About this Privacy Policy

This Privacy Policy applies to the MDinfo.com Web site, which is owned and operated by MDinfo Inc. References to "MDinfo" mean MDinfo Inc., including any company that MDinfo Inc. owns or controls. MDinfo may share information among its subsidiaries or sites that it owns or controls, but it is always protected under the terms of this Privacy Policy.

Some of the links on this website connect to information hosted by other third-party websites. When you navigate to content that comes from another website (whether through an advertisement, co-brand, service, or content link), be aware that any information you disclose on or through those sites is not subject to this Privacy Policy. MDinfo does not endorse and is not responsible for the privacy practices of the third party websites to which we link. You should always review the privacy policy for those sites to understand how they treat your personal information.

This Privacy Policy is intended to help our visitors understand how we manage your information.

Non-Personal Information Collected

Cookies
The website may collect anonymous, Non-Personal Information about your use of the website through the use of "cookies." Cookies are small computer files that are transferred with your permission to your computer's hard drive. This cookie file recognizes “your computer” (not your personal information) as a repeat visitor and allows the website operator to record how often each computer visits the website and the particular pages viewed by the computer. Every computer is assigned a different cookie by MDinfo. The information collected by cookies can also help the company dynamically generate content on web pages specifically designed for your interests and also allows the company to statistically monitor how many people are using the site and for what purpose. Cookies also help authenticate users as to not require a password every time the user visits the site from the same PC.
Your browser software can be set to reject all cookies if desired. However, users must at least allow for session-based cookies to use the basic website features. Most browsers offer instructions on how to reset the browser to reject cookies in the "Help" section of the browser toolbar.
Sponsors, partners, advertisers, or other third parties on MDinfo may also use their own cookies when you click on their advertisement or link to their site or service. Some advertisers use companies other than MDinfo to serve their ads and these companies ("Ad Servers") may also collect Non-Personal Information through the use of cookies on the website. MDinfo does not control these third parties' use of cookies, or how they manage the Non-Personal Information they gather through them. However, we do require Ad Servers to agree that they will not collect any Personal Information from user's visit to a third party advertisement without your consent and to agree they will not link any Non-Personal cookie information collected by their advertisement to Personal Information they or others collect in other ways or from other websites. You should review the privacy policy of other sites you visit or link to from MDinfo to understand how these other sites use cookies and how they use the information they collect through the use of cookies on their own sites.

Personal Information Collected
Personal Information is information that can be used to identify or contact you. You may use this website without submitting Personal Information. By entering your Personal Information anywhere on MDinfo.com, you consent to the company's use of that information in accordance with this Privacy Policy. Your Personal Information will not be shared with any third-party companies or advertisers out of our control. MDinfo may use the information you enter to contact you by email. Email communications may include information related to specific conditions or topics that interests you, as well as general health and wellness information, wellness tools, surveys and news. In most cases, the company will not contact visitors more than once per week.
Public Forums
This Privacy Policy cannot protect you when you use any public discussion forum or other community features hosted on MDinfo.com. As a service to our users, MDinfo features Health Expert forums and online discussions. Any information shared in a forum or online discussion is public information and may be seen or collected by third parties that do not adhere to our Privacy Policy. You should think carefully before disclosing any Personal Information you don't want others to read in any public forum.

Disclosure of Your Information

Except as set forth in this Article or as specifically agreed to by you, MDinfo will not disclose any Personal Information it gathers from you on the Site. The company may release Personal Information to third parties:
1) to comply with valid legal requirements such as a law, regulation, search warrant, subpoena or court order; or
2) in special cases, such as a physical threat to you or others. In the event that we are legally compelled to disclose your Personal Information to a third party, we will notify you unless doing so would violate the law or court order.

A. Disclosure to MDinfo Staff and Moderators
MDinfo staff and moderators sometimes have limited access to your Personal Information in the course of providing products or services to you and other members, to troubleshoot problems or resolve complaints. Access to your Personal Information is limited to the information reasonably necessary for the employee to perform the function needed to resolve the issue or to improve the service.

B. Disclosure to MDinfo Operations and Maintenance Contractors
MDinfo operations and maintenance contractors sometimes have limited access to your Personal Information in the course of providing products or services to MDinfo. These contractors include vendors and suppliers that provide us with technology, services, and/or content for the operation and maintenance of our Web site. Access to your Personal Information by these contractors is limited to the information reasonably necessary for the contractor to perform its limited function for MDinfo.

