Privacy Policy
 

COLUMBIA BOOKS INC. respects the privacy of our users. We have created this policy in order to demonstrate our privacy commitment to our users. By coming to a COLUMBIA BOOKS INC. site, including affiliated brands and subsidiaries you are agreeing to and accepting this Privacy Policy as well as the terms and conditions or other end user agreement for that site. In many instances, you may opt-out of uses of your Identifying Information (defined below) allowed under this Policy, as described at the end of this Policy.

  • We will not distribute information that identifies you individually or reveals your identity ("Identifying Information") unless you give your prior approval in response to a request made by COLUMBIA BOOKS INC. or unless distribution of this information is permitted under this Privacy Policy. Your electronic approval will qualify as your consent for this purpose. Postings by you that contain Identifying Information should be done with care as discussion forums and the like are public and may be viewed by all users. You should use caution when deciding to disclosure your personal information
  • We may share Identifying Information with regulatory or other legal authorities if requested to do so by a court or other government or law enforcement authority.
  •  We may collect and use information about you and your use of the COLUMBIA BOOKS INC. sites, including Identifying Information, for our own internal purposes such as, for example, analyzing usage of the COLUMBIA BOOKS INC. sites in order to improve them.
  •  We may use, aggregate and/or distribute information about you and your use of the COLUMBIA BOOKS INC. sites in ways that do not identify you individually or reveal your identity.
  •  Advertisements, promotional offers, promotional e-mails, "free gifts," and links, for example, on the COLUMBIA BOOKS INC. sites or sent via e-mail or other means from COLUMBIA BOOKS INC. may ask for Identifying Information from you. If you provide this information, your Identifying Information may be provided (either directly from you or by COLUMBIA BOOKS INC.) to the advertiser or Web site or company making the offer or providing the gift.
  • If you are using a co-branded site of COLUMBIA BOOKS INC. and at least one other third party (indicated by the inclusion of another party's name or product/service name either in the URL or site or by the inclusion of a third party's(ies') logos or trademarks in the site), your Identifying Information may be used and/or distributed by COLUMBIA BOOKS INC. pursuant to this Privacy Policy and by the other party(ies) pursuant to this Policy and/or their applicable policy(ies).
  • COLUMBIA BOOKS INC. may send users, via e-mail or other means, information relating to COLUMBIA BOOKS INC. sites and/or information on specials, new products and/or promotions from our marketing partners/colleagues. The information described in these messages is intended to be of high interest or value to our users. To choose not to receive such messages, a user can simply click or go to a URL link located in the e-mail or other message, which will remove the user from future mailings. Or, for certain sites a user may edit his/her personal account information, which contains an option on receiving special offers, at any time by clicking the appropriate link on the applicable COLUMBIA BOOKS INC. site.
  • Occasionally we make our customer list available to other reputable organizations, so you may receive offers you might find interesting. Sporadically we permit carefully selected organizations to advertise in our e-mail publications, let them sponsor product alerts or will sponsor their product offers. To stop receiving such e-mails, follow the unsubscribe instructions in the e-mail or send an e-mail to service@columbiabooks.com at any time.
  • In the course of our business, COLUMBIA BOOKS INC. might buy or sell sites or assets. In these kinds of transactions, customer information (such as Identifying Information) is usually one of the transferred business assets. In the event that COLUMBIA BOOKS INC., its parent, subsidiaries, or affiliates is acquired, merged, or otherwise combined with another party, customer information (such as Identifying Information) will be one of the transferred assets.
  • COLUMBIA BOOKS INC. may use other companies and persons to perform certain functions for us. These functions might include, for example, processing credit card payments, providing customer service, and sending e-mail. These other companies and persons may have access to customer information (such as Identifying Information) that's needed to perform their functions, but they are not authorized to use it for any other purposes.
  • We may share Identifying Information with affiliated companies, business partners and joint ventures, for example, but, we use reasonable efforts to require those companies to honor the confidentiality of such Identifying Information.

In order to provide our users with a more complete understanding of how the COLUMBIA BOOKS INC. sites collect and use information from our users, we have provided the following information:

Internet Protocol (IP) Address

The COLUMBIA BOOKS INC. sites log IP addresses for systems administration, diagnostic, and site tracking purposes, and to report aggregate information to advertisers. The COLUMBIA BOOKS INC. sites do not link IP addresses to information identifying users individually.

Cookies

The COLUMBIA BOOKS INC. sites use files called "cookies" to store usernames, passwords, and other user preferences so that users don't have to re-enter this information each time they use a particular COLUMBIA BOOKS INC. site. You should be aware that advertisers serving ads on the COLUMBIA BOOKS INC. sites may use their own cookies.

 

We, or a data provider we have engaged, may place or recognize a unique cookie on your browser to enable you to receive customized ads, content or services. No personally identifiable information is placed into these cookies. The cookies may reflect de-identified demographic or other data linked to data you voluntarily have submitted to us, e.g., your email address, in hashed, non-human readable form. 

Information Collection

The COLUMBIA BOOKS INC. sites' registration forms ask users to enter contact information (like their e-mail address), general information (like their city, state), and demographic information (like their zip code, age, or income level). The forms also require unique identifiers (username and password) so that users can be verified when they access the COLUMBIA BOOKS INC. sites. The contact information primarily is used to send users e-mails and other information they have requested and other information as stated in this Privacy Policy. The demographic information may be used among other things, to tailor users' experiences at the COLUMBIA BOOKS INC. sites, distribute and show you content that we think you might be interested in, and display site content according to your preferences.

 

Advertisers or Web sites that have links on the COLUMBIA BOOKS INC. sites may collect personally identifiable information about you. The privacy and information practices of those advertisers or Web sites linked to the COLUMBIA BOOKS INC. sites are not covered by this Privacy Policy.

Changes to this Privacy Policy

This Privacy Policy is subject to modification from time to time. You may be notified: (1) in an e-mail sent to the e-mail address you have provided to COLUMBIA BOOKS INC. through the COLUMBIA BOOKS INC. sites, or (2) COLUMBIA BOOKS INC.'s posting of a notice for at least 30 days on this Web site or the applicable COLUMBIA BOOKS INC. site that the COLUMBIA BOOKS INC. sites Privacy Policy has been changed. Your continued use of the COLUMBIA BOOKS INC. site after such change shall be deemed your acceptance of such change.  If you do not accept such change, you should stop using the COLUMBIA BOOKS INC. site.

Opt-Out; Correcting Information

You may opt out of having Identifying Information used for non-essential purposes, disclosed to third parties or used to send promotional correspondence by contracting COLUMBIA BOOKS INC. at the mailing address or email address below.  You may also correct information in your registration form by contacting us at the address below. To ensure that your intention in the email is clear, you should include the words “opt-out” and “Identifying Information” in the subject field of such email. If you have any questions regarding this policy, please contact:

 

Customer Service
COLUMBIA BOOKS INC
1530 Wilson Boulevard, Suite 400
Arlington, VA 22209
service@columbiabooks.com