Protecting
your privacy is a serious matter and doing so is very important to us. Please read this privacy policy statement
(the "Policy") to learn more about our privacy policy. This Policy describes the information we
collect from you and what may happen to that information. This Policy applies to all sites under the
MEETUP.com domain. This Policy does not
apply to the practices of companies that MEETUP does not own or control, or to
people that we do not employ or manage.
1. Information
Collection
We collect
information about you and your use of our service in order to create a better,
more personalized experience for you.
You must
register with our web site in order for you to be able to fully access our
service. During registration, you must
provide us with your e-mail address and password and, if you are located within
the United States, your zip code. In
addition, in order to use any topic group that is available on our site, you
must register for that topic group. >During registration for a topic group, you may choose a nickname by
which you will be known to other members of that topic group. If you do not assign yourself a nickname during
registration for a topic group, we will automatically assign you one. In addition, with respect to each topic
group that you join, we permit you to create and store a short description or
statement which will be viewed by anyone who is accessing that topic
group. Once you register with MEETUP
and sign in to use our service, you are no longer anonymous to MEETUP to the
extent you have provided us with this information.
We
automatically track certain basic information about our users. We use this information to do internal
research on your usage patterns, demographics, interests and general behavior
to better understand and serve you and our community. This information may include internet protocol (IP) addresses,
browser type, internet service provider (ISP), referring/exit pages, platform
type, date/time stamp, and number of clicks to analyze trends, administer the
site, track usersŐ movement in the aggregate, and gather broad demographic
information for aggregate use. We do
not directly link these types of information (e.g., IP addresses) with your
personally identifiable information.
For
our users convenience, we use "cookies" to allow you to enter your password
less frequently during a session and to provide for an easier registration
process. A "cookie" is a piece of data
stored on your computer that is tied to information about you. We do not use cookies for any other purpose
(for example, we do not use cookies to monitor your activities or otherwise
track information about you). If you configure
your browser or otherwise choose to reject the cookies, you may still use our
site. However, to best experience our
web site and most easily use our service you must have cookies enabled.
Also,
if you post messages in message areas (including the personal introduction
section of each topic group) on our web site, send us personal correspondence,
or if other users or third parties send us correspondence about your activities
or postings on our web site, we may collect such information and include it in
your profile. Your profile is not
accessible to other users or third parties other than MEETUP personnel.
2. Use
of Information
We
use (and you agree that we may so use) the information we collect about you
(including your personally identifiable information) to create a better, more
personalized experience for you based on your individual usage habits, improve
our marketing and promotional efforts, analyze site usage, improve our content
and product offerings, and customize our siteŐs content, layout and
services. These uses improve our site
and allow us to better customize it to meet your needs. We also use (and you agree that we may so
use) the information we collect about you to resolve disputes, troubleshoot
problems, and enforce our Terms of Service Agreement.
You
also agree that we may compile the information we collect about you and use it,
in an aggregate form only, in the negotiation and establishment of
service agreements with public and/or private enterprises under which such
enterprises will serve as venues for meetings between our users
("meetups").
You also agree that we may use your
information to contact you and deliver information to you that, in some cases,
are targeted to your interests, such as topic group newsletters or meetup
announcements (which also may include promotional communications),
administrative notices, product or service offerings, and other communications
relevant to your use of our service.
3. Disclosure
of Your Information
Except as may be set forth in this section 3,
we DO NOT sell, rent or otherwise share your personally identifiable
information with other third parties. Instead, to the extent we share information
with our partners and advertisers, we share only aggregated information that is
not linked to your personally identifiable information. Aggregated information that we may
share with our marketing partners includes, but is not limited to, information
showing the relative popularity of one meetup venue over another (for example,
the number of individuals present at a meetup).
Required
disclosures. Though we make every
effort to preserve user privacy, we may need to disclose your personal
information when required by law or if we have a good-faith belief that such
action is necessary to (a) comply with a current judicial proceeding, a court
order or legal process served on our web site, (b) enforce this Statement or
the Terms of Service Agreement, (c) respond to claims that your Personal
Information violates the rights of third parties; or (d) protect the rights,
property or personal safety of MEETUP, its users and the public. You
authorize us to disclose any information about you to law enforcement or other
government officials as we, in our sole discretion, believe necessary or
appropriate, in connection with an investigation of fraud, intellectual
property infringements, or other activity that is illegal or may expose us or
you to legal liability.
Venue
providers; Advertisers. We
aggregate personally identifiable information and disclose such information in
a non-personally identifiable manner to (1) public and/or private
enterprises who may or do serve as venues for meetups in order to enable us to
negotiate and establish service agreements with such enterprises under which
the enterprises will serve as venues for meetups, and (2) to other third
parties, including advertisers, for marketing and promotional purposes. However, in these situations we do not
disclose to these third parties any information that could be used to identify
you personally (for example, we never disclose your e-mail address to such
third parties).
