Last updated: AUGUST 13, 2010

At The Versatile PhD, we value your privacy and therefore have adopted this Privacy Policy, effective as of the date written above. This Privacy Policy is considered part of the Terms of Service, along with the Code of Conduct. In this Privacy Policy, “Website” refers to versatilephd.com; the words “we”, “us”, and “our” refer to The Versatile PhD, LLC, a California limited liability company, and its owners, members, managers, officers, employees, agents, successors, and assigns; and the words “you”, “your”, “member”, and “user” refer to all individuals and/or entities accessing or using the Website (including, for education institution subscribers, the university itself and the individual subunits, departments, trustees, directors, students, alumni, faculty, and personnel of the institution) and your heirs, successors, assigns, affiliates, owners, managers, directors, officers, employees, and agents.

This Privacy Policy makes disclosures concerning our collection of information, including personal information, when you use the Website, and how we use and disclose it to others. By using the Website, you acknowledge and agree to the practices described in this Privacy Policy.

Confidentiality

Because your confidentiality is important to us, we have requested that Internet search engines not “crawl” the following pages of the Website: Forums, Jobs, Events, Members, and Premium. In technical terms, those pages have been made “no-index” and “no-archive,” which means that anything you post in those protected areas, including your user profile, should not be visible to search engines. Moreover, only registered members are allowed to post to the Website or read postings in their entirety, andou have control over your profile.

Our hope and assumption given the presumed invisibility of the Forums and other members-only areas of the Website to search engines, and the requirement that all participants, even “lurkers,” must register, you will feel comfortable using your real name and information. However, if you don’t want to show your real name to other members or to search engine, that is fine: control your member profile as you see fit. The real name you give to us when registering does not become part of your member profile.

We will never distribute your writings anywhere other than the Website without your explicit permission, “out” you as a member of the Versatile PhD community, or give or sell your information to any third party without your explicit written consent (except in the case of a sale of the Website or part of it to another party, and then only as necessary to complete such a transaction and transfer the Website to its new owner(s)).

Categories of Information We Collect

Personal and non-personal information is automatically collected when you provide it to us in the course of using the Website. The personal information that we may collect includes any information that you include in any email or message sent through or posted to the Website, as well as any personal information provided while registering for or updating an account with us and the dates, times, durations, and IP addresses of your account logins. This information is generally stored on our servers or those of our Internet Service Provider(s) (“ISP[s]”) and may be used by us to personally identify you. The non-personal information that we may collect includes your browser type and version, ISP, operating system and version, Internet Protocol (IP) address, the URL of the website you were visiting prior to coming to the Website, the amount of time you spend on the Website or any page or portion of it, and your behavior on the Website. The non-personal information is not typically used by us to personally identify you and is not readily usable for that purpose, but may be used for that purpose to prevent abuse of the Website or to comply with applicable laws. In addition, if you communicate with us regarding the Website or any of our services, we may collect any information that you provide to us during the course of this communication.

We may use analytic and reporting technologies to record non-personal information such as Internet domain and host names, IP addresses, browser software and version, operating system and version, click patterns, and the dates and times that the Website is accessed by you. We may contract with one or more third parties to help us manage, monitor, and optimize the Website and measure the effectiveness of our advertising, communications, and use of the Website. We may use web beacons and cookies (described below) for this purpose.

Use of Information for Internal Purposes

We use your personal information primarily for our own internal purposes, such as providing, maintaining, evaluating, and improving our Website and services, and to provide user support. We use the non-personal information we collect to track the use of the Website and to assist us in providing, maintaining, evaluating, and improving the Website and the services we provide.

Disclosure of Personal Information to Third Parties

Except as otherwise provided in this Privacy Policy, we will only disclose your personal information to protect or enforce our legal rights and policies, to protect or enforce the legal rights of a third party, or where we in good faith believe we are required to do so by law (such as in complying with a subpoena or court order). We may contract with various third parties who help us provide, maintain, and improve the Website and the services we provide, and such third parties may have access to your personal information in order to perform their services. For example, we may use a third party to process payments made to us, for certain portions of our content creation, information verification, production, fulfillment, analytics, reporting, or other operations. We may contract with third-party contractors to help us manage, monitor, and optimize the Website and the services we provide. We may also use third-party contractors to help us measure the effectiveness of our advertising and communications.

Disclosure of Non-Personal Information to Third Parties

We may disclose non-personal information, in aggregate form, to potential strategic partners, advertisers, investors, users, and others. You may not opt out of the sharing of this information, except by choosing not to use the Website or our services.

Use of Cookies and Web Beacons

A cookie is a small file placed on the hard drive of your computer. Most websites use cookies. A web beacon is an often-transparent graphic image, usually not larger than one pixel wide by one pixel tall that is placed on a web page or in an email and that is used to monitor the behavior of the user visiting the Website or receiving the email. We may use cookies and/or web beacons to track your use of the Website, provide you with a more personalized user experience, and facilitate your logging in to the Website, if applicable. Cookies and web beacons used by us will not be linked to your personal information.

How We Protect Your Personal Information

The protection of your personal information is important to us. We follow generally accepted industry standards to protect personal information submitted to us, both during transmission and once we receive it; however, no method of transmission over the Internet or method of electronic storage is 100% secure or failsafe. Therefore, while we strive to use commercially reasonable means to protect your personal information, we cannot and do not guarantee absolute security. We are not responsible for the unauthorized acts of others and assume no liability for any disclosure of information due to errors in transmission, unauthorized third-party access (such as through hacking or theft of computers) or other acts of third parties, or acts of omission beyond our reasonable control.

Reviewing and Changing Your Personal Information

When registering as a member, you are asked to provide certain information that only we will see (such as your real name), and other information that becomes part of your profile, which is seen by other members.  You can change your profile at any time.  You may obtain a copy of and/or request changes to any information that is not part of your profile by emailing us at .  You will, of course, be required to provide proof of your identity.  If you no longer want to access or use the Website, simply stop using it.

Application of Privacy Policy When You Access Third-Party Websites

You may be able to access third-party websites directly from the Website. This Privacy Policy does not apply when you access third-party websites. We cannot control how third parties may use personal or non-personal information you disclose to them, or that they collect, so you should carefully review the privacy policy of any third-party web site you visit before using it or disclosing your personal information to its proprietor.

Opting Out From Receiving Communication from Us

You may only opt out from having your personal information used by us as provided in this Privacy Policy by contacting us to close any account you have with us and ceasing your use of the Website. Please note that closing your account does not result in any prior postings to our Website automatically being deleted. To close your account, or with any related questions, please contact .

Changes in Our Privacy Policy

This Privacy Policy may be updated or changed at any time without notice other than posting the revised Policy on the Website, and all such updates or changes shall be effective as of the date posted. It is your responsibility to check for updates from time to time. If you have questions, please ask.

Other Terms

Your use of this Website is also subject to our Privacy Policy, of which this Privacy Policy is a part, and to the Code of Conduct.