Legal

PRIVACY POLICY LANGUAGE

This Privacy Policy was last updated on May 4, 2010. 

Introduction: These websites which are located at the domains www.rubysstudio.com and www.themotherco.com (the “Site”) are operated by The Mother Company. (“The Mother Company” or “we” or “our” or “us”). Your privacy is important to us. This Privacy Policy describes the types of information collected from you, what we do with it, with whom we share it, and how you can correct or change such information. It is your responsibility to review this Privacy Policy carefully, especially before providing any personal data through the Site. This Site is operated in and controlled from the United States of America. If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy or Site, or if you wish to unsubscribe from Site services for which you have previously registered, please contact us at hello@themotherco.com or at the address at the end of this policy.

PLEASE REVIEW THIS PRIVACY POLICY AND THE TERMS OF SERVICE FOR THE SITE CAREFULLY. YOUR USE OF THIS SITE SIGNIFIES YOUR AGREEMENT TO SUCH PRIVACY POLICY AND TERMS OF SERVICE.

  1. Types of Information Collected
    • Personal Data
    • Aggregate and Anonymous Data
  2. Use of Cookies and Other Technologies
  3. Our Use of Your Information
  4. Disclosure of Personal Data to Third Parties
    • Disclosure to Affiliates
    • Disclosure to Third Parties
    • Disclosure to Others
  5. Third Party Advertising and Links to Other Sites
  6. Your Choice
  7. Access and Correction
  8. Children and Privacy
  9. Message Boards, Chat Rooms, Blogs and Other User Forums
  10. Data Security
  11. Exclusions
  12. Other Terms and Conditions
  13. Site Location
  14. Changes to this Privacy Policy
  15. Contacting The Mother Company Regarding Your Privacy

