Updated: March 2010
Section 1 — Introduction
At Amtrak, we respect your privacy and value the trust and confidence you place in us. We are committed to safeguarding your privacy while you're using the MyBlackJourney.com web site (“Site”). This privacy policy (referred to on this page as the "Policy") describes our commitment to your privacy. By using the Site, accessible on the Web at www.myblackjourney.com, you acknowledge that you understand and expressly agree to this Policy.
When you use MyBlackJourney.com, we may collect information about your visit to the site and information that you provide. This Policy describes:
- What personal and other information we collect (Section 2).
- How your personal information is used (Section 3).
- With whom your personal information may be shared and Your California Privacy Rights (Section 4).
- What security precautions we implement to protect the loss, misuse or alteration of your personal information, including your credit card information (Section 5).
- How you can access, update, correct, or delete the personal information we collect from you (Section 6).
- What choices you have regarding the collection, use, and distribution of your personal information, including your ability to choose to receive promotional information by e-mail (Section 7).
- How you can contact us regarding this Policy and our privacy practices (Section 8).
Amtrak does not allow children under the age of 18 to register on the Site. If you are under the age of 18, please do not register.
Please note that this Policy only addresses Amtrak privacy practices concerning information we collect from the MyBlackJourney.com, and not other sites or other sources. This policy does not apply to information that we may collect from any other source or from other Amtrak activities or programs.
Please carefully read this Policy before registering and creating a profile for the MyBlackJourney,com Community.
A Note About Changes to This Policy
Please note that this Policy may change without special notice to you. Please check back to review this Policy whenever you visit the site as you will be deemed to have read, understood, received notice of, and agreed to any changes. This Policy supercedes all previous statements or policies concerning Amtrak's collection of personal information from the MyBlackJourney.com web site.
The date of the last update to this Policy is always indicated near the top of the page and any change in the date of this Policy since the last time you had visited the site shall constitute notice to you that the Policy has changed since the last time you visited the site. You may also see periodic statements displayed on the site notifying you that our Policy has changed, especially in places where we collect personal information from you. The last update to this Policy shall also be its effective date.
Section 2 — The Personal Information We Collect from You on MyBlackJourney.com and How We Collect It
We collect personal information in several ways from several different parts of the site. The information we collect includes two basic kinds: (1) information that can identify you as a specific individual, such as your name, telephone number, or e-mail address, and (2) information that we use only as data in the aggregate. We do not knowingly collect personal information from individuals under the age of 13.
We ask for and collect personal information in the following circumstances:
1. When you register on MyBlackJourney.com and create a User Profile
When you register on MyBlackJourney.com and create a User Profile, we ask for the following personal information:
Name
Addresses
Telephone number
E-mail address
Password
Date of birth
Amtrak Guest Rewards number (optional)
Whether you want to receive e-mail updates
We store this information in your User Profile which allows you to participate in the MyBlackJourney Community.
2. When you invite a friend to join MyBlackJourney
MyBlackJourney.com’s invitation service allows you invite a friend to MyBlackJourney.com. To use the service, information including your friend's email address is required. Such information is collected and stored to send this one-time invitation, to allow for your friend's registration and to track the success of our referral program. Your friend may contact us at connels@amtrak.com to request that we remove this information from our records.
3. When you contact us through the site
If you contact MyBlackJourney.com through our 'Contact Us' page, [A9] we may keep a record of that correspondence which includes your e-mail address and any other information you provide to us in your correspondence.
4. When you browse and otherwise use the web site (Cookies)
Each time you visit MyBlackJourney.com, we collect some information automatically about your computer by means of a "cookie". A cookie is a small amount of data that is sent to your browser from a web server and stored on your computer's hard drive. You can always choose not to receive cookies by setting your web browser's options to refuse to accept cookies.
Generally, we use cookies to:
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Remind us of who you are so that you will not be required to log in every time you visit the Site. This cookie is set when you register or enter your User ID and password.
