Privacy Policy
This policy was updated on August 1, 2011.
Everyone on the team at Red Room is concerned about online privacy. We're all consumers, like you. In the course of our daily lives, we all use a variety of websites and provide information to companies that collect our personal and financial data. Some companies use our info legitimately, within a limited scope for the purpose of doing business with us, but some go beyond the scope of what seems reasonable to us.
We don't like our personal data being collected and used in ways we didn't consent to and don't understand how to stop. We don't like getting spam, we don't like being on email lists that are difficult to unsubscribe from, and we don't like companies selling our information to other companies we aren't interested in.
We want all websites we visit and all companies we do business with to be completely transparent about what information is kept private, what information they want to use, and how they want to use it. Most importantly, we want the default settings to err on the side of privacy, and we want it to be extremely easy to understand and manage our privacy settings. And another thing: We'd like to be notified when anything regarding a company's privacy policy or how to manage settings is going to change.
It is also true that it isn't practical to constantly notify you and ask permission for every minor business or data decision we might make that could affect what data is collected or how it is used. And, there is some lawyer language that is neccessary and hard to simplify beyond what we have done already.
So, since we regard our own and your online privacy as an important and serious matter, you have our committment that we will not engage in any practices regarding your privacy that we would not want to be subject to ourselves, and that we will not engage in any practices we consider invasive, sneaky, or spammy. We would also like to hear from you if you have any suggestions or want to point us to the policies other companies leading the way by using best practices from a consumer advocate and privacy advocate standpoint. We want to be part of the solution by respecting your privacy.
–Ivory Madison, CEO and Editor in Chief
Changes to Our Policy: As we continue to expand and improve what we do, we may add new features to Red Room, change the type of information we gather, or how we gather it. That doesn't necessarily affect your privacy, but if it does, we need to have the flexibility to make changes to our privacy policy at our discretion; if we do change our privacy policy, we will notify you. Since not everyone wants to get notifications about privacy issues or these notifications might be combined with other communications (such as announcements in our newsletter), you might opt out of or ignore certain types of communications from us. If you do, please check back here for changes from time to time. We'll post changes to our policy at the bottom of the page so they're easy to find. While your continued use of our site indicates your consent to our privacy policy and any amended versions of it, we want you to be well-informed and in control of your privacy, so please contact us if you have any questions.
Third-Party Special Offers: California and Canadian residents have the right to know how their information may be shared with third parties who engage in direct marketing activities (meaning a company that contacts you directly, not through Red Room), and to opt out of having their information shared for such purposes. We will not share your personal information with third parties for the purpose of direct marketing activities, without your permission. This means we won't sell our email list, for example. From time to time we may ask your permission to let us give your information to companies whose products or services we seriously believe would be of interest to you. For example, you might want to receive special offers from a particular author or publisher, so we'll give you a chance to let us know if you do.
Information We Collect: The IP address of the computer making the request, the URL that is being requested, the date and time of the request, the referring URL, and the browser type and operating system used to make the request. It's good for us to know which pages on Red Room are popular and how people found it, and we're happy to provide data to you about how many people read your Red Room blog.
IP Addresses: An IP address is a number assigned to the computer requesting a page from our site. Usually, it is not your personal computer, but a computer used by your internet service provider or company network. Red Room uses IP addresses to help diagnose problems with our server, to administer our website, and to report aggregate information. An example of aggregate information is how many users we have in a given month from a certain ZIP/postal code.
Cookies: A cookie is a small file that is sent to your browser and stored on your computer. Our cookies save you time. We use cookies to remember certain actions you have taken, such as logging in to Red Room. If we run ads, it can make sure you don't see the same ad repeatedly. We don't like cookies that track behavior beyond the scope you expect and have given permission to track. Most web browsers will allow you to adjust your cookie settings and to even completely prevent cookies. However, some of our online services will not work if you disable cookies; let us know if you need help.
Public Profiles: The application form to register as a member of Red Room requires that you provide your real first and last name, an email address, password, and a brief bio of fifty words or more (the bio can be updated later). All registrations are subject to approval. After successful registration, you must add your photo. A Red Room editor will approve the photo and grant you membership privileges. At that point, your name, photo, and bio will appear publically on Red Room, and as a result, you will be able to access and use features for members only.
Children: Red Room does not knowingly collect information from children under the age of 13. If you are under the age of 13 and wish to use this site, please contact us and inform us prior to attempting to register so that we can comply with the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA).
Newsletters and Communications: After registering, you may receive communications from us regarding Red Room products, services, and programs, including newsletters and correspondence from us. You can instantly opt-out from some or all mailings by managing your subscriptions through the link at the bottom of our newsletters; the exception is that we need to be able to contact you regarding you individually, your account, or changes on Red Room, even if you have opted out of receiving newsletters and promotional email. If you have special preferences or instructions regarding how you would like us to contact or not contact you, please let us know and we will accomodate you, if possible.