______________________________________________________________________
1. Types of Information Collected: Personal Data: Personally Identifiable Information (“Personal Data”) is any information that can be used to identify a specific individual, such as your name, email address, home address, phone number and credit card information. This Site collects Personal Data when you interact with the Site for example when you subscribe for newsletters; register for membership services such as chat rooms or message boards; participate in chat rooms, blogs or other user forums; respond to polls or surveys; purchase merchandise via the Site; register for sweepstakes, contests and other promotional opportunities; or seek help from our customer service departments. We also may collect information when you purchase products or services offline, or register for wireless services via your cellphone or other wireless devices (“Other Services”). Because providing detailed information regarding our privacy policy when you register or provide information in connection with these Other Services often proves impractical, you may instead be provided with a short notice that reminds you to refer to this Privacy Policy and other relevant information from us. We may also obtain Personal Data from reputable third parties, such as credit agencies.
Aggregate and Anonymous Data: Aggregate and anonymous data is information that does not identify you specifically including data collected automatically through the operation of the Site (“AA Data”). We may collect site usage data (such as which Site pages you visit and in what sequence) through the use of various technologies. For example, we collect IP addresses from individuals who visit the Site. An IP address is a number that is automatically assigned to your computer whenever you’re surfing the Web. Web servers, the computers that “serve up” Web pages, automatically identify your computer by its IP address, and when you request a page from a website, its servers log your IP address. We do not link IP addresses to any Personal Data, so although your session will be logged, you will remain anonymous to us and the Site. We may also collect password information from you when you log in, as well as computer and connection information such as browser type or version. During some visits, we may use software tools, such as Javascript, to measure and collect session information, including page response times, download errors, time spent on certain pages, page interaction information, and methods used to browse away from the page.
2. Use of Cookies and Similar Technologies: Like many sites, we may use “cookies” or other similar technologies to collect AA Data. A cookie is a small data file that writes to your hard drive for record keeping purposes when you visit the Site. Cookies allow the Site to measure traffic activity on the Site and to improve your user experience, for example by remembering your passwords and viewing preferences, allowing you to visit “member only” portions of the Site without re-registering, and tracking the progress and number of entries in activities that require registration or entry, such as sweepstakes. Similarly, if you have asked us to send you information about upcoming products and promotions, using cookies we collect information about which Site pages you have visited and in what order (“Clickstream Data”) that may allow us to narrow or limit the materials provided to you based on your prior online activities or preferences. Most browsers are initially set to accept cookies. If you prefer, you can set your browser to refuse cookies or to alert you when cookies are being sent, but it is possible that some parts of the Site will not function properly if you do so.
In addition, we may use a service that collects data remotely by using so-called “pixel tags,” “web beacons,” “clear GIFs” or similar means (collectively, “Pixel Tags”) embedded in the Site’s content. A Pixel Tag is an electronic image, often a single pixel (1×1), that is ordinarily not visible to Site visitors and may be associated with cookies on the visitors’ hard drives. This information is AA data.
3. Our Use of Your Data: Personal Data: We will use your Personal Data for the purposes for which it was provided. For example, if you provide Personal Data to register for a newsletter or a text messaging service, to enter a contest or a sweepstake, or to purchase goods or services, we will use it to register you for or provide you with those goods or services. We may also use your Personal Data to provide you with information about features, services and other offerings that may be of interest to you. We also may send information or offers to selected groups of Site users on behalf of other businesses. When we do this, we do not give those businesses your name or address. Under certain circumstances (for example if you win a contest) we may post your Personal Data on the Site. We will notify you of this possibility when you provide the Personal Data and, if possible, when the Personal Data is posted.
Cookies and similar tools may be used to relate your use of the Site and AA Data to Personal Data obtained from you. If any AA Data is linked with Personal Data, the linked AA Data will then be treated as Personal Data.
AA Data: We may also use Personal Data in aggregate form for purposes of research or analysis. In order to better understand and serve the users of the Site and Other Services, The Mother Company often conducts research on its customer demographics, interests and behavior based on Personal Data we gather. Although this aggregated data may be based in part on Personal Data, it does not identify you personally. The Mother Company may share this type of AA Data with a variety of third parties, including its affiliates, agents, and current and prospective business partners.
We may use AA Data collected from the Site for site administration, advertising and promotional purposes, and we may share such information with various affiliated and unaffiliated entities for such purposes. For example, IP addresses are used for the purposes of system administration and to provide AA Data to advertisers about the volume of use on the Site, and Clickstream Data and demographic AA Data may be shared with our advertisers and business partners. We may also enter into agreements with outside companies that possess technology that allows the Site to customize the advertising and marketing messages you receive on the Site. This data (including Clickstream Data about your activities on our Site) may be shared with these companies for this purpose.
4. Disclosure of Personal Data:
Disclosure to Affiliates: We reserve the right to share Personal Data with our affiliates. If you do not want us to share your Personal Data with our affiliated companies for their marketing purposes, you may opt-out of such sharing by contacting us at hello@themotherco.com (see “Your Choices” below).
Disclosure to Third Parties: The Mother Company, like many businesses, sometimes hires other companies to perform certain business-related functions on our behalf such as hosting specific portions of the Site, maintaining databases, administering contests, providing wireless services, mailing information and processing payments. When we employ a third party to perform these functions, that third party will only be provided with the particular Personal Data it needs to perform its function, and is required to protect the Personal Data. With your consent, we may also share Personal Data with pre-screened third parties for their marketing or promotional purposes. We will provide you with an opportunity to elect or decline these services or opportunities (see “Your Choices” below). In the event you have elected to “unsubscribe” from any of our services, we will share your Personal Data with third parties with whom we jointly offer such services solely to the extent necessary to ensure that your request not to receive such communications is honored. In addition, for third-party sponsored sweepstakes, contests or promotions, we may request Personal Data from you that may be shared with the sponsor upon request.
