LAST UPDATED September 10, 2009
INTRODUCTION
TAUI International Enterprises, Inc., a company incorporated under the laws of the State of New York, U.S.A. (referred to herein as "TAUI," "we," "us" and "our"), understands the importance of the privacy of individuals (referred to as "users" and "you") who visit and interact with our websites, participate in our webinars and classes, or purchase TAUI products online. This TAUI Security and Privacy Statement (the "Statement") outlines the information TAUI collects through TAUIENTERPRISES.COM, TAUI.BIZ, METUNETERWORLD.COM (collectively, the "TAUI WEBSITES"), and how TAUI will use and disclose that information. This Statement represents the sole, authorized statement of TAUI's practices with respect to the collection of information through the TAUI WEBSITES and TAUI's use of such information. By using the TAUI WEBSITES, you agree to this Statement. If you do not agree to this Statement, please do not use the TAUI WEBSITES.
This Statement applies solely to TAUI's collection of information through the TAUI WEBSITES and TAUI's use and disclosure of such information. This Statement does not apply to any of the following: (a) TAUI's collection of information through any website other than the TAUI WEBSITES, or the use or disclosure of any information so collected; (b) TAUI's collection of information offline, for example, by telephone or direct mail or a TAUI sponsored event, or the use or disclosure of any information so collected; or (c) the collection, use or disclosure of information by any of our subsidiaries or affiliated entities or any third party.
TAUI controls and operates the TAUI WEBSITES from its offices located in the State of New York, U.S.A. and the TAUI WEBSITES are not intended to subject TAUI to the laws or jurisdiction of any state, country or territory other than those of the United States. TAUI makes no representation or warranty that any TAUI WEBSITE, in whole or in part, is appropriate or available for use in other locations. Those who choose to access the TAUI WEBSITES from other locations do so on their own initiative and at their own risk and are responsible for compliance with local laws, rules and regulations, if and to the extent local laws, rules or regulations are applicable.
CHANGES TO THIS STATEMENT. Because our business changes continually, we reserve the right to change this Statement without prior notice. You can determine when this Statement was last revised by referring to the "LAST UPDATED" legend at the top of this page. Any changes to this Statement will become effective upon posting of the revised Statement on the Internet, accessible through the TAUI WEBSITES. Your continued use of the TAUI WEBSITES following the posting of changes to our Statement will signify your acceptance of those changes.
THE INFORMATION WE COLLECT. We collect two basic types of information through the TAUI WEBSITES: Personally Identifiable Information and Non-Personally Identifiable Information. "Personally Identifiable Information" (or "PII") is information that identifies you as an individual — for example, your name, address, telephone number, email address, credit card information, billing address and shipping information. "Non-Personally Identifiable Information" (or "Non-PII") is aggregated information, demographic information, IP addresses and any other information that does not reveal your specific identity.
PERSONALLY IDENTIFIABLE INFORMATION (PII)
You do not have to provide PII to access the TAUI WEBSITES. However, in order for you to take advantage of particular opportunities provided through the TAUI WEBSITES (for example, to register for an account with TAUI, to register for a distance learning course or webinar (online seminar), to make a purchase through a TAUI WEBSITE, or to sign up to receive TAUI email newsletters), we may require that you furnish us with PII through the TAUI WEBSITES. TAUI will collect PII from you through the TAUI WEBSITES only when you provide it to us voluntarily.
NON-PERSONALLY IDENTIFIABLE INFORMATION (NON-PII)
When you visit and interact with the TAUI WEBSITES, we and our third party and affiliated service providers who provide certain services (including without limitation website hosting, data analysis, newsletter services, social networking, order fulfillment, and other services of an administrative nature) (such third party and affiliated service providers, our "Service Providers") may collect Non-PII (for example, a list of the TAUI WEBSITE pages you visit). Non-PII is generally collected from four different sources: server log files, cookies, pixel tags, and information that you voluntarily provide.
SERVER LOG FILES
Your Internet Protocol (IP) address is an identifying number that is automatically assigned to your computer by your Internet Service Provider (ISP). This number is identified and logged automatically in our and/or our Service Providers' server log files whenever you visit the TAUI WEBSITES, along with the time(s) of your visit(s) and the page(s) that you visited. We use your IP address, and the IP addresses of all users, to calculate usage levels on the TAUI WEBSITES, to help diagnose problems with the TAUI WEBSITES' servers, and to administer the TAUI WEBSITES. We also reserve the right to use IP addresses to communicate with users and, if necessary, to block access by users who fail to comply with our Terms and Conditions of Use located at www.taui.biz /ConditionsInfo.aspx page (the "Terms and Conditions of Use") or other policies. Collecting IP addresses is standard practice on the Internet and IP addresses are collected automatically by many websites.
