Privacy Policy

Effective Date: May 13, 2008

Addendum added in IP Addresses and Cookies section on 9/10/2012.

Privacy Policy for Sonomawireworks.com and RiffWorld.com™ Websites and RiffWorks Built-in RiffLink Online Collaboration Technology

This Privacy Policy is part of our Website Terms of Use Agreement, and explains the collection, use, and disclosure of personally identifiable information of visitors and members of the SonomaWireWorks.com and RiffWorld.com Websites and RiffWorks built-in RiffLink online collaboration technology that interfaces with RiffWorld.com ("the Websites") by Sonoma Wire Works.

1. The Personal Information We Collect
"Personal Information" means individually identifiable information about a person collected by this website. When you register to be a member and get a User Name (also referred to as a SonomaKey), you will be required to provide the following Personal Information: your first and last names, your e-mail address, your country and your zip or postal code. If you wish to purchase any products from our online store, you will additionally be required to provide your street address, and payment information. Visitors are not required to enter any Personal Information unless they wish to sign up to receive our newsletter.

2. How We Use the Personal Information You Provide
Generally. We will use the Personal Information you provide us to send you a welcome e-mail to verify your User Name and password, to respond to your inquiries, to manage your account, to provide invoices to you, and to inform you about changes, new services, etc.

Mailing Lists. Visitors and members may opt-in to receive our newsletter or to participate in other mailing lists that may be offered. Except as noted in the section below entitled Disclosures to Third Parties, we will not sell our mailing lists to, or share mailing lists with other third parties. Our visitors and members will always have the ability to unsubscribe from any mailing list they previously joined by following the unsubscribe instructions that are included in each email message or by emailing support@sonomawireworks.com and requesting to be removed.

Customer Service. We use your e-mail address to respond to e-mail we receive.

Aggregate Information. We use non-personally identifiable and aggregate information to improve this Website and our products and services, for auditing, research, analysis, and to share with advertisers. For example, we may tell an advertiser that X number of individuals visited a certain area on this Website, or that Y number of men and Z number of women filled out our registration form, but we would not disclose anything that could be used to identify those individuals.

Forums. Other than a person's User Name, and except as noted in the section below entitled Disclosures to Third Parties, we never intentionally share information with third parties about users who post to our forums or comment areas. However, if a company or individual searches through our forums or comment areas, they may come across items of your Personal Information, such as your e-mail address, if you choose to make this information public through your posting or in your profile in the forums.

User Profiles. Users have the option to include Personal Information in their user profiles on RiffWorld.com and in the Sonoma Wire Works forums if they wish, but it is not a requirement, Personal Information that is included in a RiffWorld.com user profile will be publicly available as may user profile information from the forums. A user may change his/her User Profile as described below in the section Accessing and Updating Your Information.

Online Store. For online store purchases, we require a reasonable amount of information in order to process payments, and we will not share this information with any third party other than PayPal, who processes the payments. We use the additional information you provide about yourself when placing an order only to complete that order. We do not share this information with third parties except to the extent necessary to complete that order. We use the information you provide about someone else when placing a gift order only to ship the product and to confirm delivery. We do not share this information with third parties except to the extent necessary to complete that order. If problems arise when you are making a purchase, please contact us at support@sonomawireworks.com.

Communications with Customer Support. We keep records of e-mails received by Customer Support. We do this to make sure the problems and issues you bring to our attention are resolved promptly and correctly.

Disclosures to Third Parties. As a matter of policy, Sonoma Wire Works will not sell or rent your Personal Information to any third party, except as described below.

Advertisers. We may disclose Personal Information in an aggregate (non-personally identifiable) manner to advertisers and other third parties for marketing and promotional purposes. In these situations, we do not disclose to these entities any information that could be used to identify you individually. However, if you respond to one of these ads, they may assume that you fit a certain demographic profile based on the aggregate information provided to them. In addition, when you click on a banner ad, you should be aware that the advertiser may be collecting information from you.

Other Related Entities. From time to time we may provide your Personal Information to our affiliated companies (if any). Each of these entities will comply with this Privacy Policy. In addition, if the stock or assets of Sonoma Wire Works, or any of its affiliated companies, or any combination of such, is acquired by another entity, some or all of your Personal Information may be provided to such successor.

Legal Requests. Sonoma Wire Works may disclose your Personal Information to law enforcement and such other government officials as we, in our sole discretion, believe necessary or appropriate, in connection with an investigation or prosecution of alleged illegal activity. Sonoma Wire Works also may disclose your Personal Information pursuant to a court order in a civil action or other lawsuit.

