are not intended for under the age of 13. We do not knowingly collect information from children under the age of 13 and we do not target the Sites to children under the age of 13.
What are the Site's security practices?
We have implemented certain measures to help protect your user Information from loss, misuse, or unauthorized access or disclosure. Unfortunately, however, no data transmission over the Internet can be guaranteed to be 100% secure. As a result, while we strive to protect your user Information, we cannot guarantee its security.
||| How will changes to this policy be communicated?
We may update this Policy from time to time. If we make any material change to the way in which we treat your User Information, we will inform you of such change by posting an updated privacy policy at this location or through email notification, at our option. Any updated version of this privacy policy will be effective as soon as it is posted on our Sites.
How may users change or terminate their account?
You have the right to terminate your account or update any Personal Information collected by our Sites by contacting us at
||| feedback@highgearmedia.com. If you terminate your account, your Personal Information will be removed from our system, subject to our right to retain any data necessary to investigate any violation of terms of use or alleged harmful or illegal activity.
For some features, such as newsletter mailings, specified procedures to update your personal information or opt out of the service may be found in the emails you receive.
Your California Privacy Rights
It is High Gear Media's policy to share personal information only with the user's informed consent unless otherwise specified in this privacy policy. With your consent, from time-to-time, High Gear Media may provide its business partners with contact details for direct marketing purposes of relevant services, products, and programs. California Civil Code Section 1798.83, also known as the "Shine The Light" law, permits our users who are California residents to request and obtain from us once a year, free of charge, information about the personal information (if any) we disclosed to third parties for direct marketing purposes in the preceding calendar year. If applicable, this information would include a list of the categories of personal information that was shared and the names and addresses of all third parties with which we shared information in the immediately preceding calendar year. If you are a California resident and would like to make such a request, please let us know using this
||| contact us form. You may also let us know at this number that you no longer wish your information to be shared.
How we respond to Do Not Track Disclosures.
Some browsers have a "do not track" feature that lets you tell websites that you do not want to have your online activities tracked. Because these features are not yet uniform, we are not currently set up to respond to "do not track" signals. Our information and disclosure practices will continue to apply as described in this privacy policy regardless of any "Do Not Track" signals that are sent by certain browsers.
||| How may users communicate with you?
You can contact us for additional information by visiting this page:
http://www.highgearmedia.com/contact/
You may also correspond by standard post at:
Privacy Policy
High Gear Media
830 Menlo Ave, Suite 201
Menlo Park, CA 94025
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