The National Exchange for Egg Donation and Surrogacy, LLC., is firmly committed to protecting the privacy of aspiring parents, egg donors, surrogates, and others ("Website Users") who visit and utilize this website (the "NEEDS Website") at www.fertilityneeds.com. NEEDS' privacy policy explains what information NEEDS gathers, how NEEDS collects and uses that information, and how NEEDS Website Users can control the collection and/or use of that information.
It is important that you fully review and understand the NEEDS Privacy Policy. By using the NEEDS Website, you indicate your knowledge of and consent to the NEEDS Privacy Policy. If you do not agree to the NEEDS Privacy Policy, please do not use the NEEDS Website.
The National Exchange for Egg Donation and Surrogacy, LLC. (NEEDS, Inc.) is an online service for matching Aspiring Parents with Egg Donors and/or Surrogate Gestational Carriers ("Surrogates") who have registered with NEEDS. To help NEEDS provide this service, Egg Donors and Surrogates submit personal information directly to NEEDS. In turn, NEEDS uses this information to prepare Egg Donor and Surrogate profiles that are available, in a password-protected area of the NEEDS Website, to Aspiring Parents who register with NEEDS to access NEEDS' Egg Donor or Surrogate Profiles. Once registered with NEEDS, Aspiring Parents may log into the Website and utilize our matching service to find suitable Egg Donors or Surrogates based on their personal criteria. Additionally, NEEDS Website users may contact NEEDS by email from time to time and receive responses from NEEDS staff members. The information NEEDS receives online from Aspiring Parents, Egg Donors, Surrogates, and other NEEDS Website users falls into two categories - Private Information and Non-Identifying Information.
"Private Information" means any information that could be used to identify you specifically. Examples of Private Information include names, mailing addresses, e-mail addresses, telephone numbers, passwords, and birth dates.
NEEDS receives Private Information online from Aspiring Parents, Egg Donors, and Surrogates when they register and from NEEDS Website users who e-mail or otherwise correspond with NEEDS. Additionally, computer Internet protocol addresses are collected from most computers automatically when a computer accesses the Website. An Internet protocol address is either an address assigned to a computer by an Internet service provider that enables the computer to locate and interact with other computers on the Internet. Other than Internet protocol addresses, NEEDS collects information about Website Users only when it is provided voluntarily, either during the registration process or through correspondence.
NEEDS does not sell information that can be used to identify NEEDS Website Users specifically. Nor does NEEDS otherwise make such information available to the public (which includes Website users and anyone who is not either an employee of NEEDS or an authorized independent contractor or financial institution engaged by NEEDS for the operation of its business). In cases when third-party contractors receive access to information about you, we require them to adhere to our stated NEEDS Privacy Policy and to protect the confidentiality of such information in the course of their engagement by us.
Regarding Private Information, NEEDS may:
NEEDS reserves the right to sell or otherwise transfer information about you along with other business assets of the company if the company (or substantially all of its assets) is sold, acquired or involved in a merger, reorganization or bankruptcy.
"Non-Identifying Information" is information that cannot be used to identify you specifically. Examples of Non-Identifying Information are age, gender, height, computer operating system, domain name and Internet browser.
NEEDS receives Non-Identifying Information online from Aspiring Parents, Egg Donors, and Surrogates who register and from Website users who email NEEDS. Additionally, NEEDS may obtain certain Non-Identifying Information relating to computer usage when users access and navigate through the Website.
NEEDS may share Non-Identifying Information and "aggregate" information with advertisers, business partners, sponsors and other third parties for lawful purposes. "Aggregate" data is data that describes the demographics, usage, or other characteristics of Website users as a group, but does not identify any user specifically.
In order to provide its services, NEEDS prepares and maintains online password-protected profiles for each registered Aspiring Parent, Egg Donor, and Surrogate. Each Egg Donor and Surrogate's online profile includes the Donor or Surrogate's photograph and certain Non-Identifying Information provided voluntarily by the Donor subject to a separate written agreement. Egg Donor and Surrogate profiles are accessible only to NEEDS staff and to registered Aspiring Parents using a password.
The Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA), which went into effect in April 2000, imposes requirements on certain web sites before they can collect information from children under the age of thirteen (13). NEEDS does not provide services to individuals under thirteen years of age, NEEDS does not intend to collect any Private Information from such individuals, and in the event NEEDS becomes aware that the NEEDS Website has collected any such information, NEEDS will delete it from the NEEDS Website immediately.
"Cookies" are small electronic files used to track information to enhance a user's experience on the NEEDS Website. NEEDS uses cookies to identify registered Site Users (Aspiring Parents, Egg Donors, and Surrogates) when they sign in (log in) to the NEEDS Website and to maintain information privately as Website Users navigate the Website. No Private Information is placed in these cookies and the cookies are deleted from the registered Site User's system when the Site User signs out of the NEEDS Website.
The NEEDS Website may provide links to various other websites. NEEDS assumes no responsibility for the information practices of websites accessed via links from the NEEDS Website. These links to other sites do not imply any affiliation or endorsement of a linked site and these third-party sites - therefore, these websites may not submit to the NEEDS Privacy Policy.
The security of all Private Information associated with NEEDS Website Users is of utmost concern NEEDS. Unfortunately, no data transmission over the Internet can be guaranteed to be secure. While NEEDS strives to protect Private Information, NEEDS cannot ensure or warrant the security of any information NEEDS Site Users transmit to NEEDS or from NEEDS' online products or services, and NEEDS Site Users do so at their own risk. Once NEEDS receives Private Information from NEEDS Website Users, NEEDS will take reasonable efforts to ensure its security on our systems.
The process of maintaining this Website is an ongoing one, and NEEDS may decide at some point in the future to modify these terms. Your continued use of the NEEDS Website following the posting of changes to the terms will mean you accept those changes.
If you have questions or concerns regarding the NEEDS Website Privacy Policy, you should contact NEEDS.