Hekko Privacy Policy

Overview

Hekko Corporation ("Hekko Corporation ,", Hekko" "we" or "us") is committed to protecting our customers' privacy. We feel it is important that you fully understand the terms and conditions under which we use the information we gather from you through the use of our website located at, or linked to, the URL www.hekko.com. Please read this privacy policy ("Policy") carefully to understand how we will use and protect your personal information. We will never share your personal information with anyone except as described in this Policy.

Questions regarding this Policy should be directed to privacy@hekko.com or we may also be contacted directly at the following address:

Hekko Corporation
2210 E. Vista Way, Suite 5
Vista, CA 92084

1. Trust, Notice, and Security

Concerns about privacy can be stronger in the online environment. Hekko promises to follow this privacy and fair information practices policy that we specially designed for our Web site. Parents can trust Hekko will not misuse any personal information about their children or about themselves. Hekko complies with the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act and all other applicable laws and regulations concerning children and the Internet.

At Hekko, we fully disclose our policy about the collection, maintenance, use, disclosure, and security of personal information obtained from users of our online activities. By personal information, we mean a name, address, e-mail address, telephone number, or any other information that can be used to contact or identify an individual.

Hekko will change over time as we add exciting new features, services, and options. The Internet itself will also change as new capabilities and perhaps new laws emerge. This policy will be updated occasionally. Our philosophy of protecting user information from inappropriate uses and disclosures will not change. We promise to provide appropriate advance notice through the Web site of any change that materially affects the collection, maintenance, use, or disclosure of personal information from children or adults. We will also seek parental consent should we ever decide to collect and maintain personal information from children. Other changes to this privacy policy statement that reflect refinements, improvements, updates, and new features will be made as appropriate and posted as soon as possible. Whenever the privacy policy changes, we will modify the date and version number to reflect that a change was made.

Another important element of trust is security. The security of personal information is a high priority at Hekko. We maintain this Web site and all associated data with technical, administrative, and physical safeguards appropriate for the type of data in question to protect against loss, unauthorized access, destruction, misuse, modification, and improper disclosure. We follow industry-proven security procedures such as encrypted administrative communication, restricted access to underlying machines, and firewalls at network access points. No computer system or information can ever be fully protected against every possible hazard. Hekko is committed to providing reasonable and appropriate security controls to protect our Web site and its information against foreseeable hazards.

Hekko requires that employees and contractors who have access to personal information from the Web site acknowledge in writing that they have read these privacy and fair information practices rules and that they are expected to follow it.

2. Parental Involvement and Consent

Parental involvement in a child's Internt activities is a cornerstone principle of Hekko. Hekko does not currently collect personal information from children under 13. We will require prior parental consent should we ever do so. Hekko does currently collect and maintain personal information from children under 13 if it is voluntarily given by an adult, such first and last names.

Hekko encourages parents and caregivers to spend time online with children and to collaborate in the learning and fun offered at our Web site. The Internet is a wonderful place to explore as a family. We recommend that an adult accompany children when using content on the Internet.

Hekko recognizes that collecting personal information from visitors to our Web site can be sensitive. Some features do not require disclosure of a name, e-mail address, or other personal information. Some features need personal information in order to work. We want our users to understand what information we collect and how we use it. We also want to provide our users with a choice when possible.

If you are a parent or guardian who has discovered that your child has submitted his or her personal information without your permission or consent, Hekko will take reasonable steps to remove that information from the Hekko database at your request. To request removal of your child's information, please send us an e-mail (to the address below) and be sure to include in your message the same user name, password, and email address that your child submitted. If your child has used your credit card on our web sites without your permission, contact us immediately at privacy@hekko.com .

3. Use and Disclosure Limitations

Hekko uses personal information about its Web site users only in defined and responsible ways. We do not share user information with third parties except when we have told users about the disclosures, when we have prior consent, as described in this policy, or when required by law.

