THE POINT, LLC PRIVACY POLICY

Principles

The Point is an online service that lets groups of people create Campaigns to pool resources, including money and personal commitments to take action, in order to bring about change, make purchases and raise money. Toward this end, a variety of different features are incorporated to allow you to communicate with other users through public and private messaging, to share with open and closed groups of people certain information about yourself, and at times to direct payments towards certain causes, among other uses. All of these features exist for the sole purpose of improving the effectiveness of
The Point. Profiles on The Point may be viewed by all visitors to The Point.

What information is collected?

Membership on The Point requires your name and email address. The user at any point may add or change other information on their profile. The Point will never share a user's email address or password.

Postings on public forums will contain the user’s name and will allow viewers to link to the public contents of that poster’s profile. In forums where anonymous postings are allowed, both guest and anonymous users may post without their username. However, while The Point endeavors to protect the identity of users who make anonymous posts, The Point does not guarantee the anonymity of users, and The Point expressly disclaims any and all liability, including but not limited to direct, indirect, consequential, punitive liability, that may occur as a result of the discovery of the identity of users who make posts intended to be anonymous.

When you visit The Point, we collect your browser type, OS type, IP address, and geocode (if available from your browser) and any other relevant profile information that we may from time-to-time expressly solicit from members. This information is gathered for all The Point visitors, and logged with a timestamp. In addition, we store certain information from your browser using "cookies." A cookie is a piece of data stored on the user's computer tied to information about the user. We use session ID cookies to confirm that users are logged in. These cookies terminate once the user closes the browser. By default, we use a persistent cookie that stores your login ID (but not your password) to make it easier for you to login when you come back to The Point. You can remove or block this cookie using the settings in your browser if you wish to disable this convenience feature.

Why is this information gathered and how is it used?

All information gathered by The Point is for the express purpose of enabling a more productive, customized, and efficient experience for our users. We do not sell user information. Private information gathered may be used to verify users in order to increase the soundness of a Campaign, by a Campaign in which the user is a member to make a statement (as organized by members of that Campaign), or any other disclosure if, and only if, approved by the user whose information is being revealed.

The posting of personal information on The Point is entirely at your own risk. We cannot control the actions of other users with whom you may choose to share your pages and information. Therefore, we cannot and do not guarantee that personal information you post on The Point will not be viewed by unauthorized persons. You understand and acknowledge that, even after removal, copies of personal information may remain viewable in cached and archived pages or if other users have copied or stored your personal information.

Any improper collection or misuse of information provided on The Point is a violation of The Point’s Terms of Service and should be reported to abuse@thepoint.com.

IP addresses and geocodes may be gathered by The Point to help classify the region of a Campaign when applicable, and to ensure that all times displayed correspond correctly to the user’s time zone. IP address and other browser information can only be gathered when the settings on the users’ computer allow for it.

Campaign information, detached from any private information, will also be reviewed by The Point staff periodically for the purpose of improving the website and enforcing the Terms of Use.

We may occasionally email you notifications regarding new services, the status of a Campaign you belong to, internal messages you have received from other site members, and other account information.

Any information that is made public may be used in feeds and searches available to all users.

Credit Card Information and Security

The Point does not store credit card information. Credit card transactions are transmitted to a secure financial gateway, and we endeavor to protect the security of your payment information during transmission by using Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) technology.

Credit card information is stored in an encrypted form by Trust Commerce, our payment gateway provider. The Point stores only the last four digits of any credit card with a reference ID for the Trust Commerce account.

Archives

The Point may keep copies of user information or Campaigns after their removal from the site in archive storage. This archive storage may include past versions of stored items that have since been modified or deleted.

Children Under Age 13

The Point does not knowingly collect any information from persons under the age of 13. If The Point learns that a posting is by a person under the age of 13, The Point will remove that post.

Children Between the Ages of 13 and 18

We recommend that minors over the age of 13 ask their parents for permission before sending any information about themselves to anyone over the Internet.

The Point, or people who post on The Point, may provide links to third party websites, which may have different privacy practices. We are not responsible for, nor have any control over, the privacy policies of those third party websites, and encourage all users to read the privacy policies of each and every website visited.

Changes to this privacy policy

The Point may amend this privacy policy from time to time, at its sole discretion. Use of information we collect now is subject to the privacy policy in effect at the time such information is used. If we make changes to the privacy policy, we will notify you by posting an announcement on The Point website to allow you to learn what information we collect, how we use it, and under what circumstances if any, it is disclosed.

Conditions of Use

If you decide to visit The Point website, your visit and any possible dispute over privacy is subject to this privacy policy and our Terms of Use, including limitations on damages, arbitration of disputes, and application of Illinois state law.

Contacting The Point

If you have any questions about this privacy policy, please contact us. You may also reach us by mail at 600 W Chicago, Suite 830, Chicago, IL, 60622.

Effective Date of this privacy policy

This privacy policy is effective as of July 1, 2007.