Privacy Policy

This Privacy Policy applies to Site Visitors as of September 1, 2011. We respect the privacy rights of all visitors to the smckids.com/learnandearn and bkfk.com web sites (referred to in this Privacy Policy as our "Visitors" and our "Site," respectively). Use of the Site and the activities and services available on and through the Site (referred to in this Privacy Policy, together with the Site, as the "Services") is governed by our Terms of Use. In this Privacy Policy, we state our policies and practices with respect to your privacy. In particular, we respect the concerns of parents and guardians regarding their children's visits to and use of our Site, and have special privacy rules for children who we have knowledge are under 13

As a Visitor to our Site, we want you to know what kind of personalized information we may collect on the Site, how we collect such information, how we intend to use the information, and how we intend to keep the information secure. Generally, some of this will depend on what type of Visitor you are:

Teenagers (ages 13-17) and Adults

Teenagers are encouraged to check with their parents or guardians before submitting any personally-identifiable information to this Site. As a teenager or adult Visitor to this Site, you may be asked to provide certain personally-identifiable information. We use the information we collect largely for Visitor participation in our Services and promotional or marketing purposes, which may include disclosing such information to others. Teenage and adult Visitors are also subject to the General terms of our Privacy Policy, which apply to all Visitors to our Site regardless of age, and which include the opportunity for you to opt out of permitting certain uses of your personally-identifiable information (such as our disclosure of it to third parties for their marketing purposes).

Children Under 13

With a few exceptions, before a child who we have knowledge is under 13 may participate in certain Services on the Site (in particular, those in the course of which personally-identifiable information will be collected from the child), we will first notify the child's parent or guardian and/or seek the permission of the child's parent or guardian. We use the information we collect in connection with the child's participation in the Services provided on the Site and/or for our own promotional purposes. We do not disclose the personally-identifiable information of children who we have knowledge are under the age of 13 to third parties, other than under certain limited situations in which it is provided to service providers and used on our behalf. A parent or guardian has ultimate control over the personally-identifiable information collected from his or her child under the age of 13. A child under 13 is also subject to the General terms of our Privacy Policy, which apply to all Visitors to our Site regardless of age, and which include the opportunity for the child under 13 (or his or her parent or guardian) to opt out of permitting certain uses of his or her personally-identifiable information.

You are encouraged to check with your parents or guardians before submitting any personally-identifiable information to this Site.

PARENTS AND GUARDIANS NOTICE

It is important for you to talk with your teen or child about using the Internet safely. Here are just a few things to keep in mind when talking to your kids about the Internet:

Remind your kid (whether a teen or a child under the age of 13) to never give out his or her full name, address, or phone number, or any other information that would enable someone to locate, contact or identify him or her, without your permission. Help them make up a creative and unique username and password and advise them to keep their password secret.
Tell your kid that if they receive something that they are not sure about or if another user says or does something that they don’t like, to let you know.
Impress upon your kid the importance of never engaging others in a communication or activity that would put them at risk.

Parental Consent for Children Under 13

With a few exceptions, before a child who we have knowledge is under 13 may register for and participate in certain Services on the Site, we will first notify the child's parent or guardian and/or seek the permission of the child's parent or guardian. We will do this by requesting that the child provide an e-mail or physical address for his/her parent or guardian, and we will send a notice to that address providing information regarding our Services, the Site our information collection and use as well as information on opting out of the Services on the child’s behalf.

Teenagers (ages 13-17) and Adults

Information Collected: When using this Site and its Services, Visitors may be asked to provide certain personally-identifiable-information (for example, name, address, phone number and e-mail address) and general, non-personal demographic information (e.g., occupation, hobbies, zip code, etc.). Visitors may be required to provide personally-identifiable information when registering for a specific Service on the Site, participating in a contest, requesting information from us, or searching our magazine articles.
If a Visitor opts (or has opted) to enter one of our competitions, or otherwise opts to submit an idea to us, we will also collect school information, ideas, research and details about his or her ideas, photos, drawings and other materials regarding such ideas, patent information (as applicable) and other information relevant to the idea or competition. The terms and conditions of our competitions will be presented when a Visitor enters the competition. We will use the information received from the Visitor in connection with such competition, if applicable, and otherwise to evaluate the Visitor's invention ideas.
Use of Information: We will use the information we collect on the Site, for example, to provide and enable the Visitor to participate in the Services requested, to provide e-mail accounts, to send newsletters and updates regarding our Site and Services, to send announcements of invention competitions, to respond to inquiries and requests, for our internal market research activities, and to otherwise promote our and our business partners' (such as, for example, our competition sponsors') activities and products.
Any information we collect on the Site may be used, for example, to provide a Visitor with periodic marketing and promotional notices and other correspondences from us. We may also make this information available to other persons or entities whom we believe offer goods or services that may interest that Visitor. This information may also be shared with others for the purpose of completing transactions arising from the Site or the Services. A Visitor may elect to "opt-out" of certain uses of their personally-identifiable information as set forth below.
See the "General" section for more terms of our Privacy Policy that apply to all of our Visitors, including Teenagers (ages 13-17) and Adults.