3. IP Addresses and Cookies
Like most websites, our server software gathers general demographic information from all users of this Website and stores it in log files. This includes browser types, IP addresses and referring domains. We use this information to help us understand the needs of our visitors and members and to improve this Website. We also use small bits of data called "cookies" stored on users' computers to simulate a continuous connection. Cookies let us "remember" information about your preferences and passwords and allow you to have a seemingly endless session once you have logged into this Website. We use session ID cookies and persistent cookies. We use session cookies to make it easier for you to navigate this Website. A session ID cookie expires when you close you browser. A persistent cookie remains on your hard drive for an extended period of time. You can remove persistent cookies by following directions provided in your Internet browser's "help" file. We set a persistent cookie to store your password, so you will not have to enter it more than once. Persistent cookies also enable us to track and target the interests of our users to enhance the experience on this Website.

Most browsers automatically accept cookies by default; but you can usually refuse cookies or selectively accept certain cookies by adjusting the preferences in your browser. However, refusing to accept cookies may limit your ability to access certain portions of this Website.

Google, as a third party vendor, uses cookies to serve ads on RiffWorld.com. Google's use of the DART cookie enables it and its partners to serve ads to users based on their visit to RiffWorld.com and/or other sites on the Internet. Users may opt out of the use of the DART cookie by visiting the Google ad and content network privacy policy: http://www.google.com/privacy_ads.html

Advertisers may use cookies on our site. We have no access to or control over these cookies. This Privacy Policy covers the use of cookies by the Websites only, and does not cover the use of cookies by any advertisers on the Websites.

Added 9/10/2012: Third party vendors, including Google, use cookies to serve a badge on Sonoma's website and to serve ads based on a user's prior visits to our website. Users may opt out of Google's use of cookies by visiting the Google advertising opt-out page or the Network Advertising Initiative opt out page.

4. Links to Other Websites
This Website contains links to other websites that are not owned or controlled by Sonoma Wire Works. Sonoma Wire Works does not have any liability or responsibility for the privacy practices of these third-party web sites. Users are advised to read the privacy policy of each third-party Website to which a link is provided from this Website.

5. Security
Secure Sockets Layer. This Website has been designed with your needs for privacy and security in mind. We follow stringent procedures to protect our servers from attack and use encryption techniques to protect potentially sensitive data. We use Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) software for all purchases from our on-line store, to protect the confidentiality of your Personal Information. SSL uses an encryption process to avoid unauthorized access or copying of information across the Internet. To learn more about SSL, follow this link to http://www.ssl.com.

Off-Line Protection. While we use SSL encryption to protect sensitive information online, we also do everything reasonably in our power to protect Personal Information off-line. All Personal Information is restricted in our offices. Only our personnel who need the information to perform a specific job (for example, our billing, accounts receivable or customer service representatives) are granted access to Personal Information. Finally, the servers that we store Personal Information on are kept in a secure environment.

Technical Limits. Due to technological and legal limitations, Sonoma Wire Works is unable to guarantee that your private communications and Personal Information will never be disclosed in ways not described in this Privacy Policy. For example, third parties (a/k/a hackers) may unlawfully intercept or access transmissions or abuse or misuse information that they collect from this Website. Therefore, although we use industry standard practices to protect your privacy, we do not promise, and you should not expect, that your Personal Information or private communications will always remain private.

6. Accessing and Updating Your Personal Information
Correcting / Updating / Deleting Personal Information. All Personal Information provided must be accurate. It is the responsibility of each member to ensure that we have current contact information for you. If your Personal Information changes, or if a member wishes to terminate his/her membership, we provide a way to correct, update or remove each affected user's Personal Information that has been provided to us. This can be done by editing your SonomaKey account information, your RiffWorld.com Musician Profile and My Page, your forum profile, your newsletter subscription, and your Sonoma Wire Works Online store account. Please note, however, that the User Name you have selected cannot be changed.

7. Notification of Changes to this Privacy Policy
If we update this Privacy Policy, Sonoma Wire Works will notify you of any material change in accordance with the "Notices" provision of the Terms of Use Agreement: http://www.sonomawireworks.com/websitetermsofuse.php. If, at any time in the future, we decide to use Personal Information in a manner different from that stated at the time it was collected, we will provide our members and visitors with a choice as to how their previously collected Personal Information will be used.

8. Other Information About Privacy
No Children Allowed. Children under 13 years of age are forbidden from providing any Personal Information at this Website, registering to become a member, and from using this Website in any way.

Visitors from outside the United States. For those of you visiting us from outside the United States of America, please note that if you register to become a member, participate in a forum, post comments, or provide any Personal Information, the information you enter may be transferred outside of your country. By becoming a member, participating in a forum, or providing any Personal Information, you consent to this transfer and to the information usage described above. If you choose to access this Website from outside the United States of America, you take responsibility for compliance with applicable privacy laws of your country.

Subscribe to the Sonoma Wire Works Monthly Newsletter to be notified of updates to this privacy policy.