MY COMMITMENT TO YOUR PRIVACY

This site is owned and operated by Dave Lindbeck, Founder of InStep Coaching. Your privacy on the Internet is imperative to me; I want to make your online experience satisfying and safe. This is my pledge to you: I will not sell, rent, or give your name or address to anyone. Ever. Period.

Because I gather certain types of information about my users, I feel you should fully understand the terms and conditions surrounding the capture and use of that information. This privacy statement discloses what information I gather and how I use it.

Definition of the Information gathered and tracked.

I gather two types of information about users:

• Voluntary: Information that users provide through optional, voluntary submissions. These are voluntary submissions to receive my electronic newsletters, to email a friend about the newsletter, and from participation in polls and surveys.

• Aggregated tracking: Information gathered through aggregated tracking, derived mainly by tallying page views throughout this site. This information allows me to better tailor the content to readers' needs and to help any advertisers and sponsors better understand the demographics of my audience. Under no circumstances do I divulge any information about an individual user to a third party.

I GATHER USER INFORMATION IN THE FOLLOWING PROCESSES:

Optional Voluntary Information

I offer the following free services, which require some type of voluntary submission of personal information by users:

1. Electronic newsletters (Dispatches)

I offer a free electronic newsletter to users. I gather the email addresses of users who voluntarily subscribe. Users may remove themselves from this mailing list by following the link provided in every newsletter that points users to the subscription management page.

2. "E-mail this to a friend" Service

My site users can choose to electronically forward a link, page, or documents to someone else by clicking "e-mail this to a friend". The user must provide their email address, as well as that of the recipient. This information is used only in the case of transmission errors and, of course, to let the recipient know who sent the email. The information is not used for any other purpose.

3. Polling

I may offer interactive polls to users so they can easily share their opinions with other users and see what my audience thinks about important issues. Opinions or other responses to polls are aggregated and are not identified with any particular user. I may use a system to "tag" users after they have voted, so they can vote only once on a particular question. This tag is not correlated with information about individual users.

4. Surveys

I may occasionally conduct user surveys to better target my content to my audience. I sometimes share the aggregated demographic information in these surveys with my sponsors, advertisers and partners. I never share any of this information about specific individuals with any third party.

CHILDREN

Consistent with the Federal Children's Online Privacy Protection Act of 1998 (COPPA), I will never knowingly request personally identifiable information from anyone under the age of 13 without requesting parental consent.

USAGE TRACKING

I track user traffic patterns within my site. However, I do not correlate this information with data about individual users. I do break down overall usage statistics across all of my users, tallying users’ domain names, browser types, and MIME types by reading this information from the browser string (information contained in every user's browser).

I sometimes track and catalog the search terms that users enter in my Search function, but this tracking is never associated with individual users. I use tracking information to determine which areas of my site users like and don't like based on traffic to those areas. I do not track what individual users read, but rather how well each page performs overall. This helps me continue to build a better service for you.

COOKIES

I may place a text file called a "cookie" in the browser files of your computer. The cookie itself does not contain Personal Information although it will enable me to relate your use of this site to information that you have specifically and knowingly provided. But the only personal information a cookie can contain is information you supply yourself. A cookie can't read data off your hard disk or read cookie files created by other sites. I use cookies to track user traffic patterns (as described above). My advertising system delivers a one-time cookie to better track ad impressions and click rates.

You can refuse cookies by turning them off in your browser. If you've set your browser to warn you before accepting cookies, you will receive the warning message with each cookie. You do not need to have cookies turned on to use this site. However, you do need cookies to participate actively in polling and surveys.

USE OF INFORMATION

I use any information voluntarily given by my users to enhance their experience with my site, whether to provide interactive or personalized elements on the site or to better prepare future content based on the interests of my users.

As stated above, I use information that users voluntarily provide in order to send out electronic newsletters and to enable users to participate in polls, and surveys. I send out newsletters to subscribers on a regular schedule (depending on the newsletter), and occasionally send out special editions when I think subscribers might be particularly interested in something I am doing. I never share newsletter mailing lists with any third parties, including advertisers, sponsors or partners.

I create aggregate reports on user demographics and traffic patterns for advertisers, sponsors and partners. This allows our advertisers to advertise more effectively, and allows my users to receive advertisements that are pertinent to their needs. Because I don't track the usage patterns of individual users, an advertiser or sponsor will never know that a specific user clicked their ad. I will not disclose any information about any individual user except to comply with applicable law or valid legal process or to protect the personal safety of my users or the public.

SHARING OF THE INFORMATION

I use the above-described information to tailor o my content to suit user’s needs and better understand my audience demographics. This is essential to offering my free services. I will not share information about individual users with any third party, except to comply with applicable law or valid legal process or to protect the personal safety of my users or the public.

SECURITY

I operate secure data networks protected by industry standard firewall and password protection systems. My security and privacy policies are periodically reviewed and enhanced as necessary and only authorized individuals have access to the information provided by my customers.

OPT-OUT POLICY

I give users options wherever necessary and practical. Such choices include:

• Opting not to register to receive my electronic newsletters.

• Opting not to participate in certain interactive areas, which completely alleviates the need to gather any personally identifiable information from my users.

YOUR CONSENT

By using this site, you consent to the collection and use of this information by Dave Lindbeck. If I decide to change my privacy policy, I will post those changes on this page so that you are always aware of what information I collect, how I use it, and under what circumstances I disclose it.