TERMS & CONDITIONS & POLICIES & PROCEDURES

A. Information Collected

This privacy policy applies only to information collected on the Sites (ThePetProjectMidwest.org and IowaPetAlert.com) and does not apply to information collected by The Pet Project Midwest through any other means.

We collect two types of information from visitors to the Sites: (1) Personally Identifiable Information; and (2) Non-Personally Identifiable Information, such as your IP address or cookies.

(1) Personally Identifiable Information

"Personally Identifiable Information" is information that identifies you personally, such as your name, address, telephone number, email address, or company name. The Pet Project Midwest collects and stores the personally identifiable information that you have provided to us. Here are some examples of manners in which we may collect your personally identifiable information on the Sites:

We may collect your email address, first and last name and zip code if you sign up for an online alert;
We may collect your email address if you contact us with a question;
The above provides an example of the personally identifiable information that may be collected on the Sites. If you do not want The Pet Project Midwest to collect your personally identifiable information, please do not provide it to us.

(2) Non-Personally Identifiable Information

"Non-Personally Identifiable Information" can be technical information or it can be demographic information, such as your age, gender or interests. Non-personally identifiable information does NOT identify you personally. Here are some examples of the non-personally identifiable information that is collected via the Sites and a description of how this information is used:

Internet Protocol (IP) address -- Your IP address is a number that lets computers attached to the Internet know where to send you data -- such as the webpages you view. We use this information to deliver our webpages to you upon request, to tailor our Sites to the interests of our users and to measure traffic within our Sites.

Cookie -- A "cookie" is a small text file that may be used to collect information about your activity on the Sites. For example, when someone visits a page within the Sites, a cookie is placed on the user's machine (if the user accepts cookies) or is read if the user has visited the Sites previously. You may set most browsers to notify you if you receive a cookie, or you may choose to block cookies with your browser, but if you do, you may not be able to take advantage of the personalized features enjoyed by other users to our Sites.

Web Beacons (also known as "clear gifs," "web bugs" or "pixel tags") -- "Web Beacons" are tiny graphics with a unique identifier, similar in function to cookies, and are used to allow us to count users who have visited certain pages of the Sites and to help determine the effectiveness of promotional or advertising campaigns. When used in HTML-formatted email messages, web beacons can tell the sender whether and when the email has been opened. In contrast to cookies, which are stored on a user's computer hard drive, web beacons are embedded invisibly on web pages.

Demographic Information -- "Demographic Information" may be your gender, age, zip code and interests, which you voluntarily provide to us on the Sites. We use this information to provide you with personalized services and to analyze trends to ensure the information provided by the Sites meets your needs. Please note that we also consider aggregated information, which is not personally identifiable, to be non-personally identifiable information. The above list provides an example of the non-personally identifiable information that is collected via the Sites.

B. Use of Information Collected Via the Sites

(1) Personally Identifiable Information. We use your personally identifiable information that is collected on these Sites primarily for the following purposes:

To deliver services, such as information or newsletters that you request;
To alert you to special offers, updated information and other new services from The Pet Project Midwest or Iowa Pet Alert, or to forward promotional materials;
To ensure the Sites are relevant to your needs;
To help us create and publish content most relevant to you;
To notify you about a material change to this privacy policy or the Visitor Agreement, if necessary;
To allow you access to limited-entry areas of the Sites; and
To contact you in response to sign up forms such as Contact Us.

(2) Non-Personally Identifiable Information

Non-personally identifiable information is used as described above and in other ways as permitted by applicable laws, including combining non-personally identifiable information with personally identifiable information (except with respect to non-personally identifiable information collected from children under the age of 13).

C. Sharing and Disclosure of Information

(1) Personally Identifiable Information

We may share or disclose your personally identifiable information in the following instances:

(i) To fulfill a service to you. For example, if you choose to watch an educational program on the Sites, we may share your personally identifiable information in order to provide the program to you. In addition, if you email us a question, we may use your email address to process your request and respond to your question. Also, if you are entering a contest, we may use your personally identifiable information in order to fulfill the terms of that promotion. This means that we may share the information for prize fulfillment purposes or mail carriers. We also may share your information with the co-sponsor of that promotion.