Business
transitions. In the event that
MEETUP goes through a business transition, such as a merger, being acquired by
another company, or selling a portion of its assets, usersŐ personal
information will, in most instances, be part of the assets transferred. Users will be notified via e-mail and/or
prominent notice on our web site for at least fifteen (15) days prior to a
change of ownership or control of their personal information. If as a result of the business transition,
the usersŐ personally identifiable information will be used in a manner
different from that stated at the time of collection they will be given choices
consistent with Section 8 ("Notification of Changes").
4. Communications from Us
We will send you a welcoming e-mail
to verify your e-mail address. You will
occasionally receive other information from us (see below).
Topic group newsletters and meetup notifications. If you are a member of a topic group, you
will receive periodic notifications from us of upcoming meetups and other
information relevant to topic group members. >These notifications may include promotional communications. You may not opt-out of these communications
while you are a member of that topic group, but you may end your membership in
that group at any time.
Service announcements. On rare occasions it is necessary to send out a strictly service
related announcement. For instance, if
our service is temporarily suspended for maintenance we might send you an
e-mail. You may not opt-out of these
communications, though you can deactivate your account. However, these communications are not
promotional in nature.
Customer service. We communicate with you on a regular basis to provide requested
services and in regards to issues relating to your account we reply via e-mail
or phone, in accordance with your wishes. >You may not opt-out of these communications, though you can deactivate
your account. However, these communications
are not promotional in nature.
5.Other
Parties; Links
Except as otherwise expressly
included in this Policy, this Policy only addresses the use and disclosure of
information we collect from you. To the
extent that you disclose your information to other parties, different rules may
apply to their use or disclosure of the information you disclose to them.
Our web site contains links to
other sites. Please be aware that
MEETUP is not responsible for the privacy practices of any other sites. We encourage our users to be aware when they
leave our site and to read the privacy statements of each and every web site
that collects personally identifiable information. This privacy statement applies solely to information collected by
our web site.
6. Security
MEETUP uses
industry standard network security practices to safeguard the confidentiality
of your personal information. We treat
our data (including your personally identifiable information) as an asset that
must be protected against loss and unauthorized access. However, it is impossible for us to provide
our service using the internet and simultaneously ensure perfect security of
our data.
7. Reviewing,
Updating, Deleting and Deactivating Personal Information
After registration for our service
and for specific topic groups, we provide a way to correct, update, or
delete/deactivate your personally identifiable information, for example:
-to change your nickname or password;
-to change your e-mail or zip code;
-to join or leave particular topic groups;
-to change your personal introduction for particular
topic groups;
-to otherwise update your personal information; or
-to deactivate your account.
Upon your request, we will
deactivate your account and remove your personally identifiable information
from our active databases. To make this
request, e-mail privacy@meetup.com. Such information will be deactivated as soon
as reasonably possible in accordance with our deactivation policy and
applicable law.
Nonetheless, we will retain in our
files information you may have requested us to remove if, in our discretion,
retention of the information is necessary to resolve disputes, troubleshoot
problems or to enforce the Terms of Service Agreement. Furthermore, your information is never
completely removed from our databases due to technical and legal constraints
(for example, we will not remove your information from our back up
storage).
8. Notification
of Changes
If we decide to change this Policy,
we will post those changes on http://www.meetup.com/privacy
or post a notice of the changes to this Policy on the homepage (http://www.meetup.com) and other places we
deem appropriate, so you are always aware of what information we collect, how
we use it, and under what circumstances, if any, we disclose it. We will use information in accordance with
the privacy policy statement under which the information was collected.
If we make any material changes in
our privacy practices, we will post a prominent notice on our web site
notifying you and our other users of the change. In some cases where we post a notice we will also e-mail you and
other users who have opted to receive communications from us, notifying them of
the changes in our privacy practices. >However, if you have deleted/deactivated your account, then you will not
be contacted, nor will your previously collected personal information be used
in this new manner.
All changes
to this Policy are effective after we provide you with at least thirty (30)
days notice of the changes and provide notice of the changes as described
above. You must notify us within this
30 day period if you do not agree to the changes to the Policy and wish to
deactivate your account as provided under Section 7.
9. Dispute
Resolution
Any
dispute, claim or controversy arising out of or relating to this Policy or
previous privacy policy statements shall be resolved through negotiation,
mediation and arbitration as provided under our Terms of Service Agreement.
10. Contact
Information
If
users have any questions or suggestions regarding this Policy, please contact
the Secretary of MEETUP using postal mail or e-mail, as follows:
Postal Address:
MEETUP LLC
225 Lafayette Street, Suite 500
New York, NY 10012
E-mail:
privacy@meetup.com
