Privacy Policy

Policy Version Date: April 24, 2009 

TECHOSHARK PRIVACY POLICY

TechoShark, Inc. ("TechoShark," “Us,” or “We”) is committed to protecting the privacy of the users of www.hoozatapp.com web site (the “Site”), the hoozat application (the “Application”), and the services provided through the hoozat application (the “Services” and, together with the Application and Site, the “System”).  This privacy policy (the “Policy”) discloses TechoShark’s information privacy practices for the System and is intended to inform registered users and other users of the System of the data collection and use practices of the System.  

Amendments to this Policy will be posted on the Site, and will be effective when posted.  Your continued use of the System following the posting of any amendment will constitute your acceptance of that amendment, except if your personally identifiable information will be used in a materially different manner.  See the Notification of Changes section below for further information.  

If you have questions or concerns regarding this Policy, you should contact TechoShark by e-mail at feedback@techoshark.com.  

REGISTERED USERS.  

Registration is not mandatory to access the public areas of the Site.  Registration is, however, required for access to System and the products and services provided through the System.

Users registering to receive an account on the System will provide TechoShark with a username and password for purposes of accessing their account.  When accessing the portions of the System available to account holders, users may be required to provide their username and password.  

TechoShark is not responsible for any loss or misuse of your username and password.  ALWAYS REMEMBER THAT IN ORDER TO PROTECT YOUR PRIVACY YOU SHOULD NOT SHARE YOUR USERNAME OR PASSWORD WITH OTHERS.  

PERSONALLY IDENTIFIABLE INFORMATION.  

We only collect and share personally identifiable information regarding users of the System as described in this Policy.  Except as noted in this Policy, personally identifiable information collected through the System is NOT shared with third parties without your consent.  We may automatically collect personally identifiable information from you when you access the System.  We may also collect personally identifiable information from you through your third party social networks, such as Facebook, MySpace, and/or LinkedIn (“Third-Party Social Networks”) and a number of other voluntary sources on the System, such as responses, registrations, reviews, comments, emails, postings, messages or other electronic submissions and communications sent by you to TechoShark or the System.  The personally identifiable information we may collect from you will include, by way of example:  

E-mail address;  

Contact information (including, name, address, zip code, country, and phone number);  

Your location;

Age;  

Gender;  

Marital status; 

Domain name and IP address; 

User-specific and aggregate information on areas of the System accessed; 

Username and password information for the System; and 

Other information volunteered by You, such as information provided through responses, registrations, reviews, comments, emails, postings, messages or other electronic submissions and communications sent by you to TechoShark or the System.  

YOU SHOULD NOT PROVIDE TECHOSHARK WITH ANY PERSONALLY IDENTIFIABLE INFORMATION (OR SUBMIT OR POST ANY PERSONALLY IDENTIFIABLE INFORMATION TO THE SYSTEM) UNLESS YOU WOULD LIKE THAT INFORMATION TO BE USED BY TECHOSHARK IN ACCORDANCE WITH THIS POLICY.  LIKEWISE, YOU SHOULD NOT SUBMIT OR POST ANY PERSONALLY IDENTIFIABLE INFORMATION TO THE SYSTEM OR YOUR PROFILE ON THIRD-PARTY SOCIAL NETWORKS  UNLESS YOU WANT THAT INFORMATION TO BE ACCESSIBLE BY OTHER USERS OF THE SYSTEM, AS INFORMATION POSTED OR AVAILABLE TO THE SYSTEM MAY BE MADE AVAILABLE TO OTHER USERS OF THE SYSTEM.  

The personally identifiable information that TechoShark collects from users of the System (both registered and unregistered) may be used for a variety of purposes, for example to provide the services and products offered through the System to users of the System, to customize advertising and other content displayed through the System and/or the layout of the Site for each individual user of the System, to notify users of the System about updates to and activities on the System and about goods and services that we feel may be of interest to you, to improve the content of the System, to analyze data and patterns regarding usage of the System, to contact users of the System for marketing purposes, and to contact users of the Site for information verification purposes.  

We may also share certain personally identifiable information we collect through the System with third party companies so that they may offer products and services to users of our System that we believe will be of interest to those users.  We may also share certain personally identifiable information with third party advertisement serving companies to better target the advertising and other content displayed on the System and provide pertinent offers we think may be of interest to our users.  In addition, third party advertisers may receive certain personally identifiable information about you if you click on advertisements displayed on the Site or in the Application (and clicking on any advertisement displayed on the Site or in the Application will be considered your consent to “opt in” for this transfer).  