Disclosure to Others: In addition, we may disclose Personal Data without providing you with a choice under the following limited circumstances to: (1) protect the legal rights, privacy or safety of The Mother Company or its subsidiaries, affiliates or its or their employees, agents and contractors; (2) protect the safety and security of visitors to our web sites or other properties; (3) protect against fraud or other illegal activity or for risk management purposes; (4) respond to inquiries or requests from public authorities; (5) permit us to pursue available remedies or limit the damages that we may sustain; (6) enforce our Terms of Service; or (7) comply with the law or legal process.
If The Mother Company sells all or part of this Site or makes a sale or transfer of assets or is otherwise involved in a merger or business transfer, we may, in our sole discretion, transfer, sell or assign your Personal Data to a third party as part of or in connection with that transaction. Upon such transfer, the Privacy Policy of the acquiring entity may govern the further use of your Personal Data.
5. Third-Party Advertising and Links to Other Sites:
This Site may include third-party advertising. These third parties’ websites and advertisers, or the Internet advertising companies that work on their behalf, may use technology to send (or “serve”) the advertisements that appear on our Site directly to your browser. They automatically receive your IP address when this happens. They may also use cookies, Javascript, Pixel Tags and other technologies to deliver advertisements, collect information about the effectiveness of their advertisements, and to collect anonymous information about your visits to the Site, such as the number of times you have viewed an ad (but not your name, address, or other Personal Data). For more information about these specialized cookies and other technologies, and how to “opt out” of information collection by these companies, we suggest you visit http://doubleclick.net/privacy_policy or http://networkadvertising.org/optout_nonppii.asp. [General link for all users]
Please note that this Site contains links to other sites that will not follow the same Privacy Policy as our Site. For instance, clicking on an advertisement or on links or other elements on the Site may take you to an entirely different site. Links to other sites may use our Site logo or style as a result of a co-branding agreement. These sites may send their own cookies to you and may collect data and make use of that data in ways that this Site would not. Once you’ve left this Site, this Privacy Policy will no longer apply to Personal Data or any other data collected from or provided by you. You should check the applicable privacy policy to determine how that site will handle such data.
6. Your Choices:
You can use the Site and certain Other Services without providing any Personal Data, but if you decline to provide Personal Data, you may not be able to use certain services or features. If you have previously provided Personal Data to the Site and have subscribed to one or more email newsletters or are receiving emails or other communications from the Site and you do not want to receive such emails, please discontinue your subscriptions by selecting the “unsubscribe” [this is where you would add your TMC link for them to unsubscribe] link at the bottom of any message, visiting the Unsubscribe section of the Site or contacting us at: hello@themotherco.com. You may opt-out of receiving offers from us by adjusting your Site preferences at our Unsubscribe link on this page. If you ask that we stop using your Personal Data, we will honor that request. However we will retain records of your Personal Data as needed in order to comply with applicable federal, state, or local law.
7. Access and Correction:
If you would like to review, correct or change the Personal Data that you have previously provided us, please go to the Unsubscribe section of the Site and follow the appropriate instructions or contact us at hello@themotherco.com. We will take reasonable steps to update or correct Personal Data in our possession.
8. Children and Privacy:
We encourage parents and guardians to spend time with their children online and to be fully familiar with the sites visited by their children. At various places on the Site or Other Services, we may ask users for their age. By using the Site or Other Services you agree to respond truthfully and accurately about your age. Children under the age of 13 years of age are expressly prohibited from submitting or posting any Personal Data on the Site or Other Services.
9. Message Boards, Chat Rooms, Blogs and Other User Forums:
Please remember that information posted to message boards, chat rooms, blogs and other user forums becomes public information. Use caution when posting. Individuals under the age of 18 should be especially careful not to provide any personally identifiable information when participating in any area of the Site where postings might become public. Please see our Terms of Service for the standards of behavior that must be followed when using these portions of the Site or Other Services.
10. Data Security Disclaimer:
The Mother Company takes reasonable security precautions to secure the Personal Data that you choose to provide against the loss, misuse, alteration or unauthorized access of such information. Unfortunately, no transmission of data over the Internet is guaranteed to be completely secure. It may be possible for third parties not under the control of The Mother Company to intercept or access transmissions or private communications unlawfully. While we strive to protect your Personal Data, we cannot ensure or warrant the security of any Personal Data you transmit to us. Any such transmission is done at your own risk. If you believe that your interaction with us is no longer secure, please notify us of the problem by contacting us at hello@themotherco.com.
11. Exclusions:
This Privacy Policy shall not apply to any unsolicited information you provide to The Mother Company on or through this Site or Other Services. Please see our Terms of Service for our policies regarding such Unsolicited Information. All such Unsolicited Information shall be deemed to be non-confidential, and The Mother Company shall be free to reproduce, use, disclose and distribute such Unsolicited Information to others without limitation or attribution.
12. Other Terms and Conditions:
Your access to and use of this Site or Other Services is subject to the Terms of Service.
13. Applicable Law:
We control and operate this Site from the United States. The Site is not intended to subject us to the laws or jurisdiction of any state, country or territory other than that of the United States. Please note that we do not represent or warrant that the Site is appropriate for use in any particular jurisdiction. Those who choose to access the Site do so at their own initiative and are responsible for complying with all local laws, rules and regulations.
14. Changes to this Privacy Policy:
From time to time, we may revise this Privacy Policy to reflect industry initiatives, changes in the law or technology, or changes in our practices regarding information collection and use. If we make revisions to the way we collect or use Personal Data, we may provide notice of those changes by either: (1) announcing the change on the home page of the Site or (2) taking such other action as we deem appropriate under the circumstances, including without limitation, posting the revised draft of this Privacy Policy on the Site. You can determine when this Privacy Policy was last revised by referring to the “Last Updated” legend at the top of this page. Any changes to this policy will become effective upon posting of the revised Privacy Policy on the Internet, accessible through the Site. By continuing to use the Site following such changes, you will be deemed to have agreed to such changes. If you do not agree with the terms of this Privacy Policy, as it may be amended from time to time, in whole or in part, please do not continue using this Site.
15. Contacting The Mother Company Regarding Your Privacy:
If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy, Personal Data gathered by this Site or Other Services, or about the operation of this Site or Other Services, or if you wish to unsubscribe from the Site or Other Services, please contact us at hello@themotherco.com, or at the address listed below.