COOKIES
To enhance your experience with the TAUI WEBSITES, the TAUI WEBSITES use "cookies." Cookies are text files we place in your computer's browser to store your preferences. We use cookies to understand TAUI WEBSITE usage and to improve the content and offerings on the TAUI WEBSITES. For example, we may use cookies to personalize your experience on the TAUI WEBSITES (e.g., to recognize you by name when you return to an TAUI WEBSITE), and to make the login process easier for password-protected areas of the TAUI WEBSITES. The "Help" menu, accessible through the menu bar of most browsers, may tell you how to prevent your browser from accepting new cookies, how to have the browser notify you when you receive a new cookie, and/or how to disable cookies altogether. Note, however, that cookies allow you to take full advantage of some of our most innovative and useful features.
PIXEL TAGS
We and our Service Providers may also use so-called "pixel tags," "web beacons," "clear GIFs" or similar means (collectively, "Pixel Tags") in connection with some TAUI WEBSITE pages and HTML-formatted email messages to, among other things, compile aggregate statistics about website usage and response rates. A Pixel Tag is an electronic image, often a single pixel (1x1), that is ordinarily not visible to website visitors and may be associated with cookies on 'visitors' hard drives. Pixel Tags allow us and our Service Providers to count users who have visited certain pages of the TAUI WEBSITES, to deliver customized services, and to help determine the effectiveness of promotional or advertising campaigns. When used in HTML-formatted email messages, Pixel Tags can tell the sender whether and when the email has been opened.
OTHER NON-PERSONALLY IDENTIFIABLE INFORMATION THAT YOU VOLUNTARILY PROVIDE
We also collect certain Non-PII — for example, information about your interests, your geographic location, etc. — when you voluntarily provide such information to us. Additionally, we may aggregate PII in a manner such that the end-product does not personally identify you or any other user of the TAUI WEBSITES, for example, by using PII to calculate the percentage of our users who have a particular zip code or telephone area code. Such aggregate information is deemed to be Non-PII for purposes of this Statement.
HOW DO WE USE THE PII WE COLLECT?
We may use the PII we collect in the following ways:
RESPONDING TO YOUR INQUIRIES AND FULFILLING YOUR REQUESTS
We may use your PII to respond to your inquiries to TAUI and to fulfill your requests — for example, to send you newsletters that you request when you sign up to join our mailing lists, to send you updates about TAUI news and events, or to provide your PII to TAUI Associate Members (as defined in our Terms and Conditions of Use) when you provide it to us for such purpose.
COMMUNICATING WITH YOU ABOUT PRODUCTS AND SERVICES
Subject to your right to opt out (see "OPTING OUT OF CERTAIN TAUI COMMUNICATIONS" below), we may use your PII to send you information about specials, new products and services, and other items that may be of interest to you.
PERSONALIZING YOUR TAUI WEBSITE EXPERIENCE
We may use your PII to personalize your experience on the TAUI WEBSITES, for example, by presenting products and offers to you through the TAUI WEBSITES that we believe may be of interest to you.
SENDING ADMINISTRATIVE EMAILS
From time to time, at our sole discretion, we may use your PII to send you emails (a) to confirm your registration with the TAUI WEBSITES, (b) to confirm a transaction through the TAUI WEBSITES, (c) to inform you that we have received your PII, (d) to provide you with information regarding the TAUI WEBSITES, or (e) to inform you of changes to this Statement, our Terms and Conditions of Use, or our other terms, conditions, or policies ("Administrative Emails"). Because this information may be critical to your use of the TAUI WEBSITES, you may not opt out of receiving Administrative Emails.
TO WHOM DO WE DISCLOSE THE PII WE COLLECT?
We may disclose the PII we collect in the following ways:
DISCLOSURE TO THIRD PARTIES FOR DIRECT MARKETING PURPOSES
We may disclose your PII to third parties for their direct marketing purposes only when you affirmatively consent to such disclosure. For example:
Disclosing your PII to TAUI Associate Members
If you wish to order products through a TAUI Associate Member or to otherwise have a TAUI Associate Member work with you to facilitate your TAUI experience, TAUI needs to provide your PII to such TAUI Associate Member. Therefore, if you opt in to having a TAUI Associate Member work with you to facilitate your TAUI experience or to having your PII shared with a TAUI Associate Member — for example, if you choose to become "attached" to a TAUI Associate Member by logging in to a TAUI WEBSITE after following a link from such member’s email; or if you place an order through a TAUI Associate Member's portal — we may disclose your PII to such TAUI Associate Member.
