Privacy Policy
Privacy Policy and Agreement
Your privacy is vital to Choices Recovery Centers, LLC (“Choices”). We understand that recovery is a very personal, private subject, and we want you to feel as comfortable visiting our Website and using its services as possible. Perhaps you are visiting Choices to learn about recovery for yourself, perhaps on behalf of someone else. This Privacy Policy and Agreement (“Privacy Policy”) will tell you what information we collect about you and your use of our Website. It will explain how we protect that information and what choices you have about how it is used. We urge you to read this Privacy Policy carefully so that you will understand our commitment to you and your privacy and how we may collect and use information. By using the Choices site, you agree to the terms of this Privacy Policy.
By using the Choices site, you consent to the collection and use of information as outlined below this privacy policy:
- What personally identifiable information of yours is collected;
- What organization is collecting the information;
- How the information is used;
- With whom the information may be shared;
- What choices are available regarding the collection, use, and distribution of the information;
- What kind of security procedures are in place to protect against the loss, misuse, or alteration of the information under our control; and,
- How you can correct any inaccuracies in the information.
If you access a third-party site from a link on Choices, any information you reveal on that site is not subject to this Privacy Policy. You should look at the privacy policies of each site you visit.
The following are links to the provisions of our Privacy Policy that describe the information we collect from or about you; ways we disclose, use and protect that information; choices you have, and how you can update your information or contact us with questions. We hope that reading our Privacy Policy gives you a clear idea of how we manage information about you. If you'd like access to a particular topic, please click on the title of that Article.
ARTICLE 1: Information Collected About You
A. Information Collected by Choices or on Choice's Behalf
- In General
- Interactive Tools
- Cookies
- Web Beacons
- E-Mails and Newsletters
B. Information Collected by Third Parties Not Acting on Choice’s Behalf
C. Children
D. Emails to Choices
ARTICLE 2: Disclosure of Your Information
A. Disclosure to Choices Subsidiaries
B. Disclosure to Choices Operations and Maintenance Contractors
C. Disclosure to Linked Sites
D. Disclosure of Aggregate Information
ARTICLE 3: How Choices Handles Privacy Internally
ARTICLE 4: Your Privacy Choices
ARTICLE 5: Updating Your Personal Information and Contacting Choices
ARTICLE 1: INFORMATION COLLECTED ABOUT YOU
A. Information Collected by Choices or on Choice’s Behalf
1. In General
Personally Identifiable Information (PII or Personal Information) can be used to identify or contact you. When you visit our Website, Choices collects only the Personal Information you provide. We collect the Personal Information you provide us in one general and distinct way: (1) When you choose to participate in surveys or send emails to Choices. We also collect non-personal information from you about your use of our Website, emails, special promotions and newsletters that we send to you, and the Websites of selected sponsors and advertisers. For example, Choices may use “cookies” or “web beacons” to collect non-personal information about your use of our site, selected sponsors’ sites, or emails we send to you. Choices does not store any Personal Information in any cookies on your computer. Choices does not use web beacons to collect personal information from or about you or to track your activities across websites. All of these are described in more detail below.
2. Interactive Tools
We also collect other information, some of which may be Personal Information, that you voluntarily provide us when you choose to use some of the Choices Interactive Tools and Services, such as Ask Our Experts. We also collect the information you provide voluntarily through responses to surveys, questionnaires, and the like. Some of the free Interactive Tools on our site ask you for Personal Information.
3. Cookies
Visit our cookie page to learn how this website uses cookies.
4. Web Beacons
In limited circumstances, we also may use “Web Beacons” to collect anonymous, non-personal information about your use of our website and the sites of selected sponsors and advertisers and your use of emails, special promotions, or newsletters we send to you. Web beacons are tiny graphic image files embedded in a web page or email that provide a presence on the web page or email and send back to its home server information from the User’s browser. The data collected by web beacons allows us to monitor how many people are using our site statistically and selected sponsors’ and advertisers’ sites, or opening our emails, and for what purposes. Choices web beacons are not used to track your activity across Websites generally. While it may be possible to link non-personal web beacon information to Personal Information collected in other ways, we want you to know that we will not, without your consent, link the web beacon information we collect to Personal Information you provide us on our site.
5. E-mails and Newsletters
As noted in the discussions of cookies and web beacons (see above), we'd like to collect anonymous, non-personal information about your use of e-mails and newsletters that we send to you. In some cases, when you click on a link or an advertisement in an e-mail or newsletter, your browser may be momentarily directed to the site of a third party acting on Choice's behalf (see Disclosure to Website Service and Content Contractors, below), notes or ”counts” your response to the e-mail or newsletter before re-directing your browser to its proper destination; this re-direction process will not be apparent to you. When you use Choices’ “Email a Friend” application, Choices emails the article or other content you designate to your friend’s email address and lists your email address as the sender. Choices uses the friend’s email address only to send your friend the email you requested and for no other purpose unless otherwise disclosed to you at the time you send the email.
