Privacy policy

This Privacy Policy is effective as of December 21, 2006.

At GoodTree, we believe privacy is very important. This Privacy Policy outlines the types of information we collect as well as steps we take to keep your private information private. Our aim is to help you make an educated decision when choosing to use the site and/or share information with us.

What This Privacy Policy Covers

This privacy policy pertains to the use of the GoodTree web site at http://www.goodtree.com/, and the GoodTree services.

This privacy policy covers how GoodTree treats information that GoodTree collects and receives.

This Privacy Policy is incorporated into and is subject to the GoodTree Terms of Service. Your use of the GoodTree website, the GoodTree services and any information you provide on the website is subject to the terms of this Privacy Policy and our Terms of Use.

The Information We Collect and How We Use It

Several GoodTree services do not require you to register for an account or provide any personal information. Such services include selecting charities, search, creating a customized homepage, and shopping. We can provide these services just by placing a cookie on your browser and associating your preferences with that cookie. Your preferences include things like your choice of charities, and your homepage configuration. Read more about cookies below.

For these no-registration-required services GoodTree collects the following information:

• Cookies: A cookie is a small file containing a unique string of characters that is sent from the GoodTree servers and saved by your browser software. Using the cookie approach provides maximum privacy protection while also allowing GoodTree to provide the desired personalized services. Browsers are typically set to accept cookies, however, you can change the settings on your browser to notify you when a site is sending a cookie to your browser or, alternatively, to refuse cookies altogether. If your cookies are disabled, these no-registration-required GoodTree services will not function properly. If the GoodTree cookie is cleaned from your browser, and you haven’t registered with personally identifiable information, then all your preferences will be lost, and you will need to reset your preferences to continue using GoodTree’s personalized services.
• Log information: When you use GoodTree services, our servers automatically record the data that your browser sends whenever you visit a website. These "server logs" include data such as browser type, Internet Protocol address, your web request, the date and time of your requests, and your GoodTree cookie(s) that uniquely identify your browser.
• Search Query Data: GoodTree search logs, including every search query, are deleted from the database after 72 hours. Furthermore, during these 72 hours, the search queries are stored in a one-way hash format which insures that the real search query cannot be recovered. The reason we keep the one-way hashed queries for 72 hours rather than dumping them immediately is so we can monitor and prevent "search fraud," where a user does more searches than their normal activity.
• Clear Gifs Information: When you use the GoodTree website, we may employ clear gifs (a.k.a. web beacons), which are used to anonymously track the online usage patterns of users without collecting any personally identifiable information about you.
• Clear gifs search query data, log information and cookies are non-personal information because such information is not collected or used in such a way that an individual user can be identified, for example, by name or email address.
• We use non-personal information to: (a) remember information so that you will not have to re-enter it during your current or subsequent visits to the GoodTree website; (b) provide custom, personalized content and information; (c) monitor the effectiveness of our marketing campaigns; (d) monitor aggregate metrics such as total number of visitors and traffic; (e) diagnose or fix technology problems; (f) access your information after you sign in; and (h) market our website to advertisers and other third parties.

For GoodTree services where registration is required, we will collect the non-personal information described above, and in addition, we collect the following types of personal information for the following purposes (personal information is information that personally identifies you, such as your name, email address, home address, phone numbers, or other data which can be reasonably linked to such information):

• Information you provide: When you sign up for a GoodTree service that requires registration, we ask you for personal information. Examples of that information include your name, email address, birth date, account password, etc. For the purpose of providing you with a better experience or improving the quality of our services, we may combine the information you submitted with information from other GoodTree websites or services. For certain services, we may provide you the choice of opting out from combining such information.
• Inviting Friends: When you invite new users to use GoodTree or invite friends to join your GoodTree network, and when you send messages through GoodTree, we collect and store those messages, including email addresses and content. If you use a third-party address book like Yahoo or Hotmail to send invitations to friends, we do not store your password to those services.
• If you invite another person to join GoodTree, we use the name and email address you provide us to contact that person and, if necessary, remind that person that he or she has been invited to join GoodTree. All invitees are given the option not to receive further invitations from GoodTree.
• User communications: If you send email to GoodTree, we may retain those communications in order to reply to your inquiries, fulfill your requests and to improve our services.
• Affiliated sites: Some of GoodTree’s services are provided in cooperation with other online services and websites. Personal information that you provide to those sites may be sent to GoodTree in order to deliver the service to you on the GoodTree site. This Privacy Policy also governs how we process such information. The affiliated sites may have different privacy practices and we suggest you also read their privacy policies.
• Links: GoodTree may present links in a format that lets us keep track of when these links have are clicked. We use this information to improve the quality of our services, to estimate traffic we send to third party sites, and to customize content and advertising experiencing.
• Sensitive Information: We will not collect or use sensitive information for reasons other than those described in this Policy and/or in the specific service sections, unless we obtain your prior consent.

