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Privacy Policy

Last updated: January 1, 2014

This Privacy Policy applies to the www.bsfta.com website (the "Site"), which is owned and operated by Bridgestone Flowtech America, Inc. ("BSFTA" or "we") and forms part of the Site's Terms and Conditions of Use Agreement that governs your use of the Site.

PLEASE READ THIS PRIVACY POLICY CAREFULLY BEFORE USING THE SITE. By using our Site, you acknowledge that you have read this Privacy Policy, and agree to it. If you do not agree to any of the terms contained in this Privacy Policy, your remedy is not to use the Site. This policy may change from time to time and if you continue to use this Site after we modify the Privacy Policy, you are deemed to have accepted the changes, so please check periodically for updates.

This Privacy Policy explains our practices for collecting, using, storing, securing, and disclosing information obtained from you on this Site, including through electronic correspondence between you and this Site.

This Privacy Policy does not apply to information collected offline, through BSFTA's affiliates' websites, or by third parties, including via websites, applications, or other content that may be accessible from or linked to this Site. BSFTA IS NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR THE CONTENT OR PRIVACY PRACTICES ON ANY NON-BSFTA SITE TO WHICH THIS SITE LINKS.

1.Information We Collect and How We Collect It  BSFTA collects different kinds of information from you in different ways.

  1. What Information Collected. We collect these types of information on the Site.
    1. "Non-personal Information" is any information that does not identify you individually or does not permit a direct association with an individual. Non-personal Information may be derived from Personal Information by depersonalizing it to remove unique identifiers and/or combine it with information about other users to form aggregated data.
    2. "Personal Information" is your personally identifiable information, including name, email address, mailing address, and telephone number. To the extent we associate Non-personal Information with Personal Information, we treat the combination as Personal Information.
  2. How Information Collected. We collect information on the Site in these ways.
    1. Information You Provide. In the course of visiting and using the Site, you may provide information to us. For example, you may complete a form, create an account, subscribe to a service, report an issue to us or send us correspondence, and/or register or create a login account to use certain features of the Site (each, a "Transaction"). In the course of doing so, you may be asked for information about yourself, or may choose to provide such information, including name, address, email address, and telephone number. If you voluntarily provide your Personal Information to us, we collect it. When you engage in a Transaction, you may disclose Personal Information to BSFTA that we collect. You also may provide information to be posted or displayed on public areas of the Site, or transmitted to other users of the Site or third parties (collectively, "Submissions"). If you include Personal Information in your Submission, it will be available publicly and not protected. Your Submissions are posted on and transmitted to others at your own risk. We may also retain records about your Transactions or correspondence with us or your searches on the Site. You choose whether to disclose Personal Information, but sometimes we may not be able to process your Transaction without it. BSFTA may collect information you send us and combine it with information from other users and/or de-personalize it to make it Non-personal Information.
    2. Technologically Gathered. We collect some information automatically as you navigate the Site. For example, we collect usage details, such as traffic data (such as information about how much time visitors spend on the Site or each page, dates and times of visits, etc.), collect and log "clickstream data" (such as internet protocol addresses, pages visited, clicks made, and similar information) and collect information about your computer and internet connection (such as IP address, operating system, and browser type) for all visitors. This sort of information is generally considered Non-personal Information (unless it is combined with Personal Information). We may combine information about your use with information about others' use to generate aggregated Non-personal Information about visitors as a group. BSFTA may collect information through "cookies" and other technology, such as clear GIF technology (also known as a "web beacon") that is described in more detail below and we may combine this with your Personal Information or with other Non-personal information.
      1. "COOKIES" are small pieces of information that are stored by a user's internet browser on a user's computer's hard drive. Most internet browsers are initially set to accept cookies. You can set your browser to refuse cookies, but then you may not be able to access or use portions of this Site.
      2. "FLASH COOKIES" are local stored objects that allow us to collect and store information about your preferences and navigation to, from and on our Site. Flash cookies are not managed by the same browser settings as are used for browser cookies.
      3. "WEB BEACONS" are small bits of code embedded in web pages or emails that assist in delivering cookies. Web beacons help BSFTA determine whether a page on this Site has been viewed and, if so, how many times. For example, any electronic image on this Site, such as an ad banner, can function as a web beacon. We may also use web beacons in email messages to determine what the recipient has done with the message. Although you cannot decline to receive web beacons when visiting a web page, you can choose not to receive web beacons by email if you disable HTML images or refuse HTML email messages.