B. Information Collected by Third Parties Not Acting on Choice's Behalf
Sponsors, partners, or advertisers on the Choices site or in emails, special promotions, or newsletters we send you may also use their cookies or web beacons when you click on their advertisement or link to their site or service or even if the ad appears on a page or in an e-mail that you are viewing. Some advertisers use companies other than Choices to serve their ads and monitor users’ responses to ads. These companies (“Ad Servers”) may also collect non-personal information through cookies or web beacons on our Website. In certain situations, information collection may be facilitated by momentarily directing your browser to the site of an Ad Server or other third party acting on behalf of the sponsor, partner, or advertiser before re-directing your browser to its proper destination (e.g., back to Choices to show the ad, or to the advertiser's Web site); this re-direction process will not be apparent to you.
We do not control these third parties' use of cookies or web beacons or how they manage the non-personal information they gather through them. However, we would like sponsors, advertisers, and Ad Servers who collect cookie or web beacon information through our Website to agree that they will not contain any Personal Information from our site without your consent. They have promised us they will not link any non-personal cookie or web beacon information collected by them on our site to Personal Information they or others collect in other ways or from other sites. In addition, Choices Advertising Policy is posted on our Website and will provide additional detail about our relationship with advertisers and the companies that serve ads. You should look over the privacy policy of other sites you visit or link to from our site to understand how these other sites use cookies and how they use the information they collect through cookies or web beacons on their sites. Specific Ad Servers allow you to prevent them from collecting data through the use of cookies. To do so, you'll need to opt out of such data collection with each site. Currently, you can opt out of cookies for several Ad Servers by visiting the Network Advertising Initiative gateway opt-out site. This site will also allow you to review the Ad Server’s privacy policies.
C. Children
We are committed to protecting the privacy of children. This Website is not designed or intended to attract children under the age of 13. We do not collect Personal Information from anyone under the age of 13.
D. Emails to Choices
This Privacy Policy does not protect you when you send business information, ideas, concepts, or inventions to Choices by email to the various Choices departments listed on the “Contact Us” link on our Website. If you want to keep business information, ideas, concepts, or inventions private or proprietary, do not send them in an email to Choices. We try to answer every email promptly but are not always able to do so.
ARTICLE 2: DISCLOSURE OF YOUR INFORMATION
As outlined in this Article or as specifically agreed to by you, Choices won't disclose any Personal Information it gathers from you on our Website. We may release Personal Information to third parties: (1) to comply with valid legal requirements such as a law, regulation, search warrant, subpoena, or court order; or (2) in exceptional cases, such as a physical threat to you or others. If we are legally compelled to disclose your Personal Information to a third party, we will notify you unless doing so would violate the law or court order
A. Disclosure to Choices Subsidiaries
Choices may disclose Personal Information to its corporate subsidiaries. Those subsidiaries will treat any Personal Information provided to subsidiaries of Choices by the terms of this Privacy Policy.
B. Disclosure to Choices Operations and Maintenance Contractors
Choices operations and maintenance contractors sometimes have limited access to your Personal Information when providing products or services to Choices. These contractors include vendors and suppliers that provide us with technology, services, and content related to better operation and maintenance of our Website. Unless you have opted out of receiving emails and newsletters from Choices, these contractors also may have access to your email address to send newsletters or special promotions to you on our behalf or to send emails to you for purposes such as conducting market research on our behalf. Access to your Personal Information by these contractors is limited to the reasonably necessary information for the contractor to perform its limited function for Choices. We also contractually require that our operations and maintenance contractors 1) protect the privacy of your Personal Information consistent with this Privacy Policy and 2) not use or disclose your Personal Information for any purpose other than providing us with products and services.
C. Disclosure to Linked Sites
In addition to the Third Party Contractor Websites that you may access as described above, for your convenience, there are links to Websites operated by companies other than Choices (“Third Party Websites”) that are not contractors who provide content or services through our Website. These links may be found in advertisements, referenced within content, or placed beside the names or logos of sponsors. Choices does not disclose your Personal Information to these Third Party Websites without obtaining your consent. Choices does not endorse and is not responsible for the privacy practices of these sites. If you choose to link to one of these Third-party Websites, you should review the privacy policy posted on this other site to understand how that Third Party Website collects and uses your Personal Information.
