You can trust vBuddy with your personal information. We are dedicated to ensuring the confidentiality and privacy of any personal information you disclose to us. Furthermore, we ask for the minimum amount of information necessary to administer our services. The following statement outlines in detail our practices and policies regarding online privacy.

1. What is vBuddy?
2. What information does vBuddy gather and track?
3. How does vBuddy use my information?
4. How private is my account information?
5. How secure is my account information?
6. Does vBuddy condone spam?
7. How do I update my account information?
8. How do I delete or deactivate my account information from vBuddy's database?
9. How does vBuddy use cookies?
10. Are there any exceptions to this privacy vow?

1. What is vBuddy?
   vBuddy is an online community where you can network with your existing friends or meet new ones. Our service provides many controls that allow you to limit access to your personal information (such as journal entries, bulletin boards, photos, personal groups, etc.).

2. What information does vBuddy gather and track?
   
   • When you sign up for a vBuddy account, we ask that you give us your name, e-mail address, and some other information for your personal profile. You may set any of these fields to be private (except first name) once registration has been completed.
   • When you connect to our Web site, we will detect your IP address and store a cookie on your computer. An explanation of cookies can be found in #10.
   • When you fill out a form on our site requesting technical support, information, or free services, we ask you for your contact information and other information relevant to that particular service.
   • When you fill out a form on our site requesting a paid service, we ask you for relevant financial information (such as a credit card number or bank account number).

3. How does vBuddy use my information?
   
   • Your contact information from the sign-up form is used to send you information about our company and products. We also use this information to contact you when necessary. Any demographic information you provide us is used only in broad aggregate form and is not passed on unless you sign up to receive targetted newsletters from us and our partners. In that case, such information is needed to provide you with information that will appeal to you.
   • Your unique IP address is used only when we need to diagnose technical problems with our site. We use cookies to correctly deliver account information to you. To find out more about cookies, please see #10.
   • Any information you provide to us through a form requesting technical support, information, or free services is used in for that specific situation only. The information you submit is not saved or used for any other purpose.
   • Any information you provide to us through a form requesting a paid service is used to administer the service and to bill the user for products and services. Occasionally we partner with other companies that can help us better provide paid services to our customers. In these cases, we will explicitly tell you that the data we are collecting will be shared with third parties, in which case those disclosures shall override anything to the contrary in this policy.

4. How private is my account information?
   
   • vBuddy ensures the confidentiality of all information you provide about yourself when you sign up as a member. We will not share your information with any third party without your express permission or a valid court order. An exception to this is when you sign up for our optional newsletters. In such circumstances only the demographic data you have provided us will be sent to our newsletter partners. Please look at section 10 for other exceptions.
   • You have exclusive access to your account information when you login to www.vBuddy.com. Our Technical Support staff has access to your account information, which we view only when technical support or maintenance requires it.
   • When you grant view permission (such as profile data, photos, journal entries, bulletin boards, personal groups, etc.) to others, they will be able to see this information. If you wish to keep something private, make sure to configure it in your preferences. Please remember that any information that is made available becomes public information. You should exercise caution when deciding to disclose your personal information.
     
     
5. How secure is my account information?
   vBuddy has security measures in place that filter and block known offenders and methods of intrusion into our system. These measures protect the loss, misuse, and alteration of the information under our control.
   
   vBuddy's system is also set up to protect its Member data as best as it can. Make sure that you have secured your account with a strong password, and keep it secure. vBuddy, will at no time, request a Member's account password. If you receive any such requests, forward them to abuse@vbuddy.com and do NOT reply to them.
   
   Lastly, vBuddy has taken all reasonable measures to secure our application, servers, and data, in order to prevent theft or hacking. However, we cannot make guarantees on the absolute safety of Member data from theft or hacking.
   
   
6. Does vBuddy condone spam?
   No. We encourage our users to publicize their Member Pages, but sending spam or unsolicited e-mail to publicize a vBuddy page is strictly prohibited. It is prohibited to send unsolicited commercial e-mail that advertises or mentions a vBuddy Member Page over our (or any) network. It is also inappropriate to widely publicize your password if you have placed your content behind password protection. If we receive reports that a vBuddy page has appeared in an unsolicited e-mail or other spam, or if a password to a protected page has been inappropriately publicized, we will remove the site from our servers. If the site's content is in violation of our Terms of Service, we will remove the site immediately.

7. How do I update my account information?
   You can control and update your contact information when you login by visiting the "Edit Options" and "Edit Profile" sections.

8. How do I delete or deactivate my account information from vBuddy's database?
   If you wish to remove your membership, please contact Account@vBuddy.com with a request to do so. Your account will be permanently removed from our database and no record of it will remain.

9. How does vBuddy use cookies?
   When you visit www.vBuddy.com, we automatically store a cookie on your hard drive that identifies you to our site each time you visit. To ensure that someone else who uses your machine after you will not automatically be able to login as you, click the "Log Out" link and close your Web browser every time you are done using vBuddy. Cookies are pieces of information that a Web site saves on an individual's computer for site administration and record-keeping. Cookies enhance your computer's performance when surfing the Web by storing passwords, preferences, and other functional information. The use of cookies is an industry standard and most major Web sites, including Microsoft and Netscape, use them to improve their services.
   
   Third Party Advertising - We use third-party advertising companies to serve ads when you visit our Web site. These companies may use information about your visits to this and other Web sites in order to provide advertisements on this site and other sites about goods and services that may be of interest to you.
   
   Third Party Cookies - In the course of serving advertisements to this site, our third-party advertiser may place or recognize a unique "cookie" on your browser.

10. Are there any exceptions to this privacy policy?
    Yes there are. Complaints and feedback regarding vBuddy.com in general or of a particular member site can be shared, forwarded, and reported to the proper authorities/people.
    
    Also, all information about a site found to be breaking our Terms of Service and/or U.S. Law can be forwarded by vBuddy.com to the proper authorities/people.