Email This Story to a Friend: Red Room offers you the ability to easily email information from our site to your friends. We do not keep or use your friends' email addresses that you enter when forwarding a story to a friend.
Other Websites: Red Room has relationships with other companies and links to other websites. We will keep any individually identifiable information private unless otherwise noted when the information is requested; however, please be aware that Red Room is not responsible for the privacy practices or the content of other websites, even if our name or logo may appear on those sites (for example, we're listed as a sponsor on the Litquake literary festival website, but we can't be responsible for their privacy practices; we have a Red Room group on facebook but can't be responsible for their policies). If you choose to visit or use the services provided by other sites we use, link to, work with, or are even featured on, you may be asked by those sites to provide certain personally identifiable information. Some of this information may, on an individual or aggregated basis, be shared with us. For example, if a writers conference advertises in our newsletter, they might tell us how many people clicked through a link we provided and signed up for their conference.
Third-party websites may appear in a new window, or they may appear in a frame. If frames are used, you may still see our site’s URL in the address window, but you are actually on another website. In most cases, any third party page, even in a frame, is branded with the third party’s name. We encourage you to be aware when you leave our site and read the Privacy Statements of each and every website that you visit, as the privacy policy of those sites may differ from ours. Our privacy policy applies solely to Red Room.
Public Forum: Red Room offers forums, such as blogs and clubs, that are available for viewing by the general public. Please remember that any information disclosed in these areas becomes public information and you should exercise caution when deciding to disclose your personal information. We have noticed several authors and members providing email addresses, phone numbers, and physical addresses displayed on their public profiles and in public forums (such as their blog). If your email address is displayed publically, it can be read and harvested by spammers; it is much safer to encourage visitors and other members to contact you through Red Room's secure contact form.
Security: Although no system can be guaranteed to be completely secure, Red Room endeavors to make our website safe, and will continue to investigate and implement additonal security features and practices as we are able. Security measures are in place and designed to protect the loss, misuse and alteration of the information and features under our control. We seek out and work with respected financial transaction companies as vendors to handle our credit card transactions.
Illegal Activity: Red Room may be asked by law enforcement or judicial authorities to provide personally identifiable information to the appropriate governmental authorities. We will disclose personally identifiable information upon receipt of a court order, subpoena, or at our discretion in order to cooperate with a law enforcement investigation, without prior notice to you. Red Room reserves the right to share personally identifiable information to cooperate with law enforcement agencies in identifying those who use our services for illegal activities. We reserve the right to report to law enforcement agencies any activities that we believe to be unlawful. One caveat is that there have been times in recent history when law enforcement agencies have, in our opinion, issued unconstitutional demands for personal information that violate the user's privacy; in these cases, we might pursue legal protection to avoid compliance with such requests.
Sharing Information: In addition to the other situations described in this policy, Red Room may also share or disclose personally identifiable information about you to other companies or individuals when:
• We utilize third party service providers to provide products, services or functions on our behalf (such as sending emails, processing credit cards, fulfilling subscriptions or performing statistical analysis about site usage), and while we ask that these service providers agree to maintain the confidentiality of your personally identifiable information and not to use your personally identifiable information for any reason except to carry out the purpose(s) for which we have associated with them, we cannot guarantee it. Examples of third parties we provide information to might range from an author whose book you have won in a contest, to our company's use of Google Analytics.
• The entity to whom the information is disclosed is one under control of, or under common control with Red Room (if we own twenty percent or more of the other entity);
• We need to protect our legal rights (for example, if we are trying to collect money you owe us);
• We must comply with applicable laws, regulations, or legal or regulatory process; or
• In connection with a sale, merger, transfer, exchange of assets or stock of all or a portion of the business conducted by us. Red Room is independently owned and operated, and if there is ever any proposed change in control or ownership, we will notify you before such change takes place, and advise you about how we believe it will affect your privacy rights, so you can make your own decision about how to proceed.
Non-U.S. Users: If you are located outside of the United States, please note that the information you provide to us will be transferred to the United States. By using Red Room, you consent to this transfer. You also consent to the adjudication of any disputes arising in connection with this website in the federal and state courts of, and in accordance with the laws of, California, United States in which the editorial staff of this website primarily does business.
Contact: We refer to our company as "Red Room," but our full legal name is the impressive-sounding Red Room Omnimedia Corporation, and for the sake of clarity we sometimes call ourselves "redroom.com." If you have any questions about this privacy statement or how to use your privacy settings, please contact us. We want to hear about what you want and don't want in a privacy policy.