EmperorLinux understands that you care how information about you is used and shared. This document describes our privacy policy.

The information we receive from customers allows us to process their quotes and orders and to improve their experience with EmperorLinux. The types of information we gather include:

Information You Give Us: We receive and store information you enter on our web site; information you send us by email, phone, or fax; and information you give us in any other way. Common examples of this type of information are your name and contact information. We use this information for the purposes of responding to your requests, processing your orders, communicating with you, and improving your experience with EmperorLinux. You can choose not to provide some of this information.

Information from Other Sources: It is sometimes necessary for us to receive information from you about other sources to add to your customer information. Most commonly this information is from your employer for either corporate and university purchases.

Cookies: At the present time, EmperorLinux does not use cookies on our web site. In the future, we may use cookies to enable specific site features, such as online ordering. This privacy policy will be updated at that time, as necessary.

We share customer information only as described below, in ways directly involved with providing our services to our customers. We will not sell our customer information to third parties.

Affiliated Businesses: As value added resellers (VARs) for original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), such as Dell, IBM, Lenovo, Panasonic, Sony, and Sharp, it is sometimes necessary for us to share some information about our customers with those manufacturers. This is generally less information than you would share in contacting those manufacturers' warranty departments. The privacy policies of these companies are at least as strict as those of EmperorLinux.

Agents: We employ other companies in the process of delivering our services to our customers. Examples include delivering packages and processing credit card payments. They have access to the personal information necessary to perform their functions, but may not use it for other purposes.

Protection of EmperorLinux and Others: We must sometimes release personal information when we believe release is appropriate to comply with the law; enforce or apply our Terms and Conditions of Use and other policies; or protect the rights, property, or safety of EmperorLinux, our customers, or others. This includes exchanging information with third parties for fraud protection and credit risk reduction.

With Your Consent: In instances other than those described above, you will be given notice that it is necessary to share your information with a third party, and you will be given the opportunity to choose not to share information.

Your customer information is stored on a secure server. We reveal only the last four digits of your credit card number when confirming an order. We must, of course, transmit the complete credit card number to our credit card processing company when your order is transacted. These transactions are processed using equipment and procedures approved by the issuing credit card companies.

Customer Information: Automatic access to customer information is limited. Please contact EmperorLinux by phone or email to review or update your customer information.

Mailing Lists: When you receive confirmation of a shipped order, you will be invited to join our support mailing lists. Additionally, anyone may subscribe to the general EmperorLinux mailing lists for announcements and other information. You will not be subscribed to these lists by EmperorLinux. If you have subscribed to one of our mailing lists, you can use the tools available on our list server to update your preferences for those lists or to remove yourself from them. You may opt out of these lists at any time.

Our policy is that we do not knowingly collect, use, or disclose information about visitors to our site that are under 18 years of age. If we discover that we have inadvertantly collected information about a minor, we will delete it from our records. If you are under 18 years of age, you may interact with EmperorLinux only with the involvement of a parent or guardian.

If you choose to visit EmperorLinux.com, your visit and any dispute over privacy is subject to this Privacy Statement and to our Terms and Conditions of Use, including limitations on damages, arbitration of disputes, and application of the law of the state of Georgia. If you have any concerns about privacy at EmperorLinux, please contact us with a thorough description, and we will try to resolve them.

Our Privacy Statement and Terms and Conditions of Use may be subject to change as our business changes. Unless otherwise stated, our Privacy Statement applies to all information we have about you. We will not, however, change our policies to make them less protective of our customer information without first giving notice of the changes via this site and our "Announce" mailing list and allowing a period for customer comments on the proposed changes.

(Effective 1/1/2005)