Children Under 13

Personally-Identifiable Information: With a few exceptions, before a child who we have knowledge is under 13 may provide us with personally-identifiable information through this Site or any of our Services, we will notify the child's parent or guardian and provide an opt-out option to the parent. We consider the following information to be personally-identifiable: a first and last name; a home or other physical address including a street name and name of city or town; a telephone number; and any other personal information that would allow a child to be contacted, located or identified in person or online.
Information Collected: Some Services on the Site may require Visitors to submit personally-identifiable information, such as: (i) first and last name, (ii) phone number and e-mail address, (iii) parent's or legal guardian's name and e-mail address, (iv) age and birth date, (v) zip code and/or City/State/Country, (vi) grade level and name of school, (vii) favorite and least favorite class or subject in school, (viii) inventing experience, and (ix) interests. We will only collect an email address from a child who we have knowledge is under 13. We will collect all other personally- identifiable information from the parent. If a child opts (or has opted) to enter one of our competitions we will collect ideas, research and details about his or her invention ideas, photos, drawings and other materials regarding such ideas, patent information (as applicable) and other information relevant to the competition. The terms and conditions of our competitions will be presented when a child enters the competition.
We respect the privacy of children, and do not collect any more personally-identifiable information than reasonably necessary to enable them to participate in the activities we offer at our Web site. We will not condition a child's participation, offering of a prize, or any other activity or Service on the child's disclosing more personally-identifiable information than is reasonably necessary to participate in an activity.
Use of Information: We will use the information we collect on the Site, for example, to provide and enable the Visitor to participate in the Services requested, to provide e-mail accounts, to send newsletters and updates regarding our Site and Services, to send announcements of invention competitions, to respond to your child's inquiries and requests, for our internal market research activities, If a child opts (or has opted) to enter one of our competitions, we will also use the information received from the child in connection with such competition, if applicable, and otherwise to evaluate the child's ideas.
Disclosure of Information: We do not disclose the personally-identifiable information of children who we have knowledge are under the age of 13 to third parties, other than under certain limited situations such as: (i) in connection with some of our Services that may enable Visitors to share their invention ideas with other Visitors, in which event we will obtain the verifiable permission of such child's parent or guardian, (ii) to a company that provides support for the internal operations of our Site or Services (such as, for example only, a shipping fulfillment company if we want to ship a prize or gift to your child) and that does not disclose or use such information for any other purpose, (iii) in connection with a sale or acquisition of our Site or assets, or (iv) as required by law or court order or in connection with a legal proceeding.
Parental Consent for Children Under 13: With a few exceptions, before a child who we have knowledge is under 13 may register for or participate in certain Services on the Site, we will first notify the child's parent or guardian. We will do this by requesting that the child provide an e-mail or physical address for his/her parent or guardian, sending a notice to that person, and in some cases seeking the child's personal information in order for the child to participate in the stated activities and Services and an opt-out option.
Parental Requests for Information: If a child who we have knowledge is under 13 has provided any personally-identifiable information to the Site, his or her parent or guardian may request a description of what personally-identifiable information has been collected from that child through the Site, the specific personally-identifiable information collected about the child through the Site, and either limit or restrict any further maintenance or use of the child's personally-identifiable information, and/or direct us to delete it. Also, a parent may decline to allow any future collection of personally-identifiable information from that child. Such requests can be made by contacting us here. We will take reasonable measures to verify that the requestor is, in fact, the parent or guardian of the child in question before providing a child's personally-identifiable information.
See the "General" section for more terms of our Privacy Policy that apply to all of our Visitors, including children under the age of 13

General (Applicable to Visitors of All Ages)

