Why Should I be Concerned with Privacy on the Net?
What Precautions Can I Take to Better Protect Myself?

What's an IP Address?
I've Heard about Cookies. What are They?
What Information Do You Gather About Me?
Can I Edit that Information?

I See that You Link to Other Sites. Do These Sites Have the Same Privacy Policies as You?
Do You Manage Your Own Mailing Lists?
How Might Using ListBot Affect My Privacy?
Do I Have to Answer the Questionnaire to Join Your Mailing Lists?
Why Do You Ask those Questions?

What is Your Return Policy?
Do You Have a Return Policy for Your Refurbished Goods?
How Do I Return Something I Bought From an ORGrade AfterHours Vendor?

What's Your Policy on Shipping?
Is There a Uniform Shipping Policy Among the Vendors at ORGrade AfterHours?

Whom Do I Contact with Questions or Concerns?

Why Should I be Concerned with Privacy on the Net?  

Privacy, if you'll pardon the pun, is a personal matter. Different people have varying feelings regarding personal information and how it is used. That said, you should be only a little more concerned about your privacy online than you are out in the real world.

With the proliferation of computers, gathering and sorting information has become simplified, and sharing that information with others has become commonplace. There are even companies out there whose only product is information: they build profiles about people — any conceivable piece of information is game — and then sell them to marketing companies. This sort of data is called psychographic data because it is supposed to give marketers some insight into what you might like to purchase, or how you might be swayed to purchase something new.

Of course, even as the ability to gather data has grown, the number of people to search through has exploded. It's not like your one of a thousand people on the Net, and that all of this technology is focused on you... No. You are one of a 100,000,000 people out there, and unless you live conspicuously, you'll probably not show up on anyone's radar screens. Probably.

That's why you should be only a little more concerned about your privacy online, than off.

 

There are a few, basic precautions you can take to thwart most inquiries into who you are, and what you're all about.

1. Know what the sites, and service providers you use do with any private information they might gather in the course of business. Does your ISP sell mailing lists or e-mail lists? Does your favorite chat room archive chat sessions? Check it out, and gauge your level of comfort with their level of privacy.

2. Have more than one e-mail address. Your e-mail address is one of the most identifiable aspects of your Web identity. There may be 3,000 people named "David Johnson" out there, but only one person with the e-mail address "HotDavid@IRN4u.com". If you only use one e-mail address, then it's all the easier for interested parties to compile data about you.

You may not want to go to the lengths that our Domo, Christian, has gone to. But his e-mail accounts are a pretty good example. First of all, Christian realized that different people need to know different things about him, or already know different things about him and don't need to know anything else. So he devised a scale:

0. Doesn't need to know anything.
1. Already knows name. Doesn't need to know anything else.
2. Knows position at work. Doesn't need to know name.
3. Knows name at work.

For each one of these levels of privacy, he has a different e-mail address (for obvious security reasons, the following e-mail addresses are fake):

0. 123456@mail.com: This is a fictitious name from a free e-mail service. Free e-mail services like Mail.com are great places to get e-mail accounts that can't be traced back to you... just make up the name and address provided. A lot of these companies, though, offer upgraded services for a small fee... but once you give them your billing information you've lost your anonymity. So be careful.
1. christian.harrison@mail.com: This is also from a free e-mail service. To protect the rest of his private information, though, Christian does not provide an accurate street address or phone number to the service. He doesn't sign up for any fee-based services with them, either.
2. domo@IRN4u.com: This e-mail is an important part of his work, and unscrupulous people could find a way to get more information about him if they so desired. But nothing is volunteered.
3. christian.harrison@IRN4u.com: This also comes from work, but is the address he uses when the other party already knows him by name.

Those are a lot of e-mail addresses, but Christian uses the Eudora Pro e-mail program from Qualcomm. This program is very useful because it allows him to easily switch between his online "personalities". You'll notice that he doesn't use the e-mail address his ISP gave him, 123456@Earthlink.com. That's because Earthlink has all of his billing information. No, instead of using this address out in the open, Christian forwards his Mail.com addresses here, so he can read his e-mail offline.

