June 26, 2019

Privacy Policy

Policy Coverage…

Unless we notify you otherwise in connection with a particular activity, this Privacy Policy (“Policy”) explains how we collect and use information through mjthomasphoto.com/mymjthomas.com, applications and services that link to this Policy (each, a “MJ Thomas site”), and the choices you can make about the collection and use of your information.  This Policy also addresses information we collect from you when you schedule an appointment to be photographed, order photographs or other products from us, visit or are photographed at one of our offices, studios or on-site photography locations, contact one of our customer service representatives, or respond to a survey or enter a contest or sweepstakes that we administer.  This Policy also explains how we use certain basic personal information we may collect in advance of “Picture Day” from the organization you (or your child) are affiliated with (for example, your child’s school, your university, your employer or your place of worship, each an “Organization”) when we are engaged by that Organization to photograph you or your child (see Picture Day Information below).

Information we will collect from you…

Information You Provide to Us. We collect personal information that identifies you as an individual and other information from you through your use of this MJ Thomas Site, such as when you register for an account, schedule a photography appointment or place an order; when you visit or contact one of our studios, offices or customer service representatives; or when you respond to a survey or enter a contest or sweepstakes that we administer. This information may include some or all of the following:

  • your name
  • name of person being photographed
  • your physical address
  • your child’s birthdate
  • your email address
  • your telephone number(s)
  • credit card and other payment information
  • information about the Organization you are affiliated with (such as School Name, League, or Church Name)
  • your photos and other content that you upload to the MJ Thomas Site, if applicable (“Your Content”)

Information from Other Sources.  We may obtain personal information about you or the person being photographed from the Business, School, League or any other, that engages MJ Thomas as its photographer.   MJ Thomas will require certain basic roster information from that Organization about its photo subjects in advance for “Organizational Data”. We collect the Organizational Data only as needed for Picture Day and the related purposes authorized by the Organization.  For example, we collect photo subject names so that we can match names and images for each photography session and for efficient distribution to our customers. We also may receive your email or other contact information from the Organization you are affiliated with in order to deliver Picture Day-related communications on its behalf.

For inclusion in the Organization’s directory or other publication the Organization has engaged MJ Thomas to produce.

MJ Thomas does not sell, trade or share Organizational Data with unaffiliated third parties for their marketing purposes, nor do we use such data in ways that are unrelated to the purposes authorized by the Organization.

We may also obtain data that is publicly available or from third party sources to improve the accuracy of and add to what we know about our customers, for the purposes described in this policy.

Information You Provide About Others. If you choose to share your photographs or other information with someone else through a MJ Thomas Site feature, we will use the personal information you provide (for example the e-mail address of the recipient) to fulfill your request and for other purposes described in this Privacy Policy.  Please be aware that your name and/or email address could be provided to us by another user of the MJ Thomas Site for the same purpose.

Information from Social Networking and Third-Party Services.  A MJ Thomas Site may allow you to interact with or through social networking services such as Facebook and Twitter (“Social Features”). Examples of Social Features include enabling you to “like” or “share” content or to log into a MJ Thomas Site using your username and password for the third party social network. If you choose to connect your MJ Thomas account with a third party social network, the social network may share information about you with us such as your public profile, e-mail address and friend list. If you choose to “like” or share content, information about you may be publicly displayed on the social network. You should review the privacy policy of that third party social network and check your privacy settings through that social network. If you post information on a social networking or other third party service that references MJ Thomas or its products or services (e.g., via a Twitter hashtag), we may publish your post on a MJ Thomas Site.

Other information about you. In addition to the personal information we collect as described above, the MJ Thomas Site uses cookies and similar technologies that collect certain non-personal technical information from your computer or mobile device over time and across different websites, such as what type of browser you are using, the website from which you enter the MJ Thomas Site, and the pages and content you view and / or select as you tour our site. This technology, including cookies placed by our third-party service providers, helps us customize your current and future visits to the site (for example, by storing the contents of your shopping cart until you are ready to check out), and it allows us to compile statistics about our visitors and their use of our site. We and our service providers use these statistics in connection with MJ Thomas marketing programs and to improve our website design and content.  Our third party service providers may also use such technology to provide you with MJ Thomas advertisements on other websites and online services, and may combine this technical information with other information they gather about your visits to other websites and online services to show you advertisements that are more likely to be of interest to you (“Interest-Based Advertising”).

