Privacy Policy

This Privacy Policy explains the practices of 40Billion.com, Inc. ("40Billion.com," "we" or "us") with respect to how we collect, use, disclose and secure your personal information in connection with the 40Billion.com website at www.40Billion.com (the "Site") and 40Billion.com's fundraising service or related services ("Service"). This Privacy Policy applies to personal information we collect from you and from third parties, but does not apply to any personal information collected by third parties from you.

Changes in Privacy Policy

This notice describes our Privacy Policy effective as of June 30, 2008. 40Billion.com reserves the right to change this Privacy Policy at any time. We will provide notice of changes by indicating on the Privacy Policy the date it was last updated and making such updated Privacy Policy available on the Site. If you have registered for the Service, we may also attempt to notify you of changes to the Privacy Policy by additional means.

Collecting personal information

We may collect personal information about you from you and from third parties, including personal, demographic and aggregate data. As used in this Privacy Policy, "personal information" means information that specifically identifies you, such as your name, address, telephone number, email address, and bank account numbers. Demographic information is anonymous information, which may include your age, date of birth, income, gender, geographic area, hobbies or interests. Demographic information is not considered personal information unless it is linked with your other personal information, which we may do for a variety of reasons such as customizing content or services according to your interests and preferences or verifying your identity. Personal information does not include aggregate information, which is data we collect about the use of the Site or Service (or categories of the Site or Service), from which personal information has been removed. Aggregate data are used for a number of purposes such as helping us understand trends and user needs so we can improve our products and services.

Personal information may be collected in a number of ways, such as when you visit the Site with your Internet browser or use the Service. In addition, 40Billion.com may ask you to provide certain personal information when filling out and submitting registration forms or providing feedback to 40Billion.com. When registering or applying to receive or provide funding, you may be asked to provide a bank account number, contact information, your name and other personal information. Also, you may post to the Site or transmit to 40Billion.com personal information, photographs, videos, and other content, such as to your profile, through messaging functionality on the Site, or to a public bulletin board, blog, chat room or other forum on the Site. You understand that information contained in your profile may be generally available on the 40Billion.com site. Although your profile is specifically made available to your designated friends-and-family funders and people that they may potentially recommend, it may also be viewed by other individuals unless you opt to make your profile private. All such content that you post to the Site is done at your own risk and 40Billion.com bears no responsibility for any such content or any liability for any claims arising out of such content.

When you use the Site, 40Billion.com may also collect certain information about your computer to facilitate and evaluate your use of the Site and the Service. For example, we may log environmental variables, such as browser type, operating system, referring or exit web pages, and the Internet Protocol (IP) address of your computer. We may on occasion supplement the personal information you submit to us with information from third-party sources.

For example, if permitted under applicable law, we may supplement your Registration Information (defined below) with address standardization data to verify the address you have entered is actually your address.

Use of personal information

In general, we use personal information we collect to service your funding, to provide you with information or services you request, to inform you about other information and services we think will be of interest to you, to facilitate your use and our administration and operation of the Site and the Service, to learn more about and improve the Site and the Service, and for the purpose for which the information was provided. For example, we may use the information we collect in the following ways:

• To help start a fundraising request for entrepreneurs seeking potential funders.
• To facilitate funding.
• To service funding, including facilitating transfer and disbursement of funds.
• To verify your identity and contact information.
• To send you a welcoming email and contact you about your use of the Site and the Service, for administrative purposes or to provide you with customer service.
• To respond to your emails, suggestions, feedback, requests for new features, help requests or other comments, questions or complaints.
• To qualify your entry into a contest and to contact you regarding the contest or prize awards.
• To track customer preferences and keep you informed about new services, special offers, and other products and services of 40Billion.com and selected third parties unless you have opted not to receive such communications or such communications are prohibited by law.
• Use aggregate, non-identifying statistical data collected about the use of the Service and the Site (such as the number of downloads, viewing statistics of web pages, how many users we receive and the IP/Internet address of your computer) for improving the Site and the Service, providing more relevant experiences to our customers and for statistical analysis.

Sharing your personal information

We only share your personal information with unaffiliated third parties as permitted or required by law. For example, we may share certain of your personal information with:

• Entrepreneurs and potential entrepreneurs, such as the funder's or prospective funder's name, address, phone number, and email address.
• Funders and potential funders, such as the entrepreneur's or prospective entrepreneur's name, address, phone number, email address, and descriptive data about the potential entrepreneur and his or her business.
• Other potential funders who are members of the 40Billion.com search engine--persons not personally known by the entrepreneur but who may want to help fund a entrepreneur’s fundraising request based on shared background or interests (for example, similar location, industry, work experience, or educational background). As an entrepreneur , you may choose whether or not to share your profile and associated information with other members of the 40Billion.com search engine.
• Companies that help us verify your payment method, such as information we receive from address standardization services and payment processors.
• Your banks and their agents, in order to administer your funding.
• Select companies that may make available to you products and services that we believe may be of interest to you. You will have the option to choose not to participate in ("opt out") this service, as the default option afforded to you at the time of registration is to share your information to such companies.
• Law enforcement or other agencies, judicial proceedings, and other governmental authorities as required by law.