PERSONAL PROFILES ON THIRD-PARTY SOCIAL NETWORKS.

The Application gives you access to the personal profiles on Third-Party Social Networks of other users of the System.  Other users of the System may also have access to your personal profile on Third-Party Social Networks which may contain personally identifiable information.  YOU ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR THE INFORMATION INCLUDED IN YOUR PERSONAL PROFILE ON THIRD-PARTY SOCIAL NETWORKS AND SHARED WITH OTHER USERS OF THE SYSTEM.  YOU SHOULD NOT LINK YOUR PERSONAL PROFILE FOUND ON ANY THIRD-PARTY SOCIAL NETWORK TO THE SYSTEM UNLESS YOU WANT TO SHARE YOUR PERSONALLY IDENTIFIABLE INFORMATION WITH OTHER USERS OF THE SYSTEM.  

DISCLOSURE AS REQUIRED BY LAW.  

Though we make every reasonable effort to preserve user privacy, we may need to disclose personally identifiable information of certain users of the System when we have a reasonable and good-faith belief that the disclosure is necessary to enforce the License and Services Agreement that You entered into before downloading the Application, comply with a judicial proceeding, court order or other legal process, or to otherwise enforce or protect TechoShark's rights under applicable law, including, without limitation, TechoShark's intellectual property rights.  In this situation we will use reasonable efforts to provide notice of this disclosure to all affected users, to the extent reasonably possible under the circumstances.  

ENHANCEMENT OF PERSONAL INFORMATION.  

We may combine and enhance our user database information with third party data and information to better target our advertising and provide pertinent offers in which we think our users would be interested.  Certain summary demographics are also used in our research product offerings.  Individual personally identifiable information is never used in our research product offering and is never tied back to an individual user or resold for any purposes.  

SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENTS.  

On occasion it is necessary to send out service related announcements.  For instance, if any portion of our System is temporarily suspended for maintenance we might send users an email.  Generally, users may not opt-out of these communications, though they can deactivate their account.  These communications are not promotional in nature. 

SPECIAL OFFERS AND UPDATES.  

We may send new registrants of the System a welcoming email to verify password and username.  Established members may occasionally also receive information on products, services and special deals, and periodic newsletters.  Out of respect for the privacy of our users we present the option not to receive these types of communications.  Please see the Choice and Opt-out section.

YOUR CALIFORNIA PRIVACY RIGHTS.  

California law provides that California residents have a right to request that businesses tell them how their personally identifiable information has been shared with third parties for those third parties’ direct marketing purposes.  However, there is an exception to this requirement for businesses that have adopted and disclosed, in their privacy policy, a policy of not disclosing a person’s personally identifiable information to third parties for those third parties’ direct marketing purposes if that person has exercised an option to opt-out of the disclosure of their personally identifiable information to third parties for such purposes.  

TechoShark has adopted a policy of allowing you to opt-out of the disclosure of your personally identifiable information to third parties for their direct marketing purposes and thus falls within this exception.  Instructions for opting out can be found in the section below entitled “Choice and Opt-Out.”  

CHOICE AND OPT-OUT.  

We provide you with a choice whether to receive certain emails.  

We provide you the opportunity to 'opt-out' of having your personally identifiable information used for certain purposes.  If you are a user of the System and you no longer wish to receive email, mail, or telephone calls from us or have your email address or postal address shared with third parties, you may opt-out of receiving email, mail or telephone calls from us or having your email address or postal address shared with third parties.  

In addition, if you would prefer that we not share your personally identifiable information with third parties for the third parties’ direct marketing purposes, you may opt-out of having your personally identifiable information shared with third parties for the third parties’ direct marketing purposes.  

All opt-out requests can be made by emailing us at: feedback@techoshark.com.

CHILDREN.  

The System is not directed to children under 13 years of age and the License and Services Agreement specifically prohibits use of the System by children under 13 years of age.  TechoShark does not knowingly solicit or collect personal information from children under 13 years of age.  

CUSTOMER SERVICE.  

We communicate with users on a regular basis to provide requested services and with regard to issues relating to their account, we reply via email, in accordance with the users' wishes.  

NON-PERSONALLY IDENTIFIABLE INFORMATION.  