If you do not want the site to collect information through the use of cookies, you can set your web browser to reject cookies from the site or to alert you before a cookie is placed on your computer.  Each browser is different, so you should check your browser’s “Help” menu to learn how to change your cookie preferences.  Please note that cookie-based opt-outs only apply to the specific computer and browser on which the opt-out cookie is applied. If you accept a cookie, you can delete it at any time through your web browser.  However, if you choose not to accept cookies, you may not be able to take full advantage of some of this website’s features.  Also, the Network Advertising Initiative and the Digital Advertising Alliance offer opt-out tools to assist you in managing your choices for participating companies that use cookies for Interest-Based Advertising and cross-app advertising.  For more information about these tools please visit: NAI Opt-Out Page (web browser only) and DAA Opt-Out Page (web browser only).  You can also install Google Analytics’ opt-out browser add-on by visiting http://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout.

MJ Thomas uses the personal information to….

We responsibly limit the use and disclosure of your personal information. We may use your personal information for the following purposes:

  • to provide the products, services or benefits you request, or information about them,
  • to produce and deliver the photographic products and services per our agreement with the Organization you are affiliated with, as applicable,
  • to develop and improve our products and services
  • to improve the content of our site and the services we provide, and their usefulness to you
  • to deliver MJ Thomas marketing communications and promotional materials that may be of interest to you
  • to protect the security or integrity of our databases or website, to take precautions against liability, and to detect and remediate violations of our Terms & Condition or other misuse of the MJ Thomas Site.

In addition, your personal information may be incorporated into products that we are providing to you and your associated Organization. For example, if MJ Thomas is producing student ID cards, we need the student ID number to execute picture day and deliver services to the school; a church directory we are printing may include contact information along with church members’ names and photos per specifications.  You should notify your Organization if you wish to exclude your photo or other personal information from such products and services.

If you upload Your Content to the MJ Thomas Site, it remains your property. 

MJ Thomas will only use Your Content to fulfill your orders and otherwise as directed by you.

Please be assured that MJ Thomas does not use its customers’ photographs in marketing or advertising materials without first obtaining a photo release from the photo subject (or, in the case of a minor, the photo subject’s parent or legal representative).

MJ Thomas does not sell, trade or share your personal information with unaffiliated third parties for their marketing purposes. We do share your personal information within MJ Thomas and with your affiliated Organization (if applicable) for the purposes described in this Policy.  We may also share this information with third parties who provide support services to us such as helping us fulfill customer orders, process credit card orders and the like. If so, these parties are authorized to use the personal information solely in conjunction with the specific service they provide to or on behalf of MJ Thomas.

We may also be required to share or transfer your personal information in other, limited circumstances, for example, to respond to judicial process, to comply with state, federal or local laws, to protect the security or integrity of our databases or website, to take precautions against liability, in the event of a corporate reorganization or, to the extent required by law, to provide information to law enforcement agencies.

Use of your personal information…

The goal of our marketing and promotional efforts is to inform you about our products and services.  This includes special promotions and coupons, that may be of interest to you. We may use your contact information to inform you of offers. However, if you are contacted and do not wish to receive further marketing, please reply to the email, and request to be taken off the marketing program.

We will act promptly to honor your request and remove your name from the sender’s marketing list. However, even if we remove your name from use in marketing programs, you may still receive communications from the sender for non-marketing purposes, for example in connection with a pending order or customer service issue, or from other sources who obtained your contact information before we received your request.

Review and update the personal information…

If you would like to review, correct or delete your personal information, or if you are the parent or legal guardian of a minor and would like to review, correct or delete that minor’s personal information, please contact our Customer Service team.   There may be times when we are unable to fulfill your request – for example, if providing access to your personal information would reveal confidential commercial or proprietary information or personal information about someone else (and we cannot separate your data), if we are prohibited by law from disclosing the information or if we have a legal obligation to retain certain data. We may require additional personal information from you for the purposes of verifying your identity and rights.

Safeguarding your personal information…

MJ Thomas has implemented safeguards reasonably designed to protect against unauthorized access and disclosures of personal information under its control, including appropriate technical, physical and administrative safeguards and security measures.  As a merchant transacting up to one million credit card transactions per year, MJ Thomas is subject to annual third-party certification of its compliance with the stringent Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard.  Please be advised, however, that despite these measures, no website, application, database or system is completely secure or “hacker proof”; accordingly, we cannot guarantee that our information security safeguards will never be compromised.