Privacy Policy
The PCHScratchCards Privacy Policy is provided to explain our online information collection and use practices. Unless otherwise noted, the information and descriptions in this online Privacy Policy are limited strictly to online transactions at PCHScratchCards.
PCHScratchCards may occasionally change the features and content found on this site. Consequently, our privacy policy may be modified to reflect any revisions to the site. We suggest you revisit our privacy policy from time to time to be sure that you are familiar with our practices.
ACCEPTANCE OF PRIVACY POLICY. By completing and submitting a registration and entry form at PCHScratchCards, you signify your agreement to the PCHScratchCards Privacy Policy. If you do not accept the terms of this Privacy Policy, please do not use the PCHScratchCards site. We reserve the right, at our discretion to change, modify, add or remove portions of this Privacy Policy. You should check this page periodically for any changes and to insure you are familiar with our current practices. This policy and all of our legal obligations under this policy are subject to the laws of New York and the USA regardless of the location of the user. Policy last updated: May 2008.
1. Why does PCHScratchCards collect personal information?
PCHScratchCards collects certain personal information from our visitors primarily to process and fulfill online entries for PCHScratchCards offerings and to allow users to send customized ScratchCards to friends and family. For example, we need your full name, postal and email address to enter you in the PCHScratchCards drawings, confirm your entry, contact you if you have won and notify you about any updates or changes to our site. You can also send customized PCHScratchCards to friends and family. We may utilize the services of service providers and subcontractors to collect such information on our behalf for administrative and other purposes that we may deem necessary to maintain service and improve the user experience.
We may also use the personal data we collect for systems administration and troubleshooting purposes, and to report aggregate information to our marketing partners and others.
To provide our users with a more personalized and relevant web experience, we may also collect and use personal data to identify users' specific interests and needs. If given permission, we may notify our users by email of special contests, announcements and offers we feel may be of interest available from PCHScratchCards and/or our marketing partners. Users may unsubscribe from such future offers by clicking the unsubscribe link in such emails, or by clicking on the “Contact Us” link on the bottom of all pages on the site. You may also email us support@pchscratchcards.com or write directly to us care of: Consumer & Privacy Affairs, PCHScratchCards, 382 Channel Drive, Port Washington, New York, 11050.
2. How and what information does PCHScratchCards gather or track?
We collect personal data from our users mainly during the initial registration process for PCHScratchCards. Such information is collected to process and fulfill online entries for PCHScratchCards drawings and to allow you to forward customized ScratchCards to friends and family. For example, we need your full name, postal and email address to enter you in the PCHScratchCards drawings, confirm your entry, contact you if you have won and notify you about any updates or changes to our site. We will also send you a regular newsletter to update you on areas of interest.
We may utilize the services of service providers and subcontractors to collect such information on our behalf for administrative and other purposes that we may deem necessary to maintain service and improve the user experience. We may also request additional information about the offers and services on PCHScratchCards. We gather this data in order to better understand our users' interests and provide them with relevant offers and information.
Through the use of "cookies" and “pixel tags” (both described below) and online and registration forms, we may collect personal data on, among other things, the following information:
- Demographic
- Technical
- Reference
- IP address
- domain name
- e-mail address
- site traffic
- name
- land address
- password
3. What are Cookies?
"Cookies" are small pieces of information that are stored by your web browser software on your computer's hard drive or temporarily in your computer's memory. The use of cookies is an industry standard, and users will find them on most major web sites. PCHScratchCards may place and store Internet cookies on a user's hard drive. Cookies can save any of the types of information noted above. Cookies enable us to recognize you and personalize your viewing experience on the PCHScratchCards site. For example, we use cookies to recognize user access privileges to PCHScratchCards, track site usage and traffic patterns, add advertisements for goods or services that we think may interest you, and estimate our audience size. We also use cookies to store user names and information that are supplied at registration. Although most web browsers are initially set up to accept cookies, if you prefer, you can decline the placement of a cookie on your hard drive by using the appropriate feature(s) of your web browser software (if available) to delete the cookie. Please note, however, that certain areas on the site will not function properly if your web browser does not accept cookies.
"Pixel tracking", a common process which may be used in connection with advertisements on other sites, involves the use of pixel tags that are not visible to the user of the site and consist of a few lines of computer coding. Pixel tracking measures the effectiveness of these advertisements and compiles aggregate and specific usage statistics. A "pixel tag" is an invisible tag placed on certain pages of websites you may visit and is used to track an individual user's activity. We may access these pixel tags to identify activity and interests that may allow us to better match offers with your interests. For example, if you visit our Web site from an advertisement on another site, the pixel tag will allow the advertiser to track that their advertisement brought you to the PCHScratchCards site. If you visit our website and we link you to another site we may also be able to determine that you were sent to and/or transacted with a third party web site. This data is collected for use in our marketing and research.
