AlphaOps.com takes the protection and proper use of your personal information seriously. Information Collection and Use AlphaOps.com and its affiliates are the sole owners of the information collected on this site. We will not sell, share, or rent this information to others in ways different from what is disclosed in this statement. AlphaOps.com collects information from our users at several different points on our AlphaOps.com website. You may, from time to time, receive information from us about new features, new services and special offers we think you'll find valuable. Also, from time to time, we may share information with carefully selected business partners. These businesses may use the information we share to provide valuable opportunities and offers to you. If you'd like to opt out of receiving future mailings from AlphaOps.com, follow the procedure outlined in the Choice/Opt-out section below. Security When our order form asks users to enter sensitive information (such as credit card number and/or social security number), that information is encrypted and is protected with the best encryption software in the industry - SSL (Secure Socket Layers), provided by Thawte Certification, the premier encryption software company available today. While on a secure page such as our order form, the lock icon on the bottom of Web browsers such as Netscape Navigator and Microsoft Internet Explorer becomes locked, as opposed to unlocked, or open, when you are just 'surfing'. While we use SSL encryption to protect sensitive information online, we also do everything in our power to protect user-information offline. All of our users' information, like the sensitive information mentioned above, is restricted in our offices. Only employees who need the information to perform a specific job (for example, a customer service representative) are granted access to personally identifiable information. If one of these people leaves their workstation, they are required to lock their station until they return. Furthermore, ALL employees are kept up to date on our security and privacy practices. Every quarter, as well as any time new policies are added, our employees are notified and/or reminded about the importance of keeping our customers' information secure and safe at all times. Finally, the servers that we store personally identifiable information on are kept in a locked and secure environment. Correcting/Updating Personal Information If your personally identifiable information changes (such as your shipping or billing address, your preferred credit card, etc.), you can add new information or delete any addresses or credit cards from your account at the Order Summary page of our site. You can also modify your login information and opt out of our newsletter from the "My Account" link at the bottom of any page on our site. Cookies A cookie is a piece of data stored on the end-user's hard drive containing information that relates directly to the end-user's visit to our web site. Any information placed in the cookie is accessible ONLY to AlphaOps.com, and will NOT be sold or shared with anyone else under any circumstances. We use a cookie to store a unique session identifier, and this allows us to maintain your shopping cart and state selection from one page request to the next. We are also able to maintain your session information from one visit to the next. By setting a cookie on our site, the user would not have to log in more than once, thereby saving time while on our site. If a user rejects the cookie, they may still browse our site. Unfortunately, the user experience will be greatly curtailed and only the California catalog will be available. In addition, the user will be unable to log in or make a purchase. Cookies also enable us to track and target the interests of our users to enhance the experience on our site and show you the products that your order history indicates you prefer. Registration No registration is required in order to use this website, though a user must create an account prior to any purchase. During account creation a user is required to give their name, date of birth, email address, zip code, and a password of 5-16 characters in length. This information is used to contact the user about the services on our site for which they have expressed interest. It is optional for the user to provide a phone number, but encouraged so we can have another means to contact you should any reason arise regarding an order. YOUR ACCOUNT If you use this site, you are responsible for maintaining the confidentiality of your account and password and for restricting access to your computer, and you agree to accept responsibility for all activities that occur under your account or password. AlphaOps.com does sell products for children, but it sells them to adults, who can purchase with a credit card. If you are under 18, you may use AlphaOps.com only with involvement of a parent or guardian. AlphaOps.com and its affiliates reserve the right to refuse service, terminate accounts, remove or edit content, or cancel orders in their sole discretion. Ordering AlphaOps.com order forms request information from users such as: Contact information (like name and shipping address) and financial information (credit card number, expiration date, billing address, and billing phone number). This information is used for billing purposes to verify the customer is of legal age, and to fill customers' orders. If we have trouble processing an order, this contact information is used to get in touch with the user. This information is taken in a secure area, is encrypted for our customers' protection, and is not sold or shared with anyone else under any circumstances. Log Files We use IP addresses to analyze trends, administer the site, track user's movement, and gather broad demographic information for aggregate use. IP addresses are not linked to personally identifiable information. Sharing AlphaOps.com will share aggregated demographic information with its partners and advertisers. This is not linked to any personal information that can identify any individual person. We use an outside shipping company to ship orders, and a credit card processing company to bill users for goods and services. These companies do not retain, share, store or use personally identifiable information for any secondary purposes. We value your privacy very much at AlphaOps.com, and will never release any account information to anyone outside of the necessary core groups that help our business function, like those mentioned above unless our customers give us the authority to do so. Links This web site contains links to other sites. Please be aware that AlphaOps.com is not responsible for the privacy practices of such other sites. We encourage our users to be aware when they leave our site and to read the privacy statements of each and every web site that collects personally identifiable information. This privacy statement applies solely to information collected by this Web site. Newsletter If a user wishes to subscribe to our newsletter, we ask for contact information such as name and email address. If at any time you should wish to unsubscribe, simply send an email to our Customer Care group with your request and the account name you used to create your account. You may reach us at: customercare@AlphaOps.com