GerbecDesigns is committed to protecting your privacy and ensuring you have a positive experience on our website. This policy outlines our personal information handling practices for both online and offline data. If you give us personal information, we will treat it according to this policy.

This policy covers the GerbecDesigns website and is applicable worldwide.  Some of our subsidiaries or programs may have their own, possibly different, policies. We encourage you to read this privacy policy and those of all websites you visit.

Collection of your personal information

We will always tell you before we collect any Personal Information and inform you of the purpose of the collection. “Personal Information” is any information that can be used to identify an individual, and may include, but is not limited to, name, email address, postal or other physical address, credit or debit card number, title, occupation, and other information required to provide a service, deliver a product, or carry out a transaction you have requested.  Some of the reasons we collect your Personal Information include:

• registration for an account
• use of certain features of our products or services
• requesting service and support for our products or services
• registration to attend a seminar
• participation in an online survey
• submission of an entry for a sweepstakes or other promotion
• participation in discussion groups or forum
• collaboration efforts
• registration to membership programs or newsletter subscriptions

Uses of your personal information

We will only use your Personal Information in the way we specified when it was collected. We will not subsequently change the way your Personal Information is used without your consent.  Some of the ways we may use your Personal Information include:

• To process your orders and deliver the products and services that you have ordered.
• To keep you up to date on the latest product announcements, software updates, software upgrades, system enhancements, special offers, and other information. 
• To provide support and assistance for our products and services.
• To provide the ability to create personal profile areas and view protected content.
• To provide the ability to contact you, and provide you with shipping and billing information.
• To provide customer feedback and support.
• To provide contests, sweepstakes or other marketing or promotional activities on the Gerbec.com or affiliate websites. Personal Information may be collected to administer those programs.
• To conduct questionnaires and surveys in order to provide better services to our customers and end users. Your completion of any questionnaires is voluntary.
• To understand more about you, so we can personalize newsletters and websites to your preferences.  For example, allow you the opportunity to request specific information on services that may be of interest.
• To allow you to forward information to another individual such as a friend or co-worker. GerbecDesigns does not store the personal information of the third party.  We collect the information for the sole purpose of sending a one-time email.
• To meet contract obligations.

Accessing and updating your personal information

We need your help in keeping the Personal Information you have shared with us accurate and up to date.  Please notify us of any changes to your Personal Information.

Non-personal/anonymous information collection

In some instances, GerbecDesigns may collect non-personal (aggregate or demographic) data through cookies, web logs, and web beacons.  This information is used to better understand and improve the usability, performance, and effectiveness of the website.  Please read the “Cookies” section below for more information.

Sharing your personal information

We do not sell or rent your Personal Information to third parties for marketing purposes unless you have granted us permission to do so.

We may also share your Personal Information with business partners, service vendors, authorized third-party agents or contractors in order to provide a requested service or transaction, including processing orders, processing credit card transactions, hosting websites, hosting event and seminar registration and providing customer support.  We only provide these third parties with the minimum amount of Personal Information necessary to complete the requested service or transaction, and the third parties are not permitted to use your Personal Information except for limited purpose of completing the requested service or transaction.

We may respond to subpoenas, court orders, or legal process by disclosing your Personal Information and other related information, if necessary.  We also may choose to establish or exercise our legal rights or defend against legal claims.

We may collect and possibly share Personal Information and any other additional information available to us in order to investigate, prevent, or take action regarding illegal activities, suspected fraud, situations involving potential threats to the physical safety of any person, violations of GerbecDesigns’ terms of use, or as otherwise required by law.

While navigating GerbecDesigns’ web site you may be directed to content or functionality that is hosted by a third-party supplier, not on Gerbec.com.  This is typically done to host special events, such as contests.  When information is collected on behalf of GerbecDesigns exclusively, GerbecDesigns’ privacy policy will be referenced on the site and will govern how your information is used.  For other, non-GerbecDesigns sites, the site owner’s privacy policy will be referenced.  It is GerbecDesigns’ practice to require such suppliers to handle information in a manner consistent with GerbecDesigns’ privacy and security policies.