Use Policy: Personal information is used for activities such as site registration, site membership, site use, online sweepstakes that require notification of winners, newsletter subscriptions, and mailings that describe upcoming products, events, and features.

User Choice: Whenever possible, Hekko allows users to make choices about how their personal information will be used. For example, if we plan to use your information for Hekko marketing or advertising purposes, we let you tell us in advance that you do not want to receive any mail about our activities or promotions or about offers from our sponsors or advertisers.

Disclosure Policy: We do not normally disclose personal information to anyone outside of Hekko unless we have previously informed users about the disclosures. However, some data may be used from time to time by outside auditors, consultants, and others hired by Hekko to assist in carrying out financial or operational activities. We permit these uses only when necessary to manage the Web site and its records or for another specific purpose consistent with this privacy policy. All recipients must agree in writing to safeguard personal information, to use it only for an authorized purpose, and to return it or destroy it upon completion of the activity.

Hekko might be required to disclose personal information in response to valid legal process. This includes a search warrant, subpoena, or court order. In this respect, we are no different from any other record keeper. Disclosures may also be appropriate to protect the safety of a child, during emergencies if physical safety is believed to be at risk, to protect the security or integrity of our Web site, or to take precautions against liability. We think that these events are unlikely, but they are possible. We will take reasonable steps to limit the scope of any of these disclosures.

4. Information Collection

Hekko strives to fully explain its information collection practices. We do not collect personal information from children. However, adults can voluntarily give personal information about children and that information will be collected and maintained.  

General, aggregated, demographic, and non-personal information may be collected by Hekko. It will not be linked to any of your personal information, through cookies or other means, without your consent. This type of anonymous, aggregated profiling and session data may include information that you have provided to us through surveys, polls, etc., but will not be tied to any personal information, without your consent. It may also include aggregated anonymous information about site usage and the customer base.

In many cases, Hekko will automatically collect certain non-personal information about your use of its sites and services. Hekko might collect, among other things, information concerning the type of Internet browser or computer operating system you are using, the domain name of your Internet service provider, your "click path" through the Hekko site, and the web site or advertisement that was linked to or from the Hekko site when you visited. To do this, Hekko may use cookies and other technology (see below). Your visits to our web sites, and information provided through these technologies, will be anonymous unless you provide us with personal information or have provided such information in the past.

Information About Children

Hekko does not collect personal information from children. However, adults such as teachers, can voluntarily give personal information about children such as first name and last name.   That information will be collected, maintained, and protected based on the privacy limitations outlined in this policy.  

Information About Adults

Other Communications: Hekko will send requested communications including newsletters, informational updates and fundraising/promotional opportunities through email and occasionally via postal mail to our registered donors and customers who opt-in for this correspondence based on their interests. If you no longer wish to receive communications from Hekko, you will have the ability to remove yourself from the mailing list at the end of every email you receive or you can opt-out of receiving all email or selected email on your preferences page within the Hekko Parent portal or by contacting us at support@hekko.com or (877) 464-3556.

Our commitment to secure the personal information we have collected

While Hekko takes precautions against possible breaches in its web sites and customer databases, no web site or Internet transmission is completely secure. Consequently, Hekko cannot guarantee that unauthorized access, hacking, data loss, or other breaches will never occur. Your use of the Hekko sites and services is at your own risk. Hekko urges you to take steps to keep your personal information safe by memorizing your password or keeping it in a safe place (separate from your account information), logging out of your user account, and closing your web browser.

Whenever you give Hekko sensitive or confidential information (for example, credit card numbers for purchases), Hekko will take commercially reasonable steps to protect the information by establishing a secure connection with your web browser. Hekko employs a security technology known as a secure-socket-layer ("SSL") to protect the transmission of payment information to the site. Unless otherwise specified herein or on the site where you make a purchase, credit card numbers are used only for payment processing and are not retained for marketing purposes.