When We May Share Your Information

GoodTree shares collected information (both personal and non-personal information) with our subsidiaries, affiliated companies or other trusted businesses or persons who process such information on our behalf in order for us to provide or improve our services. We require that these parties agree to process such information in compliance with this Privacy Policy, and to take reasonable confidentiality and security measures with respect to such information.

We share non-personal information (such as anonymous website use data) with third-parties to assist them in understanding our website, including usage of our website and the services we provide and the success of advertisements and promotions.

We may release collected information if required to do so by law, or in the good-faith belief that such action is necessary to comply with state and federal laws (such as U.S. Copyright Law) or respond to a court order, subpoena, or search warrant. It may be necessary to share collected information in order to investigate, prevent, or take action regarding suspected or actual illegal activities, including but not limited to, fraud, potential threats to public safety or the physical safety of any person, violations of our Terms of Use, or as otherwise permitted by law.

GoodTree also reserves the right to disclose collected Information that GoodTree believes is appropriate or necessary to enforce our Terms of Use, take precautions against liability, to investigate and defend itself against any third-party claims or allegations, to assist government enforcement agencies, to protect the security or integrity of our website, and to exercise or protect the rights, property, or personal safety of GoodTree, our users or others.

In the event that GoodTree is acquired by or merged with a third party entity, we reserve the right to transfer or assign the information we have collected from you as part of such merger, acquisition, sale, or other change of control. If GoodTree is involved in a change of control we will provide notice before personal information becomes subject to a different privacy policy.

In the unlikely event of our bankruptcy, insolvency, reorganization, receivership, or assignment for the benefit of creditors, or the application of laws or equitable principles affecting creditors' rights generally, we may not be able to control how your personal information is treated, transferred, or used.

Except as described above, GoodTree will not share your personal information with third parties unless you have elected to "opt in" to such sharing of your information.

Please contact us for any additional questions about the management or use of personal data.

Your Choices

When you sign up for a GoodTree service that requires registration, such as networking, we ask you for personal information. If we want to use your personal information for purposes other than those described in this Policy, we will provide you with an effective way to opt into such use.

We will not collect or use personal information for reasons other than those described in this Privacy Policy and/or in the specific service sections, unless we obtain your prior consent.

You can decline to submit personal information to any of our services, in which case GoodTree may not be able to provide those services to you.

Information security

We have adopted certain measures to preserve the integrity and security of your personal information. We cannot, however, ensure or warrant the security of any personal information and you provide such information at your own risk.

Updating personal information

For many of our services, we provide secure and easily accessible mechanisms for updating and correcting your personal information and preferences. For more information, please see the FAQ pages.

Our Commitment To Children's Privacy

Protecting the privacy of young children is especially important. For that reason, GoodTree does not knowingly collect personal information on its website from persons under 13 years of age, and no part of our website is directed to persons under 13. If you are under 13 years of age, then please do not use or access the GoodTree website at any time or in any manner. For people between the ages of 13 and 18, we recommend you ask your parents for permission before providing any personal information to anyone over the Internet, including GoodTree.

International Users

The GoodTree website is hosted in the United States and is intended for and directed to Users in the United States. If you are accessing the GoodTree website from the European Union, Asia, or any other region with laws or regulations governing personal data collection, use, and disclosure, that differ from United States laws, please be advised that through your continued use of the GoodTree website, which is governed by U.S. law, this Privacy Policy, and our Terms of Use, you are transferring your personal information to the United States and you consent to that transfer.

Changes to this Policy

This Privacy Policy may change from time to time. We will post those changes on this page and, if the changes are significant, we will provide a prominent notice. Please revisit this page to stay aware of any material changes. Your continued use of the GoodTree website or services constitutes your agreement to this Privacy Policy and any future revisions.

More information

GoodTree adheres to the US Safe Harbor privacy principles. For more information about the Safe Harbor framework or our registration, see the Department of Commerce's website.

