Keeping Kids Safe & Protected

For Children, Teachers and Families Visiting GLOBIO:

You have trusted us for many years to make safe and quality content that kids of all ages can enjoy. To make sure that our site stays safe and fun, we make the following commitment:

• In almost all activities, the information we collect is non-personal (such as first name only, age, city and state). If you send us a question or send an electronic postcard, or enter a contest, we will also ask for an e-mail address. We only collect enough information from our visitors to make activities on GLOBIO fun and interesting.
• If you submit stories, artwork, comments or anything else to us that we post on our site, you will be identified only by one, or a combination, of the following: first name, age, city and state.
• If you send us an e-mail with a question or comment, or enter one of our contests, we will write back using your e-mail address, but we will not keep the address or use it again.
• If you ask GLOBIO to send an electronic postcard or e-mail message, we will ask for your first name and e-mail address as well as the e-mail address of the person who will receive it. We will only use this information to send the postcard or message and we will delete the information when the postcard or message is sent.
• No one will be excluded from our site for not giving us personal information. When we do ask for personal information (like an e-mail address), we will only keep it until that particular activity is complete. We will not share this information with a third party.
• If we know a visitor is under the age of twelve, we will collect a parent's permission offline (by postal mail, fax or phone) before we mail any prizes, or collect or share personal information with anyone else.
• When you exit any of our kid specific areas, such as Glossopedia, you will arrive at a bridge page—a special page that informs a child or adult that they are leaving the safety of the area they were in and offers them the opportunity to return immediately.

Prohibited types of content and activities

"Content" refers to all information, data, text, software, music, sound, photographs, graphics, video, messages, tags, or other materials - whether publicly posted or privately transmitted - provided by us and our licensors and displayed on the Sites.

Users of the Sites may be subject to international, federal, state and local laws, including but not limited to laws regulating the privacy and security of personal information (collectively, "Laws"). As a user you are solely responsible for your use of the Sites being in compliance with all applicable Laws. In addition, with respect to your use of the Sites and GLOBIO’s Products and Services, you agree that you will not submit or create Content that:

a) impersonates any person, business or entity;

b) is unlawful, threatening, abusive, harassing, defamatory, libelous, deceptive, invasive of another's privacy, or contains explicit or graphic descriptions, or accounts of, sexual acts;

c) victimizes, harasses, degrades, or intimidates an individual or group on the basis of religion, gender, sexual orientation, race, ethnicity, age, or disability;

d) encourages criminal conduct or conduct that might create civil liability for GLOBIO;

e) contains viruses or other computer files or code that interrupts, destroys or limits the functions of any computer software, hardware or telecommunications equipment, or otherwise permits unauthorized use of a computer or computer network;

f) violates the rights of others including intellectual property rights.

In addition, you may not:

a) use GLOBIO Products and Services for any commercial purpose without GLOBIO’s prior express permission;

b) forge headers or other transmission information in order to disguise the origin of your posting to a message board, blog or chat room or to disguise any other communication such as an e-mail message;

d) use GLOBIO’s Sites or Products and Services in any manner that could damage, disable, overburden, or impair our servers or networks;

(e) not attempt to gain unauthorized access to any services, user accounts, computer systems or networks, through "hacking," "password mining," or any other means;

(f) use automated tools, robots, any data mining or similar data gathering and extraction tools to access, crawl, meta-search, and/or collect any of the Content or information accessible through the Sites;

(g) frame any portion of the GLOBIO Site or any Content; or

(h) otherwise violate this Agreement, any GLOBIO licensing agreement or any policy posted on one or more of the Sites.

GLOBIO reserves the right to investigate and take appropriate legal action against anyone who, in GLOBIO’s sole discretion, violates these provisions, including but not limited to removing the offending Content, terminating the memberships, if any, of such individuals, filing a lawsuit to seek civil remedies and reporting such individuals to law enforcement. 

Cookies and Personal Information

As you visit globio.org, it is possible that several cookies* will be set on your computer. GLOBIO uses the information from cookies to deliver relevant local resources, remember browser preferences, and improve our visitors' experiences on the site. No personal information is ever stored in a GLOBIO cookie, even if you have entered your name or e-mail address on other parts of GLOBIO.
GLOBIO does not sell information collected by cookies or use the information for commerce-related purposes. In addition, GLOBIO will not filter content based on your preferences without permission.

* What's a cookie? A cookie is information a Web site puts on your computer's hard drive so that the site can remember your preferences or which pages you visited on that site.

GLOBIO only uses cookies at the following times:

• As you explore globio.org, a cookie will tell us which pages you visit and the amount of time between each page visit. This cookie does not remember any information about you or your computer; it just helps us at GLOBIO identify new and repeat visitors, and tells us how long visitors spend on our sites and which pages receive the most traffic.

We also promise to help children, teachers, families and communities find the information they need to use the Internet safely and responsibly.

• We do not permit advertising or promotion of sponsors within the GLOBIO kids website area. When a GLOBIO organizational site is partially funded by outside sponsors, we will mark any underwriter logos with a "sponsored by" tag. We choose our underwriters carefully, to make sure that the company's products and services fit GLOBIO mission and standards. GLOBIO kids sites will not contain advertisements promoting e-commerce or direct links to e-commerce.
• GLOBIO maintains a collaborative relationship with the National Wildlife Federation, a nonprofit organization based in the U.S.A. As a part of this collaboration GLOBIO offers subscriptions to the education publications—Ranger Rick, Big Back Yard and Animal Babies—via the organizational portion of our website.  Like GLOBIO these publications are advertising free and educational.  We make subscriptions available only to and through adults.
• All links to third party sites are insulated with a GLOBIO bridge page. These pages clearly notify the visitor that he or she is leaving GLOBIO, and offers an opportunity to return to GLOBIO kids content. Each bridge page displays a Web literacy tip, educating visitors how to be safe on the Internet. In the case of a sponsor's link, the bridge page will provide more information about the sponsor's relationship to GLOBIO. Since we cannot be assured that links to outside sites follow our safety or privacy guidelines, we encourage educators and families to discuss these choices together. We are not responsible for the content or safety and privacy practices at any sites linked from our pages.

Your children’s, student’s and family's use of this site is conditioned on your having accepted these terms. You should check back to this policy frequently, since it is subject to change from time to time, and your continued use of the site is conditioned upon your acceptance of any modifications hereto.

We want to make this site a place where children, teachers and families can surf together, and where parents and caregivers are happy to have their children interact, learn and play. If you have any comments or questions, we're happy to hear them. This is, after all, your site.

If you have any questions or concerns regarding this policy, send us an e-mail at webmaster@globio.org.
You may also contact us at 205 S.E. Grand, Suite 206, Portland, OR 97214 USA (503-232-7067).

Last modified: May 12, 2008