Facilitating Special Offers from Third Parties
From time to time, we may give you the opportunity to opt in to participate in special third party offers that require us to share certain PII with such third parties. We will disclose this anticipated sharing of PII at the time we make such opportunities available to you. If you opt in to participate in such an offer, we may disclose your PII to such third parties for their direct marketing purposes. We recommend that you consult such third parties' privacy policies in advance if you wish to participate in these offers.
DISCLOSING TAUI ASSOCIATE MEMBER INFORMATION
If you are a TAUI Associate Member, we may disclose certain PII (for example, your name, email address, telephone number and other contact information) and other information to customer members who are or who become attached to you, and to other TAUI Associate Members (for example, if you are a "downline" TAUI Associate Member, we may make your PII and other information about you available to your Sponsoring Member).
ENABLING SERVICE PROVIDERS TO PROVIDE SERVICES
We may share your PII with Service Providers for the purpose of enabling them to provide services. Although we seek to require our Service Providers to treat PII confidentially, TAUI is not responsible or liable for the statements, acts or omissions of such Service Providers.
FACILITATING SWEEPSTAKES, CONTESTS AND SIMILAR PROMOTIONS
We may, whether alone or in cooperation with third party sponsors, operate sweepstakes, contests and similar promotions ("Promotions") through or in connection with the TAUI WEBSITES. We typically ask you for certain PII when you enter or otherwise participate in a Promotion, and, if applicable, when you win a Promotion. We reserve the right to share this PII with affiliated and third party sponsors of such Promotions ("Sponsors"), or otherwise in accordance with the rules applicable to the Promotion. You should carefully review the rules of each Promotion in which you participate through the TAUI WEBSITES, as they may contain important additional information about our or Sponsors' use of your PII. To the extent that the terms and conditions of such rules concerning the treatment of your PII conflict with this Statement, the terms and conditions of such rules shall control.
FACILITATING "SEND TO A FRIEND" EMAIL FUNCTIONALITY
If you wish to use a TAUI WEBSITE's functionality to send a friend a link to a TAUI WEBSITE page, you must provide us with your name and email address, as well as your friend's name and email address, so that we may facilitate your sending of such link. Your name and your email address will be disclosed to your friend in such email.
BUSINESS TRANSFERS
We reserve the right to transfer any and all PII and Non-PII that we collect from users of the TAUI WEBSITES to a third party in the event of any merger, sale, joint venture, assignment, transfer or other disposition of all or any portion of TAUI's assets or stock (including without limitation in connection with any bankruptcy or similar proceedings).
OTHER DISCLOSURES
Finally, notwithstanding any other provision of this Statement or the Terms and Conditions of Use to the contrary, we reserve the right to disclose and use your PII if we believe that we are required to do so: (a) by law; (b) in response to legal process, for example, in response to a court order or a subpoena; (c) in response to a law enforcement agency's request; (d) to enforce the Terms and Conditions of Use or our other terms, conditions, or policies; (e) to protect our operations; (f) to protect the rights, privacy, safety or property of TAUI, you or others; and/or (g) to permit us to pursue available remedies or limit the damages that we may sustain. For example, we may, to the fullest extent the law allows, disclose PII about you to law enforcement agencies to assist them in identifying individuals who have been or may be engaged in unlawful activities.
HOW DO WE USE AND DISCLOSE THE NON-PII WE COLLECT?
Because Non-PII does not personally identify you, we reserve the right to use Non-PII, and to disclose Non-PII to third parties, for any purpose.
COLLECTION, USE AND DISCLOSURE OF INFORMATION BY THIRD PARTIES
NOTE THAT THIS STATEMENT DOES NOT ADDRESS THE PRIVACY PRACTICES OR POLICIES OF THIRD PARTIES, INCLUDING TAUI ASSOCIATE MEMBERS. Without limiting the foregoing:
TAUI ASSOCIATE MEMBERS
This Statement does not apply to the collection, use or disclosure of information by TAUI Associate Members, who are independent third party contractors of TAUI and are not otherwise affiliated with TAUI. For example, this Statement does not apply to: (a) the use or disclosure of information collected, stored or processed by TAUI Associate Members through the TAUI WEBSITES; or (b) any communication between you and a TAUI Associate Member, either directly (for example, through your personal email) or through or in connection with a TAUI WEBSITE (for example, through a "mailto:" email link that launches an external email application, or through a "Contact Me" link in a TAUI Associate Member's portal that takes you to an online contact form), or the use or disclosure of any information exchanged through such communication. Although we seek to ensure that TAUI Associate Members honor customers' and contacts' opt-out requests, treat customer information confidentially and act in accordance with applicable law, we are not responsible or liable for the statements, acts or omissions of TAUI Associate Members.