For more information about our privacy practices, or for questions and complaints, please email us at any time, or write to us here:

GoodTree Privacy
c/o GoodTree Inc
703 Market Street, Suite 470
San Francisco, California 94103

What This Privacy Policy Covers

This Privacy Policy applies only to websites and services that are owned and operated by GoodTree. We do not exercise control over the sites displayed as search results or linked to or from within our various services. These other sites may place their own cookies or other files on your computer, collect data or solicit information from you. We encourage you to read their privacy policies before you enter into an exchange with them.

GoodTree may allow other companies to serve advertisements on its website. These third-party advertisers use technology to send, directly to your browser, the advertisements and links that appear on the website. They automatically receive your IP address when this happens. They may also use other technologies (such as cookies, JavaScript, or web beacons) to measure the effectiveness of their advertisements and to personalize the advertising content to a certain audience.

GoodTree Network Privacy Notice

June 21, 2007

The GoodTree Network is an integrated part of the overall GoodTree home page service that allows GoodTree members to set up unique personal profiles that can be linked together through networks of friends or strangers with common interests. GoodTree Network members can view each others' profiles, communicate with old friends and meet new friends on the service, share photos, post journals and comments, and describe their interests. To enrich our members' experience, we request and display some personal information to other members and visitors, which allows our users to identify each other and get to know one another better. GoodTree Network members can change their profile information at any time and control how other members and the service communicates with them. The following describes our privacy practices that are specific to the GoodTree Network services on the GoodTree.com site.

Personal information

You need a GoodTree Account to use the GoodTree Network. GoodTree asks for personal information when creating a GoodTree Account, including your email address and a password, which is used to protect your account from unauthorized access. A GoodTree Account allows you to access many of our services that require registration.

As a GoodTree Network member, you can create a profile or a "Tree" (a group) that includes personal information, such as your age, occupation, interests, and gender, plus other content, such as photos. This information may be accessed and viewed by other GoodTree members and people browsing the GoodTree site.

When you invite new members into your network or send messages through GoodTree, we collect and store those messages.

Uses

GoodTree maintains your personal information in order to provide your GoodTree Network account and related networking services that let you get to know other people, and let them to get to know you in some way. Your profile information is controlled by you. You can delete it at any time.

When you send messages through GoodTree, your name and address will be identified in the message. We also use your name and email address to notify you of new members, messages, or other information, such as invitations to join friends' "Trees", new profile updates, new photos, etc.

If you invite another person to join GoodTree, we use the name and email address you provide us to contact that person and, if necessary, remind that person that he or she has been invited to join GoodTree. All invitees are given the option not to receive further invitations from GoodTree.

Your Choices

You can update or delete your profile information at any time by clicking on the "edit" button in your profile setting.

You can edit or delete your GoodTree Network profile at any time. When you do, your profile, including any messages to you, will be removed from the site and deleted from GoodTree servers. Such deletion may not be immediate, and residual copies of your profile information may remain but will not be visible to the public on the GoodTree site.

More information

GoodTree adheres to the US Safe Harbor privacy principles. For more information about the Safe Harbor framework or our registration, see the Department of Commerce's website.

For more information about our privacy practices, or for questions and complaints, please email us any time, or write to us here:

GoodTree Privacy
c/o GoodTree Inc
703 Market Street, Suite 470
San Francisco, California 94103

Personalized Home Page Privacy Notice

December 21, 2006

The following details GoodTree’s privacy practices that are in addition to the general GoodTree Privacy Policy and specific to the GoodTree Personalized Homepage service.

Personally Identifiable information

You do not need a GoodTree Account to create a personalized homepage on GoodTree, but you will need one in order to use certain advanced features, such as saving your preferences securely, using the same home page configuration on multiple computers, or using certain "Boxes" that require personal information -- like weather, or photo feeds from other social networks. To create a GoodTree account, we ask for personal information, including your email address and a password, which is used to protect your account from unauthorized access. A GoodTree Account allows you to access many of our services that require registration.

When you use the GoodTree Personalized Homepage, GoodTree’s servers automatically record log information which may include information about your preference settings.

Uses

GoodTree maintains personal information in order to provide your personalized homepage and other services. This information will be stored in a cookie on your machine and sent to GoodTree when you request the page.

Your choices

You can change or delete your GoodTree Account and/or preference settings any time. Note that when you close some sections of your personalized homepage, such as Bookmarks, your settings are still saved and will reappear if you add that section back to your homepage later.

You can delete your cookie with your preferences stored by following the instructions for deleting cookies in your browser in our FAQ.

