Your privacy is important to Gehrman Animal Hospital. We understand how important your pet is to you, and that your pet's health is a personal, private subject. We want you to feel as comfortable as possible visiting our Web site and using its services, especially the services of your Personal Pet Portal. This Privacy Policy and Agreement will tell you what information we collect about you on our Web site generally and about your use of the Personal Pet Portal. It will explain how we protect that information and what choices you have about how it is used. We urge you to read this Privacy Policy carefully so that you will understand clearly both our commitment to you and your privacy, and how we may collect and use information.
By using Gehrman Animal Hospital' Web site and/or your Personal Pet Portal, you agree to the terms of this Privacy Policy and Agreement. Questions or concerns about this privacy policy or about privacy as it relates to this Web site should be directed to Gehrman Animal Hospital, by sending an email to info@gehrman-animal.com.
1. Collection of Personal Information from Site Visitors. Gehrman Animal Hospital defines personal information as information that can be used to identify you, or your pet, and to contact you. Gehrman Animal Hospital collects personal and non-personal information that you provide to us in three ways: (1) when you register for your Personal Pet Portal; (2) when you visit areas of our Web site outside the Personal Pet Portal; and (3) via "cookies".
a. Registration for a Personal Pet Portal. When you register for a Personal Pet Portal, we request that you voluntarily provide four pieces of personal information: (1) your full name; (2) your telephone number; (3) your e-mail address; and (4) your pet's name ("just one - doesn't matter which"). We use this personal information in order to establish your Personal Pet Portal, which then allows you to view your pet's record (on a secure server); review your appointment schedule; communicate with your veterinarian online; receive exclusive promotions and discounts; get tips for your pet's health; refill prescriptions; and learn more about your pet's treatment and medications. You may otherwise use Gehrman Animal Hospital's Web site without registering for a Personal Pet Portal.
b. Web Site Activities Outside the Personal Pet Portal. We also may collect other information, some of which may be personal information, when you visit aspects of our Web site outside your Personal Pet Portal, including
- Home server domain names;
- E-mail addresses;
- Type of client computer;
- Type of Web browser of visitors to the site;
- Information knowingly provided by the visitor in online forms, registration forms, etc.;
- Aggregate information on what pages a visitor accesses; and
- 'Referred from' connection address.
Please remember that any information (including personal information) you reveal in any Gehrman Animal Hospital public forum (such as message boards) is NOT protected by this Privacy Policy. Third parties not related to Gehrman Animal Hospital will see such postings. What you have written could be used by others in ways we are unable to control or predict, including to contact you for unauthorized purposes. Also, if you access a third party site from a link on Gehrman Animal Hospital's Web site, any information you reveal on that site is not subject to this Privacy Policy. You should consult the privacy policies of each site you visit.
c. Cookies. Gehrman Animal Hospital also places a session Internet cookie on your hard drive when you visit the Web site. This cookie does not collect personal information, operates for a limited time only - generally less than one hour - and simply identifies the session in progress using a random identification number. The cookie becomes non-operational after its limited life span, which means the cookie will not operate next time you visit Gehrman Animal Hospital even though residual files remain on your hard drive (unless specifically removed).
Sponsors, partners or advertisers on Gehrman Animal Hospital's Web site, or identified on emails you may receive as a result of your use of Gehrman Animal Hospital's Web site, may also place their own cookies on your hard drive when you click on their advertisement or link to their site or service, or even if the advertisement simply appears on a page you are viewing. Some advertisers use companies other than Gehrman Animal Hospital to serve their ads, and these companies may also collect non-personal information through the use of cookies on our Web site. We do not control these third parties' use of cookies, or how they manage the non-personal information they gather through them. You should review the privacy policy of other sites you visit or link to from our site to understand how these other sites use cookies and how they use the information they collect through the use of cookies on their own sites.
Finally, the "help" portion of the toolbar on most Internet browsers will tell you how to prevent your browser from accepting new cookies, how to have the browser notify you when you receive a new cookie, or how to disable cookies altogether. The function of Gehrman Animal Animal's Web site will not be impacted if you reject our cookie.
2. Use of Personal Data Collected.
Gehrman Animal Hospital will make every reasonable effort to protect your personal information from loss, misuse or alteration by third parties. You should be aware, however, that there is always some risk involved in transmitting information over the Internet. There is also some risk that individuals could find a way to thwart our security systems.
a. Personal Pet Portal. All information that is received, used or disclosed in connection with your use of your Personal Pet Portal is encrypted. Gehrman Animal Hospital does not use the information received, used or disclosed via the Personal Pet Portal for any purpose except to provide you with a readily accessible, easy-to-use means of maintaining lifelong care for your pet. The only entities that will have access to Personal Pet Portal information are Gehrman Animal Hospital itself and any third parties hired by Gehrman Animal Hospital to assist us in operating, maintaining, and improving this Web site. These third parties are required by us to hold your Personal Pet Portal information in the strictest of confidence and may not use or disclose it except to fulfill the service we hired them to perform, which may include editorial and feedback purposes; marketing and promotional purposes; statistical analysis of users' behavior; product development; content improvement; etc. Gehrman Animal Hospital will not share any of the personally identifiable information received, used or disclosed via the Personal Pet Portal - even in an aggregated form - with any other third parties without your express permission.