IP Addresses: We passively collect IP addresses for the purpose of system administration and to maintain and report aggregate Visitor information. An IP address is a number that is automatically assigned to a Visitor's computer. Web servers can automatically identify individual computers by their IP address. We may link IP addresses to personally-identifiable information.
Cookies: "Cookies" are pieces of information that are passively placed on an individual's computer hard drive to enable the individual to more easily communicate and interact with a web site. We may use cookies to customize your experience on the Site and with the Services. We use cookies to deliver content specific to your interests, to save your password (if you have registered with us) so you don't have to re-enter it each time you visit our Site or use the Services, and for other purposes. You may, however, disallow receiving cookies at any time through your web browser.
We may use a third party advertising service to display advertisements on our Site. Sometimes these advertising services will utilize cookies to display specific advertisements to Visitors based on, among other things, their surfing habits. We do not have access to these cookies nor do we know what information is contained in these cookies. As stated above, you may restrict the placement of cookies on your computer through controls available in your web browser.
Links: The Site may include links to other third party Web sites and other third party Web sites may link to the Site (the "Linked Sites"). We are not responsible for the privacy practices or the content of the Linked Sites and hereby expressly disclaim all responsibility and liability which may arise from there.
Technical Information: Settings, technical and other information concerning a Visitor's computer, such as an operating system, browser version, connectivity, various communication parameters and other information related to the operation and interaction of the Site and the Services may be passively collected by us.
Tracking Usage Patterns: We also may passively gather information and usage patterns related to our Visitors' use of the Site and the Services, including without limitation, real time tracking of other Web sites linked to and from this Site, to better understand how our Visitors, as a group, use the Site and Services, and the various features thereof, as well as to help us provide personalized offerings, and to conduct market research and other commercial activities. We do not engage in behavioral targeted marketing.
Public Forums: When you contribute to certain community areas of the Site and certain of our Services, such as a chat room, bulletin board or other similar open forum, the information that you submit may be made available to other Visitors to the Site who have registered on the Site or for such Service. For this reason, we recommend that you do not submit any sensitive information, including your full name, home address, phone number, financial information or other information that would enable other users to locate you. Instead, make up a username that does not disclose your personal identity.
Security: We strive to protect our Visitors' personally-identifiable information and privacy, however no data transmission over the Internet can be guaranteed to be 100% secure. Thus, although we will exercise great care to provide secure transmissions of personally-identifiable information, we cannot guarantee the security of information disclosed online, and Visitors use the Site at their own risk. You may be able to create an account on our Site with a username and password. If so, you are responsible for maintaining the strict confidentiality of your account password and you shall be responsible for any access to or use of the Site or the Services by you or any person or entity using your password, whether or not such access or use has been authorized by or on behalf of you, and whether or not such person or entity is your employee or agent. You agree to (a) immediately notify BKFK of any unauthorized use of your password or account or any other breach of security, and (b) ensure that you exit from your account at the end of each session. It is your sole responsibility to control the dissemination and use of your password, control access to and use of your account, and notify BKFK when you desire to cancel your account on this Site. We will not be responsible or liable for any loss or damage arising from your failure to comply with this provision. In the unlikely event that we believe that the security of your personally-identifiable information in our possession or control may have been compromised, we may seek to notify you of that. If a notification is appropriate, we would endeavor to do so as promptly as possible under the circumstances, and, to the extent we have your e-mail address, we may notify you by e-mail. You consent to our use of e-mail as a means of such notification. If you prefer for us to use another method to notify you in this situation, please e-mail us at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it with the alternative contact information you wish to be used.
Consent to Processing: The Site is operated from the United States. All Visitors of the Site and users of the Services fully understand and unambiguously consent to the collection and processing of their personally-identifiable information in the United States.
Legal Disclosure, Acquisition. We shall, pursuant to valid legal process, such as a search warrant, subpoena or court order, allow access to relevant Visitor information, in order to comply with such process and to protect our rights and property. If warranted, we may also allow access to this information in special emergencies where physical safety is at risk. We may also disclose or transfer personally-identifiable information regarding Visitors in connection with a merger, acquisition, change of control or sale of all or substantially all of our assets related to the Site.
Opt-Out/Access: We provide Visitors the opportunity to opt-out of permitting certain uses of their personally-identifiable information at the time the information is requested and/or through the Site, including, without limitation, our sharing of certain Visitors' information with third parties for marketing purposes, as further discussed above in this Privacy Policy. To "opt-out" or to modify any information previously provided, or to contact us regarding this Privacy Policy, the Site or the Services, please
- Send email to: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
- Send certified/return receipt requested mail to: BKFK, 1177 High Ridge Road, Stamford, CT 06905. Attn: Customer Service

Thanks for visiting our Site.

BKFK
1177 High Ridge Road
Stamford, CT 06905
(203) 321-1226
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If there are changes or additions to this Privacy Policy, we will notify Visitors by posting those changes here. Changes and additions to this Privacy Policy are effective when they are posted. Please check this web page periodically to see any changes we have made to our Privacy Policy. We will obtain parental consent to material changes to our Privacy Policy before applying such changes to children under the age of 13.

Version Date: September 1, 2011