Privacy Policy

Your privacy and the security of your personal information are very important to us. We want you to be as comfortable as possible visiting our Website and using our Products. We are dedicated to protecting the privacy of those who visit our Website and use our Online Products. This Privacy Policy describes the terms of our commitment to your privacy. Please read this Privacy Policy carefully.

We may amend this Privacy Policy from time to time. We will post any changes to this Privacy Policy here so that you will always know what information we gather, how we might use that information, and whether we will disclose that information to anyone. Please refer back to this Privacy Policy on a regular basis. By using our Website or any of our products, offerings, features, tools or resources that we provide on our Website (collectively, our "Online Products"), you agree to the terms of this Privacy Policy. Please remember that this Privacy Policy applies only to information collected by our Website.

Information Collected

We collect two types of information: personally identifiable information and non-personally identifiable information.

Non-Personally Identifiable Information

When you become a registered user of our Website, subscribe to one of our current Online Products, or in connection with other Online Products we may make available on our Website from time to time, we also may collect information that by itself cannot be used to identify or contact you, such as demographic information (like age, profession or gender) and physical information (like current weight) ("Non-Personally Identifiable Information"). Non-Personally Identifiable Information may also include user IP addresses, browser types, domain names, and other anonymous statistical data involving the use of our Website. Non-Personally Identifiable Information is used to help us understand the characteristics of people who use our Website and to improve and market our Website in general and our Online Products in particular. In the event that we link any Non-Personally Identifiable Information with Personally Identifiable Information, we will treat such information as Personally Identifiable Information and only use such information in accordance with this Privacy Policy.

Information from Other Sources

We may also supplement the information we collect with information from other sources to assist us in evaluating and improving our Website and Online Products, to determine your preferences so that we can tailor our Website and Online Products to your needs, and/or to study nutritional, weight-loss, behavioural and fitness questions in general.

Description of Where and When Information May Be Collected

We may collect information (including information that is Personally Identifiable Information) from you in different manners and at different places and times on our Website, such as when you register for our Website or subscribe to one of our Online Products. We also may collect information from you in connection with, or through, other Online Products we may make available on our Website from time to time. The following is a description of the areas and/or manner in which we primarily collect information about you.

Becoming a Registered User and Subscription

In order to access certain Online Products on our Website, such as message boards, weight-loss tools and food database, you must first complete certain steps to become either a registered user or a subscriber. During these steps, you may be required to provide us with information (including Personally Identifiable Information) such as name, postal code and email address, and, if you subscribe to one of our Online Products, credit card and billing information. This information is used to help us understand the characteristics of people who use our Website, to improve our Website and our Online Products, to contact users about requested Online Products and/or for subscription billing purposes. It is optional for you to provide demographic information (such as profession and number of children), but providing this information is encouraged so we can provide a more personalized experience on our Website such as by providing you with information that we think would be of interest to you.

Cookies and Action Tags

We also collect Non-Personally Identifiable Information passively using "cookies" and "action tags."

"Cookies" are small text files that are placed on your computer in order to identify (i) your Web browser (ii) the activities of your computer on our Website and (iii) your activity in connection with our advertisements and other marketing and promotional efforts. Cookies may be used to:

- Personalize your experience on our Website (e.g., to dynamically generate content on web pages specifically designed for you),
- Assist you in using our Online Products (e.g., to save you time by not having to reenter your name upon each visit to our Website), and
- Allow us to statistically monitor how you are using our Website for purposes of improving our online offerings.

We also may use cookies to conduct marketing and promotional efforts, tailor certain advertisements to your browser that we think may be of interest to you, or to determine the popularity of certain content.

You do not have to accept cookies to use our Website, however, you may not be able to use certain products, offerings, features, or resources of our Website (including our Online Products) if you do not accept cookies. Although most browsers are initially set to accept cookies, you may reset your browser to notify you when you receive a cookie or to reject cookies generally. Most browsers offer instructions on how to do so in the "Help" section of the toolbar.