5. Access to and Correction of Personal Information

Hekko is committed to maintaining accurate, timely, relevant, and appropriate information about our users.

We recognize that we need the assistance of users to make sure that their information is correct because users are the source of the information. Users may review, correct, and update the information that we maintain about them. Users can review their information at the Options page within the appropriate portal.

If you remove or change information on our system, the information may be retained for a period in our backup systems. Backup systems protect against the possibility of failures in the computer system. It can take weeks or months before information cycles out of backup systems. Information about purchases made through our Web site may be retained for longer periods as required by law, contract, or auditing requirements.

6. Questions

Hekko pledges to work with users to answer any questions about our privacy and fair information practices policy or our implementation of the policy.

If you have a complaint about our privacy and fair information practices policy or about our implementation of the policy, you can write to us at privacy@hekko.com .   Hekko will try to resolve any problems that arise in a fair and prompt manner.

7. Technical and Other Matters: Cookies, Web Logs, and Advertisers

Hekko discloses the defined and limited way that our Web site uses cookies, Web logs, and advertising.

Cookies: On the Internet, a cookie is a piece of information that a Web site transfers to a user's computer for record-keeping purposes. As a user moves from page to page at our Web site, a cookie is the only way that we have of knowing who you are. An activity on one page may depend on what you selected on a previous page. We use a cookie to keep track of your selection. Without cookies, users may be asked to provide the same information repeatedly. Some activities may not function at all.

The use of cookies is common on the Internet. Most major Web sites use cookies. Hekko uses cookies only when appropriate. We never use cookies to retrieve information from your computer that was not originally sent in a cookie from us. We never use information transferred through cookies for marketing purposes. We never share cookies information with any third parties for marketing or other purposes.

You can control cookies from your end through Internet browsers (like Netscape and Explorer) or using other software. Most browsers are initially set to accept cookies. If you prefer, you can set your browser to alert you when cookies are in use. You may also disable or refuse cookies. You can also erase a cookie that has been placed on your computer by us or by others. If you do not allow cookies to be used in the traditional way, it is possible that some parts of the Web site, like the purchasing process, will not function as we designed them. It is your choice.

Web Logs: Hekko maintains standard Web logs that record basic information about visitors to our Web site. These logs include, for example:

•  The Internet domain from which you access Hekko (e.g., AOL.com, ABC.edu) and the address of the Web site you linked here from.

•  Your IP address. An IP address is automatically assigned when you log onto the Internet. Static IP addresses may be personally identifiable in some instances. Dynamic addresses are usually not personally identifiable.

•  The type of browser (e.g., Internet Explorer or Netscape) and operating system (e.g., Windows 98) you use.

•  The date and time you visited Hekko, and the pages you saw.

We use Web log information to design our Web site, identify popular features, and in similar ways. We do not try to identify individuals from Web logs or to link Web logs to other user information. However, if someone tries to damage our Web site or use it in an unauthorized or illegal way, we may share Web log information with law enforcement agencies.

Advertising: Ads on the Hekko (e.g., interactive banners) may allow a user to click through to a Web site maintained by an advertiser. Hekko makes reasonable efforts to ensure that only advertisements suitable for children will appear on our Web site. Advertiser Web sites are not controlled by Hekko. Advertisers may have different privacy policies, which we encourage you to review. When you click through to advertisers' Web sites, you may get cookies directly from them or from the entity that serves the ads... Hekko does not see or use these cookies, and we do not control how other sites use cookies.

If a Hekko advertiser wants to send you e-mail and if you have not objected to receiving promotions, we send the e-mail message on behalf of the advertiser. We do not disclose your information to the advertiser. If you leave our Web site by responding directly to an advertiser and then provide personal information, then the advertiser may use that information in accordance with its own policy. Hekko only does business with responsible companies, but we cannot control the way that someone else uses information that you disclose directly to them.

If you think that any sponsors, advertisers, or links on our Web site are inappropriate, please contact Hekko at info@hekko.com.  

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