ArtistColony.Com is the sole owner of the information collected on this site. We will not sell, share, or rent this information to others in ways different from what is disclosed in this statement. ArtistColony.Com collects information from our users at several different points on our website.

We request information from the user on our order form. Here a user must provide contact information (like name and shipping address) and financial information (like 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, this contact information is used to get in touch with the user.

A cookie is a piece of data stored on the user's hard drive containing information about the user. Usage of a cookie is in no way linked to any personally identifiable information while on our site. Once the user closes their browser, the cookie simply terminates. For instance, by setting a cookie on our site, the user would not have to log in a password more than once, thereby saving time while on our site. If a user rejects the cookie, they may still use our site.

Some of our business partners use cookies on our site (for example, advertisers). However, we have no access to or control over these cookies.

We use IP addresses to analyze trends, administer the site, track user's movement, and gather broad demographic information for aggregate use. IP addresses are not linked to personally identifiable information.

We will share aggregated demographic information with our partners and advertisers. This is not linked to any personal information that can identify any individual person.

This web site contains links to other sites. Please be aware that ArtistColony.com is not responsible for the privacy practices of other sites. We encourage our users to be aware when they leave our site and to read the privacy statements of any website that collects personally identifiable information. This privacy statement applies solely to information collected by this website.

If a user wishes to subscribe to our newsletter, we ask for contact information such as name and email address.

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. Information requested may include contact information (such as name and shipping address) and/or demographic information (such as zip code, age level). 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.

If a user elects to use our referral service for informing a friend about our site, we ask them for the friend's name and email address. ArtistColony.com will automatically send the friend a one-time email inviting them to visit the site. ArtistColony.com stores this information for the sole purpose of sending this one-time email. The friend may contact ArtistColony.com at http://www.artistcolony.com/contact.cfm to request the removal of this information from their database.

This website takes every precaution to protect our users' information. When users submit sensitive information via the website, your information is protected both online and offline.

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 unlocked or open, when you are just 'surfing'.

While we use SSL encryption to protect sensitive information online, we also do everything in our power to protect user information offline. 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. 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 customers' information is protected. Finally, the servers that we store personally identifiable information on are kept in a secure environment, behind a locked facility.

If you have any questions about the security at our website, you can send an email to security@artistcolony.com

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 read the Choice/Opt-out section below.

We also send our users site and service announcement updates. Members are not able to un-subscribe from service announcements, which contain important information about the service. We communicate with the user to provide requested services or issues relating to their account via email or phone.

If a user's personally identifiable information changes (such as your zip code), or if a user no longer desires our service, we will endeavor to provide a way to correct, update or remove that user's personal data. This can usually be done at the member information page or by emailing our Customer Support.

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 the 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 or promotional materials from our partners may opt-out of receiving these communications by emailing us at support@artistcolony.com and putting the word "unsubscribe" in the subject line of the email.

Users of our site are always notified when their information is being collected by any outside parties.

Any changes to our privacy policy will be posted to ArtistColony.com. We will do everything to make sure our members are kept aware of what information we collect, how we use it, and under circumstances, if any, we disclose it. If at any point we decide to use personally identifiable information in a manner different from that stated at the time it was collected, we would notify users by way of an email. Users can then choose to not have their information used. We will use information in accordance with the privacy policy under which the information was collected.