"Action tags," also known as web beacons or gif tags, are a web technology used to help track website usage information, such as how many times a specific page has been viewed. Action tags are invisible to you, and any portion of our Website, including advertisements, or e-mail sent on our behalf, may contain cookies that are associated with action tags that our located on our Website. Unlike cookies, action tags are not placed on your computer.

By using cookies and action tags together, we are able to gain valuable information to improve our Website and our Online Products and measure the effectiveness of our advertising and marketing campaigns. We do not disclose any of your Personally Identifiable Information to our advertising partners through the use of cookies or action tags.

Finally, please note that advertisers and other third parties may also use their own cookies or action tags when you click on their advertisement or link to their website or service, on or from our Website. This Privacy Policy does not govern the use by such third-party websites or providers of third-party advertising.

Referral Programs

Through third-party referral program operators and others, we offer referral programs whereby referral websites can earn commissions through the referral of subscribers or other purchasers to our Website. To track the earning of such commissions, and to determine the effectiveness of the referral programs, the users who become subscribers to our Online Products or purchasers through such referral websites are tracked using technologies that do not include Personally Identifiable Information (such as cookies and/or action tags). Our program operators and the referral websites themselves can only access non-Personally Identifiable Information such as data relating to the number of impressions served, the number of transactions completed, and their resulting earnings. They cannot access our customers' personal data.

If you choose to apply to be a referral website, we use the data you provide strictly for conducting business with you. We have entered into certain agreements with third-party program operators for the purpose of administering our referral programs. Should you become a referral website of ours through one of our third-party program operators, any information you provide to them is subject to their privacy policies.

Other than as set forth above, we do not share personally identifiable information with other companies, apart from those acting as our agents in providing our product(s)/service(s), and which agree to use it only for that purpose and to keep the information secure and confidential. Also, our parent, subsidiary and affiliate companies, entities into which our company may be merged, or entities to which any of our assets, products, sites or operations may be transferred, will be able to use personal information. We will also disclose information we maintain when required to do so by law, for example, in response to a court order or a subpoena or other legal obligation, in response to a law enforcement agency's request, or in special cases when we have reason to believe that disclosing this information is necessary to identify, contact or bring legal action against someone who may be causing injury to or interference with (either intentionally or unintentionally) our rights or property. Users should also be aware that courts of equity, such as U.S. Bankruptcy Courts, might have the authority under certain circumstances to permit personal information to be shared or transferred to third parties without permission.

We may share aggregate information, which is not personally identifiable, with others. This information may include usage and demographic data, but it will not include personal information.

How Information May Be Used

In general, we use the information collected on our Website and through our Online Products to help us understand who uses our Website and Online Products and how they are used, to personalize your experience (such as by providing you with information we think may be of interest to you), to assist you in using our Online Products, to improve our Website and Online Products, and for subscription billing purposes, if applicable.

We may share or sell your Information, including your nonpublic personal information, for compensation with third parties; such third parties may include, but are not limited to, our affiliates, marketing companies, advertising agencies, data compilers, advertisers, data companies, data brokers, and, to the extent permitted by law, individual reference and look-up service programs. Such Information may be used by such third parties to provide you with information, advertisements, commercial communications and materials on products and services that may be of interest, for direct marketing or any other business.

If you become a registered user of our Website or subscribe to one of our Online Products, we may use your information to send you a welcoming email that may confirm your user name and password. If you "opt-in" we may send you electronic newsletters, contact you about Weight Loss products, services, information and news that may be of interest to you, and provide you with targeted feedback. If you no longer desire to receive these communications, we will provide you with an option to change your preferences. In addition, if you identify yourself to us by sending us an email with questions or comments, we may use your information (including Personally Identifiable Information) to respond to your questions or comments, and we may file your questions or comments for future reference. We may also use the information collected to send you important service announcements and updates regarding our Website or Online Products or, if you are a subscriber, about your billing account status. You will not be able to unsubscribe from these service announcements and updates as they contain important information relevant to your use of our Website and/or our Online Products.

