By using our site, you agree that you have read, understand and agree to abide by the information presented on this page. Please read the information presented on this page carefully. The Arc reserves the right to add, modify or delete information from this page at any time and without notice. Therefore, we encourage you to re-visit this page often
 

We never use or share the personally identifiable information provided to us online in ways unrelated to the ones described beow without also providing you an opportunity to opt-out or otherwise prohibit such unrelated uses.

You can access all your personally identifiable information that we collect online and maintain by contacting michelleh@aogh.org. You can correct factual errors in your personally identifiable information by sending us a request that credibly shows error.  To protect your privacy and security, we will also take reasonable steps to verify your identity before granting access or making corrections.Should you have other questions or concerns about the privacy policies listed below, please call us at 713-957-1600 or send us an email at michelleh@aogh.org.

We strive to make our site as safe and secure as reasonably possible. In order to address our Members' most frequently asked questions we've organized our privacy policy statement in a Q&A format. If you have any questions after reading the statement, please let us know. We want to hear from you!
 

What information does The Arc collect from me? 

You may be asked to provide certain personal information to us, such as when completing forms found on our site. We may ask for your name, country, state, zip/postal code, email address. In addition, we may ask you for information at other times, such as when you register for a service on The Arc, when you submit a listing for a Web site, or when you report a problem with one of our sites or services. If you contact The Arc we may keep a record of that correspondence. The Arc also may occasionally ask you to provide information to participate in certain voluntary promotions, surveys, or contests (see the section regarding this below). Finally, The Arc collects information about visitors to our site which does not necessarily identify the visitor, using our server log files and some of the methods described under "cookies" below.

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What about The Arc Linked Sites?

 
When you click through to a site linked from The Arc, those other sites may use cookies or other means to collect information about you. Again, this privacy policy does not apply to those sites; instead, the privacy policy of the site you visit will apply.

If you have questions about our partners' privacy policies or the privacy policies of these other sites, we encourage you to contact them directly.

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Why does The Arc gather this information?

The Arc primary goal in collecting information is to provide you, the user, with a customized experience on our site. This includes personalization services, interactive communications and many other types of services. By knowing a little about your computer, The Arc is able to deliver better service and more relevant content to our individual users. For example, we collect information regarding the type and version of your Internet browser (Internet Explorer, Netscape Navigator, or other), the resolution and color depth of your display, and other such information. We log what pages you and other visitors view within our site and the length of time spent on each page. This enables us to determine what content is most relevant to our visitors. For security purposes, we log the IP (Internet Protocol) Address of your computer when you visit our site. All information gathered by The Arc is securely stored on our servers. Under no circumstances do we make this information available to any individual, company, corporation or other entity.

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How does The Arc use my information? 

The Arc uses your information to enable you to take advantage of the features available through the The Arc site. If you elect to register to use any portion of our site where registration is necessary, you are no longer anonymous to The Arc: you are given a User ID. Additional information you volunteer enables us to better customize your experience. We may also use your contact information to reach you regarding important issues about the use of our services.

We use other information we collect to get a better understanding of our visitor base. The more insight we have into you-the people who use The Arc on a daily basis-the better we can serve you. Therefore, we analyze our users' demographics, interests, and behavior based on the information provided to us through our Web site. Our research and analysis is done on an aggregate basis, and is not intend to identify individuals.

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With whom, and how, does The Arc share my information?

 
Special Cases: The Arc may also disclose visitor or account information in special cases when we have reason to believe that disclosing this information is necessary to identify, contact, or bring legal action against someone who may be violating The Arc Terms of Use. The same policy applies in cases where we believe an individual may be causing injury to or interference with (either intentionally or unintentionally) The Arc rights or property, other The Arc users or members, or anyone else that could be harmed by such activities. The Arc may disclose or access account information when we believe in good faith that the law requires it and for administrative and other purposes that we deem necessary to maintain, service, and improve our products and services.

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What are cookies and how does The Arc use them?

 
A cookie is a small amount of data that is sent to your browser from a Web server, and gets saved on your computer hard drive. These cookie files store and sometimes track information about what you do on The Arc. This information makes it possible for us to offer and provide highly customized services. All areas on The Arc where you are prompted to log in or that are customizable require that you accept cookies in order for that part of the site to function.

Generally, we use cookies to:

• Remind us of who you are and to access your profile (stored on our computers) in order to deliver to you a better and more personalized service. This cookie is set when you register or "Log In" and is modified when you "Log Out" of our services.

• Estimate our audience size. Each browser accessing The Arc is given a unique cookie which is then used to determine the extent of repeat usage, usage by a known user versus by an unknown user, and, in the future, may be used to help target advertisements based on user interests and behavior.

• Measure certain traffic patterns, which areas of the site you have visited, and your visiting patterns in the aggregate. We use this research to understand how our users' habits are similar or different from one another so that we can make each new experience on The Arc a better one. We may use this information to better personalize the content, banners, and promotions that you and other users will see on our sites.

The Arc may also collect IP Addresses for system administration and to report aggregate information to our advertisers. In addition, The Arc mail includes IP addresses in outgoing mail message headers.

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I'd rather not have cookies stored on my computer. Is there any way to work around them?

 
Yes, you do have choices with respect to cookies. By modifying your browser preferences you can choose to accept all cookies, be notified when a cookie is set, or to reject all cookies. If you choose to reject all cookies, however, you may not be able to access the full content of our site.

With most browsers you have an option to accept per-session cookies that are not stored on your computer and deleted as soon as you close your browser. If you don't want to accept cookies that are stored on your computer, you must at least accept per-session cookies in order to use our site to the full potential.

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What kinds of security precautions are in place to protect my information from hackers or prying eyes? 

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We use advanced security technology to ensure that your personal data remains private within our site. While no data transmission over the Internet can be guaranteed to be 100% secure, The Arc strives to protect your personal information, but cannot ensure or warrant the security of any information you transmit to us or from our online products or services.

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What else should I know about my privacy?

 
Please keep in mind that whenever you voluntarily disclose personal information online--for example through email, or forms you submit--that information can be collected and used by others. In short, if you post personal information online that is accessible to the public, you may receive unsolicited messages from other parties in return.

As The Arc expands its offerings, we will update our Privacy Policy to address these changes. Please check this page on a regular basis for updates to this Privacy Policy.

Ultimately, you are responsible for maintaining the security of your personal information. We urge you to be mindful of this when you visit any website or use email.

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Files Available For Download On This Site?

You have the opportunity to download certain files from our website. These files may be in Adobe Acrobat format, Microsoft Word format, or another file format. The Arc takes customary steps to insure that such files are free of viruses. However, The Arc assumes no responsibility whatsoever in the event these files or the download process cause damage to your computer or data stored on your computer. We urge all visitors to our site to install an Anti-Virus program on their computers, download and install the most recent updates to the program on a regular basis and as recommended by the developer of the Anti-Virus Software, and scan their computers for viruses as recommended by the developer of the Anti-Virus program.