Where possible, our server automatically recognizes each visitor’s Internet Protocol addresses.  We also collect information about how visitors use the System (for example what pages are viewed and products and services are purchased).  This information allows us to improve the System and facilitate market research.  Sometimes, we utilize the services of a third party to help us understand this information better, although the information that is disclosed to these entities remains at all times in anonymous and non-personally identifiable form.  Other than improving the System and the experience of users of the System, we make no other use of this information.  

COOKIES AND WEB BEACONS.  

"Cookies" are commonly used pieces of information in the form of small files that are placed on a computer hard drive to enable a user to more easily communicate and interact with certain websites.  We may use cookies for various purposes, for example to customize web page content on users’ browser type for individual users, to facilitate and enhance interaction with the System, to record session information, such as items that users add to their shopping cart, and to save certain information about users of the System and others who visit the Site.  

A cookie does not collect or keep your name or other personally identifying information; however, we may link the information obtained through cookies to other personally identifiable information to give us a better understanding of your preferences, so that we can provide a more meaningful experience to you on the System.

We may use an outside advertisement serving company to display advertisements on the Site or through the Application.  The advertisement serving company may place and collect cookies when it displays an advertisement on the Site or through the Application.  We do not have access to information that would confirm the use of cookies by the advertisement serving company.  We may also use a third party provider to analyze data and patterns regarding usage of the System and such third party provider may user cookies or web beacons to collect such information.

Most browsers will allow you to erase cookies from your computer hard drive, block acceptance of cookies, or receive a warning before a cookie is stored.  Please refer to your browser instructions or help screen to learn more about these functions. 

UPDATES OF PERSONAL INFORMATION.  

The users of the System may use the Application to review, delete/deactivate and update the certain personal information that was previously provided to us through the System.  Users should email us at feedback@techoshark.com to update any other personal information collected by the System that cannot be updated through the Application.

OTHER WEB SITES; LINKS.  

Certain of the web sites of TechoShark’s affiliates, promotional partners, advertisers, sponsors, and other third-party web sites are accessible through the System.  These third party web sites have their own privacy and data collection policies and practices.  TECHOSHARK IS NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR ANY ACTIONS OR PRIVACY POLICIES OF SUCH THIRD PARTIES.  YOU SHOULD CHECK THE APPLICABLE PRIVACY POLICIES OF THOSE THIRD PARTIES WHEN PROVIDING PERSONALLY IDENTIFIABLE INFORMATION THROUGH LINKED WEB SITES.  

CONSENT TO THE USE OF THIRD PARTY PROVIDERS.  

In addition to the specific third parties noted in this Policy, TechoShark may also contract with other third parties to provide various services to TechoShark relating to the System on an outsourced basis rather than performing the services itself.  For example, TechoShark may contract with an email provider to handle the distribution of email messages to users of the System.  Likewise, TechoShark may contract with a web site hosting provider to host all or a portion of the Site for TechoShark.  By using the Site or System, all users consent to TechoShark providing both personal and non-personal information received from those users to these third party providers for the purpose of enabling the third party provider to provide these outsourced services to TechoShark.  In addition, all users consent to the collection, maintenance, and processing of their personal and non-personal information by TechoShark and these third party providers.  

NOTIFICATION OF CHANGES.  

If we decide to change this Policy, we will either notify users by way of an e-mail or post material changes on the Site so our users are aware of what information we collect, how we use it, and if we disclose it.  Unless we seek and receive your consent, we will use information in accordance with the Policy under which the information was last collected. Users may prevent their information from being used for purposes other than those for which it was originally collected by emailing us at feedback@techoshark.com.  

SECURITY.  

We will use reasonable security measures on the System to protect the loss, misuse and alteration of the information under our control.  While there is no such thing as "perfect security" on the Internet, we will take all reasonable steps to insure the safety of your personal information.  For example, our policy is that only those individuals who need your personally identifiable information to perform a specific job are granted access to that personally identifiable information.  Likewise, all employees and contractors are kept up-to-date on our security and privacy practices.  In addition, the servers that we store personally identifiable information on are kept in a secure environment.

CONTACT INFORMATION.  

All inquiries concerning this statement and the System in general may be sent to feedback@techoshark.com.  

TRANSFER OF INFORMATION.  

If TechoShark elects, in its reasonable discretion, to transfer ownership or control of the System to a third party, whether or not in the context of an acquisition of TechoShark or a merger of TechoShark with a third party, you consent to the transfer of your personally identifiable information and non-personally identifiable information by TechoShark to that third party, provided that all use of your information by that third party remains subject to the terms of this Policy.