SpireSpark International Privacy Policy

SpireSpark International cares about your privacy. This Privacy Policy outlines the types of Personal Information (as defined below) that is collected by SpireSpark, and outlines how we use and protect the Personal Information.  This Privacy Policy also tells you what to do if you do not want SpireSpark to use your Personal Information, and how you can change information you have already provided to us.  This Privacy Policy applies to the Personal Information and other data collected through your use of the SpireSpark owned web properties (located at spirespark.com) (the “Website”).  This Privacy Policy also applies to SpireSpark’s collection of Personal Information and other data through offline contacts you may have with SpireSpark.

Section 1.  Your Consent to this Privacy Policy

By providing Personal Information to SpireSpark either through the Website or otherwise, you signify that you agree with the terms of our current Privacy Policy, as posted here.  If you do not agree with any term in this Privacy Policy, please do not provide any Personal Information.

Section 2.  Information Collected through Your Use of the Website

When you visit this Website, you may provide us with two types of information:  Personal Information that you knowingly and voluntarily choose to provide, and Anonymous Information (as defined below) that we automatically collect as you browse the Website.

A. Your Personal Information

As used in this Privacy Policy, “Personal Information” means personally-identifiable information such as your name, address, e-mail address, phone number, fax number, and other details regarding you and/or your company.  In order to participate in certain services provided by SpireSpark, you will be asked to provide Personal Information. We collect and store Personal Information you enter on this Website or otherwise provide to us in offline contacts that we have with you. You are never under any obligation to provide such Personal Information.  However, if you do not provide Personal Information, you may not be able to use certain features of the Website. When you do provide us with Personal Information, you are authorizing us to use that information in accordance with the terms of this Privacy Policy.

B. Anonymous Information we receive from your usage of the Website

We collect certain information about you from your use of the Website (referred to in this Privacy Policy as “Anonymous Information”).  Our web servers may automatically collect and store the name of the domain and host from which you access the Internet and the Internet protocol address of your computer.  Additionally, we may collect information about the browser software you use; the type of operating system your computer uses; the date and time you access the Website; the website you visited just prior to visiting our Website; and the amount of time you spend on each Website page, and the order in which you view the Website pages.  We use this Anonymous Information to improve the performance of the Website and make it more compatible with the technology used by our users.  This Anonymous Information may be combined with Personal Information you have provided.

To help make the Website more responsive to the needs of our users, we may also use a standard feature found in browser software called a “cookie” to assign each visitor a unique, random number, a sort of anonymous user ID that resides in your computer.  The cookie does not identify the Personal Information of the user; rather, it identifies the computer that a user uses to access the Website.  A cookie cannot read data off of your hard drive.  The cookie may store Website statistics, information about your browser, and other information that identifies the computer a user uses to access the Website.  Most browsers automatically accept the cookies, but you can disable the acceptance of cookies at any time by changing the preferences in your browser.  Certain Website pages and features may not function properly if you choose to disable the acceptance of cookies.

Section 3.  How We Use Your Information

A.  Personal Information

When you supply us with your Personal Information, we will use it for the express purpose stated when we ask for such Personal Information (e.g., to respond to any inquiries you may have, or to create a user account).  Our Website requires registration to access member areas, and our Website allows you to make a membership inquiry.  To do these activities, the Website requires (or, in some cases, allows you to provide, but does not require) your name, address, e-mail address, and some basic information about you, such as your job function. We collect this Personal Information to be better able to understand your needs, and to provide you with services that we believe may be valuable to you.  We give you the opportunity not to receive information from us regarding upcoming events and other news, and other general information about our services.

We also collect Personal Information from you when you contact us through the Contact Us page on the Website.  To do this, the Website requires your name and e-mail address, and also allows you to provide other Personal Information (at your option) in the comments portion of the Contact Us page. 

We may also use your Personal Information to contact you regarding the Website.  And we may provide your name and delivery address to third parties that SpireSpark uses to deliver specific services you have requested, such as customer support or to ship something to you that you have asked us to send you.

B.  Anonymous Information

We collect Anonymous Information in an effort to ensure that our Website will appear and function appropriately on your computer, to help us improve our Website, and so we may determine which website referred you to the Website.  Your Internet protocol address is used to help identify you.  For additional information on how we use your Anonymous Information, see Section 2(B) above.

C.  Personal Information and Anonymous Information

We may use Personal Information and Anonymous Information to help diagnose problems with this Website.  We may also use Personal Information and Anonymous Information to analyze statistical use patterns and demographic data, including where our Website visitors come from and what demographic characteristics they have, and to improve the Website to better serve our users.

At times, we may retain third parties to analyze data we collect, including Personal Information and Anonymous Information, solely to help us improve our Website by, for example, learning details regarding the number of visitors to our Website.  These third parties are not authorized to use your Personal Information or Anonymous Information in any other way and are required to keep the information confidential.

Except in the limited circumstances stated in this Privacy Policy, SpireSpark does not sell, license, or otherwise transfer or disclose Personal Information or Anonymous Information to third parties who are not affiliated with SpireSpark.  