We may also use the information gathered on our Website and through our Online Products to perform statistical analysis of user behavior, to analyze and evaluate issues relating to nutrition, weight loss, behavior and fitness, or to evaluate and improve our Online Products. We may link some of this information to Personally Identifiable Information for purposes such as understanding the characteristics of people who use our Website, to improve and market our Website in general and our Online Products in particular or to assist you in your personal weight loss efforts.

When Information May Be Disclosed to Third Parties

We may share or sell your Information, including your nonpublic personal information, for compensation with third parties; such third parties may include, but are not limited to, our affiliates, marketing companies, advertising agencies, data compilers, advertisers, data companies, data brokers, and, to the extent permitted by law, individual reference and look-up service programs. Such Information may be used by such third parties to provide you with information, advertisements, commercial communications and materials on products and services that may be of interest, for direct marketing or any other business.

Affiliates

We may disclose information (including Personally Identifiable Information) about you to our Affiliates. For purposes of this Privacy Policy, "Affiliates" means any person or entity which directly or indirectly controls, is controlled by or is under common control with our Website, whether by ownership or otherwise. Any information relating to you that we provide to our Affiliates will be treated by those Affiliates in accordance with the terms of this Privacy Policy. We may share your information (including Personally Identifiable Information) with franchisees of our Website but only where we indicate to you at time of information collection that such information will be provided to a franchisee, or if we otherwise obtain your permission.

Laws and Legal Rights

We may also disclose your information (including Personally Identifiable Information) if we believe in good faith that we are required to do so in order to comply with an applicable statute, regulation, rule or law, a subpoena, a search warrant, a court or regulatory order, or other valid legal process. We may disclose Personally Identifiable Information in special circumstances when we have reason to believe that disclosing this information is necessary to identify, contact or bring legal action against someone who may be violating our Terms & Conditions or our Subscription Agreement, or to protect the safety and/or security of our users, our Website or the general public.

Third Parties Generally

We may provide to third parties information about you that does not allow you to be identified or contacted, including where such information is combined with similar information of other users of our Website. For example, we might inform third parties regarding the number of unique users who visit our Website, the demographic breakdown of the registered users of our Website, or the activities that visitors to our Website engage in while on our Website. The third parties to which we may provide this information may include potential or actual advertisers, providers of advertising services (including website tracking services), commercial partners, sponsors, licensees, researchers and other similar parties.

A Note to California Residents (Online Privacy Protection Act of 2003)

It is the intent of the Privacy Policy to comply with the California Act. Various provisions throughout this Privacy Policy address requirements of the act. In summary, you must presume that we collect electronic information from all visitors. This is not usually personally identifiable. If you purchase a product or service via this website (and thereby become covered by the Act), the purchase agreement you electronically sign prior to purchase allows the website to collect and archive all the personal information you provide and to transmit and/or transfer that personal information to third parties. There is no way you can modify this information and you have no right to do so. Under the terms of the purchase agreement, you have no right to view or receive any information about our database. In the event that the website, under advice of counsel agrees to divulge information, the requesting party must submit whatever information is demanded by the website in insure that the website is releasing information to the correct party. Other provisions of the OPPA may exempt this website from complying. While we take measures to ensure that outside parties do not have access to any information we have about you, we do not warranty that outside parties will not breach our system and thus have access to your information. (You should know that merchant service providers do not allow us access to your credit card information.) This Privacy Policy also is subject to change without notice. You are required to read it prior to using the website. By interacting with the website you agree to the terms and conditions of the Privacy Policy. By using the website or purchasing a product through this website, you waive the right to use state or federal court systems to address complaints and, instead, agree to use the American Arbitration Association located in a city and county specified herein.

