Information Collection
ecWest is the sole owner of the information collected on www.ecwest.net.
ecWest collects information from our users at several different
points on our Web site.
Orders
We request information from the user on our order form. A user
must provide contact information (such as name, email, and shipping
address) and financial information (such as credit card number,
expiration date). This information is used for billing
purposes and to fill customer's orders. If we have trouble
processing an order, the information is used to contact the user.
Information Use
Information collected by ecWest from our web site is only used
to deliver the requested products or services. We do not use
any information for other purpose.
Profile
We store information that we collect through cookies, log files,
clear gifs, and/or third parties to create a profile of our users. A
profile is stored information that we keep on individual users
that details their viewing preferences. Consequently, collected
information is tied to the users personally identifiable information
to provide offers and improve the content of the site for the
user. This profile is used to tailor a user's visit to our Web
site, and to direct pertinent marketing promotions to them. We
do not share your profile with other third parties.
Cookies
A cookie is a piece of data stored on the user's computer tied
to information about the user. [Usage of a cookie is in
no way linked to any personally identifiable information while
on our site. We use both session ID cookies and persistent
cookies. For the session ID cookie, once users close the
browser, the cookie simply terminates. A persistent cookie
is a small text file stored on the user's hard drive for an extended
period of time. Persistent cookies can be removed by following
Internet browser help file directions.
ecWest uses cookies for retaining product ordering information
and personal data and is not associated with any personal profile
on our servers. Persistent cookies enable us to track and target
the interests of our users to enhance the experience on our site. See
the "Profile" section.
Some of our business partners use cookies on our site (for example,
advertisers). However, we have no access to or control
over these cookies, once we have given permission for them to
set cookies for advertising.
Third Party Advertising
Some ads appearing on this Web site are delivered to users by
our partners. Information about users' visit to this site, such
as number of times they have viewed an ad (but not user name,
address, or other personal information), is used to serve ads
to users on this site. For more information about our partners
cookies, and how to "opt-out", please click on the partner links
in our Partners web
page..
This privacy statement covers the use of cookies by www.ecwest.net
only and does not cover the use of cookies by any advertisers.
Log Files
Like most standard Web site servers we use log files. This
includes 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 user's movement in the aggregate, and gather
broad demographic information for aggregate use. IP addresses,
etc. are not linked to personally identifiable information. We
use a tracking utility called WebTrends that uses log files to
analyze user movement.
Clear Gifs (Web Beacons/Web Bugs)
We employ a software technology called clear gifs (a.k.a. Web
Beacons/Web Bugs), that help us better manage content on our
site by informing us what content is effective. Clear gifs
are tiny graphics with a unique identifier, similar in function
to cookies, and are used to track the online movements of Web
users. The main difference between the two is that clear gifs
are invisible on the page and are much smaller, about the size
of the period at the end of this sentence. Clear gifs are not
tied to users' personally identifiable information.
Clear Gifs can "work with" existing cookies on a computer if
they are both from the same Web site or advertising company. That
means, for example, that if a person visited "www.companyX.com",
which uses an advertising company's clear gif, the Web site would
match the clear gif's identifier and the advertising company's
cookie ID number, to show the past online behavior for that computer.
This collected information would then be given to the Web site. To
learn more about our company's use of clear gifs, please email
us at info@ecwest.net
In addition, we use clear gifs in our HTML-based emails to let
us know which emails have been opened by the recipients. This
allows us to gauge the effectiveness of certain communications
and the effectiveness of our marketing campaigns. If users
would like to opt-out of these emails, please see the Opt-out
section.
Communications from the Site
Special Offers and Updates
We send all new members a welcoming email to verify password
and username. Established members will occasionally receive information
on products, services, special deals, and a newsletter. Out of
respect for the privacy of our users we present the option to
not receive these types of communications. Please see the Choice
and Opt-out sections.
Newsletter
If a user wishes to subscribe to our newsletter, we ask for
contact information such as name and email address. Out
of respect for our users privacy we provide a way to opt-out
of these communications. Please see the Choice and Opt-out
sections.
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 users an email. Generally,
users may not opt-out of these communications, though they can
deactivate their account. However, these communications
are not promotional in nature. Users may opt-out of these
communications. Please see our Choice and Opt-out section.
Customer Service
We communicate with users on a regular basis to provide requested
services and in regards to issues relating to their account we
reply via email or phone, in accordance with the users wishes.
Sharing
Legal Disclaimer
Though we make every effort to preserve user privacy, we may
need to disclose personal information when required by law wherein
we have a good-faith belief that such action is necessary to
comply with a current judicial proceeding, a court order or legal
process served on our Web site.
Aggregate Information (non-personally identifiable)
We share aggregated demographic information with our partners
and advertisers. Typically, basic demographic information
only associated with the services offered by our partners will
be given only when ecWest is working with the partner for a solution
for the individual or company. This is not linked to any personally
identifiable information.
These are the instances in which we will share users' personal
information:
We DO NOT Share Personal Information with Third Parties
Third Party Intermediaries
We use an outside shipping company to ship orders, and a credit
card processing company to bill users for goods and services.
These companies do not retain, share, store or use personally
identifiable information for any secondary purposes.
