This page contains our privacy policy and explains other policies, procedures and legal matters that may be taken. If you have any questions or concerns about legal matters, privacy policies that we have or any other policy information about TheHauntedZone.com, please be sure to read the following information carefully. Although we cannot force users to review this information before registering for our chat room, we strongly recommend that users review the following information very carefully as registering for or using our chat room will constitute and establish an agreement between the user and us. When you see the terms "we", "us" or "our" it represents this website or the owners and operators of this website ("TheHauntedZone.com") and any of it's services. If your question or concern was not covered in the following documentation, please be sure to contact us to request it and we will be glad to assist you. TheHauntedZone.com Privacy and Information Policy Information that we collect from you: - Your IP (Internet Protocol) Address. - A valid email address during registration. - Your browser type and version number. - All messages that you post in the chat room through public or private form will be recorded and saved permanently. Why we collect this information: - Your IP Address is collected and logged for security purposes. - A valid email address is required in case you forget your password. - Your browser type and version is collected for technical support reasons. - All messages are logged for security reasons. How this information may be used: - Your IP Address may be used to determine how many accounts you have registered in our chat room and it may also be looked up on anti-spam sites to determine whether or not your IP Address or Email Address has been used for spamming on other sites. If a search on your IP Address reveals that you have been blacklisted elsewhere for spamming, you will be banned here as well. Your IP Address is also logged so that if you violate our Terms of Use, it may be banned to prevent further use of this chat room. - Your email address is required and may be used for the chat room to automatically email you in the event that you forget your chat room password. For security reasons, we cannot release passwords per request. Therefore the only way to recover a lost password is to ensure that you enter a valid and working email address during registration. It does not have to be your primary email (for example, you could create a separate or disposable email just for the chat room) but a working one IS required. - If you need technical support for the chat room, website or other service we offer then we may need to know what type and version web browser you are using. This is why we collect that information. - Any messages that you enter in our chat room *including private messages* will be automatically recorded and will be saved in a separate file on our server permanently (for as long as our chat room exists). - Any information that you voluntarily provide to us will be treated as strictly confidential and will only be used for the purpose that you specify to us. How your information is secured with us: - We sincerely care about your privacy at TheHauntedZone.com therefore we strive to ensure that your information remains safe with us. We strictly prohibit the release of ANY of your information to any third party. None of the information that we collect will be sold or in any way released or given to any third party unless required by court order or law enforcement. In the event that you violate any federal, state or local laws and proof of such violation is needed then we will be forced to turn such information over to appropriate law enforcement. Otherwise, no information shall be released from any staff member or administrator of TheHauntedZone.com under ANY circumstances by request or otherwise. Your information is kept in a secured and safeguarded location on the server that hosts our website and chat room. The information shall only be viewed by system administrators who withhold a password to access that area. Please note that this applies to any information that you voluntarily provide to us as well. Policy regarding spam and other abuse: At TheHauntedZone.com we have a "zero-tolerance" rule for spam or any other form of abuse that violates our rules or any federal, state or local laws. Examples of such abuse may include but is not limited to: - Spamming - Phising - Hacking - Distribution or production of harmful or malicious software OR links to websites that install such software - Providing links to websites that contain harmful or malicious code OR that install software designed to steal passwords or other private information or to spy on the user - Spoofing or pretending to represent law enforcement or TheHauntedZone staff - Violation of Copyright or Intellectual Property Laws - Distribution of copyright protected materials - Theft of images or content that is not public domain - Distribution of adult or pornographic content or child pornography We monitor for any of the above or other types of illegal activities on our website and chat room. If monitoring reveals any form of the above or other illegal activities it will most definitely be reported to appropriate law enforcement and if necessary, we will continue to seek further legal action against the offending individual or group of individuals. Measures that we take to prevent spam in our chat room: - Each newly registered IP Address is tested for spam and to see if it has been banned on other sites. If your IP Address is found to have a reputation of spam or abuse on popular anti-spam sites or if it has been blacklisted by common mail servers then it will most definitely be blacklisted here whether you have spammed yet or not. The whole idea is to prevent spam! - Any cases of spam in the chat room or by email to us is reported to the spammer's ISP (Internet Service Provider) and possibly their local law enforcement agency and the user will be banned from the chat room (if it applies to the chat room). - If a user's registered information is found to have a bad reputation of spam with other sites OR if the user spams in our chat room, the spammer's IP Address will be blacklisted on our server which will prevent them from further access to our website and chat room. Once an IP Address has been blacklisted on our server, it will never be unlisted or removed under any circumstances. - If necessary, we will blacklist an entire range of IPs, proxy servers or domain from the server as well if it is a common source of spam or abuse. If you encounter any spam or ANY form of abuse in our chat room or on our website, please do not hesitate to notify us immediately by going to http://thehauntedzone.com/contactus.html
