PRIVACY POLICY

 

UPDATED 11/27/2007

 

BROWSERACCELERATOR.COM, values the privacy of our customers and takes reasonable measures to safeguard that information from unauthorized use.  The following is a detailed explanation of our privacy policy with regards to the BrowserAccelerator.com web site and our BrowserAccelerator Toolbar.  Please note we are not responsible for the information collection practices of those web sites that are linked to our site.  You should review those sites privacy policies before submitting any private information.

WHAT IS THE PURPOSE OF BROWSER ACCELERATOR?

BROWSER ACCELERATOR IS A TOOLBAR THAT PROVIDES VARIOUS SERVICES TO ITS USERS WHILE COLLECTING DATA FROM THOSE USERS REGARDING THE WEBSITES THEY VISIT. THE “RAW” WEBSITE DATA GATHERED BY BROWSER ACCELERATOR IS ANALYZED TO DETERMINE WHICH WEBSITES WERE VISITED MOST OFTEN. ONCE A MONTH, THE DATA IS AGGREGATED AND GIVEN TO THE WEBSITE “RANKING.COM” FOR USE IN RATING HOW POPULAR A WEBSITE IS. RANKING.COM ONLY USES THE DATA TO DETERMINE THE AMOUNT OF TRAFFIC TO A PARTICULAR WEBSITE. ONCE AGGREGATED, ALL PERSONAL WEBSITE USAGE OR INFORMATION IS DESTROYED. BROWSER ACCELERATOR DOES NOT SPEED-UP YOUR BROWSER. IT MAY INCREASE THE EFFICIENCY OF YOUR INTERNET EXPERIENCE AND REDUCE THE TIME IT TAKES TO RETRIEVE INFORMATION BY PROVIDING YOU WITH VARIOUS TOOLS AND DATA. READ THE FOLLOWING PRIVACY POLICY AND TERMS OF USE AGREEMENT CAREFULLY BEFORE DOWNLOADING AND INSTALLING THE BROWSER ACCELERATOR TOOLBAR. IF YOU DOWNLOAD AND INSTALL THIS SOFTWARE, YOU WILL BE BOUND BY THE TERMS OF THIS AGREEMENT AND YOU AKNOWLEDGE THAT YOU READ AND UNDERSTAND THE PRIVACY POLICY.

WHAT INFORMATION DOES BROWSER ACCELERATOR WANT TO COLLECT?

BROWSER ACCLELERATOR SOFTWARE GATHERS AND STORES INFORMATION ABOUT THE WEB PAGES YOUR BROWSER VIEWS, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO: THE DATE AND TIME; YOUR BROWSER INFORMATION; YOUR UNIQUE BROWSER ACCELERATOR IDENTIFIER; THE URL OF THE WEB PAGE YOU VISITED; THE DURATION OF TIME SPENT ON EACH URL; THE IP ADDRESS THAT YOUR INTERNET SERVICE PROVIDER PROVIDED FOR YOU; AND THE SEARCH FIELD ENTRIES.  All of this information for each web page visited is stored in a single string of data in date/time order.

 

DOES BROWSER ACCELERATOR COLLECT ANY OTHER OF MY INFORMATION?

 

BROWSER ACCERLERATOR MAY COLLECT ANY UNSECURE INFORMATION YOU ENTER ON THE WEB PAGE.  PERSONALLY IDENTIFIABLE INFORMATION MAY BE INADVERTENTLY GATHERED WHILE YOU ARE VISITING “UNSECURE” (i.e. not HTTPS) WEBSITES.

 

HOW COULD BROWSER ACCELERATOR “INADVERTENTLY” GATHER MY PERSONAL INFORMATION?

 

Browser Accelerator collects all the URL information of the web sites you visit.  You may be on a trusted website when you enter personally identifiable information.  That website may incorporate some or all of the information you submit into the URL (usually as parameters after the “?”)  for the next page at which you arrive.  Browser Accelerator captures that URL.  Browser Accelerator cannot control how third-party websites incorporate your information into their URLs.   Browser Accelerator does NOT analyze the data strings to mine personally identifiable information.

 

WHAT DOES BROSWER ACCELERATOR DO WITH MY PERSONALLY IDENTIFYABLE INFORMATION?

 

All personally identifiable information that is collected is periodically purged from the database and is never used to identify you individually.

 

HOW DOES BROWSER ACCELERATOR COLLECT INFORMATION?

 

We employ various methods for collecting information.  We use “cookies” that are needed to compile aggregate non-personally identifiable information about the visitors to our web site.  We ask you to voluntarily give us demographic information.  This may include but is not limited to: email, age, gender, zip code, country, level of education, and household income.  We do not assimilate the information in any other way to attempt to identify you individually.

 

HOW DOES BROWSER ACCELERATOR IDENTIFY YOU?

 

When you download our software, we transmit a unique series of numbers, letters, or characters and store this unique identifier inside your computer’s registry under the “HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\BrowserAccelerator” key.  This unique toolbar identifier enables Browser Accelerator servers to recognize and identify your computer when you are browsing the Internet. This unique toolbar identifier is required for Browser Accelerator to work and cannot be disabled. 

 

WHEN DOES BROWSER ACCELERATOR SHARE INFORMATION THAT IT COLLECTS?

 

Browser Accelerator does not try to determine the identity of its users or attach their voluntarily provided information with their web usage data. Other than the following described services, Browser Accelerator does not intentionally pass along user information.

 

When you perform a search using the BrowserAccelerator search-box, you often will be sent to 7MetaSearch.com. BrowserAccelerator transmits your original search term, unique BrowserAccelerator identifier, and IP address to 7MetaSearch.com (an affiliated site).

 

If you write a Review on the TrustGauge website, the content you submit on the Review form, the URL that you reviewed, and your chosen public nickname often are transmitted to TrustGauge.com and logged at TrustGauge.com (an affiliated site).

 

When you perform a speed-test, you will be sent to FreeSpeedTest.com. BrowserAccelerator transmits your unique BrowserAccelerator identifier and IP address to FreeSpeedTest.com (an affiliated site).

 

WHO INTERNALLY HAS ACCESS TO THE DATA GATHERED?

 

Browser Accelerator does employ people in software development and technical areas who may have access to database information to perform their duties. These individuals have gone through rigorous background checks prior to hiring and are intermittently reinvestigated.  Individually, they have agreed not to use any data for purposes other than what Browser Accelerator intends. 

 

WOULD ANY EXTERNAL PERSON OR ENTITY HAVE ACCESS TO DATABASE INFORMATION?

 

Browser Accelerator would cooperate and provide information if required by court order or subpoena.

 

HOW ELSE DOES BROWSER ACCELERATOR PROTECT DATA?

 

Browser Accelerator employs what is considered to be “Commercially Reasonable Security Safeguards” to protect its network, servers and database against unauthorized access, loss of information, or the inadvertent disclosure of data. 

 

WHAT WOULD HAPPEN TO MY DATA IF YOU WERE SOLD OR MERGED INTO ANOTHER ORGANIZATION?

 

If Browser Accelerator was sold or its assets transferred otherwise, the information collected would be transferred to the acquiring party.  The database information gathered would remain subject to any terms and conditions in place prior to purchase or transfer.

 

NOTICE OF CHANGES TO THIS PRIVACY POLICY

We reserve the right to change this privacy policy at any time.  However, if any changes do occur, we will publish the changes to our web site and post a notice on the home page that a new privacy policy has been implemented.  Please feel free to contact us if you should have any questions regarding this policy or to report a misuse of your personal information.  Our Chief Privacy Officer can be reached at info@browseraccelerator.com