Service Providers
We partner with other third parties such as EasyStreet Online
Services to provide specific services. For example, to
provide ISP or DSL services. When the user signs up for these
particular services, we share names, or other contact information
such as name, address and phone numbers that is necessary for
the third party to provide these services. These third
parties are not allowed to use personally identifiable information
except for the purpose of providing these services.
Business Transitions
In the event ecWest goes through a business transition, such
as a merger, being acquired by another company, or selling a
portion of its assets, users' personal information will, in most
instances, be part of the assets transferred.
Choice/Opt-out
Our users are given the opportunity to 'opt-out' of having their
information used for purposes not directly related to our site
at the point where we ask for information. For example,
our order form has an 'opt-out' mechanism so users who buy a
product from us, but don't want any marketing material, can keep
their email address off of our lists.
Users who no longer wish to receive our newsletter and promotional
communications may opt-out of receiving these communications
by replying to unsubscribe in the subject line in the email or
email us at info@ecwest.net. The user may also contact us at
503-245-3280 to opt-out.
Users of our site are always notified when their information
is being collected by any outside parties. We do this so
our users can make an informed choice as to whether or not they
should proceed with services that require an outside party.
Links
This Web site contains links to other sites. Please be aware
that we, ecWest, are not responsible for the privacy practices
of such 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 this Web site.
Surveys & Contests
From time-to-time our site requests information from users via
surveys or contests. Participation in these surveys or
contests is completely voluntary and the user therefore has a
choice whether or not to disclose this information. The
requested information typically includes contact information
(such as name and shipping address), and demographic information
(such as zip code). Contact information will be used to
notify the winners and award prizes. Survey information will
be used for purposes of monitoring or improving the use and satisfaction
of this site. Users' personally identifiable information
is not shared with third parties unless we give prior notice
and choice. Though we may use an intermediary to conduct these
surveys or contests, they may not use users' personally identifiable
information for any secondary purposes.
Chat Rooms, Message Boards, and Public Forums
Please keep in mind that whenever you voluntarily disclose personal
information online - for example on message boards, through e-mail,
or in chat areas - that information can be collected and used
by others. In short, by posting personal information online that
is publicly accessible, you may receive unsolicited messages
from other parties in return.
Security
This Web site takes every precaution to protect our users' information. When
users submit sensitive information via the Web site, their information
is protected both online and off-line.
When our registration/order form asks users to enter sensitive
information (such as credit card number and/or social security
number), that information is encrypted and is protected with
the best encryption software in the industry - SSL. While
on a secure page, such as our order form, the lock icon on the
bottom of Web browsers such as Netscape Navigator and Microsoft
Internet Explorer becomes locked, as opposed to un-locked, or
open, when users are just 'surfing'.
While we use SSL encryption to protect sensitive information
online, we also do everything in our power to protect user-information
off-line. All of our users' information, not just the sensitive
information mentioned above, is restricted in our offices. Only
employees who need the information to perform a specific job
(for example, our billing clerk or a customer service representative)
are granted access to personally identifiable information. Our
employees must use password-protected screen-savers when they
leave their desk. When they return, they must re-enter
their password to re-gain access to user information. Furthermore,
ALL employees are kept up-to-date on our security and privacy
practices. Every quarter, as well as any time new policies
are added, our employees are notified and/or reminded about the
importance we place on privacy, and what they can do to ensure
our users' information is protected. Finally, the servers
that store personally identifiable information are in a secure
environment, in a locked facility.
If users have any questions about the security at our Web site,
users can send an email to info@ecwest.net
Supplementation of Information
In order for this Web site to properly fulfill its obligation
to users it is necessary for us to supplement the information
we receive with information from 3rd party sources.
Credit Check
For example, to determine if users qualify for one of our credit
line, we use their company name and D&B number to request
a credit report. Once we determine a user's credit-worthiness,
this document is destroyed.
ID [Address] Verification
We use standard TCP/IP utility software to verify a user's identity
to when excessive traffic is being generated to our web site
and will report this activity to the parent ISP company when
abuse has been detected.
Enhancement of Marketing Profile
We purchase third party marketing data and add it to our existing
user database to better target our advertising and provide pertinent
offers we think our users would be interested in. We use
this information to enhance or overlay the 'profile' of individual
users. This aggregate marketing data is therefore tied to the
users' personally identifiable information. See also the "Profile."
Correcting/Updating/Deleting/Deactivating Personal Information
If a user's personally identifiable information changes (such
as zip code, phone, email or postal address), or if a user no
longer desires our service, we provide a way to correct, update
or delete/deactivate users' personally identifiable information.
This can usually be done by emailing our Customer Support at
support@ecwest.net. Or, contact us by telephone
or postal
mail at the contact information listed below.
Notification of Changes
If we decide to change our privacy policy, we will post those
changes to this privacy statement, the homepage, and other places
we deem appropriate so our users are always aware of what information
we collect, how we use it, and under what circumstances, if any,
we disclose it.
If, however, we are going to use users' personally identifiable
information in a manner different from that stated at the time
of collection we will notify users by email.
Contact Information
If users have any questions or suggestions regarding our privacy
policy, please contact us at:
Phone: 503-245-3280
Fax: 503-524-3993
Email: info@ecwest.net
Address: P.O. Box 6226 Beaverton, Oregon 97007-0226
Support URL: http://www.ecwest.net/support.html