TERMS OF SERVICE LANGUAGE
These Terms of Service (the “Agreement”) set forth the terms and conditions that apply to your use of the Web site located at / and the services and materials offered thereon (the “Service”) which are offered to you by The Mother Company (“TMC”). BY USING THIS SITE, YOU AGREE TO THE TERMS OF THIS AGREEMENT JUST AS IF YOU HAD SIGNED IT. If you do not agree to be bound by this Agreement, please discontinue your use of the Service.

1. Restrictions on Use
The Service is a computer online service. It is accessible to you through a personal computer, or other access device at www.themotherco.com (the “TMC Site”) using a communications connection (e.g., modem and telephone line). As part of the Service, you will be provided with services that may include information, editorial content, chat rooms, links to other Web sites and other computer services that TMC may decide to offer, subject to the terms hereof. TMC may, in its sole discretion, discontinue or alter any aspect of the Service, including, but not limited to,
• restricting the time of availability,
• restricting the availability and/or scope of the Service for certain platforms (i.e., computer types and operating systems),
• restricting the amount of use permitted, and
• restricting or terminating any User’s right to use all or part of the Service, at any time in TMC’s sole discretion and without prior notice or liability. You are responsible for all charges (e.g., telephone) associated with connecting to the Service through an available access number. You are also responsible for obtaining or providing all telephone access lines, telephone and computer equipment (including modem), or other access device, necessary to access the Service. You certify that you are an individual (i.e., not a corporation). The Service is owned and operated by TMC and its affiliated companies and contains material that is derived in whole or in part from material supplied and owned by TMC and other sources. Such material is protected by copyright, trademark, and other applicable laws. You may not modify, copy, reproduce, republish, upload, post, transmit, publicly display, prepare derivative works based on, or distribute in any way any material from the Service, including but not limited to code and software (“Material”). You may, however, download Material from the Service for your personal, non-commercial use only, provided you keep intact all copyright and other proprietary notices and use the Material in accordance with all restrictions applicable to your use if the Service in general. In the event that you download Material from the Service, such Material is licensed to you by TMC and TMC does not transfer title to any such Material to you.

2. Membership Rules and Guidelines
i. Registration
Should TMC choose to provide member based services, when you register to use these Services, you will be required to provide certain information about yourself. You agree to provide true, accurate and complete information about yourself, and to update this information when it changes. If you provide any information that is untrue or inaccurate, not current, or incomplete, or if TMC suspects that your information is untrue or inaccurate, not current, or incomplete, TMC may, in its sole discretion, suspend or terminate your membership and refuse current or future access to the Service. Any personal information supplied hereunder will be subject to the terms of our privacy policy. Members under the age of 18 must have parental consent before joining TMC, and children under the age of 13 may not register with TMC. The Service is currently provided for free. TMC reserves the right to change the nature of this relationship at any time.

ii. Passwords
Should TMC provide to you a password that allows you to access certain parts of the Service, you will be solely responsible for maintaining the confidentiality of the password and your account information, and are fully responsible for all activities that occur under your password or account. You agree that you will immediately notify TMC of any unauthorized use of your password or account, or any other breach of security, and that you will log off of the Service at the end of each session to prevent fraud on your account by third parties.

iii. General
TMC may choose to send you e-mail newsletters on a variety of topics – for example, informing you of membership benefits and features, letting you know of problems with the site or with services offered by TMC, or presenting you with the opportunity to buy selected products and services. You may elect during registration not to receive these e-mail newsletters, and you may start or stop receiving such e-mail newsletters at any time by sending an e-mail to an address that shall be designated for that purpose. With your permission, TMC may send you e-mails on behalf of pre-screened third parties containing promotional offers or opportunities that we believe may be of interest to you. You may elect during registration to receive these e-mails, and you may start or stop receiving such e-mails at any time by sending an e-mail to an account that shall be designated for that purpose.