(ii) To affiliates, strategic partners, agents, third party marketers or other unaffiliated parties who are offering products or services that we believe may be of interest to you or who require your personally identifiable information for research, administrative and/or internal business purposes. These parties may use your personally identifiable information to contact you with an offer or advertisement related to a product or service, or they may use such information for their own research, administration or business purposes. If you do not want us to share your personally identifiable information in this manner, please do not provide us with this information.

(iii) To unaffiliated third-party service providers, agents or independent contractors who help us maintain our Sites and provide other administrative services to us (including, but not limited to, order processing and fulfillment, providing customer service, maintaining and analyzing data, sending customer communications on TPPM's behalf, and entry collection, winner selection and prize fulfillment for contests and other promotions). We seek to ensure that these unaffiliated third parties will not use the personally identifiable information for any other purpose than to provide the administrative services for which they are responsible. Because such unaffiliated third-party service providers that help us administer our Sites will have access to users' personally identifiable information, if you do not wish for our unaffiliated third-party service providers to have access to your information, please do not register or submit any personally identifiable information to us.

(iv) To complete your purchase. If you choose to make a purchase on the Sites, we may collect from you your credit card number, billing address and other information related to such purchase, and we may use such collected information in order to fulfill your purchase. We may also provide such information, or other personally identifiable information provided by you, to unaffiliated third parties as necessary to complete your purchase (for example, to process your credit card).

(v) To comply with the law or in the good faith belief that such action is necessary in order to conform to the requirements of law or comply with legal process served on us, protect and defend our rights or property, including the rights and property of TPPM and its family of Sites or act in urgent circumstances to protect the personal safety of our end users.

(vi) To third parties as part of any corporate reorganization process including, but not limited to, mergers, acquisitions, and sales of all or substantially all of our assets.

(vii) To track and analyze non-identifying and aggregate usage and volume statistical information from our visitors and customers and provide such information to third parties.

(viii) To protect against potential fraud, we may verify with third parties the information collected from these Sites. In the course of such verification, we may receive personally identifiable information about you from such services. In particular, if you use a credit card or debit card to purchase services with us, we may use card authorization and fraud screening services to verify that your card information and address matches the information that you supplied to us, and that the card has not been reported as lost or stolen.

Except as described in this Privacy Policy or at the time we request the information, we do not otherwise use, share or otherwise disclose your personally identifiable information to any third parties.

(2) Non-Personally Identifiable Information

We use non-personally identifiable information collected on the Sites in the manner disclosed above, in the Section A (2). We may share this non-personal information with third parties.

D. Collection and Use of Information from Children Under the Age of 13

(1) Collection of Personally Identifiable Information Collected from Kids

In most instances, TPPM will only request the first name and email address of the child in order to complete an immediate request from the child. The information that is collected will only be used for the requested purpose and will be deleted immediately. TPPM will not store or otherwise use that information. Here are some examples of instances in which TPPM may immediately delete the child's information after the completion of the child's initial request:

If the child emails an inquiry;
If the child refers a game to a friend, we may request his or her first name and email address and the friend's first name and email address.

From time to time, we may request limited personally identifiable information from kids in order to offer a service or other activity to the kids. In such an instance, we will request that the child provide his or her email address, as well as the email address of his or her parent or legal guardian ("parent"). TPPM will use that email address to send the parent an email letting him or her know about the child's contact. The email will include details on how the parent may (i) provide TPPM with consent; (ii) prohibit TPPM from any further contact with the child; or (iii) delete the child's personally identifiable information. TPPM will not collect more information than is reasonably necessary for the child to participate in the activity at issue.

Below are some examples of instances in which we may collect the first name and email address from kids on the Sites and require parental consent:

If the child wants to attend an event; and
If the child wants to receive newsletters on a recurring basis.

(2) Use of Personally Identifiable Information Collected from Kids

When we collect personally identifiable information from kids, we will only use that information for the express purpose for which it was collected. For example, if a child enters a contest, we will request the parent's information (as described in Section D(1)) and will only use the child's email address to enter the child into the contest, to notify the parent of the child's entry, and to identify and notify the child if he or she is a potential winner. The personally identifiable information will not be used for any other purpose, and the personally identifiable information will not be used after the promotion is complete.

