Privacy Policy
Our privacy policy is in plain English, and will only take a few moments to read and understand.
Respecting your privacy is a top priority for Zipcode Village. We take every possible step so you can interact online with your neighbors—and remain as anonymous as you would like to be.
First of all, please be aware that information you post on the site is available to all users. You wouldn't give your name, address and phone number to a stranger on the street, right? So, don't post vital personal information (for example, your name, address or email address) on Zipcode Village or any other public website. When in doubt, don't post anything that may be used by someone in a manner unintended by you. And a post like this would be foolhardy: "Can somebody water my lawn at 123 Main Street while I'm away for two weeks at the end of June?"
When Is It Okay to Provide Personal Info?
In order to register you as a user of Zipcode Village, we request and collect information that personally identifies you or allows us to contact you. Such information may include your name, e-mail address, user identification password and other information collected by our cookies (described below). We strongly suggest that you don't use your real name as your "user name." (Instead, come up with a fun nickname for use on the site.)
After you have signed up, we will send an email confirmation to the email address that you provided. After you have verified your desire to become a member of Zipcode Village through this email, and your account has been established, we will not ask you again for this personal information. If for any reason you receive an email from us and you do not want to receive e-mail from us in the future, please let us know by sending an email to info@zipcodevillage.com. You can always correct or update your personal information by visiting your profile page if you are current member.
Users can contact one another by visiting each other's Profile page, and clicking on "Send a message." Create your message, hit "Submit," and a message will be sent to the other user—but it will include a link back to your Profile page rather than an email address for reply. The recipient can follow the link back to your Profile page, and respond to your email by clicking on the "Send a message" on your profile page—the same way they contacted you. By going through the site to exchange messages, your personal email will not be revealed—unless you choose to do so in the body of the message.
Cookies
Cookies are very small text files placed on your hard drive by a computer server. It serves as your identification card and is uniquely yours. A cookie can only be read by the server that gave it to you. Cookies help us personalize your experience at Zipcode Village by permitting our computer server to "remember" who you are. Cookies cannot be used to run programs or deliver viruses to your computer. You have the ability to accept or decline cookies. Most web browsers automatically accept cookies, but you can usually modify your browser setting to decline cookies if you prefer. If you reject a cookie you may still use our Site.
Children's Privacy
Children under the age of 13 are not allowed to use the site. We do not knowingly collect personal information about children under the age of 13 or allow them to use the site. If we learn that a child under the age of 13 is using the site, we will close the child's account and delete all information collected about the child—except we may keep the child's email address as a means to prevent the child from re-registering with Zipcode Village.
Security
We are committed to protecting the security of your personal information. We use a variety of security technologies and procedures to help protect your personal information from unauthorized access, use, or disclosure. We store the information you provide on computer systems with limited access that are located in secured facilities. We also protect the security of your personal information during transmission by use of technology such as firewalls, access control procedures, and Secured Socket Layer (SSL) encryption software. We urge you to use a password to protect your account from unauthorized access by others. If others, including family or household members, access and use the site through your password, you are responsible for the actions of those individuals. You should always choose to log out before leaving a site or service to protect access to your information from subsequent users.
Changes to the Zipcode Village Privacy Statement
Zipcode Village may make changes to this privacy statement from time to time. We will post changes to our privacy statement here and encourage you to periodically review this statement to be informed of how we are protecting your information.
Links
This site contains links to other web sites. We are not responsible for the privacy practices or the content of any other site.
Complaints
If you feel that this site is not following its stated information policy, please visit our Contact page. We will use reasonable efforts to promptly investigate any complaint you may have regarding our use of personal information. You may contact The DMA's Committee on Ethical Business Practices at mgoldberger@the-dma.org, state or local chapters of the Better Business Bureau, The Federal Trade Commission by phone at 202.FTC-HELP (202.382.4357).