Our Privacy Policy

The success of our business depends on maintaining your privacy. Also, our mothers brought us up properly so even if our business didn't depend upon protecting your privacy, we would STILL protect it because we would experience extreme guilt if we didn't. In plain language what does this mean?

• We do not sell, rent or otherwise share ANY of the information that you input into this service to anyone else without you specifically telling us to, except in the limited circumstances described in "Details", such as when we are required to do so by law.
• We DO allow you to share information that you provide to the system with friends you define to the service and, OPTIONALLY, friends of friends.
• When you OPTIONALLY share bits of information with friends of friends, we insure that these friends of friends CAN NOT contact you directly through any means via our service. You are simply presented as "friend of friend" in our service; you remain anonymous to friends of friends.
• Friends of friends CAN NOT see your contact information.
• For each friend you connect to the system, you get to choose exactly how they can notify you - via mobile, via IM, via email, or not at all. When you delete a friend, they can no longer see any of your information within the system.
• You can stop receiving messages for friends you previously connected with by responding Block to any message from that person.
• You may also choose to share information with the general public but the public cannot see your contact information
• When you choose to connect with another user on the site, you have proactively decided to accept messages from that user. In most cases, Ripple9 does not control the content or volume of those messages. You can end any connection by deleting that person from your friends list on our website.
• The only data we store on your system is information that allows the service to work correctly and securely. We store this information in thing called a "cookies" that are managed by your Internet web browser.
• The reason this system is now available free of charge is because it is supported by advertising. When you provide information to the service, the service will occasionally, AUTOMATICALLY put relevant ads or links next to your information. When an ad appears next to your stuff on our web site, or is appended to a picture message that you pull from our service - it's AUTOMATIC. Our advertisers have NO idea who you specifically are. When you click on one of these links we do NOT pass your identity to them an in any fashion.
• We provide advertisers only aggregated non-personal information such as the number of times one of their ads was clicked. They receive no specific information regarding you unless you specifically opt-in to one of their programs
• Ripple9 may send you an occasional message with news of service enhancements but these messages will rarely if ever exceed one message a month. You can choose to opt out of receiving these messages.  See the Details section below for specific information.

DETAILS

What Information We Collect

• To create an account at Ripple9, you need to submit a valid email address, enter in a name, and create a password. Your name and email address will be associated with your Ripple9 account. We will use your name and email address to operate our service and to communicate with you about your account. We will also use this information to communicate with you about the Ripple9 service in general, unless you choose to opt out of these mailings. You can do this by hitting the "unsubscribe" link at the bottom of any Ripple9 emails. Additional use of your email address is limited to the uses listed below in "Information Sharing and Disclosure."
• To enable Ripple9's mobile features, you need to have a valid mobile phone number with the necessary text messaging capabilities. When you use any of our mobile features, we will record what you send us and associate it with your phone number.
• You may use Ripple9 to post and send messages and other content, such as pictures, music, and video. Ripple9 stores and tracks this information for you.
• Any contact with our customer service team may be recorded to help us provide better service.
• Ripple9 uses cookies to make it easy for you to navigate the site and so we can improve your experience when using the site. Cookies are small files stored on your computer's hard drive by your web browser. We never save personal information such as passwords or credit card numbers in the cookies. If you set your browser preference so that it will reject all cookies, you will not be able to use Ripple9.
• Our third-party service providers also use cookies to gather anonymous information such as IP address and browser information. We track that information so that we can understand how Ripple9 is being used and ultimately how we can improve the user experience.

Information Sharing and Disclosure

• Ripple9 will never rent, sell, or share your mobile number, IM screen name, email, physical address or other personal information to a third party, except in the following circumstances:
  • We respond to subpoenas, court orders, or legal process, or to establish or exercise our legal rights or defend against legal claims.
  • We believe it is necessary to share information in order to investigate, prevent, or take action regarding illegal activities, suspected fraud, situations involving potential threats to the physical safety of any person, violations of Ripple9's Terms of Service, or as otherwise required by law.
  • If Ripple9 becomes involved in a merger, acquisition, or any form of sale of some or all of its assets, we will provide notice before personal information is transferred and becomes subject to a different privacy policy
• We may send you email updates (such as information about new features) and occasional promotional offers (such as information about Ripple9-sponsored contests) that may be of interest to you. You may opt-out of these mailings at any time by hitting the "unsubscribe" link in the bottom of the email.
• You may use Ripple9 to invite others to join Ripple9. We will use the phone numbers or email addresses you provide only to send an invitation to join Ripple9. Ripple9 will not sell or share the recipients email addresses or phone numbers, or add them to any mailing lists.

Additional information

• Ripple9 may update or modify this policy. We will notify you about significant changes in the way we treat personal information by sending a notice to the primary email address that you provided to us in establishing your Ripple9 account or by placing a prominent notice on our site.
• If you have further questions or suggestions regarding our privacy policy, please direct them to support@ripple9.com.