Links on this Website

Our Website contains links to other websites not owned or operated by our company or an Affiliate (for example, if you "click" on a banner advertisement, you will likely be taken off our Website), including links to websites operated by franchisees of our company. We will attempt to make it obvious to you when you leave our Website and enter these websites by opening a new browser or otherwise notifying you that you are leaving our Website. However, please be aware that we are not responsible for the privacy practices of such websites. We encourage you to be aware when our Website links to other websites and to read the privacy policies or statements of these websites. This Privacy Policy applies solely to information collected by our Website.

Security of Collected Information

We want your information (including Personally Identifiable Information) to remain as secure as possible. We strive to provide secure transmission of your information from your computer to our servers through industry-standard techniques. To help ensure the integrity and privacy of the Personally Identifiable Information you provide to us via the Internet at the time you elect to become a registered user or subscribe to our Online Products, we use Secured Socket Layer (SSL) encryption technology in transmitting such Personally Identifiable Information over the Internet to our servers. We secure the Personally Identifiable Information you provide on servers located in controlled, secure environments, protected from unauthorized access, use, or alteration. Only employees or agents who need access to your information to perform a specific task or function are granted access to such information. In addition, all Website employees and agents must abide by this Privacy Policy and are kept up-to-date on security practices. Any employee who violates this Privacy Policy is subject to disciplinary action, up to and including termination.

Notwithstanding the above commitments to protect your information (including Personally Identifiable Information) from loss, misuse or alteration by third parties, you should be aware that there is always some risk involved in transmitting information over the Internet. There is also some risk that others could find a way to thwart our security systems. As a result, while we strive to protect your information, we cannot ensure or warrant the security and privacy of any information you transmit to us.

Privacy Questions

You may direct questions, comments or reports to:

Contact Us

Changes to this Privacy Policy

This Privacy Policy is dynamic. It will continually change. You may not assume that it remains the same and you agree to check the policy each time you visit the site for changes. Unless, in the sole opinion of the website, this policy changes so drastically as to suggest a posted notification on the site or via email, you will receive no notification of changes to this Privacy Policy nor, under any circumstances, does this site promise notification. Your continued use of this site always evidences your acceptance of the terms this Privacy Policy or any modifications.

Latest Update

This Privacy Policy was last updated on: April 3rd, 2009.

Disputes

As part of the consideration that Website requires for viewing, using, or interacting with Website, Visitor agrees to use binding arbitration for any claim, dispute, or controversy ("Claim") of any kind (whether in contract, tort or otherwise) arising out of or relating to this purchase, this product, including solicitation issues, privacy issues, and terms of use issues.

Arbitration shall be conducted pursuant to the rules of the American Arbitration Association which are in effect on the date a dispute is submitted to the American Arbitration Association. Information about the American Arbitration Association, its rules, and its forms are available from the American Arbitration Association, 335 Madison Avenue, Floor 10, New York, New York, 10017-4605. Hearing will take place in the city or county of Website.

In no case shall the viewer, visitor, member, subscriber or customer have the right to go to court or have a jury trial. Viewer, visitor, member, subscriber or customer will not have the right to engage in pre-trial discovery except as provided in the rules; you will not have the right to participate as a representative or member of any class of claimants pertaining to any claim subject to arbitration; the arbitrator's decision will be final and binding with limited rights of appeal.

The prevailing party shall be reimbursed by the other party for any and all costs associated with the dispute arbitration, including attorney fees, collection fees, investigation fees, travel expenses

Jurisdiction and Venue

If any matter concerning this purchase shall be brought before a court of law, pre- or post-arbitration, Visitor agrees to that the sole and proper jurisdiction to be the state and city declared in the contact information of the web owner unless otherwise here specified.

In the event that litigation is in a federal court, the proper court shall be the closest federal court to the Website's address.

Applicable Law

Visitor agrees that the applicable law to be applied shall, in all cases, be that of the state of the Website.