b. Data Collected Outside the Personal Pet Portal. Gehrman Animal Hospital is not in the business of selling personal data to third parties. Gehrman Animal Hospital will not share, rent, sell or otherwise disclose data collected on the Company's Web site to third parties other than third parties hired by Gehrman Animal Hospital to assist us in operating, maintaining, and improving this Web site. Gehrman Animal Hospital, however, may use personal data collected from the Web site outside the Personal Pet Portal for the following purposes:
- Editorial and feedback purposes;
- Marketing and promotional purposes;
- Statistical analysis of users' behavior;
- Product development;
- Content improvement;
- Inform advertisers as to how many visitors have seen or clicked on their advertisements; and
- Customize content and layout of Gehrman Animal Hospital's site.
Names, postal and e-mail addresses, and phone numbers collected outside the Personal Pet Portals may be added to Gehrman Animal Hospital's databases and used for future calls and mailings regarding site updates, new products and services, upcoming events, and status of orders placed online.
c. Disclosure of Aggregated Information. Gehrman Animal Hospital may provide to third parties non-personal information about you that does not allow you, or your pet, to be identified or contacted and that is combined with the non-personal information of other users. Depending on the circumstances, we may or may not charge third parties for this aggregated information. We also may not limit the third parties' use of the aggregated information, except that we do require third parties to whom we disclose aggregate information to agree that they will not attempt to make this information personally identifiable by combining it with other databases or otherwise.
d. Disclosure to Gehrman Animal Hospital Operations and Maintenance Contractors. Gehrman Animal Hospital's operation and maintenance contractors sometimes have limited access to your personal and non-personal information in the course of providing products or services to this Web site. These contractors include vendors and suppliers that provide us with technology, services, and/or content related to better operation and maintenance of this Web site. Access to your personal information by these contractors is limited to the information reasonably necessary in order for the contractor to perform its limited function for Gehrman Animal Hospital. We also contractually require that our operations and maintenance contractors protect the privacy of your personal information consistent with this Privacy Policy and not use or disclose your personal information for any purpose other than providing us with products and services.
e. Public Forum. As a service to you, this Web site features a message board with you can exchange ideas with other pet enthusiasts. This Privacy Policy does not protect you when you use Gehrman Animal Hospital's public forums. You should be aware that any information shared on this message board is public information and may be seen or collected by third parties that do not adhere to our Privacy Policy. You should think carefully before disclosing any personal information in any public forum.
3. Collection of Personal Data from Children. Gehrman Animal Hospital will not collect or post information from individuals under the age of 16 ("children" or "child") without their parent's or guardian's consent. Gehrman Animal Hospital does not provide any personally identifying information collected from children, regardless of its source, to any third party for any purpose whatsoever. When a child submits information to this Web site, Gehrman Animal Hospital will do its best to make sure that the child's parent or guardian receives an e-mail alerting them to the child's registration with instructions on how the parent can delete the child's registration, if so desired.
4. Access to and Ability to Correct Personal Data. Upon request via postal mail, e-mail, or telephone, Gehrman Animal Hospital will provide to visitors a summary of any personal information retained by the Company regarding the visitor. Visitors may modify, correct, change or update their personal record or cause their personal record to be removed from Gehrman Animal Hospital's database. Gehrman Animal Hospital will only send personal records to the e-mail address on file for the visitor name associated with it.
5. Gehrman Animal Hospital's Right to Contact User. Gehrman Animal Hospital reserves the right to contact site visitors regarding account status and changes to the subscriber agreement, privacy policy, or any other policies or agreements relevant to site visitors.
6. Gehrman Animal Hospital's Right to Change Privacy Policy. Gehrman Animal Hospital reserves the right to change its privacy policy at any time by notifying visitors of the existence and location of the new or revised privacy policy.
7. Links to Other Web Sites. Gehrman Animal Hospital's Web site may contain links to other sites on the Internet. Gehrman Animal Hospital takes no responsibility for the privacy practices of these other sites. This privacy statement applies solely to information collected by Gehrman Animal Hospital on its Web site(s). We encourage you to look for and review the privacy statements of each and every web site that you visit through a link or advertisement on Gehrman Animal Hospital's site or any site that collects personal information from you.
8. Opt-Out Right. By contacting Gehrman Animal Hospital via postal mail, e-mail or telephone, or by checking the appropriate box on the online form, visitors may opt out of having their personal information:
- collected by Gehrman Animal Hospital altogether, or
- used by Gehrman Animal Hospital for secondary purposes, disclosed to third parties, or used by Gehrman Animal Hospital or third parties to send promotional correspondences to the visitor
You should be aware that it is not technologically possible to remove each and every record of the information you have provided to Gehrman Animal Hospital from our system. The need to back-up our systems to protect information from inadvertent loss means that a copy of your personal information may exist in a non-erasable form that will be difficult or impossible for us to locate. Nonetheless, we promise that on receiving your request, all personal information stored in the databases we actively use for business activities related to this Web site will be deleted.
9. Contact Gehrman Animal Hospital. If you have any questions or concerns about this privacy policy, you can contact us at info@gehrman-animal.com.
