We at myoptica.com are committed to protecting your privacy - and we include in our definition of "privacy" the right not to be bothered by unwanted e-mails and other offers. Therefore, in plain language,

... we will never sell, rent or give our customer list to any third party for any purpose.

In compliance with state and federal regulations regarding online privacy, myoptica.com herewith publishes its Online Privacy Policy. The purpose of this policy is to notify visitors to our website (a) what personally identifiable information is collected; (b) the identity of the organization collecting the information; (c) how the information is used; (d) with whom the information may be shared; (e) what choices are available to visitors regarding collection, use and distribution of the information; (f) the kind of security procedures that are in place to protect the loss, misuse or alteration of information under our control; and (g) how visitors can correct any inaccuracies in the information.

For each website visitor, whether or not they make a purchase, we read and store IP ("Internet Protocol") addresses during the visit. No individualized information is collected in this process; we may use this information solely to glean generalized demographic data, such as what geographic areas our visitors are from and visitor browsing patterns. We cannot use this information to identify you personally.

When you make a purchase at the myoptica.com website, we first ask your name, shipping address, phone number, e-mail address, and whether you are buying the items for personal use or for a business. This information is gathered strictly for the purpose of fulfilling your order, notifying you of scheduled shipments, and resolving any problems which might arise such as an item being out of stock. This information is stored in the customer database of myoptica.com.

After you have entered this contact information, you will be switched via a "secure-socket" connection to a page running on the servers of Verisign Corporation, the world's largest and most reliable online payment gateway. On this Verisign-hosted page, you will enter your credit card number and other information to verify your identity and secure your payment. Once your information is verified, Verisign will send a message back to Myoptica telling us that you have paid for your purchase by credit card. This return message contains only a series of approval codes, not your credit card number.

... Your credit card number is never requested or stored on myoptica.com's website. All of the credit card information you enter is communicated directly to Verisign. Because Myoptica never sees your card number or stores it in our database, it cannot be stolen from our servers should someone gain unauthorized access to them.

We ask each customer who makes a purchase on our website whether they are buying for personal use or for a business. If a customer indicates personal use, no marketing material is ever sent to them from Myoptica, either by e-mail, phone, or direct mail - so there is no need for such a customer to "opt-in" or "opt-out" of a contact list.

If a customer indicates that the purchase is for business use, they will be given a choice whether they would like to receive from Myoptica occasional listings of products related to their business, by e-mail or by direct mail. This question is posed as an "opt-in" option, that is, the box indicating "I don't wish to receive such materials" is automatically checked when the page is presented, and the customer must change the selection to "I wish to receive e-mail notices" or "I wish to receive direct mail notices" if they so desire. Even if a business customer opts-in to these listings, their contact information will never be shared with third parties, and they may change their choice at any time by contacting us by e-mail or regular mail.

We reiterate that Myoptica will not sell, rent or give our customer list to any third party for any purpose; nor will we send any additional material or messages to our customers unless they specifically request it. But changing business conditions are a reality of life. Should controlling ownership of Myoptica ever change, either through voluntary or involuntary sale to another party or merger with another company, the present owners of Myoptica will make a good-faith effort to negotiate that the succeeding owners agree to a privacy policy with respect to Myoptica's customer base at least as strong as the one stated above. However, we cannot guarantee that we will be able to secure such a promise from succeeding owners, and we cannot assume any liability for uses which succeeding owners may choose to make of information contained in Myoptica's business records.

Finally, we will, of course, turn over any customer information in our database to proper legal authorities in response to a properly-executed warrant approved by a court of law.

In the event that a customer believes that their name, mailing address, phone, or e-mail address information stored on our website is inaccurate, they may bring this to our attention by e-mail message or regular mail, and we will correct the information as soon as possible.

A Special Note About Cookies:

"Cookies" are small pieces of information that are stored by your web browser in RAM memory or on your computer's hard drive.

The myoptica.com website does not write permanent cookies onto your hard drive. Instead, our website makes use of temporary "session" cookies, which are required for us to offer secure online shopping. The purpose of this "cookie" (which is actually just a string of alpha-numeric characters) is to prevent the transmissions of one customer from becoming entangled with those of another customer. Such cookies are the least invasive method available to us to ensure the privacy and security of your online purchase session.

This type of cookie automatically disappears from memory when you close your web browser, when you leave your browser unattended for a certain time interval, or when you shut down your computer. Although cookies are usually not the nuisance that many people think, Myoptica is sensitive to our customers' concerns, and will not employ the type of cookies that are stored on your hard drive.

Privacy and Security:

Unfortunately, in these times, many websites will come under attack by a hacker or other party seeking unauthorized access. We cannot guarantee that a determined party might not succeed in gaining access to our files. However, we acknowledge this danger by taking extra precautions, such as not storing your credit card number on our site.

We will take reasonable precautions to ensure the security of our website. However, as effective as encryption technology, firewalls, and "secure sockets" are, no security system is impenetrable. Furthermore, certain types of security measures can only be implemented and managed at the operating system level by our host provider, and we have no control over their practices. We will avail ourselves of all of the reasonable measures offered by our host provider for securing our site. Ultimately though, myoptica.com cannot assume responsibility for the unauthorized access to or use of name, address, phone, e-mail, and order history information which might be stolen from our site if our security measures or those of our host provider are overcome by hackers.

We should add that often times, security holes exist on a user's own computer. The computer may lack the necessary anti-virus program, firewall or operating system patch needed to secure the browser while surfing. Microsoft has alerted customers to a number of serious security holes in the various Windows operating systems and Internet Explorer browser programs, and these are listed on their site: Microsoft.com. The bottom line is that customers must take responsibility for the security of their own computer system. In that there are so many factors outside of our control, we cannot guarantee that information you supply won't be intercepted while being transmitted to us over the Internet.

Online credit card acceptance is offered by many merchants, with the help of payment gateways such as Verisign, for the convenience of their customers. Just as you, the customer, are responsible for your browser security, Verisign is solely responsible for the security precautions it takes. Myoptica cannot take any responsibility for the theft or use of credit card information from Verisign's servers. We recommend that before you make an online credit card purchase from ANY merchant, you become familiar with the anti-fraud protections and guarantees offered by your credit card issuer. Many issuers are now offering cards with 100% guarantees against online fraud loss - these may be your best protection when shopping online.