(3) Sharing of Personally Identifiable Information Collected from Kids

Except as provided in this Section, we do not share personally identifiable information collected from kids with any unaffiliated third parties. We may, however, share a child's personally identifiable information that we have collected with parental consent in the following limited instances:

We may share such information with third-party service providers who help TPPM maintain the Sites and provide other administrative services to us. We seek to ensure that these unaffiliated third parties may not use the personally identifiable information for any other purpose, and these unaffiliated third parties have agreed to maintain the confidentiality, security and integrity of the personally identifiable information.

If your child is selected as a potential winner of one of our contests, we will notify the parent, via the email address that the child submitted. If the parent consents, we will collect and share this information in order to fulfill the terms of the promotion.

Finally, we may disclose kids' personally identifiable information to third parties if we believe we are required to do so in order to comply with law (including court orders and subpoenas); to comply with requests from law enforcement agencies or the government; to enforce our Visitor Agreement; to protect our rights, privacy, safety or property and the rights, privacy, safety or property of our employees or other users of our Sites; to protect our operations; and to permit us to pursue available remedies or limit the damages that we may sustain.

(4) Non Personally Identifiable Information

We collect and store the non-personally identifiable information that is described in Section A2 of this privacy policy. We do not, however, link this information to personally identifiable information when it is collected from kids.

(5) Note to Parents and Legal Guardians

Please contact TPPM at any time regarding privacy questions or concerns, or to request to review what personally identifiable information we have collected from a child. Parents may also contact us at any time to request that we delete the personally identifiable information of a child or a parent and/or refuse to permit further collection or use of a child's information. We will take steps to ensure that any person contacting us for a child's information is that child's parent or guardian.

The Pet Project Midwest
701 E 2nd
Des Moines, IA 50309
Phone: (240) 662-2000 (Legal)
Email: info@thepetprojectmidwest.org

E. Opt-Out

We communicate with users who subscribe to our services on a regular basis via email. For example, we may use your email address to confirm your request, to send you notice of payments, to send you information about changes to our products and services, and to send notices and other disclosures as required by law. Generally, users cannot opt-out of these communications, but they will be primarily informational in nature rather than promotional.

However, we provide you the opportunity to exercise an opt-out choice if you do not want to receive other types of communication from us, such as emails or updates from us regarding new services and products offered on this Site or if you do not want us to share your personally identifiable information with third parties. The opt-out choice may be exercised by ticking or un-ticking the appropriate box if such checkbox is available at the points where personally identifiable information is collected or by contacting us. We will process your unsubscribe as soon as possible, but please be aware that in some circumstances you may receive a few more messages until the unsubscribe is processed. You also may opt-out of receiving such emails by clicking on the "unsubscribe" link within the text of the email.

F. Public Posting Areas

Please note that any information you include in a message you post to any public posting area is available to anyone with Internet access. If you don't want people to know your e-mail address, for example, don't include it in any message you post publicly. PLEASE BE EXTREMELY CAREFUL WHEN DISCLOSING ANY INFORMATION IN CHAT ROOMS, FORUMS AND OTHER PUBLIC POSTING AREAS. WE ARE NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR THE USE BY OTHERS OF THE INFORMATION THAT YOU DISCLOSE IN CHAT ROOMS, FORUMS AND OTHER PUBLIC POSTING AREAS.

G. Third Party Advertisers

We may use advertisers, third party ad networks, and other advertising companies, to serve advertisements on the Sites. Please be advised that such advertising companies may gather information about your visit to the Sites or other sites (such as through cookies, web beacons and other technologies) to enable such advertising companies to market products or services to you, to monitor which ads have been served to your browser and which webpages you were viewing when such ads were delivered. If you would like more information about this practice and to know your choices please click here. PLEASE NOTE THAT THIS POLICY DOES NOT COVER THE COLLECTION AND USE OF INFORMATION BY SUCH ADVERTISING COMPANIES.

H. Accessing Your Personally Identifiable Information and Privacy Preferences

We provide you with an opportunity to access your personally identifiable information to ensure it is correct, accurate and current. To edit your personally identifiable information, please contact our customer service representatives at 1-800-889-9950. If for any reason you are not able to update or edit your personally identifiable information at this page, you can access such information by contacting us as described below. We will make reasonable efforts to accommodate your request.

J. Assignment

In the event that all or part of our assets or sold or acquired by another party, or in the event of a merger, you grant us the right to assign the personally identifiable and non-personally identifiable information collected via the Sites.