Information Sharing

Some GoodTree Personalized Homepage Widgets are provided by third parties, who may process your preference settings for that box in order to provide their service. In some cases, other information including one or more of your GoodTree cookies may also be available to the third party at that time, although third parties are prohibited by contract from accessing any information about you or your GoodTree cookies unrelated to the section they provide. Use of your information by these third parties is not governed by this Privacy Policy.

We may share aggregate statistics about Personalized Homepage usage with our business partners. We will not share personal information with these partners or any third parties, except under the narrow circumstances described in the GoodTree Privacy Policy at http://goodtree.com/about/privacy

More information

GoodTree adheres to the US Safe Harbor privacy principles. For more information about the Safe Harbor framework or our registration, see the Department of Commerce's website.

For more information about our privacy practices, or for questions and complaints, please email us at any time, or write to us here:

GoodTree Privacy
c/o GoodTree Inc
703 Market Street, Suite 470
San Francisco, California 94103

GoodTree Privacy Definitions and FAQ

What is personal information?

We consider "personal information" to be information you provide to us that personally identifies you, such as your name, email address, home address, phone numbers, or other data which can be reasonably linked to such information.

What is non-personal information?

We define "non-personal information" as data we collect from many people and aggregate into groups so that it is no longer connected to individually identifiable users.

What is collected information?

We define "collected information" as both the personal and non-personal information that we collect from our users.

What is sensitive information?

We define "sensitive personal information" as personal information related to confidential medical information, racial or ethnic origins, political or religious beliefs or sexuality.

What is a GoodTree Account?

In order for you to use some GoodTree services, we need to be able to authenticate you and protect your preferences and personal information from unauthorized access. To do that, we ask that you sign up for a unique account, typically secured by your unique email address, a password and your name. Several services on GoodTree may share this personal information in order to customize experiences and improve our services for you. No account information is shared with anyone other than GoodTree except as specified in the Privacy Policy or with your consent.

You can edit or terminate your account at any time through your GoodTree Account settings.

What is a cookie?

A cookie is a small file containing a unique string of characters that is sent from a website’s servers and saved by your browser software when you first visit the website. On subsequent visits to the same website, the cookie allows the site to recognize your browser. The unique string of characters in a cookie may store user preferences and other information. You can reset your browser to refuse all cookies or to notify you when a cookie is being sent. However, some website features or services may not function properly without cookies.

How do I delete a cookie?

Deleting cookies is different for each browser. These are instructions for popular browsers used. If you don't use any of these browser, refer to your browser's website for instructions.

• Select 'Internet Options...' from the 'Tools' menu.
• Click on "Delete Cookies..." from the 'Temporary Internet files' section.
• Click 'Ok' on the confirmation window that appears.

• Select 'Options' from the 'Tools' menu.
• Click on 'Privacy' from the top selections, then click on the 'Cookies' tab.
• Click 'Clear Cookies Now'

• Select 'Preferences' from the 'Safari' menu.
• Click on 'Security' from the top selections.
• Click on the 'Show Cookies' button.
• Select the 'GoodTree' cookies and click on the 'Remove' button. Or you can also 'Remove All'

What are server logs?

Websites are "served" off servers, which are over-sized computers. These servers automatically record, or "log," the page requests made when a user visits a website. These "server logs" include data such as browser type, Internet Protocol address, your web request, the date and time of your requests, and your cookie(s) that uniquely identify your browser.

What information does GoodTree receive if I click on a link displayed on GoodTree?

When you click on a link displayed on GoodTree, we record the fact that someone using your browser, as identified by your unique cookie, clicked on that link. This information is stored for 72 hours in a one-way hashing scheme, which prevents us or anyone from seeing the actual queries performed. After 72 hours, those stored queries are deleted from our database.

URLs and embedded information

Some of our services, including GoodTree Toolbar, send the uniform resource locators ("URLs") of web pages that you request to GoodTree. GoodTree does not exercise any control over these third-party websites or whether they embed personal information into URLs.

What protections do I have against government investigations into my use of GoodTree services?

GoodTree complies with the same laws and processes that all lawful companies abide by, including search warrants, court orders, subpoenas and other processes seeking personal information. The primary protections you have against intrusions by the government are the laws that apply to where you live.

If you have any additional questions or concerts about this policy, please email us at any time, or write to us here:

GoodTree Privacy
c/o GoodTree Inc
703 Market Street, Suite 470
San Francisco, California 94103