When we share your personal information with vendors and service providers who perform functions on our behalf, we require that they keep your information confidential and secure, and that they use it only as is reasonably necessary to carry out their work or comply with applicable law. In addition, personal information may be disclosed or transferred to our affiliates and as part of, or during negotiations of, a merger, consolidation, sale of company assets or equity, financing, acquisition, strategic alliance or in any other situation where personal information may be transferred as one of the business assets of 40Billion.com.

Protecting your personal information

We maintain administrative, technical and physical safeguards designed to protect the security, confidentiality and integrity of your personal information. The personal information that you provide online in connection with registering yourself as a user of the Site or of the Service (including to register as an entrepreneur or funder) or use of the Service is protected in several ways. Access by you to such personal information is available through a password selected by you. To protect the confidentiality of such personal information, you should not divulge your password to anyone. You are responsible for all uses of the Site and Service by any person using your password. Please advise us immediately if you believe your password has been compromised. Please note that any information you submit by online may not be secure, so please do not enter on 40Billion.com or email to 40Billion.com any sensitive information or materials.

Please note that any information, photos, videos, and other content you post to your profile or to any public bulletin board, blog, chat room or other forum is available to all persons accessing that location, and your e-mail address may also be posted on these venues. The information you share, including your email address, would then be available to all persons accessing these venues, and such information may be read, collected or used by others for any purpose, including sending you unsolicited messages. 40Billion.com is not responsible for any information you elect to submit in these venues or the use of such information.

Your choices regarding your personal information

40Billion.com or third parties may communicate information to you regarding products, services and special offers available from 40Billion.com or selected third parties unless you have opted not to receive such communications or such communications are prohibited by law. If you do not wish to receive such communications, you may change your contact preferences online at www.40Billion.com, or you may also change your contact preferences by sending an email to info (at) 40Billion.com or mailing a request to 40Billion.com, Inc., 925B Peachtree St., Suite 465, Atlanta, GA 30309. Please note that even if you opt out of receiving email or other communications from 40Billion.com or third parties, you may still be contacted by email, telephone, or US mail regarding your use of the Service, such as communications relating to a fundraising request, funding, servicing, messages in response to any email or other communication from you to us, and to notify you of updates or changes to our policies, procedures or agreements. Our systems may require time to update, so your opt-out requests may not be updated immediately.

Data not collected on the Site or in connection with the Service

Personal information that is not collected on the Site or in connection with the Service is not generally subject to this Privacy Policy. The Site may contain links to other websites at which personal information is collected. For example, 40Billion.com has established relationships with various service providers whose services are available to you from the Site, from websites that are linked to the Site, or in connection with the Service. Typically, these providers offer services that 40Billion.com customers might find useful, such as those that can be used in conjunction with Service. In order to use those providers' services, you may be required to provide personal information to the providers. Unless expressly provided to the contrary, the collection, use, disclosure and security of your personal information will be governed by the privacy policy applicable to that website, and not by this Privacy Policy.

Tracking, use of cookies, web beacons and similar tracking devices

In order to improve our Service and the Site and provide more convenient, relevant experiences to our customers, we and our vendors may use "cookies", "web beacons", and similar devices to track your activities. A cookie is small amount of data that is transferred to your browser by a web server and can only be read by the server that gave it to you. It functions as your identification card and enables 40Billion.com to record your passwords, transactions and preferences. A web beacon is a small transparent gif image that is embedded in an HTML page or email used to track when the page or email has been viewed. A similar device may be used by which a product, service or functionality may send data to a server when a set of user-initiated events occur (such as after clicking a button on the Site or in an email). This device is similar to a cookie in that it tracks your visit and the data can only be read by the server that receives the data. It is different than a cookie in that it is not browser-based, may not function as an identification card and does not store any data on your computer. While 40Billion.com uses cookies and similar devices to track your use of the Site and the Service, such as the number of downloads, types of Service used, and how many users we receive daily, and while our web servers automatically log the IP/Internet address of your computer, 40Billion.com does not generally use this information to identify you personally. However, if you expressly provide consent for the Site or the Service to "remember" you when you log into your account, that unique identifier will be stored on a cookie on your computer and that unique identifier will be linked to your Registration Information. As a result, your navigation path around the Site and the Service may be tracked.

Most browsers are initially set to accept cookies and similar devices. You can set your browser to notify you when you receive a cookie or similar device, giving you the chance to decide whether or not to accept it. (For some web pages that require an authorization, cookies are not optional. Users choosing not to accept cookies or similar devices will probably not be able to access those pages or the related products and services.)

Contacting 40Billion.com

If you have questions regarding our Privacy Policy or if you believe that 40Billion.com has not complied with this Privacy Policy with respect to your personal information, please contact us at info (at) 40Billion.com or at the mailing address shown above. If you are reporting noncompliance with this Privacy Policy, in your e-mail or letter, please describe in as much detail as possible (but without disclosing any sensitive information about you or third parties) the ways in which you believe that the Privacy Policy has not been complied with.