Introduction

Gradebeam LLC ("GradeBeam") has created this statement in order to demonstrate our strong commitment to protecting your privacy and securing the information you enter into our systems. In this statement, we will outline the information gathering and dissemination practices of the www.gradebeam.com Web site, and we will describe certain measures we have taken to help ensure that your information is kept secure and confidential at all times. From time to time, we may need to make changes to this statement. We will make reasonable efforts to publish any changes in a timely fashion. Note that the www.gradebeam.com Web site may contain links to other Web sites; we cannot be responsible for the privacy and security policies and practices of those other Web sites. Note also that while we have taken measures to secure and maintain the confidentiality of information you enter into our systems, we cannot be responsible for the security practices of organizations or individuals with whom you may communicate through the GradeBeam system.

Directory Information

We collect and store in the GradeBeam Directory certain information about your organization, including user names, company name, mailing addresses, phone and fax numbers, and e-mail addresses. You may provide this information yourself as part of the pre-registration and registration processes. We may also obtain information about your organization from other GradeBeam members, or from other sources. Certain pieces of this information, such as company name, company address, and company phone and fax numbers, are considered to be "public". Public information is visible to all GradeBeam members when searching the GradeBeam Directory. Certain other pieces of information are considered to be "private". Private information may include information specific to an individual user, employee, or contact, such as the individual's name and e-mail address. We have taken measures to ensure that private information is visible only to users within the member organization providing the information, unless the member organization elects to make such information public. Private information is also visible to certain GradeBeam staff members, in order to provide user support. All information in the GradeBeam Directory is stored by GradeBeam for the legitimate business purposes of our members, as consistent with the User Agreement. We may also use this information ourselves from time to time to contact members or other organizations directly to provide support or other information about GradeBeam and the www.gradebeam.com Web site.

Communication between Members and Other Organizations

The GradeBeam system allows you to send certain private messages, such as invitations-to-bid, to other organizations. Certain information about these messages, such as the sender and recipient, as well as the content of the message, is stored on the GradeBeam system. We have taken measures to ensure that such private messages are visible only to the sender, the recipient, other users from their respective organizations, and, when appropriate, GradeBeam support staff.

Collection of Other Information

We routinely collect certain pieces of technical information about our users, such as the IP address of the user's PC and the user's browser version. We use this information only to assist with diagnosing technical problems and to maintain and improve the quality of our services and the efficiency of our systems.

Cookies

The GradeBeam Web site uses "cookies", which are small data elements sent to your Web browser. Cookies are used as part of our security system to verify your identity while you move around the GradeBeam Web site. Cookies sent by the GradeBeam system are deleted from your PC when you close your Web browser. Gradebeam does not use cookies to trace users' movements on other Web sites.

Security Measures

We have implemented numerous security measures to minimize the risk of loss, misuse or alteration of any information under our control. Confidential information entered on the GradeBeam Web site is secured by password protection, encryption and GradeBeam internal processes. All users are required to enter a valid organization ID, user ID, and password before being granted access to the GradeBeam Directory and the invitation-to-bid system. Passwords are stored in an encrypted state on the GradeBeam system. Our physical servers are protected around the clock by state of the art security technology and human guards.

Contacting GradeBeam

If you have any questions relating to privacy and security at GradeBeam, please contact us at:
Gradebeam LLC
343 West Erie
Suite 420
Chicago, Illinois 60610
Phone: 312-321-9104
Fax: 312-321-9107
E-mail: privacy@gradebeam.com