We will ask for your consent before we use or share your information for any purpose other than the reason you provided it or as otherwise provided by this policy.  In order to let us know your preferences, we will require an action on your part, such as checking the appropriate option, to indicate your consent.

Security of your personal information

GerbecDesigns is committed to protecting the Personal Information you share with us.  We utilize a combination of industry-standard security technologies, procedures, and organizational measures to help protect your Personal Information from unauthorized access, use or disclosure.

When we transfer sensitive personal data (for example, credit card information) over the Internet, we protect it using Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) encryption technology.

While we strive to protect your Personal Information, we cannot ensure the security of the information you transmit.

We recommend you to take every precaution in protecting your Personal Information when you are on the Internet.  For example, change your passwords often, use a combination of letters and numbers when creating passwords, and make sure you use a secure browser.  Please visit the Linksys website for more tips for using security features when connected to the Internet using a router.

Cookies

Like many websites, GerbecDesigns uses technologies, such as cookies and web beacons, which allow us to make your visit to our website easier, more efficient and more valuable by providing you with a customized experience and recognizing you when you return.

A cookie cannot read personal data off your hard disk or read cookie files created by other sites; indeed, the only Personal Information a cookie can contain is information you supply yourself.  Accepting the cookies used on our website may give us access to information about your browsing behavior, which we may use to personalize your experience and track user traffic patterns, and to merge this info when you register.  We do this in order to determine the usefulness of our website information to our users and to see how effective our navigational structure is in helping users reach that information.  You may browse most of GerbecDesigns' website without accepting cookies from GerbecDesings; however, some website functionality may be lost by disabling cookies on your computer.  Other GerbecDesigns web pages, particularly those which require a login and password, require cookies and cannot be used when you have disabled cookies in your browser.

In addition, GerbecDesigns uses web beacons in conjunction with cookies to understand user behavior.  Web beacons are simply a convenient way of gathering basic statistics and managing cookies, and do not give away any extra information from your computer.  Turning off your browser’s cookies will prevent web beacons from tracking your specific activity.

If you prefer not to receive cookies while browsing our website or via HTML-formatted emails, you can set your browser to warn you before it accepts cookies or refuse the cookie when your browser alerts you to its presence. You can also refuse all cookies by turning them off in your browser. For additional information about cookies and other tracking technologies, including instructions for blocking their use, see http://privacy.getnetwise.org/browsing/tools.\

Data retention

GerbecDesigns will not retain your Personal Information longer than is necessary to fulfill the purposes for which it was collected or as required by applicable laws or regulations.

Linked websites

Our websites may provide links to other third-party websites which are outside our control and not covered by this policy.  We encourage you to review the privacy policies posted on these (and all) sites you visit.

Children’s privacy

GerbecDesigns does not knowingly collect Personal Information from children under the age of 13.  If we learn that we have collected Personal Information on a child under the age of 13, we will delete that data from our systems.  GerbecDesigns encourages parents and guardians to go online with their children.  Here are a few tips to help make a child’s online experience safer:

• Teach children never to give Personal Information (such as name, address, phone number, school, etc.) unless supervised by a parent or responsible adult.
• Know the sites your children are visiting and which sites are appropriate.
• Look for website privacy policies.  Know how your child’s information is treated.

Please visit the FTC’s website for more tips on protecting children’s privacy online.

Questions or comments?

Our mailing address is:
GerbecDesigns 
P.O. Box 34059
Parma, Ohio 44134

Policy updates

GerbecDesigns may amend this privacy statement from time to time, and at any time. We will post a notice whenever this privacy statement is materially changed. Your continued use of the GerbecDesigns website after any change will signify and confirm your assent to those changes.

Date revised: April 13, 2009