2. How We Use the Information. Generally, BSFTA uses information (including Personal Information) to improve our services, to improve, administer, customize, and/or maintain the Site, to speed searching capability, to estimate the size and patterns of the Site's audience, to manage Transactions, to build relationships with you and other users, to market and provide you with information about services, to provide the services themselves, to fulfill other purposes for which you provide the information, to provide you with notices about your account, to carry out our obligations and enforce our rights, to enable others to enforce their rights, to conduct investigations, to cooperate with law enforcement, to allow you to participate in interactive features of the Site, to conduct market research and analysis, in any other way described when you provide the information, and for any other purpose with your consent. We may contact you to obtain your input, or provide information about our services or events. BSFTA may identify you in connection with your use of certain aspects of this Site and may link information about your use of the Site with your Personal Information. BSFTA does not respond to do-not-track mechanisms, and does not engage in online behavioral tracking. BSFTA does not place any restrictions on the use of Non-personal Information. More detail about certain uses of Personal Information appears below.

  1. Transactional Purposes. If you provide Personal Information to us in connection with a Transaction, we will use your information to process the Transaction and communicate with you about it. Processing the Transaction may require communication of your Personal Information with third parties. We may send you electronic communications if you subscribe to any of our services. If you provide your email address or mailing address to us, we may use such address to send you notices for marketing or relationship purposes, or as required by law.
  2. Marketing. We may use your Personal Information, and permit dealers and affiliates to offer, market and advertise to you via the Site and/or through email, U.S. mail, or other means of communication. We may communicate with you about BSFTA's services or third party products or services that may interest you. We may use Personal Information to conduct market research and analysis for ourselves and for others.

3. How We Protect the Information

  1. Security Measures. BSFTA takes steps to protect your Personal Information. Access to your Personal Information is restricted in the following ways (except where otherwise noted in the policy): BSFTA protects access to your Personal Information via password. Only BSFTA employees and contractors are granted access to your Personal Information this way. The servers on which your information is stored are kept in a secure environment protected by a firewall.
  2. Steps you can Take. Where you have selected or received a password for use in connection with login information or accessing certain features of the Site, you are responsible for maintaining the confidentiality of the password and for not sharing it with anyone.
  3. Caution. While BSFTA will endeavor to safeguard your Personal Information, it cannot guarantee absolute security. You acknowledge agree that BSFTA shall not be liable for any security breach that results from causes or events that are beyond BSFTA's control (such as acts of God, hacking, terrorism, power outages, defects in third party security products and services, your own acts and omissions, and other similar events beyond BSFTA's control). Please be aware that no security measures are perfect or impenetrable. Additionally, we cannot control the actions of other users of the Site with whom you may choose to share your Submissions. Therefore, we cannot and do not guarantee that your Submissions will not be viewed by unauthorized persons.

