The Genealogy Query Database

CousinConnect Privacy Statement

CousinConnect respects the privacy of its users, and has written this privacy statement to explain its policies.

Posting Policy

NOTICE to all persons who post a query on CousinConnect.com:

CousinConnect.com respects the privacy of any living person who is the subject of a query. Any living person described in the text of a query record, in such a way that it could jeopardize the privacy of that person, has the right to request that query to be removed.

If someone posts a query, and the contents of that query describes another living person, in such detail that it could jeopardize their privacy, CousinConnect.com will respect that person's wishes to remove or edit the query.

Any query that identifies a living child, will be removed by CousinConnect.com.

About Submitting Your E-mail Address

Your e-mail address is required when posting a query or setting up a notification.

The e-mail address is needed for the following reasons:

1. When posting a query, your e-mail address is needed so that the person you are hoping to contact can reply to you. All query replies are submitted via e-mail directly to you. Note: rest assured that the person contacting you will not be able to see your e-mail address. A person wanting to contact you must use our online e-mail form, in which your e-mail address is kept hidden. Only when you choose to reply back to that person will that person see your e-mail address.

2. When setting up a notification, your e-mail address is needed so that CousinConnect can notify you when a particular query has been posted. CousinConnect notifies you only through e-mail.

3. When you want to edit or delete a query or notification, your e-mail address and password is needed to verify your identity. This is so that other people cannot tamper with your account.

CousinConnect promises never to share your e-mail address with another company, website, organization, or person.

CousinConnect promises not to use your e-mail address to send unsolicited e-mail.

Note: CousinConnect does maintain a mailing list for its electronic newsletter, but this mailing list is "opt-in" only. That is, we will ask you if you want to sign-up for our newsletter, and you have the opportunity to decide. We promise not to trick you into signing up!

CousinConnect IS NOT owned or operated by MyFamily.com, Ancestry.com, RootsWeb.com, Genealogy.com, or any other paid-subscription genealogy company. We promise that when you provide your e-mail address to us, those companies, or any other entity, will not get it from us.

Visitor Submitted Information

CousinConnect publishes query records submitted by its users.

Users submit query records through CousinConnect's online forms. Because CousinConnect allows its users to modify and delete the query records they submit, it is necessary to require users to establish an account and password to protect against unauthorized tampering with the query records. CousinConnect does not transfer the account and password information to any other person or organization. It does not use this information to send out unsolicitied e-mail (spam).

When a user submits a query record to CousinConnect, all the information contained within the query record will be made available to the public to see. Therefore, users are cautioned to exclude any information that should not be made visible to the public. The staff at CousinConnect will randomly review submitted query records for appropriateness, but cannot review them all.

Other Information Collected from Visitors

CousinConnect's web server maintains a log file that contains statistics on website usage. Included in these statistics are the user's IP address. This address is used to help CousinConnect determine website usage, and is not used for any other means. This information is kept within CousinConnect and is never transferred to any other person or organization.

Cookies

CousinConnect does not place cookies on your computer.

Children's Online Privacy Protection Act of 1999

CousinConnect believes that its website complies entirely with the requirements of COPPA.

The CousinConnect website is not intended to be used by persons aged 13 years or under, and the staff at CousinConnect does not expect any such persons to do so.

Any person aged 13 years or under must receive consent from a parent or guardian before submitting any information to CousinConnect. If CousinConnect believes such a person has submitted information without proper consent, that information will be discarded.