K. Changes to this Privacy Policy

We reserve the right to change this privacy policy from time to time. When we do, we will also revise the "last update" date at the bottom of this privacy policy. For changes to this privacy policy that may be materially less restrictive on our use or disclosure of personal information you have provided to us, we will attempt to obtain your consent before implementing the change by sending a notice to the primary email address specified in your account or by placing a prominent notice on the Sites.

We will also notify parents if we change the kinds of information that we collect from kids and materially alter our practices of sharing and using this information. We will not collect, use or share the information without parental consent.

L. Security

No data transmissions over the Internet can be guaranteed to be 100% secure. Consequently, we cannot ensure or warrant the security of any information you transmit to us and you understand that any information that you transfer to The Pet Project Midwest is done at your own risk.

Once we receive your transmission, we make reasonable efforts to ensure security on our systems. We use firewalls to protect your information from unauthorized access, disclosure, alteration, or destruction. However, please note that this is not a guarantee that such information may not be accessed, disclosed, altered or destroyed by breach of such firewalls and secure server software.

If we learn of a security systems breach we may attempt to notify you electronically so that you can take appropriate protective steps. By using these Sites or providing personally identifiable information to us you agree that we can communicate with you electronically regarding security, privacy and administrative issues relating to your use of these Sites. We may post a notice on our Sites if a security breach occurs. We may also send an email to you at the email address you have provided to us in these circumstances. Depending on where you live, you may have a legal right to receive notice of a security breach in writing.

M. Age Screening

Some parts of the Sites will have an age-screening mechanism to prevent kids from registering. We won't knowingly allow anyone under the age of eighteen to register with any of our Sites, or to access those features that require registration, except as explicitly disclosed herein.

If we become aware that we have inadvertently received personally identifiable information from a user under the age of eighteen other than in a legally permissible situation, we will delete the information from our records as soon as we discover it.

N. Contacting The Pet Project Midwest

If you have any questions about this privacy policy or our privacy practices, please contact us at info@thepetprojectmidwest.org. All information you provide in any written communication will also be covered by this policy.

AGREEMENT

This agreement (the "Agreement") is entered into by and between you ("you") and The Pet Project Midwest ("TPPM") regarding your use of the ThePetProjectMidwest.org and IowaPetAlert.com websites (the "Services"). By using the Services you agree to be bound by these terms and conditions. If you do not agree with these terms and conditions as originally stated, please do not use the Service.

1. Priority. This Agreement, in combination with TPPM's general Privacy Policy (available at http://www.thepetprojectmidwest.org/privacy-policy.php), sets forth the terms and conditions under which TPPM makes the Services available to you. In the event of an inconsistency between this Agreement and TPPM's Privacy Policy, this Agreement shall control.

2. Rights Associated with the Services. The Services are designed to help you find information concerning lost and found pets and pet welfare information. TPPM owns and retains all intellectual property rights to the Services and to all information, including pet descriptions and photographs, which appear on the websites by virtue of each users assignment of such rights to TPPM. TPPM does not, however, edit the descriptions or photographs or accept any responsibility for the accuracy or completeness thereof.

3. Use of the Services. You may only display the content of the Services for your own personal use (i.e., non-commercial use) and may not otherwise copy, reproduce, alter, modify, create derivative works, or publicly display any content. For example, you may not do any of the following: use the Services to sell a product or service; use the Services to increase traffic to your Website for commercial reasons, such as advertising sales; take the results from the Services and reformat and display them, or mirror any portion of the results on your Web site; or use the Services as part of a "meta-search" offering. You also agree that you will not use any robot, spider, other automated device, or manual process to monitor or copy any content from the Services. If you are uncertain whether your intended use of the Services is permissible, please contact us. In addition, TPPM shall have the right in its sole discretion to suspend or terminate the Services or your access to it.

4. No Warranty. The Services are provided free of charge to the general public with the proviso that TPPM does not represent that it or any information found thereon is reliable, accurate, complete, or otherwise valid. THE SERVICES ARE PROVIDED "AS IS" WITH NO WARRANTY OF ANY KIND AND YOU USE THE SERVICES AT YOUR OWN RISK. TPPM EXPRESSLY DISCLAIMS ANY WARRANTY, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, REGARDING THE SERVICES, INCLUDING ANY IMPLIED WARRANTY OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE OR NON-INFRINGEMENT. Some states may not allow the exclusion of warranty, so the above exclusions may not apply to you.

