Privacy Policy

Personally Identifiable User Information

Once you register with grou.ps and sign in to the grou.ps Platform, you are not anonymous to grou.ps.

When registering on grou.ps, you provide Personal Data, which includes a grou.ps ID, a User- chosen password, and optionally an email address and a photo. To combat online fraud, grou.ps may also record your IP address when submitting information. In addition, if you choose to purchase premium services on grou.ps, you provide necessary information to process your credit card payment, including your billing address. When you use the grou.ps Address Book service, you also provide contact information of other people (“Address Book”).

In an effort to support group-specific as well as location-based Social Networks, Networks can validate the domain from which your email address originates (e.g., gmail.com or hotmail.com).

To protect your grou.ps ID account information, please keep your password secure.

You can decline to share such Personal Data with us by not registering on grou.ps. Further, you may opt to remove any Personal Data from our active database by contacting grou.ps and canceling your grou.ps User account.

grou.ps does not intentionally gather Personal Data about visitors who are under the age of 13.

Cookies and Passive Data Collection

grou.ps automatically receives and records information on our server logs from your browser, including your IP address, grou.ps cookie information, and the page you request.

Users should be aware that other websites visited before entering grou.ps might place personally identifiable information within a User's URL during a visit to their website, and grou.ps has no control over such websites. Accordingly, some of this information may be logged by a subsequent website that collects URL information.

Content and Use of Networks

When you post Content (or send messages) in any Social Network(s) on the grou.ps Platform that enable direct sharing of information with other Users and visitors, other Users and visitors will have access to any Personal Data in such Content. The grou.ps Platform keeps track of Content that you have uploaded to a Social Network on grou.ps as well as the top Users for a Network. Such information, displayed with your grou.ps ID and photo, if you uploaded one, is available to Users and visitors of the grou.ps Platform. In addition, the grou.ps Platform enables other Users to invite you to use Social Networks on grou.ps.

Because you may voluntarily disclose any Personal Data in these public areas, you should be careful about the information you choose to disclose. grou.ps does not control that disclosure, and is not liable in any way for anyone's use or misuse of the information in the disclosure. In other words, use caution and judgment here.

We will send you administrative messages, and email updates regarding your account, your Social Networks, or the grou.ps Platform. We may also send you notices of new Content that has been added to Networks in which you may be interested when you have subscribed to such notices. In some cases, we may also send you primarily promotional messages. In your account's preferences section, you can choose to opt out of promotional messages and new Content notices. You may opt out of receiving administrative messages by canceling your grou.ps User account. We will not use your Address Book information for our own purposes.

Cookies and Passive Data Collection

grou.ps uses cookie, IP address, and URL information to improve the content of the grou.ps bar, the quality of grou.ps servers, and to provide enhanced features to Users, where available. grou.ps uses cookies to save Users' grou.ps IDs, session validators, and on Users' browsers and hard drives, and may use them to provide tailored products and services to those Users, as they become available.

IP Addresses also help us to diagnose problems with our server, to administer the grou.ps Platform, and to otherwise provide the grou.ps service to its users. IP addresses may be disclosed to a third party if we believe in good faith that the law or legal process requires it, or to protect the rights or property of grou.ps, its Users or the general public.

grou.ps Service Providers

grou.ps may need to provide your Personal Data to third parties to deliver specific services to you (such as hosting services, support services, or credit card payment processing). These third parties are required not to disclose your Personal Data and not to use your Personal Data other than to provide the services requested by grou.ps.

Law Enforcement

grou.ps may disclose Personal Data if required by a subpoena or other judicial or administrative order, where required by law, or, at our sole discretion, where we deem necessary to protect the safety of any individual or the general public or to prevent violation of our Terms of Service or the rights of grou.ps or any third party.

grou.ps Affiliates

Although grou.ps currently does not have a parent company, any subsidiaries, joint ventures, or other companies under a common control (collectively, “affiliates”), it may in the future. grou.ps may share some of all of your Personal Data with these affiliates, in which case we will seek to require our affiliates to honor this Privacy Policy.

Change of Ownership

In the event of a change in ownership, or a merger with, acquisition by, or sale of assets to, another entity, we reserve the right to transfer all of grou.ps's User information, including email addresses, to a separate entity. grou.ps will notify Users (via a posting on this site or email (in grou.ps's discretion) of such a transfer, and Users may choose to modify their registration information at that time. This means if you are concerned about your Personal Data migrating to a new owner, you can deactivate your account.

Security

grou.ps uses industry standard security measures to protect the loss, misuse and alteration of the information under our control. Although we make good faith efforts to store the information collected by grou.ps and Social Networks running on the grou.ps Platform in a secure operating environment that is not available to the public, grou.ps cannot guarantee complete security. Further, while we work hard to ensure the integrity and security of our network and systems, we cannot guarantee that our security measures will prevent third-party "hackers" from illegally obtaining this information. grou.ps does not assume any liability to third parties whose information may be included in your Address Book.

Updating or Removing User Information

Users may, at any time, choose to correct or update the information they have submitted to grou.ps, by going to their account. Users may remove their User information from grou.ps's live database by canceling their account. Even if you update or remove your information from our live database, however, your Personal Data may be retained in our backup files and archives.

Registered Users may remove their User information from grou.ps by canceling their account.

No Spam Policy

Our No Spam Policy and Terms of Service prohibit all Users from engaging in any activity involving the sending of email in violation of applicable law. Violations of these policies may result in immediate termination of service and legal action against any spammers.

Any unauthorized use of grou.ps computer systems is a violation of the Terms of Service and certain federal and state laws, including without limitation the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (18 U.S.C. section 1030 et seq.), Section 502 of the California Penal Code and Section 17538.45 of the California Business and Professions Code. Such violations may subject the sender and his or her agents to civil and criminal penalties.

grou.ps offers email masking and relay when Users choose to communicate with other Users on Networks running on the grou.ps Platform to reduce third party email harvesting and spam. We also encourage Users to choose an email address where they will be comfortable receiving email responses from other grou.ps Users if they choose, at their sole discretion, to upload a profile or classifieds listings on any Social Network running on the grou.ps Platform.

International Users

By visiting grou.ps and Social Networks running on the grou.ps Platform and providing grou.ps with data, you acknowledge and agree that due to the international dimension of grou.ps we may use the data collected in the course of our relationship for the purposes identified in this Privacy Policy or in our other communications with you, including the transmission of information outside your resident jurisdiction. In addition, please understand that such data may be stored on servers located in the United States where laws protecting Personal Data may not be as stringent as the laws in your jurisdiction. By providing us with your data, you consent to the transfer of such data.

Revisions to This Policy

Third Party Cookies

Notwithstanding anything else in this policy, we or a data provider we have engaged may place or recognize a unique cookie on your browser to enable you to receive customized ads or content.   These cookies contain no personally identifiable information.  The cookies may reflect de-identified demographic or other data linked to data you voluntarily have submitted to us, e.g., your email address, that we may share with a data provider solely in hashed, non-human readable form. To opt-out of these cookies, please go to http://www.aboutads.info/choices.

grou.ps reserves the right to revise, amend, or modify this policy and our other policies and agreements at any time and in any manner. Notice of any revision, amendment, or modification will be posted on grou.ps, and a User's continued use of grou.ps will signify agreement to such changes.