Privacy Policy
We believe in more than "just" privacy @ Shwaag, Inc. So much so we've coined a new acronym for it : S.T.O.P. which stands for Security, Transparency, Ownership of member data and Privacy.
We believe that all of these elements have to be present and properly addressed in order to give you our members, and our product partners, the best possible experience. It's good business. It's good karma.
This beta-phase "S.T.O.P." statement aka "Privacy" statement will be enhanced as we get closer to an official launch, based on the feedback and requests from our members. And like open source software, we hope that other companies will follow suit, borrow the ideas we have, and extend their concept of "privacy" as well. We feel we don't exist as a generous company if we abuse you, your membership, your data or your trust. Maybe, just maybe, we can get the whole of the internet thinking and acting this way.
Please email STOP AT Shwaag dot com for all matters related to Security, Transparency, Ownership of member data and Privacy.
Thanks for helping making this huge fun, and a safe place to play!
How and what we will collect about you:
Well, assume it's everything we can. Cookies, questions, responses, products of interest even products of which you show disinterest are all of ... interest ... to us and to the product partners who help supply the wonderful Shwaag™ you'll get. In aggregated anonymized form (e.g. they have zero clue who you are other than maybe a zip code) they'll have a chance to look at this data to glean product and marketing insights. And the better and more complete the data the mo' better the type of products we're able to convince these manufactures to supply us. Why? Because they rightly believe that in doing so they'll step up a notch or two in the eyes of people who really matter the most: generous, social media connected humans who like to tell stories and talk about good products they've seen and acts of generosity they've been touched by.
You give, they give, you talk, they give. It's really that simple.
Except for it's use in completing the Shwaag part of the process, Shwaag, Inc. will never sell, rent, transfer or otherwise abuse personally identifiable information.
Partners:
Some of our partners may ship "Shwaag" that you've been able to get (e.g. products, services, good stuff you get to keep and play with, brag about, give to someone else, donate etc etc aka "you've been Shwaaged with") directly to you. At that point key information to allow that shipping to take place will be provided to that partner, upon your confirmation to do so. That info may come from us, it may come from you. In the end it's so they can ship you no strings attached Shwaag. Assume today that they'll now keep your "ship to" address and perhaps information to communicate with you ... we don't think that's a problem, but we'll work on that if becomes an issue.
The same will hold true for the recipient of any Shwaag you decide to "Gift", or even "Donate" to.
If the address thing makes you queasy there's a simple solution - publicly gift the Shwaag to someone else :-). We've built that capability right into our service. They'll no doubt be really really happy, and your rightfully seen amongst your peers and followers as one generous amigo!
Each partner will have their own privacy policy in place. A link will be provided to you and/or the recipient along with the request for confirmation. Please read it carefully before confirming your delivery.
In the course of having fun with Shwaag, you may choose to follow other Twitter or Facebook people, products, companies, services or groups. Read and understand what you may be signing up for. And always always make sure there is a legitimate "out" in case you change your mind. Remember giving real Shwaag to a friend via Facebook won't allow us to suck in all of your, your friends, and your friend's friend's network of contacts and spam them on "your" behalf. Probably can't say that about most of those virtual flowers 'n goodies you've been sending and receiving however ... consider this forewarned ...
Otherwise:
Other than for product shipments, all communications that comes to you based on your membership will be via Shwaag.com or Shwaag.me domains. We think this is going to be wildly successful, and many others will attempt to spam you with "you've got free tickets" lookalike messages. You hate that. We loathe it. Just ignore it! Please do make sure our two domains are in your "safe to get" email file.
Any data mining done on the Shwaag database by approved paying partners will *only* be available in anonymous, aggregated form. Period.
We will verify all key data, and use double-opt in techniques (ensuring you are you, the account of yours really does want to be part of Shwaag etc etc) everywhere we can. If you feel we've done otherwise please let us know.
Ownership of your membership data:
If you decide to stop participating in and getting Shwaag, we'll be sorry to see you go. But the choice of any data about you leaving with you will be yours. Period. Yes even if we're acquired. No need to vote. Done.
Legal:
Although we do everything within our power to protect the privacy of the information provided by the users of our site, there are a few things beyond our control and we do reserve the right to share user information in the event that it is necessary to comply with any subpoena, court orders, or legal process. We don't like these, but we also will not break the law. On purpose. Much. That is if it doesn't involve driving a weee bit too fast from time to time ;-).
Regarding data, for now we comply with rules and regulations of the U.S. All of our software, key membership data and product and partner data are kept off-site on world class servers with world class security. And if we can find better solutions we will. When we open up for Canada, Mexico, the European Union and Asia etc we'll make sure to comply with all the rules in those places too, and then some. Unfortunately we'll have to be a bit more "legalistic" in our prose at that point, but c'est le vie.
So that's it for now. Pretty straightforward. As transparent as we can be. No hidden agendas. Win win win. The way it should be.
Interested in joining forces on a "common sense, common good" S.T.O.P. statement for your company? Email us at STOP AT Shwaag dot com with "STOP partner inquiry" in the heading.