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Estimate our audience size. Each browser accessing the site is given a unique cookie which is then used to determine the extent of repeat usage, usage by a registered user versus by an unregistered user, and to help target advertisements based on your interests and behavior.
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Measure and track certain traffic patterns, including information like the areas of the site you have visited, and your visiting patterns in the aggregate. We may use this information to better personalize the content, banners, and promotions that you and other users will see on the site.
In addition, we collect certain technical information from your computer each time you request a page during a visit to the site. This information is collected from your computer's Web browser and may include your IP address, operating system and Web browser software (e.g., Internet Explorer or Netscape).
Section 3 — How We Use Your Personal Information
We use the information that you provide or that we otherwise collect while you're using the site in the following ways:
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To make your experience on the site more enjoyable and to provide you with offers and products that meet your particular interests.
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To help us refine site design and layout, improve site content, and compile demographic information about site visitors.
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To help us understand how customers use our site.
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To notify you about special offers, promotions and site enhancements by e-mail, when you choose to receive them.
Section 4 — With Whom We Share Your Personal Information
In General
We work with certain reputable independent contractors who perform certain tasks for us on a contract basis. These tasks and categories of contractors include storing and managing customer information, and providing advice about and support for our products and services. By using these contractors, we can better offer you a variety of products and services. A partial list of the services we contract for includes the following:
- Amtrak Guest Rewards Program management
- Amtrak e-mail services
- Customer data storage and processing
- Order fulfillment
- Amtrak Vacations
- Hotel Reservations
- Car rental reservations
In addition to our contractors, we also have relationships with certain trustworthy business partners of another category who would like you to be provided with information about their various products and services that we believe would be of interest to you. We share your personal information with these business partners.
If you make a request for information about, subscribe to, or make an online purchase of, goods or services offered by one of our business partners on the MyBlackJourney.com site, you are giving us your express permission to share your personal information with that business partner so that your request, subscription, or purchase can be fulfilled under that partner's own online privacy policies and practices. If you enter an Amtrak sweepstakes or contest online, your personal information may be shared with the Amtrak business partners who are co-sponsors of the sweepstakes or contest and who are likely to have different privacy policies and practices than Amtrak.
Your
If you are a California consumer, upon your request (see Section 8 of this Policy entitled “Contacting Us Regarding This Policy”), we will disclose to you what personal information of yours was shared with what third party business partner within the last year (including disclosing to you our partner’s name and address) if such information was used by our partner for their marketing purposes.
Data in the Aggregate
We may disclose aggregated user statistics (for example, a statistic indicating that 45% of our users are female) to describe our services to prospective partners, advertisers, and other selected third parties, and for other lawful purposes.
Reservation of Rights
We reserve the right to disclose personal information when we have reason to believe that disclosing this information is necessary to identify, contact or bring legal action against someone who may be violating this Policy or who may be causing injury to or interference with (either intentionally or unintentionally) Amtrak's rights or property, other Amtrak users, or anyone else who could be harmed by such activities. We may disclose or access account information for administrative or other purposes that we deem necessary to maintain or improve our products, services or the operation of this site, for law enforcement purposes, or when we believe in good faith that the law requires it.
Other Sites May Collect Information
Please also be aware that when you click on an advertisement on another site that is linked to MyBlackJourney.com, or when you otherwise use web sites that link to the MyBlackJourney.com site, your personal information may be collected by those sites. This Policy does not cover the privacy practices of any such other web sites, and we cannot accept responsibility or liability for the privacy practices of those other sites. Please refer to those sites' privacy policies for information about their practices.
Activity Associated with Your Member Name
Your User ID is displayed to other members throughout the MyBlackJourney Community and depending on your activity (e.g., blogging) on the site, may also be available to the public. All of your activity on MyBlackJourney.com is traceable to your member name. Therefore, if you associate your name with your member name, the people to whom you have revealed your name will be able to personally identify your MyBlackJourney.com activities.
