PEANUT CORPORATION OF AMERICA PRIVACY POLICY
Peanut Corporation of America, Inc. ("Peanut Corporation of America" or "PCA")
recognizes that many adults and children who visit our web site are concerned
about how personal information they provide on-line is maintained and
used by Peanut Corporation of America. To address these concerns and to
demonstrate
our firm commitment to privacy, especially for children who visit our
sites, we have developed and implemented this privacy policy so you will
know how
Peanut Corporation of America gathers, and provides, information. Please
review our privacy policy from time to time as we may update or change
it periodically.
GATHERING AND USE OF INFORMATION
Peanut Corporation of America collects personally identifiable information
from visitors to our sites solely on a voluntary basis. Such personally
identifiable information may include your name, postal address, e-mail
address, company
name and/or telephone numbers, et cetera (collectively referred to
herein as "Personal Information"). We will never sell, transfer, or disclose
any Personal Information we gather at our web sites to any third parties without
your prior consent, except in cases when we believe in good faith that we
have a legal obligation to disclose such Personal Information. We never require
that this Personal Information be provided in order to gain access to our
sites. We collect Personal Information primarily for the following reasons:
1) to e-mail consumers with updates and news, 2) to notify winners of contests,
games and sweepstakes, and to distribute prizes, 3) to send out brochures,
etc. via regular mail to subscribers, 4) to distribute items that are part
of "giveaways" that you have registered for, and 5) for use in
our online and off-line marketing and advertising campaigns. There may be
times
when we share aggregate information about our users (for example, the
% of male and female visitors to our sites) with advertisers, business partners,
sponsors, and other third parties in any effort to customize or enhance
the
content and advertising on our sites for our users.
We recognize there are unique issues raised about the protection of
our children's privacy over the Internet. All children-directed Peanut
Corporation
of America web sites are designed to comply with the requirements of
the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) and Children's Advertising
Review Unit
(CARU) guidelines for web sites gathering identifiable information
from children (under age 13). Consistent with these requirements and guidelines,
and provided
that we have been given accurate information by the child when asked,
we do NOT:
1. collect personally identifiable off-line contact information without
prior parental consent;
2. distribute to third parties any personally identifiable information
without prior parental consent;
3. entice children by the prospect of a special game, prize or other
activity, to divulge more information than is needed to participate in
the activity;
4. use or disclose on-line contact information without prior parental
consent or parental notification, which will include an opportunity
for the parent
to prevent use of the information and participation in the activity.
Without prior parental consent, on-line information will only be used
to respond directly
to the child's request and will not be used for other purposes without
prior parental consent. We collect on-line contact information from
children only
in connection with on-line contests and sweepstakes; our policy with
respect to using this information is provided below in the "Contests/Sweepstakes" section;
or
5. enable children to publicly post or otherwise distribute personally
identifiable contact information without prior parental consent.
Parents can always ask to review any Personal Information about their
child that may have been collected at one of our sites, have us delete
any such
Personal Information, and/or instruct us not to collect or use such
Personal Information about their child in the future. To do so, simply
contact
us following the procedure outlined below in the "Contact
Us" section.
As the new technology of the Internet evolves, and the COPPA requirements
and CARU guidelines evolve as well, Peanut Corporation of America intends
to comply with these requirements and guidelines in a manner and in
as timely a fashion as is technologically feasible in order to protect
our children
and their privacy.
CONTESTS/SWEEPSTAKES
We may periodically run contests and sweepstakes on our sites for which
we ask users/participants to provide contact information (like their
e-mail address). This information is used to contact the participant
only when necessary
in accordance with the rules of the contest or sweepstakes.
If a participant has indicated upon entering a contest or sweepstakes
that he/she is under 13 years of age, the participant is instructed
to enter the
e-mail address of his/her parent or guardian. Further, for any game
or contest where the screen names of the high scorers are posted,
a user under 13 can
only select a generic screen name from a list that has been developed
in advance. This prevents the disclosure of any personally identifiable
information.
When a participant under the age of 18 is selected as a prize-winner
in a contest or sweepstakes, an e-mail is sent to the parent or guardian.
This
e-mail contains a form that requests the participant's real name
and address and a parental permission form. For the participant to receive
the prize,
the parent or guardian must fill out and sign the form and then mail
or fax it to the address or number indicated on the form.
COOKIES/IP ADDRESSES
Like many companies, Peanut Corporation of America may use "cookie" technology
to track customer visits through our sites. Cookies are pieces of information
that a web site transfers to an individual's hard drive for record-keeping
purposes. They enhance the on-line experience by saving your preferences
while you are visiting a particular site.
The cookies Peanut Corporation of America uses do not contain any
personally identifying information and cannot profile your system
nor collect
information from your hard drive. And although you may receive
cookies from many different
sites, each cookie can only be read by the Web server that originally
issued it. You are not even identified by name or e-mail address,
just by a unique
string of numbers that we assign the first time you come to our
site.
We use your IP address in two ways: to help diagnose problems with
our server and to administer our web sites, and also to gather
broad demographic information.
POLLS & SURVEYS
Information gathered from polls and surveys are only for internal
use of Peanut Corporation of America. If sample answers to polls
or surveys
are posted
on the web site, then no identifiable Personal Information is
ever included.
CHOICE/OPT-OUT
In every outgoing email, we provide users with the opportunity
to opt out of receiving future communication.
HOW TO CONTACT US
If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy, the Legal
Policy, the practices of this site, your dealings with this
web site, or
your Personal Information, you can always contact us at our
e-mail address, webmaster@peanutcorp.com.
FINAL NOTE
Our goal at Peanut Corporation of America is to provide a
safe Internet environment for you and your children. While
children and young adults
are encouraged to play any PCA games and explore the web
sites,
we remind them
often that their parents will be notified if they give
us their e-mail address and their parent's written permission is
required
for them
to be eligible
to win prizes. We urge parents to spend time with their
children on our web sites. Sit with them and share the experience.
While Peanut Corporation
of
America does everything we can to ensure your child's privacy
and safety, informed parents are the best protectors of
their children.
