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Privacy policy
The Touring Cyclist Privacy Policy
The Touring Cyclist intends to be a good neighbor regarding Internet privacy. In this page we explain what our privacy policy is, and list what information we collect and what we do with it.
It is conceivable that this policy will change at some time in the future. If that happens, the new policy will not affect any information we had collected before that time. For instance, if we should change our "no personal information sales to third parties" policy at some future date, we would use only information collected after that time and only after telling customers about it; we would not sell the information that we are collecting now, because our current policy disallows it.
If you have any questions or comments about this policy, please write to privacy@touringcyclist.com.
Personal information
For probably obvious reasons, we collect and save personal information about customers who purchase merchandise from us. This information includes name, address, phone number, e-mail address, and credit card information for each customer. It also includes information about what that customer purchases from us and when. We use this to charge the right amount to the right person, ship the right order to the right person, and so on.
For perhaps less obvious reasons, we keep most of this information for a long time. We need to know who bought what, for example, if there is a product recall that we need to inform people about.
We do sell and/or exchange information about our customers with third parties, but this is only in the form of aggregate data, such as “how many customers bought a bike this month” or “how many hits this web page had this week”. We do not supply information that can identify individuals.
There are rare exceptions to the “aggregation only” policy, such as providing a list of postal mail addresses to a third party to produce a mailed advertisement. In those cases, we supply the information only on the condition that it can be used just once, for the purpose of that single job. The third party will not have the right to reuse the information in any way. We will only use the postal mail addresses we collect to send information about our company and products. We will not resell or make available the list to third parties for their own use.
E-mail addresses
We handle e-mail addresses in a more restrictive way than postal mail addresses. We use the e-mail address you provide us when placing an order only to tell you something about that order. Giving us your e-mail address as part of an order does not put you on any mailing lists here. If you want to be added to the mailing lists we use to announce sales, changes in the events calendar, and so on, you have to do that as a separate step. Those mailing lists are opt-in lists, and placing an order does not put you on them.
We do not provide e-mail addresses to third parties.
Cookies
Our web server does use cookies. However, the cookies perform a limited function and are optional.
The server asks your browser to store an "in memory" cookie each time you visit the site. This type of cookie is not saved on your computer’s hard disk, and you get a different one each time you shut your browser down, restart it and come back to the site. Normally this will all be transparent to you.
The cookie contains a single value, a string of letters and numbers. The server uses this cookie as a kind of serial number to keep track of your shopping cart, to make sure your cart has your items and not someone else’s. The cookie is not used to identify you as an individual from one visit to the next, and does not track what pages you visit or what other sites you’ve been to or anything of the sort. It simply keeps your shopping cart items connected to your browser.
You can turn cookies off and the site will still work properly. The only difference you’ll notice is that each hyperlink will have a long string of letters and numbers at the end. (In other words, the serial number is stored in each hyperlink instead of in the cookie.) Other than the changed links, the site looks and works exactly the same with cookies turned on or off.
(You can temporarily turn cookies off if you want to see this in action. However, turning cookies off and back on in a single visit to the site will confuse the server and cause it to empty your shopping cart. So just be aware of that problem if you want to experiment.)
Web server logs and personal information
We do keep logs of web site usage, and it is possible to connect information in those logs to individual customers. We use the server logs to see how the site is performing, find out which pages are popular or not, see if there are any errors cropping up, and so on.
We use the connection between site usage and individual customer data to evaluate changes made to the site. We do not sell or give any individualized site usage information to third parties.
Javascript, Java, etc.
The site uses Javascript, a programming language that runs in your web browser, to perform a few functions. We use Javascript mostly to adjust the size of page elements to fit your computer’s screen, and to control pop-up windows. If you have Javascript turned off the site will still work just fine, it just won’t look exactly the way we want. But you won’t miss any information.
The site does not use Java or ActiveX, which are two other ways of causing your web browser to run programs. All of the programs that control the shopping cart, the various forms, and all other aspects of the site run on our web server, not on your web browser.
Exceptions to the policy
If we are required by law, we will provide information from the site that is requested by law enforcement agencies. This could include information about our customers including names, addresses, e-mail addresses, and purchases made.
We’d like to hear your thoughts or suggestions about this policy. Write us at privacy@touringcyclist.com.
Privacy Manager
The Touring Cyclist
11816 St. Charles Rock Road
Bridgeton, Missouri 63044
This policy is effective November 28, 2000.