C. Disclosure of Aggregate Information
MDinfo may provide to third parties Non-Personal Information about its website usage statistics that does not allow you to be identified or contacted and that is combined with the Non-Personal Information of other users ("Aggregate Information"). For example, the company might inform third parties regarding the number of users of the Website and the activities they conduct while on the website. Depending on the circumstances, the company may or may not charge third parties for this Aggregate Information. The company also may not limit the third parties use of the Aggregate Information, except that we do require third parties to whom we disclose Aggregate Information to agree that they will not attempt to make this information personally identifiable by combining it with other databases or otherwise.

How MDinfo Handles Privacy and Security Internally

Here are some of the security procedures that MDinfo uses to protect your privacy:

• Uses firewalls to protect information held in our servers.
• Limits the number of MDinfo employees who have potential access to your Personal Information.
• Requires all MDinfo employees to abide by our Privacy Policy and to be subject to disciplinary action if they violate it.

Updating Your Information and Contacting MDinfo
You can always contact MDinfo in order to:
1) Delete your Personal Information or any information that you consider Personal and don't want to appear on MDinfo.com, or
2) Update the Personal Information that you have provided to us by emailing us at:
Privacy as it applies to the Internet is a dynamic, rapidly developing area. In the future, MDinfo may make significant changes to our Privacy Policy affecting the use of the Personal Information we collect. The company will notify users by email of any significant material changes to its privacy policy and obtain your "opt-in" consent to any significant new uses of your Personal Information, if it was collected from you prior to a significant change in this policy. The company may also make non-significant changes to our Privacy Policy that generally will not affect the use of your Personal Information. You should also check this posted Privacy Policy for any future changes.

If you do not agree to the terms of this Privacy Policy or any revised policy, please exit the site immediately.

Definitions

Aggregate Information or Data: As a website gathers individual pieces of Non-Personal Information (see definition below) from its users, it may combine similar data from many or all the users of the website into one big "batch". For example, the site may add up the total number of people in Peoria, Illinois, (but not their names) who are seeking information about weight loss and compare that to the number of people in Petaluma, California seeking the same information.

This sort of statistical information is called aggregate data because it reflects the habits and characteristics of a large group of anonymous people. Web sites may use aggregate data or share it with their business partners so that the information and services they provide best meet the needs of the users. Aggregate data also helps advertisers and sponsors on the Web know how effectively they are reaching and meeting the needs of their target audience.

Browser: Short for web browser, a browser is a software application used to locate and display web (Internet) pages. The most popular browsers are Microsoft Internet Explorer, Firefox, and Safari. In addition, most modern browsers can present multimedia information, including sound and video, though they require plug-ins for some formats.

Cookie: A small data file that is stored on the hard drive of the computer you use to view a Web site. Cookies are placed by that site or by a third party with a presence on the site, such as an advertiser and are accessible only by the party or site that placed the Cookie (i.e. a Cookie placed on your computer by MDinfo isn't accessed by any other site you visit but a Cookie placed on your computer by an advertiser may be accessed by any site on which that same advertiser has a presence). Cookies can contain pieces of Personally Identifiable Information (PII). These Cookies often are used to make the site easier to use. For example, if you check a box to ask that we store your user name on your computer so that you don't have to enter it each time you visit the site, it's stored in a Cookie on your computer.

Firewall: A system designed to prevent unauthorized access to or from a public or private network. Firewalls can be implemented in both hardware and software, or a combination of both. Firewalls are frequently used to prevent unauthorized Internet users from accessing private portions of public networks. All messages entering or leaving the network pass through the firewall, which examines each message and blocks those that do not meet the specified security criteria.

Non-Personal Information: Information that is not traceable back to any individual and cannot be used to identify an individual.

Opt-In: Means you are actively indicating your preference to participate in a program, email, feature, tool, or enhancement on a Web site. Typically, if you "Opt-in" you must provide certain information, usually Personal Information, to the Web site or otherwise actively indicate your choice or preference to participate in the Web site program.

Personal Information: Information that can be traced back to an individual (contrast with Non-Personal Information and Aggregate Information). Examples of Personal Information include your name, home address, telephone number, email address, and Social Security number. If other pieces of information are linked to Personal Information, they also become Personal Information. For example, if you use a nickname to chat online and give out your real name while chatting, your nickname becomes Personal Information when linked with other Personal Information.

Server: A computer that provides services to other computers. A "web server" stores web site files and "serves" them to people who request them.