Notwithstanding anything to the contrary in this Privacy Policy, SpireSpark reserves the right to and will release your Personal Information or Anonymous Information, without your consent and without notice to you, if required to do so by law, or by search warrant, subpoena, or court order; when SpireSpark believes disclosure is necessary to protect, establish, or exercise SpireSpark’s legal rights or defend against legal claims; when SpireSpark believes disclosure is necessary to protect our other Website users and members or our employees, property, or business; to investigate, prevent, or take action regarding illegal activities, suspected fraud, situations involving threats or potential threats to the safety of any person, violations of this Privacy Policy; or to otherwise comply with the law, a judicial proceeding, court order, or legal process served on SpireSpark.

We may transfer your Personal Information and Anonymous Information if SpireSpark is acquired by or merged with another company.  SpireSpark will notify you before your Personal Information and Anonymous Information is transferred as a result of such an acquisition or merger and becomes subject to a different privacy policy by following the procedure set forth in Section 10 below.

Section 4.  Intended Users

By accessing, providing information on or through, or otherwise using the Website, you affirm that you are at least eighteen (18) years old, or that you are over the age of thirteen (13) and possess legal parental or guardian consent, and that you are competent and capable of understanding and complying with this Privacy Policy.  SpireSpark will never knowingly solicit or accept Personal Information from children under the age of thirteen (13) and will never knowingly contact children under the age of thirteen (13) for marketing purposes or otherwise in violation of the law.

Section 5.  Opt-Out Procedure; Control of Your Personal Information

At any time, a Website user can change or remove Personal Information or opt out-out of receiving general communications from SpireSpark about its services, upcoming events, and other news by contacting SpireSpark via the contact information below in Section 12.  If you request that your Personal Information be changed, we may maintain your existing Personal Information and information about your activities on and through the Website for the purpose of record keeping and servicing, and to comply with our retention policy described in Section 7 below.

Section 6.  Security of Information

The security of your Personal Information is important to us, and we are committed to protecting the Personal Information we collect.  We have commercially-reasonable physical, electronic, and managerial security measures in place to attempt to protect against the loss, misuse, alteration, or unauthorized access of Personal Information we have collected from you.  This includes measures such as the use of firewalls, intrusion detection, password protections, vulnerability scans, and storing the Personal Information you provide on limited-access computer systems located in secured facilities.

Section 7.  Retention and Storage

We may retain Personal Information in our databases in accordance with any existing document retention policies and applicable laws. This period may extend beyond the end of your relationship with us, but it will be only as long as it is necessary for us to have sufficient information to prevent fraudulent activity, protect ourselves against liability, permit us to pursue available remedies, or limit any damages that we may sustain.  Also, we may retain Personal Information beyond the end of your relationship with us if we believe in good faith that a law, regulation, rule, or guideline requires it.  The Personal Information and Anonymous Information collected by SpireSpark through the Website and other offline contacts we have with you will be stored and processed on databases located in the United States.

Section 8.  Links

This Privacy Policy applies only to Personal Information and Anonymous Information collected by SpireSpark through the Website or otherwise.  The Website may contain links to other websites that are not owned or controlled by SpireSpark (“Linked Sites”).  SpireSpark is not responsible for and has not reviewed the privacy practices of the Linked Sites, or the owners and operators of the Linked Sites.  The owners and operators of the Linked Sites may have their own policies regarding privacy and security.  We advise you to review any Linked Sites for their own privacy practices to determine what information about you may be collected and used when you visit and use such Linked Sites.

Section 9.  Legal Disclaimer

We cannot guarantee that your Personal Information will never be compromised.  No transmission of data over the Internet or any wireless network can be guaranteed to be 100% secure.  Further, while we employ reasonable measures to protect your Personal Information, we cannot guarantee or warrant that unauthorized third parties will not defeat those measures or use non-public Personal Information for improper purposes.  Nevertheless, we value your business and have adopted this Privacy Policy and undertaken the described security measures as an endeavor to respect your privacy and to keep your Personal Information confidential.

Section 10.  Modifications to Privacy Policy

SpireSpark reserves the right to change this Privacy Policy at its discretion.  We will post any new policy here, and we encourage you to visit this area frequently to stay informed.  If changes are significant, SpireSpark will also notify you of such changes via the Personal Information you have provided to SpireSpark.  Privacy Policy changes will apply to the Personal Information and Anonymous Information collected after the date on which we post the revised Privacy Policy to the Website.  Each version of this Privacy Policy will be identified at the top of the page by its effective date, and we will keep prior versions of this Privacy Policy in an archive for your review.

Section 11.  Enforceability

If any part of this Privacy Policy is determined to be invalid or unenforceable pursuant to applicable law, then the invalid or unenforceable provision will be deemed superseded by a valid, enforceable provision that most closely matches the intent of the original provision, and the remainder of the Privacy Policy shall continue in effect.

Section 12.  Contact Us

Contact SpireSpark through any of the means listed below if you have any comments or questions about this Privacy Policy or the use of your Personal Information or Anonymous Information.

SpireSpark International
PO Box 2270
Tualatin, OR 97062
E-mail:  info@spirespark.com