D. Disclosure of Aggregate Information
Choices may provide to third parties non-personal information about you that does not allow you to be identified or contacted, combined with other users' non-personal information (“Aggregate Information”). For example, we might inform third parties regarding the number of users of our site and the activities they conduct while on our site. Depending on the circumstances, we may or may not charge third parties for this Aggregate Information. We also may not limit the third parties' use of the Aggregate Information, except that we require third parties to whom we disclose Aggregate Information to agree that they will not attempt to make this information personally identifiable by combining it with other databases or otherwise.
ARTICLE 3: HOW CHOICES HANDLES PRIVACY AND SECURITY INTERNALLY
Choices wants your Personal Information to remain as secure as possible. That is why we have a two-tier security system at Choices that combines leading technical safeguards and a code of conduct for those employees who can access our customers’ Personal Information. On the technical side, Choices uses Secure Socket Layer (SSL) encryption technology to transmit your Personal Information to our servers to help ensure the integrity and privacy of the Personal Information you provide via the Internet. Encryption involves systematically scrambling numbers and letters so that even if someone managed to intercept the information, they would be unable to make sense of it. To take advantage of this encryption technology, you need an Internet browser that will support 128-bit encryption, such as Netscape or Microsoft Explorer. As an additional security measure, your Personal Information is also kept physically separate on a separate server where your password is encrypted and stored in a database. On the employee side, only a limited number of Choices employees are authorized to access your Personal Information. All Choices employees must abide by our Privacy Policy, and those who violate our Privacy Policy are subject to disciplinary action, including termination. Access by authorized personnel is controlled by two-factor authentication (i.e., a token and a thumbprint). Although we will make every reasonable effort to protect your Personal Information from loss, misuse, or alteration by third parties, you should be aware that there is always some risk involved in transmitting information over the Internet. There is also some risk that thieves could find a way to thwart our security systems.
ARTICLE 4: YOUR PRIVACY CHOICES
From time to time and at different locations on the Choices Website, you will receive recurring informational/promotional newsletters via email from Choices and/or directly from third parties.
If you would like to subscribe to such newsletters via email, we ask for contact information, such as name (or nickname) and email address. You can unsubscribe from the newsletters by clicking on the “unsubscribe” link at the bottom of any email newsletter. An email to our automated unsubscribe service will be created on your machine. Click the “send” button. You will then be unsubscribed from that newsletter within two to three business days. If you are experiencing difficulties with our automated unsubscribe service, you can email us at Choices Customer Service. Choices Customer Service will unsubscribe you from that newsletter in two to three business days.
This privacy statement applies only to the Choices Website. The Choices site does contain links to other sites. Once you enter another Website (whether through an advertisement, service, or content link), please remember that Choices is not responsible for the privacy practices of other sites. We encourage you to look for and review the privacy statements of each website you visit through a link or advertisement on Choice's site or any site that collects Personal Information from you.
ARTICLE 5: UPDATING YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION AND CONTACTING CHOICES
Please feel free to contact us to (1) delete your Personal Information from our systems, (2) update the Personal Information that you have provided to us, and (3) change your preferences concerning marketing contacts or other activities by emailing us at privacy@choices-nyc.com. Such changes will only affect other information that Choices maintains. If you have a complaint or problem, you can email us at info@choices-nyc.com. The customer service department will forward your complaint to the correct internal Choices department for a response or resolution. We try to answer every email as soon as possible but can only do so. If you do not receive an adequate solution to a privacy-related problem, you may write to the Choices Privacy Help Desk at:
Choices Recovery Centers, LLC
220 East 78th Street
New York, NY 10021
Attn: Office of Privacy
Or call 212.794.3858
Just to let you know, it is not technologically possible to remove every record of the information you have provided to Choices from our servers. The need to back up our systems to protect information from accidental loss means that a copy of your Personal Information may exist in a non-erasable form that will be difficult or impossible for us to locate. Nevertheless, we promise that when you request it, all Personal Information stored in the databases we actively use for research, daily business activities, and other readily searchable media will be deleted.
As it applies to the Internet, privacy is a dynamic, rapidly developing area. In the future, we may make significant changes to our privacy policy, affecting the use of the Personal Information we collect. We would notify you by email of any significant changes concerning our use of your Personal Information and obtain your "opt-in" consent to any necessary new services of your Personal Information if it was collected from you before a significant change in this policy. We may also make non-significant changes to our Privacy Policy that generally won't affect our use of your Personal Information, and we will not let you know about these changes. You should check this posted Privacy Policy for any non-significant changes. If you do not agree to the terms of this Privacy Policy or any revised policy, please go ahead and exit the site as soon as possible.
Revised December 2002
(c) Copyright 2002-2003 Choices Recovery Centers, LLC. All rights reserved.
(c) 2002-2003 Choices Recovery Centers, LLC All rights reserved.