Section 5 — What Security Precautions We Have in Place to Protect the Loss, Misuse, or Alteration of Your Personal Information
Your User Profile Information is password-protected. We recommend that you do not divulge your password to anyone. Also remember to sign out of your MyBlackJourney.com account and close your browser window when you have finished. This is to ensure that others cannot access your personal information and correspondence if you share a computer with someone else or are using a computer in a public place like a library or Internet "cafe."
Any content you post on MyBlackJourney.com is at your own risk. Certain privacy options exist on MyBlackJourney.com that allow you to limit access to your profile. However, such privacy options are not always perfect. We are not responsible for circumvention of any privacy settings or security measures contained on MyBlackJourney.com. Furthermore, Amtrak cannot control the actions of third parties with whom you choose to share your profile or Personal Information.
Because of the foregoing, Amtrak does not guarantee that any content or personal information you post on MyBlackJourney.com will not be accessible by unauthorized persons. You understand and acknowledge that, even after removal, copies of your user content may remain viewable in cached and archived pages or if other users have copied or stored your user content.
When you give Amtrak personal information online, that information may be sent electronically to servers outside and separate from Amtrak and outside of the state where you originally entered the information. In addition, that information may be used, stored and processed outside of Amtrak and outside of the state where you entered that information. Whenever we handle personal information as described above, regardless of where this occurs, we take steps to ensure that your personal information is treated securely.
Unfortunately, no data transmission over the Internet can be guaranteed to be absolutely secure. As a result, while we strive to protect your personal information, we cannot ensure or warrant the security of any information you transmit to MyBlackJourney.com, and you do so at your own risk. Once we receive your transmission, we make our best effort to ensure its security on our systems. However, we cannot accept liability for disclosure of any personal information due to errors in transmission or unauthorized ads or errors and omissions of third parties.
Any improper collection or misuse of information provided on MyBlackJourney.com is a violation of the Terms of Use and should be reported to connels@amtrak.com.
Section 6 — Our Policy on Allowing You to Access, Update, Correct, or Delete Your Personal Information Collected from MyBlackJourney.com
When you register on MyBlackJourney.com and create a User Profile, you can choose not to receive information and offers by e-mail.
You may change your preferences regarding whether you want to receive mail or e-mail at any time by accessing and updating your User Profile. You may access your User Profile by clicking on the 'My User Profile' link in the left navigation bar on most pages of the MyBlackJourney.com web site.
If you have processed a request to delete, correct, or update any part of your User Profile, we will make every reasonable effort to see that your instructions to delete and/or make revisions are also communicated to and/or accessed by our contract service providers who may have received your personal information and that they too have either deleted and/or revised the information in accordance with your latest instructions.
Please note that our contract service providers require a reasonable amount of time to update, correct, or delete the information in accordance with your instructions.
Section 7 — Your Choices Regarding Collection, Use, and Distribution of Your Personal Information, Including Your Ability to Choose Not to Receive Promotional Information by E-mail
We may, from time to time, send e-mail correspondence regarding Amtrak products and services to customers who have a User Profile and who have opted into the e-mail program.
We also may, from time to time, offer you the choice to receive promotional information about our trustworthy business partners by e-mail. If you do not want to receive such e-mail messages, you will have the opportunity to indicate your choice when such services are offered.
You also may change your e-mail preferences at any time by accessing your User Profile.
Section 8 — Contacting Us Regarding This Policy and Regarding Your
If you have questions or concerns regarding this Policy, you may use the form on the 'Contact Us' page at the top of most pages on the MyBlackJourney.com web site. You may access the 'Contact Us' page by clicking the link at the top of most pages on this site.[A10]
California Civil Code § 1798.83 entitles residents of California to request information concerning with which third parties Amtrak has shared personal information in the immediately preceding calendar year for those third parties’ direct marketing purposes.
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