OPERATORS OF THIRD PARTY SITES AND SERVICES
The TAUI WEBSITES may contain links to websites operated by third parties, or may embed services operated by third parties ("Third Party Sites/Services"), and those third parties may have privacy practices that are different from ours. If you provide information through any Third Party Site/Service, such information will be collected by, and may be used and disclosed by such third parties, in accordance with the privacy practices and policies of such third parties. TAUI WEBSITE users should consult such third parties' privacy policies when using Third Party Sites/Services, as we have no control over the use or disclosure of information by third parties.
SECURITY
We are aware of concerns regarding the privacy and confidentiality of PII. We have put in place certain physical, electronic and managerial procedures to help us safeguard against unauthorized access to PII and to help maintain data security. For example, we use an encryption technology called Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) to help protect the transmission of certain information to and from the TAUI WEBSITES. Unfortunately, no data transmission over the Internet or data storage solution will be 100% secure. As a result, although we take steps to protect your PII, we cannot ensure or warrant the security of any information you transmit to or receive from us or that we store on our or our Service Providers' systems.
You are ultimately responsible for maintaining the secrecy of your user name, passwords and/or any account information. You are not permitted by TAUI to, and we recommend that you do not, disclose your username and password to any other person. If you have reason to believe that your interaction with a TAUI WEBSITE is no longer secure (for example, if you feel that the security of your TAUI WEBSITE username or password has been compromised), you must immediately notify us of the problem by contacting us in accordance with the section entitled "CONTACTING US," below. (Note that contacting us by physical mail will delay the time it takes for us to respond to your communication.)
OPTING OUT OF CERTAIN TAUI COMMUNICATIONS
If you would prefer not to receive email messages from TAUI about new products, specials and other items of interest, you may opt out from receiving such messages by following the "unsubscribe" instructions contained in any such emails you have received, or, if you have registered with a TAUI WEBSITE, you may use that TAUI WEBSITE's "MY ACCOUNT" or similar functionality to opt out from receiving such messages. If you are a TAUI Associate Member, then notwithstanding the foregoing, TAUI reserves the right to use your PII to contact you regarding any TAUI, TAUI affiliate, or third party products, services, or other items of interest.
Please note that we are not able to remove your PII from the databases and other records of TAUI Associate Members and other third parties with which we have already shared your PII pursuant to this Statement. If you wish to cease receiving marketing messages from such a TAUI Associate Member or other third party, please contact such TAUI Associate Member or other third party directly.
CHANGING OR REMOVING YOUR PII
We provide you with several options through the TAUI WEBSITES for reviewing, correcting, updating or otherwise modifying PII that you have previously provided through the TAUI WEBSITES. If you registered with a TAUI WEBSITE, you will be able to view, change, modify or remove certain information contained in your personal profile by using the tools found in the MY ACCOUNT section of the applicable TAUI WEBSITE(S). For example, if you registered as a Customer Member at TAUI.BIZ, you can use that website's "MY ACCOUNT" functionality to view, change, modify or remove certain information contained in your TAUI.BIZ profile. We will endeavor to comply with your requests to change, modify or remove your PII as soon as reasonably practicable. However, we may need to retain certain information for recordkeeping purposes, and there may also be residual information that will remain within our databases and other records, which will not be removed or changed. We also reserve the right, from time to time, to re-contact former TAUI WEBSITE visitors and users, including TAUI Associate Members (as defined in our Terms and Conditions). Finally, we are not responsible for removing information or causing information to be removed from the databases or other records of third parties (including vendors, Service Providers, and TAUI Associate Members) with whom we have already shared your PII.
CHILDREN
The TAUI WEBSITES are not directed to individuals under the age of thirteen (13), and we request that such individuals not provide personally identifiable information, or PII, through the TAUI WEBSITES.
CONTACTING US
If you have any questions regarding this Statement, please contact us either by email at nvm@nilevalley.com, or by regular mail at TAUI International Enterprises, Inc 1100 Albemarle Road Brooklyn, NY 11233 Attn: Website Administration. Please note that email communications are not necessarily secure. Accordingly, you should not include credit card information or other sensitive information in your email correspondence with us.
This Statement © 2009 TAUI International Enterprises, Inc. All rights reserved.