Privacy Policy

Your privacy is our business.

Our mission at Mate1.com is to provide a secure meeting place where members can connect privately and anonymously. It is up to you to decide if and when to reveal your identity to another member or to meet in person. We believe that the web can be the safest and most sensible place to meet new people with a view to embarking on relationships of any kind, so long as the site operators and site members cooperate to keep it that way.

Our primary concerns in drafting this Privacy Policy were our members' peace of mind and security. The practices outlined below represent our best efforts to safeguard the confidentiality of your personal information while also protecting your interests and the collective interests of Mate1.com and its members. This privacy policy was last revised on November 18, 2008. Each time you visit this web site or provide us with any information, you are implicitly accepting the practices described in this privacy policy at that time. We reserve the right to change this policy at any time, without notice provided that such changes only apply to information gathered on or after the date of such change. In the event that we do decide to make material changes regarding how we use personal information previously collected, you will be notified of such changes by email or by a prominent notice on our website. If you have suggestions as to how we might improve this policy, or any aspect of this site, please contact us here or at privacy@mate1.com.

  1. Information gathered automatically from visitors
    Automatically collected information is data that we collect directly from your computer that does not disclose any personal information about you. This includes your IP address, browser type, and browser settings. We use your IP address (the numeric code that identifies your individual computer) to avoid fraudulent registrations and to help us maintain our site and identify problems with our server. Your IP address does not disclose any personally revealing information about you. Information that we may obtain regarding your browser and browser settings is to ensure that our site's technical features are available to you. We use cookies to identify traffic that comes through advertising and to improve user experience. Cookies are small pieces of information that a web site places on your computer's hard drive to enable the website to recognize you and to save you the trouble of re-entering some basic information when you revisit. From time to time, Mate1 may allow other companies that display advertisements on some of our pages to place and access their cookies on your computer. These companies' use of their cookies is subject to their own privacy policies, which we have no control over. We do not allow other companies to access cookies placed by Mate1. The use of cookies is a very common practice on the Internet. If you are uncomfortable with this, you can disable all cookies through your browser settings.
  2. Information requested from visitors
    When you register to use any Mate 1 Services you will be asked for some general identifying information which will enable us to provide you with this individualized service. We gather contact information (like your email address) and demographic information (like your city of residence, gender and age). We may share some of this information with our professional advisors, consultants, third party associates, partner sites, and in the event that any part of Mate1 is merged with or purchased by another company. In the event of a merger or a purchase, we will notify you by email before information about you is transferred and becomes subject to a different privacy policy, and we will provide you with the opportunity to opt out of the transfer of your data before it takes place.
  3. Public and Private Information
    Public information is information that you enter into the Mate1 database that can be viewed by visitors to the site and occasionally in promotional materials. During the registration process, you will be asked to create a "Mini Profile." The Mini Profile consists of personal but non-identifying information (i.e. your civil status, height, body type, ethnicity, religion, personal habits, etc). Once you are a registered member of the site, you will have the option of adding further text, photos and a voice recording. This Public information, collectively known within the site as your "Profile," is not linked to your personal identification in any way that can be seen by other users of the site, unless you include personally identifying information in the portions of your profile that you type yourself. Moreover, if you provide us with a photograph of yourself, your Profile may become personally identifiable.

    Private information is information that can personally identify you, such as your real name, email address or credit card number. When you register to use any Mate 1 service, you will be asked for some general identifying information to enable us to provide you with this individualized service. We gather contact information (such as your email address) and, if you choose to sign up for a Full Membership or to purchase credits, financial information (such as your credit card number and expiry date).
  4. Financial and Billing Information
    If you choose to become a Full Member, we may collect financial information (like your credit card number and expiry date or your checking account number) and your billing address. Financial information is gathered and processed through our own secure server or through a third-party billing site, and encrypted via a secure server to ensure that others cannot read it. You will know you are in secure mode when the tiny padlock icon - located at the bottom right of your browser - appears "locked". We will only use your financial information in the course of providing our Services to you. The specific financial information we collect is not rented, sold, or shared with any third party apart from the financial institution that processes your transaction, except under the following special conditions: where we determine that such disclosure is required by law; to cooperate with law enforcement; in the event of a merger or a transfer of ownership or of assets; to subsidiary and parent companies and businesses, and other affiliated legal entities and businesses with whom we are under common corporate control. In the event of a merger or a transfer of ownership of Mate1 to another company, you will be notified by email in advance and provided with an opportunity to remove your information prior to the merger or transfer.
  5. Use of and access to member information
    By signing up for this service, you specifically agree to receive communications from us, or through us, to the email address that you provide, including but not limited to: notifications of emails and instant messages you receive from other members on the site, relevant photos and profiles, updates regarding our service, special promotions and offers, and notices of changes to the site. Our site provides you with the opportunity to opt-out of receiving some types of communications from us by changing the settings on the page entitled "Your Settings." If you do not opt-out of receiving such notices, they will be sent to you automatically, at our discretion. Your general demographic information is used to personalize your experience on the site; to compose your personal profile, which is associated with an identity you have created; to allow other members to find you through a search; and to deliver targeted advertising and promotional offers to you. By purchasing, or registering for or agreeing to receive communication about products or services offered or promoted by third parties on this web site, or electing to participate in contests, sweepstakes or other programs offered or promoted by third parties on this web site, you consent to our providing your personal information to those third parties. The use of your personal information by those third parties will be governed by our contractual arrangements with those third parties, and by their own privacy policies, over which we have no control. You agree that we are not responsible or liable for any actions undertaken by those third parties with regards to your personal information.

