Privacy Policy

HORIZONS FOR THE BLIND

Privacy Policy

Horizons for the Blind (Horizons) and its affiliate the directionsforme.com website (Directions), take the responsibility of managing the personal information you provide us very seriously. We appreciate your trust that we will use this information in a responsible and secure manner and maintain reasonable security via technical, physical and administrative safeguards to protect information received from our users.

The following Privacy Policy outlines the practices Horizons and Directions use when your personal information is collected. Our websites contain links to other sites operated by third parties and this Privacy Policy may not apply to these websites that are accessible through the Horizons’ or Directions’ sites. We encourage you to read the privacy policies of these other sites to learn how they collect, use, share and secure your information. When you provide us your personal information, you consent to the information practices described in this policy.

What types of information do we collect?

We collect two types of information - personally identifiable information and non-personally identifiable information. When you register as a user, you will be required to provide us with personal information which may include your first and last name, date of birth, email and postal addresses, phone number and in certain instances billing information necessary to fulfill and track any orders. For purposes of billing, you will need to provide your credit card type, number, security code, expiration date and billing address for the card. If your order is to be shipped, we will also need the name, address and phone number of the intended recipient(s).

We collect non-personally identifiable information passively using cookies. Cookies are pieces of data that a website transfers to your computer’s hard drive for record-keeping purposes during your online experience on our sites.

You do not have to accept cookies to use our sites. Although most browsers are initially set to accept cookies, you may reset your browser to notify you when you receive a cookie or to reject all cookies. Most browsers offer instructions on how to do so in the "Help" section of the toolbar. If you reject cookies, certain features, resources, or offerings on our websites may not work properly and you may experience some loss of convenience.

We also collect non-personally identifiable information through our Internet log files, which record data such as member IP addresses, browser types, domain names, and other anonymous statistical data involving the use of our websites. This information may be used to analyze trends, gather general demographic statistics and to monitor the use of our websites.

Is this information ever shared?

We never rent, sell, provide or exchange your name or any personally-identifiable information to third-party companies or our corporate partners for their marketing purposes.

We may share personally-identifiable information with certain third parties such as service providers and other representatives acting on our behalf for limited purposes. These purposes may include but are not limited to

The third parties with whom we conduct business are authorized to use your information only to perform the service for which they are hired. They are required to abide by the terms of our Privacy Policy including taking reasonable measures to ensure your personal information is secure.


We may also be required to share personal information in response to a valid court order, subpoena, government investigation, or as otherwise required by law. We also reserve the right to report to law enforcement agencies any activities that we, in good faith, believe to be unlawful. We may share certain personal information when we believe that such release is reasonably necessary to protect the rights, property and safety of others and ourselves.

As part of the user registration process, you can elect to receive periodic email transmissions from Horizons/directions. These transmissions may provide information about third-party products and offers. While we may pass along this information from our vendors, all of the email transmissions will originate from Horizons. We will not provide any personally-identifiable information, including email addresses, to third party entities.

Children’s Online Policy

Horizons and Directions are committed to preserving online privacy for all of its website visitors, including children. We do not knowingly collect information about children or sell products to children. Consistent with the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act, we will not knowingly collect any information from or sell products to children under the age of 13. Children under the age of 13 will not be allowed to register as users on our sites and must ask for a parent or guardian to assist them in using our sites.

Is the information collected on our websites secure?

We are committed to protecting the sensitive information we receive from our users. To help us ensure the integrity and privacy of the personally identifiable information you provide to us via the Internet at the time you elect to become registered user, we use Secured Socket Layer (SSL) encryption technology in transmitting such personally identifiable information over the Internet to our servers. SSL is the standard technology used in electronic commerce for securing information transmitted over the Internet.

We protect our databases with various physical, technical and procedural measures and we restrict access to your information by unauthorized persons. Our information systems are maintained behind a software firewall to isolate them from access by other networks connected to the Internet.

Your web browser should display a web address with an "https" prefix, indicating that the SSL technology is operating when using certain portions of our website, such as the Checkout and My Account features.

In addition, all Horizons’ and Directions’ employees must abide by this Privacy Policy and are aware of our security practices. Any employee who violates this Privacy Policy is subject to disciplinary action, including termination.

Users should be aware that there is always some risk involved in transmitting information over the Internet. There is also some risk that others could find a way to thwart our security systems. As a result, while we strive to protect your information, we cannot ensure or warrant the security and privacy of any information you transmit to us, and you do so at your own risk.

How can I update my information?

You can access, update and delete information you have shared with us online when you registered as a user.  To change personal information, select the change address link on the Checkout page and replace existing information with the change(s).

Please be advised that is not technologically possible to remove each and every record of the information you have provided to us from our system. The need to back-up our systems to protect information from inadvertent loss means that a copy of your personally identifiable information may exist in a non-erasable form that will be difficult or impossible for us to locate. We assure you that promptly after receiving your request, all personally identifiable information stored in databases we actively use and other readily searchable media will be updated, corrected, changed or deleted, as appropriate, as soon as reasonably practicable.

What if the Privacy Policy changes?

We may revise this policy at any time and such revisions may result in other uses or disclosures of your personally identifiable information. If this Privacy Policy is revised we will post the information on our sites and provide email transmissions to those users who have requested to receive this information.

Questions about this Privacy Policy and our security measures should be directed to [email protected].