4. Does PCHScratchCards disclose user information to third parties?
PCHScratchCards may disclose user information in aggregate form to marketing partners. For example, we might tell a marketing partner how many users visited PCHScratchCards over a period of time, but we will never tell them who it was that saw or clicked on their offer, unless that user has given us permission to do so.
We may utilize the services of and disclose user information to our service providers and subcontractors for purposes of collecting information on our behalf and for administrative and other purposes that we may deem necessary to maintain service and improve the user experience.
We will not share personally identifiable information with marketing partners unless permission has been provided. We may notify users by email of special contests, announcements and offers of interest from PCHScratchCards and our marketing partners. If you consent, we may also share your name, land address and e-mail address with marketing partners so that they can send you offers directly for products and services that may be of interest to you. The personal information our users provide to us may be combined with other personally identifiable information (such as demographic information and past purchase information) available from our records and other sources. This allows us and our marketing partners, with permission, to present our users with offers and information geared towards their interests. PCHScratchCards is not and cannot be responsible for the activities or privacy policies of third parties.
In the event of a merger, acquisition, or change of control of PCHScratchCards, customer data would be considered a business asset and may be transferred. We will disclose information we maintain when required to do so by law, for example, in response to a court order or a subpoena. We may also disclose personal information as required by law or to protect the safety and security of our users.
5. Can I opt-out of PCHScratchCards's data collection and/or distribution?
Receiving email messages from PCHScratchCards is optional. As noted earlier, the collection, use, and distribution of personal data helps us create a more personalized, relevant, and intelligent web service for our users. PCHScratchCards will not contact you with email offers and announcements or share personally identifiable information with marketing partners unless you have provided us permission to do so. If you are already receiving PCHScratchCards emails and no longer wish to receive such communications, simply follow the "unsubscribe" instructions that appear in PCHScratchCards e-mail, or click on the “Contact Us” link on the bottom of all pages on the site. You may also email us at support@pchscratchcards.com or write directly to us care of: Consumer & Privacy Affairs, PCHScratchCards, 382 Channel Drive, Port Washington, New York, 11050.
If you have provided personal information directly to our third party marketing partners whose offers may appear on our site and are receiving email communications directly from these third parties PCHScratchCards cannot, in most instances, unsubscribe users from these third parties. If you wish to unsubscribe from one of our marketing partner's e-mail programs, please follow their unsubscribe procedures which will be found within their e-mails or in their privacy policy.
6. What about external web sites?
the extent hyperlinks or banner advertisements incorporating hyperlinks are utilized on this Site to access third party sites, users should be aware that these third party web sites are not controlled by PCHScratchCards and, therefore, are not subject to this privacy policy. We recommend that users check the privacy policies of these individual sites to see how their personal information will be utilized.
7. What does PCHScratchCards do to keep their site secure?
We have implemented a number of security features throughout the PCHScratchCards site that are intended to prevent the unauthorized release of or access to the user information we collect online. For example, database information is firewall protected. Also, only authorized PCHScratchCards personnel and approved service providers have access to any stored personal information we collect from our users. While we strive to create a secure and reliable site for our users, the confidentiality of any communication or material transmitted over the Internet cannot be 100% guaranteed. Users should keep in mind that any information submitted through an Internet transaction is potentially accessible to the public, and consequently, can be collected and used by others without their consent. PCHScratchCards is not responsible or liable for illegal interception of personal data via any Internet transaction.
8. Your California Privacy Rights:
As stated in this Privacy Policy we do not share information with third parties for their direct marketing purposes unless you affirmatively agree to such disclosure. Please note that if you opt in to receive future communications from a third party, your information will be subject to the third party's privacy policy. If you later decide that you do not want that third party to use your information, you will need to contact the third party directly, as we have no control over how third parties use information. You should always review the privacy policy of any party that collects your information to determine how that entity will handle your information. If you do not want your name passed on to other companies for the purpose of receiving marketing offers do not complete the consent found on the offer page. You can also contact us at any time with questions or your request to unsubscribe by clicking on the “Contact Us” link found on the bottom of all pages on the site, email us at support@pchscratchcards.com or write directly to us care of: Consumer & Privacy Affairs, PCHScratchCards, 382 Channel Drive, Port Washington, New York, 11050 and we will be pleased to respect your wishes.
9. Further Questions?
We welcome any questions or comments you may have regarding this privacy policy and our information sharing practices. To contact us, please click on the “Contact Us” link on the bottom of all pages on the site, email us at support@pchscratchcards.com or write directly to us care of: Consumer & Privacy Affairs, PCHScratchCards, 382 Channel Drive, Port Washington, New York, 11050.