5. Limitation of Liability. UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES WILL TPPM BE LIABLE TO YOU FOR ANY INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, CONSEQUENTIAL, SPECIAL OR EXEMPLARY DAMAGES ARISING OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH USE OF THE SERVICES WHETHER OR NOT YOU HAVE BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES. UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES SHALL TPPM BE LIABLE TO YOU FOR ANY AMOUNT FOR SERVICES RENDERED PURSUANT TO THIS AGREEMENT. TPPM ACCEPTS NO LIABILITY WITH REGARD TO ANY INJURY OR DAMAGES TO ANY PERSON OR PROPERTY CAUSED BY ANY LISTED ANIMAL. Some states may not allow the exclusion or limitation of incidental or consequential damages, so the above limitation and exclusions may not apply to you.

6. Hold Harmless and Indemnity. By using the Services, you agree to hold harmless and indemnify TPPM, and its principals, employees, agents, representatives, and member organizations from and against any third party claim arising from or in any way related to your use of the Services, including any liability or expense arising from all claims, losses, damages (actual and consequential), suits, judgments, litigation costs and attorneys' fees, of every kind and nature related to or arising out of any injury or loss to person or property caused by a pet listed on or adopted from an adoption organization which contributes to the TPPM.com Website. In such a case, TPPM will provide you with written notice of such claim, suit or action.

7. Release and Waiver. To the maximum extent permitted by applicable law, you hereby release, and waive all claims against TPPM and its principals, employees, agents, representatives, and member organizations from any and all liability for claims, damages (actual and consequential), costs and expenses (including litigation costs and attorneys' fees) of every kind and nature, arising out of or in any way connected with use of the Services or of a pet listed on the IowaPetAlert.com Website. In making this waiver and release, you specifically agree that you waive the benefit of any statute which provides that a general release does not extend to claims which the releasor does not know or suspect to exist in his or her favor at the time of executing the release and which if known by him or her must have materially affected his release, waiver or settlement and under any similar and/or analogous laws, statutes, regulations, and common law.

8. Pet Disclaimer. By using IowaPetAlert.com, you agree that it is a directory of lost and found pets, only, and acknowledge that no information provided by the Services with regard to any pet is guaranteed to be accurate or complete. It is crucial that any claim of pet ownership be thoroughly examined before turning the lost or found pet over to the claimant. The health status and behavior of any pet found, adopted through, or listed on the TPPM.com Website are the sole responsibility of the adoption organization listing the same and/or the listing party.

9. Modifications of Terms. TPPM shall have the right to modify the terms of this Agreement at any time, which modification shall be effective immediately upon posting. Accordingly, we suggest that you check this page periodically.

10. Miscellaneous. If any provision of this Agreement is held to be invalid or unenforceable, such provision shall be deemed superseded by a valid enforceable provision that most closely matches the intent of the original provision and the remaining provisions shall be enforced as written. TPPM's failure to act with respect to a breach by you or others does not waive TPPM's right to act with respect to subsequent or similar breaches. The failure of TPPM to exercise or enforce any right or provision of these terms and conditions shall not constitute a waiver of such right or provision. The section headings and subheadings contained in this Agreement are included for convenience only, and shall not limit or otherwise affect the terms of this Agreement. This agreement shall be interpreted in accordance with the laws of the State of Iowa as if made in Iowa by two residents of that state. Any controversy or claim arising out of or relating to this Agreement shall be settled by binding arbitration in accordance with the commercial arbitration rules of the American Arbitration Association. Any such controversy or claim shall be arbitrated on an individual basis, and shall not be consolidated in any arbitration with any claim or controversy of any other party. The decision of the arbitrator shall be final and unappealable. The arbitration shall be conducted in Des Moines, Iowa and judgment on the arbitration award may be entered into any court having jurisdiction thereof. Notwithstanding anything to the contrary, TPPM may at any time seek injunctions or other forms of equitable relief from any court of competent jurisdiction. Notwithstanding any provision hereof, for all purposes of this Agreement each party shall be and act as an independent contractor and not as partner, joint venturer, agent, employee or employer of the other and shall not bind nor attempt to bind the other to any contract. This Agreement constitutes the entire agreement between TPPM and you with respect to the subject matter hereof.