Our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy are currently in draft form and may change while the Somewhere service is in it's pre-release test period. During this period, we may make material changes to this document and note them only here.
your personal information
This is our privacy and copyright policy. Your privacy is of the utmost importance to us. We understand that you expect us to protect your personal information, period. Somewhere will only publicly disclose information that you designate as public and only to the members or the public that you designate.
your private account information and information we collect passively from you
What this covers:
This section covers two types of information:
- Account information that you provide when you register or later.
- Information we collect passively as you use the Somewhere service. This is information which we collect in our system logs, in cookies we may set and any other information we may collect as you use the Somewhere service.
When
you register to use Somewhere, we collect some basic information from
you, including your name, email address, and location. This information
is only used for the Somewhere service to identify you and for
aggregate analysis.
Somewhere will use your your email as a way to occasionally contact you with information about the Somewhere service. If you do not with to receive these emails you can deactivate your Somewhere account.
We will never sell your email address or any other personal information without your explicit consent.
Somewhere will make reasonable, industry standard efforts to protect your personal, private information. Some information will be encrypted. We will not disclose any such information to partners, advertisers or other business entities without your consent.
If you deactivate your account, we will maintain your information, confidentially, for a short period of time in case you change your mind and want to re-join. After that period of time (which is not guaranteed to be of any particular length,) your private information will be deleted from our main systems. It is possible, that your information will still persist for a time in our backup system. But these files are generally not accessed except in case of a significant system failure. You should be aware, that due to the nature of the Somewhere service, your public information will remain, even if you are no longer a member. Anyone that you have permitted to see public information, will still have access. (It is public after all.)
Upon registration or at another time, the Somewhere service might ask you if you would like to participate in market research surveys or other projects related to Somewhere or other topics. If you say yes, your information will be passed on to an outside research group. The market research group will not attempt to advertise to you or sell you anything and they will maintain any information from or about you in total confidence.
From time-to-time it might be necessary for Somewhere's employees to access your personal information to manage the service.
Somewhere will use your your email as a way to occasionally contact you with information about the Somewhere service. If you do not with to receive these emails you can deactivate your Somewhere account.
We will never sell your email address or any other personal information without your explicit consent.
Somewhere will make reasonable, industry standard efforts to protect your personal, private information. Some information will be encrypted. We will not disclose any such information to partners, advertisers or other business entities without your consent.
If you deactivate your account, we will maintain your information, confidentially, for a short period of time in case you change your mind and want to re-join. After that period of time (which is not guaranteed to be of any particular length,) your private information will be deleted from our main systems. It is possible, that your information will still persist for a time in our backup system. But these files are generally not accessed except in case of a significant system failure. You should be aware, that due to the nature of the Somewhere service, your public information will remain, even if you are no longer a member. Anyone that you have permitted to see public information, will still have access. (It is public after all.)
Upon registration or at another time, the Somewhere service might ask you if you would like to participate in market research surveys or other projects related to Somewhere or other topics. If you say yes, your information will be passed on to an outside research group. The market research group will not attempt to advertise to you or sell you anything and they will maintain any information from or about you in total confidence.
From time-to-time it might be necessary for Somewhere's employees to access your personal information to manage the service.
your subscription information
Your subscription information is the list of accounts and services that you track or publish within the Somewhere service. It also includes your list of friends or other sources of stuff, that's a technical word for virtual content or pretty much any information or content) and the information about them that you have entered.
A subscription is really a fancy way to say a description of where to find some particular bit of information on the internet. Somewhere lets you manage and control who sees the information in your account. But, if people find this information through Somewhere, or some other way, once they know, we can't make them forget. This principle underlies how we handle your subscription information.
how it works
You control who has access to your information from within or through the Somewhere service.
Somewhere will not publicly disclose any subscription information that you designate as private. If you grant limited access to some Somewhere members, only only they will have access to this information through Somewhere. You should be aware that anyone who has access to your information can choose to disclose it to anyone else. This is the same as they could do without Somewhere. For example, one friend of yours could meet a friend at a party and say,"Hey did you hear about this great blog at ...?"
The copyright on any information that you subscribe to remains with the original copyright holder, whether that is you, or someone else. This is true whether or not you make the information public.
At any time you can change, delete a subscription, change it from public to private or limit who can see it in other ways supported by Somewhere. Anyone who had already subscribed to this information through your Somewhere profile will be informed that you've deleted the subscription, but they may choose to maintain their subscription to the information. You can choose to block access by deleting actual information or adding restrictions to the actual source.
Any subscriptions that you mark as public or available to any particular individuals can be copied or forwarded to other members. Think of it the same as if you mailed someone a letter with your address. They can share that address if they choose to.
If you deactivate your account, we will maintain your all your subscription information, confidentially for a short period of time in case you change your mind and want to re-join. After that period of time (which is not guaranteed to be of any particular length,) your private information will be deleted from our main systems. Its possible, even likely, that your information will still persist for a time in our backup system. But these files are generally not accessed except in case a significant system failure. You should be aware, that due to the nature of the Somewhere service, your public information will remain, even if you are no longer a member. Anyone that you have permitted to see public information, will still have access. (It is public after all.)
The Somewhere service may include advertising on pages which include your subscription or other information. We might use the content of your subscription, your account information or other information to select ads that are more likely to be of interest to you or people reading your page.
