Hello Dork Secret Agents, Parents, Guardians, Teachers and Friends!
Dork Central is a place where kids can remember how cool it is to be a dorky smartypants. More specifically, it’s where children can use their imagination to make any experience come alive. Our mission is solely to enable the children to explore the power of their imagination by doing Dork Secret Agent Assignments and sharing them online.
CHILDREN’S ONLINE PRIVACY PROTECTION ACT OF 1998
As part of our dedication to children, we comply with the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act of 1998. In that regard, we ask that parents / guardians sign their children up to participate and sign a release in the process. Parents will always receive their child’s membership information, even when it gets updated by the child. We also urge children to understand that they should not give their personal information to anyone they do not know or trust.
THE PERSONALLY IDENTIFIABLE INFORMATION COLLECTED WITH PARENTAL CONSENT
First and last name, e-mail address, school, city, state, country, and birthday.
HOW WE USE THE PERSONALLY IDENTIFIABLE INFORMATION
(1) to identify the particular Dork Secret Agent in the Secret Agent Assignment rating area (First Name, Last Initial, State)
(2) to identify high scorers (First Name, Last Initial, State)
(3) to track and tabulate an anonymous tally of dorks by city, school, state, country, etc.
(4) in announce contest winners (First Name, Last Initial, State)
(5) to customize the content on our site for our visitors' current and future needs
(6) to email the weekly Dork Secret Agent Assignment email
Unless we indicate otherwise and obtain prior parental consent, personally identifiable information collected from children under the age of 13 will be used solely by Dork Central or co-operators of any customized features on our site and will not be sold or otherwise transferred to third parties.
It is Dork Central’s policy never to post on its site more than a child's user name, first name, last initial, state, and age or grade.
As soon as a user unsubscribes from the weekly Dork Central Secret Agent email, all the personally identifiable information collected about that user is deleted from all databases at Dork Central.
THE NON-PERSONALLY IDENTIFIABLE INFORMATION COLLECTED – COOKIES, IP ADDRESSES, SUBMITTED ARTWORK, ANONYMOUS SURVEYS
We collect non-personally identifiable information through the use of a software technology called "cookies," and through our visitors' voluntary submissions to us and/or upon our request. By non-personally identifiable information, we are referring to information about our visitors' browsers (e.g., Netscape Navigator or Internet Explorer), operating systems (e.g., Windows or Macintosh), Internet service providers (e.g., AOL or NET.COM) and other similar information which we track. Cookie technology helps us to know how many people visit us and where visitors go on our site. Cookies are small bits of information we send to your computer. Among other things, this non-personally identifiable information allows us to know which areas are favorites, which areas need a bit of improvement, or what technologies and Internet services are being used by our visitors so that we may continually improve our visitors' online experiences.
We collect IP addresses to obtain information on the use of Dork Central. An IP address is a number assigned to your computer by a Web server when you're on the Web. When you are on our site, we have a back-end server that logs your computer's IP address. We only use the information we find out from tracking IP addresses in the aggregate, such as how many users entered a specific area of our site, and not to track a specific IP address to identify an individual user. However, we may use such information to identify a user if we feel that there are or may be safety and/or security issues or to comply with legal requirements.
We occasionally encourage users to submit their original artwork or other materials via email attachment. We do however, retain control of how all materials are used and displayed on the Dork Central website. Once the artwork or other material is received, it is processed and the email is deleted.
From time to time we may ask our site visitors to answer survey questions. Surveys generally deal with the site. We may ask for age or age ranges, gender, and other non-personally identifiable information. No personally identifiable information is shared with third parties, unless specifically disclosed. Though we may post answers to polls or surveys at the site, no identifying information is ever included.
DISCLOSING OR TRANSFERRING THE INFORMATION COLLECTED:
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 also may disclose such information in response to a law enforcement agency's or other public agency's (including schools or children services) request or if we feel that such disclosure may prevent the instigation of a crime. Finally, we may disclose information to a prospective purchaser of Dork Central acquiring all or most of the assets relating to Dork Central, to the extent permitted by law.
We may transfer personal information and store it outside of the jurisdiction in which a member of Dork Central is located and, although such personal information will be protected by the security measures described in this privacy policy, it will be also be subject to local laws.
We will not use or transfer personally identifiable information in ways that are materially different from the ones described above without also providing parental notification of such practices and obtaining consent for any materially different uses.
SECURITY
Dork Central ensures that all personally and non-personally identifiable information that it receives via the Internet is secure against unauthorized access. This information is kept in a safe and secure system isolated from direct public connection to the Internet. This means that no eyes but ours will ever see the information that our visitors send to us, unless we indicate otherwise. We will give out personal information as required by law, for example to comply with a court orders and FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT.
PARENTAL REVIEW OF INFORMATION
Parents, please send a letter or postcard to our Privacy Manager at the mailing address provided below if you would like to do any of the following:
- Access the personally identifiable information that Dork Central has collected online from your child
- Correct factual errors in such information
- Request to have this information deleted
- Request that we no longer collect or maintain such information.
Please be sure to include your email address and a telephone number where we can reach you. To protect your child's privacy and security, we will take reasonable steps to help verify your identity before granting you access to the personal information that we collect and maintain about your child.
FOR CHILDREN
A smart dork is a safe dork. Please place safety first. Do not give out your full name, e-mail address, home address, telephone number or any other personal information that would allow another person to contact you either online or in person without first asking your parent or guardian for permission. Please be sure your parent or guardian registers you as an official Dork Secret Agent. Check this out: http://safekids.com/kids-rules-for-online-safety
FINAL NOTE TO PARENTS
The Internet offers a world of opportunity for children. Your guidance and involvement are essential to help ensure that children have a safe and rewarding online experience. We encourage you to visit the SafeKids.com site and look through the “Kids Rules” section together. Your efforts to instill responsible information practices will help steer your children to age-appropriate sites and will go a long way toward ensuring that your children have enriching experiences online.
EFFECTIVE DATE
The privacy policy set out above is effective as of January 1, 2008, and applies to all information previously obtained by Dork Central. Dork Central reserves the right to change its privacy policy at its sole discretion. Dork Central users will be informed of any such change by Dork Central when posting a new privacy policy on the Dork Central website. The effective date of any change of this privacy policy will be clearly marked.