iv. Rules for Use of the Service
Conduct Required for Use of the Service
a. It is a condition of your use of the Service that you do not:
• restrict or inhibit any other user from using and enjoying the Service;
• post or transmit any unlawful, threatening, abusive, libelous, defamatory, obscene, vulgar, pornographic, profane or indecent information of any kind, including without limitation, any images or other material depicting Nudity as herein defined;
• post or transmit comments containing harassing or offensive language, including sexual references, sexual nicknames, racial slurs, hate propaganda, hate mongering, swearing, or rude or deliberately offensive comments, or engage in disruptive activities online, including excessive use of scripts, sound waves, scrolling (repeating the same message over and over), or use of viruses, bots, worms or trojan horses;
• post or transmit any information, software or other material that is fraudulent or violates or infringes the rights of others, including material that violates privacy or publicity rights, or infringes copyright, trademark or other proprietary rights, without first obtaining permission from the owner or right holder, including WAREZ (copyrighted material distributed without permission);
• post or transmit any information, software or other material that contains a virus or other harmful component;
• post or transmit content that encourages or provides instructional activities about illegal activities, in particular hacking, cracking or phreaking;
• post, transmit or in any way exploit any information, software or other material for commercial purposes or that contains advertising, “junk mail,” “spam,” or “chain letters”;
• solicit other users to join, become members of, or contribute money to any online service or other organization, advocate or attempt to get users to join in legal or illegal schemes or plan or participate in scams involving other users;
• impersonate any person or entity or falsely state or otherwise misrepresent your professional or other affiliation with any person or entity;
• resell, redistribute, broadcast or transfer the information or use the information derived from the Service in a searchable, machine-readable database;
• use the Service to collect personally identifying information about users of the Service in violation of our Privacy Policy;
• disguise a file type to thwart TMC’s detection processes;
• post or transmit any transmissions constituting or encouraging conduct that would constitute a criminal offense, give rise to civil liability or otherwise violate any local, state, national or international law;
• submit to the Live Directory multiple web sites with different URLs that re-direct a user to one web page;
• submit to Live Directory more than one URL for a single category;
• update Live Directory listings with intent to distort or misrepresent them, including but not limited to changing titles of the entries, descriptions of the entries, URLs, or keywords, or
• attempt to gain unauthorized access to other computer systems or networks connected to the Service. For the purposes of this Agreement, “Nudity” shall include, without limitation, images depicting persons with unclothed genitalia or persons wearing transparent clothing over genitalia. You agree that you will not use the Service, including the information provided therein and all related equipment, networks and network devices (specifically including Internet access) for any unlawful purpose. TMC, at its sole and absolute discretion, shall determine whether any information transmitted or received violates this provision. You may not use any Material in connection with any site or other use that contains or is associated with information or content prohibited by this section.

v. Monitoring
TMC has no obligation to monitor the use of the Service by members. You acknowledge and agree that TMC reserves the right to, and may from time to time, monitor any and all information transmitted or received through the Service for operational and other purposes. During monitoring, information may be examined, recorded, copied, and used for authorized purposes in accordance with our Privacy Policy. Use of the Service constitutes consent to such monitoring. Furthermore, TMC reserves the right at all times to disclose any information posted on any portion of the Service as necessary to satisfy any law, regulation or governmental request, or to refuse to post, or to remove, any information or materials, in whole or in part, that in TMC’S sole and absolute discretion are objectionable or in violation of this Agreement.

vi. License
By uploading files, inputting data, or engaging in any other form of communication (a “Communication”) through the Service you are granting TMC a royalty-free, irrevocable, perpetual, non-exclusive, unrestricted, worldwide license to (i) use, copy, sublicense, adapt, transmit, publicly perform, display, or create derivative works from any such Communication, and (ii) sublicense to third parties the unrestricted right to exercise any of the foregoing rights granted with respect to such Communication. No Communication shall be subject to any obligation of confidence on the part of TMC.

vii. Content on the Service

Communications posted through the Service are provided by users such as you who are unaffiliated with TMC, and the user providing each such Communication is solely responsible for the content thereof. This means that you, and not MC, are entirely responsible for all Communications that you upload, post, email or otherwise transmit via the Service. In using the Service or receiving e-mail messages from members through the Service, you should not assume that such messages have been reviewed by TMC, that such Communications contain correct information, or that the persons posting such Communications have accurately identified themselves and/or their affiliation with any third party. You understand that by using the Service, you may be exposed to Communications that are offensive, indecent, or objectionable. Under no circumstances will TMC be liable in any way for any Communication, including, but not limited to, liability for any errors or omissions in any Communication, or for any loss or damage of any kind incurred as a result of the use of any Communication posted, e-mailed, or otherwise transmitted via the Service.

viii. Personal Safety
When using the Service, please be certain that anything you say does not compromise your personal safety. Do not provide your name, phone number, postal or e-mail address, your password, or any other personally identifying information to people you do not know. Do not continue any conversation online that makes you feel uncomfortable.

The Mother Company – 11759 San Vicente Blvd #2 – Los Angeles, CA 90049