We will never release any personally identifying information to any advertiser.
sharing your informationSomewhere will not publicly disclose any subscription information that you designate as private. If you grant limited access to some Somewhere members, only only they will have access to this information through Somewhere. You should be aware that anyone who has access to your information can choose to disclose it to anyone else. This is the same as they could do without Somewhere. For example, one friend of yours could meet a friend at a party and say,"Hey did you hear about this great blog at ...?"
The copyright on any information that you subscribe to remains with the original copyright holder, whether that is you, or someone else. This is true whether or not you make the information public.
At any time you can change, delete a subscription, change it from public to private or limit who can see it in other ways supported by Somewhere. Anyone who had already subscribed to this information through your Somewhere profile will be informed that you've deleted the subscription, but they may choose to maintain their subscription to the information. You can choose to block access by deleting actual information or adding restrictions to the actual source.
Any subscriptions that you mark as public or available to any particular individuals can be copied or forwarded to other members. Think of it the same as if you mailed someone a letter with your address. They can share that address if they choose to.
If you deactivate your account, we will maintain your all your subscription information, confidentially for a short period of time in case you change your mind and want to re-join. After that period of time (which is not guaranteed to be of any particular length,) your private information will be deleted from our main systems. Its possible, even likely, that your information will still persist for a time in our backup system. But these files are generally not accessed except in case a significant system failure. You should be aware, that due to the nature of the Somewhere service, your public information will remain, even if you are no longer a member. Anyone that you have permitted to see public information, will still have access. (It is public after all.)
The Somewhere service may include advertising on pages which include your subscription or other information. We might use the content of your subscription, your account information or other information to select ads that are more likely to be of interest to you or people reading your page.
We will never release any personally identifying information to any advertiser.
We will not normally provide any private user information to
outside organizations or government entities. But there are some
exceptions.
If, in our judgement disclosing information could prevent serious harm to a person, property, the Somewhere service or other types of harm or emergencies, we reserve the right to notify appropriate authorities. Similarly, we must, and will, comply with valid legal orders. In the event that Somewhere is served with a valid legal order (such as a subpoena or warrant) we may or may not choose to contest it.
We may package statistics, summaries, or aggregate usage patterns for analysis or research purposes. In this case we will not disclose any information which could identify you.
We may use outside companies to assist in managing the Somewhere service for tasks such as managing email lists filtering spam, hosting our servers, maintaining backups or other services. In all cases Somewhere will implement reasonable protections to protect your private information.
cookies and tracking informationIf, in our judgement disclosing information could prevent serious harm to a person, property, the Somewhere service or other types of harm or emergencies, we reserve the right to notify appropriate authorities. Similarly, we must, and will, comply with valid legal orders. In the event that Somewhere is served with a valid legal order (such as a subpoena or warrant) we may or may not choose to contest it.
We may package statistics, summaries, or aggregate usage patterns for analysis or research purposes. In this case we will not disclose any information which could identify you.
We may use outside companies to assist in managing the Somewhere service for tasks such as managing email lists filtering spam, hosting our servers, maintaining backups or other services. In all cases Somewhere will implement reasonable protections to protect your private information.
The Somewhere service's servers will automatically collect some usage information.
For example, we might collect your IP address, what type of browser you use and we might save cookie to your browser. This information helps to protect your account, and if you choose, allow you to login automatically. We also use this information for aggregate analysis and to watch for fraud or other problems.
In certain places on the Somewhere site, we may make use of third party advertising servers or web analysis tools. These agents may set other cookies or use "web beacons." However, in no case can the data collected by these agents identify you personally.
what else is there?For example, we might collect your IP address, what type of browser you use and we might save cookie to your browser. This information helps to protect your account, and if you choose, allow you to login automatically. We also use this information for aggregate analysis and to watch for fraud or other problems.
In certain places on the Somewhere site, we may make use of third party advertising servers or web analysis tools. These agents may set other cookies or use "web beacons." However, in no case can the data collected by these agents identify you personally.
The Somewhere website and service are still being developed. In the event that new features are added to Somewhere which affect your rights that are not covered here or in the pages referred to here, we will make changes to the relevant document or page and note it here.
If at any time you do not choose to accept the new privacy statement you may opt-out by deactivating your Somewhere account.
In the event that Somewhere, Inc (the owner of Somewhere.com) is acquired or sells the Somewhere service, the ownership of your information will be transfered to the new owner and protected by this privacy policy.
From time-to-time, and at our discretion, we might make other changes to this document. If the changes to your rights or our usage of your information, are, in our sole discretion, material we will notify you by placing a prominent notice on the Somewhere site for a reasonable amount of time, and giving you the option to deactivate your account. At which point we will remove your existing personal information pursuant to the outgoing privacy policy.
Somewhere, Inc. and it's employees and companies we use to host or support the Somewhere service, will use industry standard security techniques to protect your privacy and your data as described in this page. Despite our best efforts, a security breach is still possible. In such an event, Somewhere will do it's best to notify you as soon as possible. In the event of a breach, you will have no further legal recourse.
We suggest you check this page occasionally to see what has changed. We will highlight the most recent changes.
You usage of the Somewhere web-site and service constitutes acceptance of this privacy policy in it's entirety.
Questions? Comments?
If you notice any security or privacy problems, we would appreciate it if you would let us know.
Last updated August 8, 2007