3. Never post private information in a public area. Unless you want everyone — including the occasional psychopath — to know your phone number, address, spouse's name or children's names, never post them in a chat room or on a personal web page. People can know about you without knowing such details. For example, they can know "My wife really loves her work" without knowing that "Kelli, my wife, really loves working with the CIA". It might take a little getting used to, but it's worth it!

4. Finally, use different passwords for different sites. No reason to make it any easier for people to abuse the system.

 

Time for a simplified explanation of a really important concept... the IP address. When you log onto the Internet, your ISP (Internet Services Provider) assigns you a serial number of sorts. This allows them to send you the information you request, whether that information be a Web page, or anything else you can get over the Net.

Just like your street address, the IP Address tells Web servers where to send everything. But unlike your street address, ISPs have thousands, and in some cases tens or hundreds of thousands of IP addresses which are randomly assigned and reassigned as people log on and off the Net.

 

Cookies are very small text files that are stored on your computer. They are created by some sites you visit to store useful information, often to speed-up any subsequent visits. If you visit any site that uses a username and password system, chances are that you've been asked if you want your password "saved on your computer". If you say "yes" then the site saves a cookie with that information on your computer.

The big part of the concern over cookies came about early in the life of the Net when some sites — well-meaning, but not too bright — thought that shoppers using their site would rather not type in their billing information every time they visited the site. So, they saved everything, including the credit card number, in a cookie. All hell broke out when people suddenly saw their credit card numbers magically appearing in sites' shopping baskets.

Very quickly sites that used cookies like this were urged to end the practice, and shortly thereafter web browsers like Netscape Navigator and Microsoft Explorer added a feature to block cookies. Now people can choose whether or not they feel comfortable with cookies. Read the documentation that came with your browser to learn more about its privacy features.

 

This is a good question, but we think that it should really be two questions:

0. What Information Do You Gather About Visitors to Your Site?
1. What Information About Me, Personally Do You Gather?

First things first: "Visitor" is just a simpler way to say "IP Address" (See "What's An IP Address?"). So, here's what we track about Visitors to our site:

• Referrer: As you move around the Internet, you're really just staying in one place while computers called servers "serve" you the pages. It's a lot like going to a restaurant. The Internet knows you by your IP Address, and a restaurant knows you as "Table One". You decide you want salmon. You tell your waiter, Ann, you want salmon. Ann goes to the chef and says "Table One wants Salmon". The Chef makes the salmon and says to the waiter "Here's the Salmon for Table One, Ann". It's not too different online. You visit Yahoo.com and do a search for salmon-related sites. You want to go to salmon.com and so you click on the link provided. Yahoo.com's server goes to Salmon.com's server and says "My name is Yahoo.com, IP Address 1.2.3.4 wants to visit www.salmon.com/index.html" Salmon.com's server whips up the page and in a millisecond (if only chefs were this fast) it says "Yahoo.com, here is the page for IP Address 1.2.3.4". Because the servers call each other by name, we know the last site you visited. This is called a "Referrer" because this site "refers" the Visitor to us.
• Page Views: This is pretty straight-forward. We know what pages are visited by which visitor.
• Sales: Because a visitor must click on a link to order something, we know the number of items purchased and the total bill of sale for any given visitor.
• Date and Time: Last but not least, we know what day and at what time each page is viewed, and by which visitor.

Next, let's talk about specific information we collect from you. In practice and policy, we only gather information that you volunteer. You give us certain information when you order a product, namely shipping and billing information; you give us information when you sign up for our mailing list, namely e-mail address and the information from the questionnaire; you give us information when you sign-up for an account that allows you to pay by purchase order; and finally, you give us information when you choose to participate in any surveys we sponsor. Of course, the surveys are anonymous, so this last item is a little different than the rest in that the information is not attributable to you.