    We may enter into promotional relationships with other companies in which we display their brand name or trademarks on pages of the Site or in emails to you. These companies are known as "Co-Branded Companies" and these pages are known as "Co-Branded Pages." If you submit information to a Co-Branded Page or to a page accessed by clicking on a link on a Co-Branded Page, or if you choose to receive information, products or services from a Co-Branded Company on a page on the Mate1.com web site, then we may share your personal information with the associated Company. The information that we share with a Co-Branded Company may include any personal information that you have entered into the Mate1.com database, but will NOT include any financial or billing information (as defined in section 4) without your explicit permission. Co-Branded Companies may use your personal information in accordance with their own privacy policies, over which we have no control. Additionally, you agree that we may use and disclose all such information submitted to such Co-Branded Companies in the same manner in which we are entitled to use and disclose any other information you submit to us. Mate1.com is informed and believes that some Co-Branded Pages may contain an action tag (also known as a Web Beacon or a 1pixel .gif file) that a third party may use to read cookies that it, or its clients, may have placed on your browser at other web sites before your visit to Mate1.com. Mate1.com understands that this technology is used to measure the effectiveness of advertisements on other Websites that promote these Co-Branded Pages. Mate1.com is informed and believes that these third parties may use the information collected through this technology to learn more about your visits to this Site and other Websites in order to provide advertisements about goods and services of interest to you. These third parties have represented to Mate1.com that unless you are otherwise notified, they do not use your name, address, e-mail address or telephone number, and do not link your online actions to any information that can be used to identify or contact you. Because these are based on representations made by the Co-Branded Companies, Mate1.com advises you to seek assurances yourself that the above representations by the Co-Branded Companies are accurate. Mate1.com cannot be held accountable for the accuracy of the above representations made by the Co-Branded Companies.

    Mate1.com understands that this technology is used to measure the effectiveness of advertisements on other Websites that promote these Co-Branded Pages. Mate1.com is informed and believes that these third parties may use the information collected through this technology to learn more about your visits to this Site and other Websites in order to provide advertisements about goods and services of interest to you. These third parties have represented to Mate1.com that unless you are otherwise notified, they do not use your name, address, e-mail address or telephone number, and do not link your online actions to any information that can be used to identify or contact you. Because these are based on representations made by the Co-Branded Companies, Mate1.com advises you to seek assurances yourself that the above representations by the Co-Branded Companies are accurate. Mate1.com cannot be held accountable for the accuracy of the above representations made by the Co-Branded Companies.

    Any third party with whom we are allowed to share your personal information is authorized to use your personal information in accordance with our contractual arrangements with such third parties and in accordance with their own privacy policies, over which we have no control. You agree that we are not responsible or liable for any of these third parties' actions or omissions. Those third parties who contact you will need to be instructed directly by you regarding your preferences for the use of your personal information by them.
  6. Managing or removing your personal information
    We keep the information you have given us for as long as you are a member on the site. You can always verify or request the removal of the personally identifiable information we have collected and change your registration information by visiting the appropriate subsection of your profile or account settings. You may make changes to your profile, suspend your account, or remove your account completely at any time through the automated tools provided in your settings, or by contacting customer support.
  7. Monitoring online activity
    Our members communicate with each other through instant messages, voice mail and onsite mail. While we do not generally censor or monitor members' private exchanges, we reserve the right to do so if we suspect users of being under 18 or of using our Services in violation of our terms of use or Privacy Statement. Member submissions that appear on the public area of the site are moderated and, if necessary, we reserve the right to edit, delete, remove or withhold any communication transmitted through the web site.
  8. Affiliates
    When you register to become an Affiliate of our site, you will be asked for contact information and information related to your site. Your information will only be used by internal staff and will never be shared with anyone external to the company other than our advisors and representatives without your consent, unless required to do so by operation of law. Your information will be used to secure your approval as an Affiliate, to facilitate communication between our two sites and to send you payment, based on your site's performance.

For further information regarding privacy issues, please contact us or email privacy@mate1.com.
THIS AGREEMENT WAS LAST UPDATED ON November 18, 2008.