4. What Disclosures We Make of the Information

  1. Non-personal Information. BSFTA does not place any restrictions on the use or disclosure of Non-personal Information (included aggregated information). BSFTA may share it with anyone for any purpose.
  2. Personal Information. BSFTA may share your Personal Information with its affiliates. In addition, BSFTA may share your Personal Information with other third parties as follows:
    1. ENABLING SERVICES. BSFTA may disclose your Personal Information to contractors, service providers, and other third parties to enable them to provide services to BSFTA, process orders for BSFTA, provide research or analysis for BSFTA, provide data storage for BSFTA, assist BSFTA in providing the services available through the Site or otherwise. BSFTA may also disclose your Personal Information to fulfill the purpose for which you provided such information or for any other purpose BSFTA discloses when you provide the information. BSFTA may disclose your Personal Information with your consent. BSFTA may transfer, store, and process your information outside the United States.
    2. LEGAL REASONS. BSFTA may disclose your Personal Information in response to a subpoena or other court order, if otherwise required by law, in an effort to cooperate with law enforcement, to enable someone to enforce their rights, or to allow BSFTA to enforce its rights. BSFTA may disclose your Personal information when BSFTA believes that doing so is necessary or desirable (a) to enforce BSFTA's rights or defend against legal claims, (b) to investigate, prevent, or take action regarding illegal activities, suspected fraud, situations involving personal threats to physical safety, allegations of intellectual property infringement or violations of privacy rights and/or (c) as otherwise required by law.
    3. ASSIGNMENTS. BSFTA may disclose your Personal Information to a buyer or other successor in interest in the event of a sale of substantially all of BSFTA's assets, the merger, dissolution, divestiture, restructuring, reorganization, sale, or transfer of BSFTA, or some or all of its assets, whether as a going concern or as part of bankruptcy, liquidation, or a similar proceeding. If that happens, the buyer, assignee, or other successor in interest’s privacy policy may govern the further protection, use, and disclosure of your Personal Information.
    4. SHARING INFORMATION. BSFTA may share your Personal Information with third parties, including BSFTA’s affiliates and dealers, to allow them to market their products or services to you.

5. How to Manage Your Information. The mechanisms below provide you with certain options about how to exercise control over information:

  1. Information Access. Upon your request, BSFTA will remove your Personal Information from BSFTA’s records related to this Site. This may cancel your subscription to some or all of the services offered by BSFTA, via this Site or otherwise. If you wish to update/correct Personal Information you have already provided to us, or if you wish to remove your Personal Information from our records, please send your request to us via email at it@bep-usa.com or via postal mail to this address: 402 BNA Drive, Suite 212, Nashville TN 37217, attn.: Webmaster. We may not accommodate a request to change information if we believe the change would violate any law or legal requirement or cause the information to be incorrect. If you delete your Submissions from the Site, copies of your Submissions may remain viewable in cached and archived pages, or might have been copied or stored by other Site users.
  2. Email Marketing. You may choose to opt out of receiving marketing emails from us at any time by sending your request to us via email at it@bep-usa.com or via postal mail at 402 BNA Drive, Suite 212, Nashville TN 37217, attn.: Webmaster, or by using the means (such as clicking "unsubscribe") provided in our marketing emails. Please note, however, that your opt-out will apply only to marketing emails, not email communications about your Transaction or other non-marketing correspondence.
  3. Tracking Technologies and Advertising. You can set your browser to refuse all or some browser cookies, or to alert you when cookies are being sent. To learn how you can manage your Flash cookie settings, visit the Flash player settings page on Adobe's website. If you disable or refuse cookies, please note that some parts of the Site may then be inaccessible or not function properly
  4. Third Party Marketing. California Civil Code Section 1798.83 permits users of the Site who are California residents to request certain information regarding our disclosure of Personal Information to third parties for their direct marketing purposes. To make such a request, please send an email to it@bep-usa.com, call us at 615-365-0600, or write us at 402 BNA Drive, Suite 212, Nashville TN 37217, attn.: Webmaster.

6. COPPA 

We do not knowingly collect Personal Information from children under the age of 13 on our Site. If we discover that any registration is made by a child under the age of 13, such registration will be deleted. If you are under the age of 13, do not use this Site or provide information on this Site. If you believe we have received information from or about a child under the age of 13, please contact us here: it@bep-usa.com or write us at 402 BNA Drive, Suite 212, Nashville TN 37217, attn.: Webmaster.

7. Modifications to Privacy Policy 

We may modify this Privacy Policy from time to time in our sole discretion. If we make a material change to this Privacy Policy, we will post such changes on our Site. We may also notify you of the changes via email. By continuing to use our Site after such notice, you are bound by this Privacy Policy as modified.

8. Contact Information 

If you have questions about this Privacy Policy, you may contact us at: it@bep-usa.com or via postal mail at 402 BNA Drive, Suite 212, Nashville TN 37217, attn.: Webmaster. We will use reasonable efforts to respond promptly to reasonable requests or questions you may have regarding our use of your Personal Information.