 

You can edit your purchase-order information and your information kept in our mailing-list database. Otherwise, the information you provide to us is unavailable for editing. In the case of billing and shipping information, this is done to protect against fraud. Since the surveys are taken anonymously, editing of that information is impossible.

 

Except for sites starting with "www.ORGrade.com" and "www.IRN4u.com", sites mentioned or linked-to in these pages are independent. As independent sites, they will have their own guidelines and policies regarding every issue, including privacy.

 

All of IRN's mailing lists are managed using ListBot, a service of the Microsoft Network. This means that while IRN staff composes messages, invites people to join the lists, and can remove people from lists as requested or needed, that the data and necessary software to run the list is a product of the Microsoft Network and is housed on their servers.

We have chosen to do so for the foreseeable future because ListBot is the most cost-effective and powerful solution available, allowing people subscribe and unsubscribe at will, and to manage their own accounts with ease.

 

ListBot, which is a service of the Microsoft Network, is not subject to our privacy policies and should be treated as any other vendor might be treated. That said, we believe that using ListBot to manage our mailing lists should pose no additional threat to your privacy. Please read ListBot's policies regarding privacy, and then choose to participate in our mailing list only inasmuch as you are comfortable.

 

Absolutely not. Although we have chosen only those questions which seemed the least likely to discomfit our patrons, we in no way require that any of the questionnaire be answered as a prerequisite to joining the mailing lists.

 

Like any company, we want to understand who our customers are so that we can better serve them, and extend our reach beyond our current limitations. If we discover in our questionnaire that 90 percent of our list members are women, we will research why we aren't reaching the men who use our services. If we discover that most of the people we are reaching are in the greater New York City area, then we might consider opening a facility there.

Beyond that, we have tried to ask questions that would not make our patrons uncomfortable. For example, asking for people's income bracket is a common practice. But we have chosen not to ask because we believe it is too sensitive of an issue.

 

If you need to return a purchase, please notify us within ten days of receipt. E-Mail us for authorization by indicating the items you wish to return, the invoice number that accompanied the shipment and the reason for the return. We will e-mail you back an authorization label that you should use as the address label on your return package. All returns are subject to a 20% restocking charge.

 

Our policy for refurbished goods is the same as for any other product you purchase from us. If you need to return a purchase, please notify us within ten days of receipt. E-Mail us for authorization by indicating the items you wish to return, the invoice number that accompanied the shipment and the reason for the return. We will e-mail you back an authorization label that you should use as the address label on your return package. All returns are subject to a 20% restocking charge.

Unlike other goods, however, refurbished goods are shipped with a full disclosure regarding known product history and defects. Because of this disclosure, refurbished goods are accepted "as is" outside of the ten day return period.

 

The vendors listed in the ORGrade AfterHours site are independent from IRN. Please contact them directly for any questions you might have regarding their site, policies and practices.

 

We aim to fulfill all of our orders as quickly as possible — often the same business day. However, if we cannot fulfill your order within seven business days, we will let you know. Please do not confuse our promise to ship via "2-Day Air" to be a promise to deliver your goods within two days (a common error).

Unless you indicate otherwise, all continental US shipments are sent via UPS ground. Elsewhere, shipments are sent via UPS Air. With some orders placed for shipment in southern California, your delivery may be handled by IRN personnel and you will receive an adjustment, to your favor, on your invoice.

 

No. There is not. Please check with each vendor for their specific policies regarding shipping or any other matter.

 

If you have questions or concerns of a technical nature, please direct them to our Domo, Christian at domo@IRN4u.com. Otherwise, direct your inquiry to IRN@IRN4u.com, where it will be directed to a member of our management. We take your concerns for privacy seriously. To ensure that your e-mail is routed properly please mention privacy in the subject line, and then be as specific as possible in any of your comments.