Houston Mercantile Exchange, LLC (“HMX“) is committed to protecting the privacy of all individuals who utilize our site or services. Please read the following policy to understand how we collect, use and safeguard the information you may provide to us via this site. This policy may be revised from time to time, so please revisit this page often to remain fully informed of our policies.
WHAT INFORMATION DOES HMX COLLECT FROM YOU?
Via our website, HMX collects from you: (i) personally identifiable information, and (ii) technical and other information.
- Personally Identifiable Information.General Site Visitors – When you browse the non-password protected portions of our site, you do so anonymously; no personally identifiable information is collected.Registered Participants – At the time you become a registered participant of the HMX Platform, we request that you provide us your name, title, company name, address, phone number, facsimile number and email address for such purposes as providing you with access to our online services via our site, and sending you information regarding our site, products, services, affiliates and/or subsidiaries.
Contacting Us – Our site permits you to contact us via email or our Contact Us form. Whenever you send an email via the Contact Us form on our site, you will be providing us with your name, title, company name, address, facsimile number, email address and phone number and any information you choose to include in the text of your message. For example, you may choose to provide your mailing address or other information necessary or helpful for us to address your query or other concern.
- Technical and Other Information. While you are browsing our site, we automatically log your IP address (a number assigned to your computer when you use the Internet) and your activity while using our site. Additionally, in order to personalize and enhance your experience on our site, we may also collect information through “cookies.” Cookies are small strings of text that are sent by our site to your browser and then stored by your browser on your computer’s hard drive. We use cookies to help diagnose problems with our servers and to administer our site. We also use cookies to gather broad demographic information and to help identify you in respect to visits to our site so that we may improve your user experience, and to determine whether you visited our site from a particular Internet link or advertisement. While a code in the cookie file enables our site to label you as a particular user, including identifying you by name, address, or other personally identifiable information, such cookie files are encrypted in order to protect your information. Most web browsers automatically accept cookies, but it is possible to change your browser setup so that it does not accept cookies. However, rejecting cookies may prevent you from taking advantage of certain portions of our site.
HOW DO WE COLLECT INFORMATION FROM YOU?
We collect, retain and use personally identifiable information from you on this site by expressly requesting it from you (i) when you request information from us via email or through our online Contact Us form and (ii) at the time you become a registered participant with HMX.
HOW IS YOUR INFORMATION USED?
- Our Use of Information. We collect, retain, and use the information we collect via our site for legitimate business purposes only, including the following: to qualify you or your company as a registered participant with access to password protected portions of the site; responding to an inquiry from you or addressing a request submitted by you (including contacting you directly to request additional information to process your inquiry or request); contacting and providing you information regarding HMX and our business partners and affiliates; to correspond with you regarding our site, products or services; to inform you of developments in our company or with our services that we believe may be of interest; to monitor site visitor traffic patterns and site usage; to comply with applicable laws; to enforce our Terms of Use; and to protect the rights, property, or safety of HMX, our users, and others.
- Sharing Information. We do not sell or rent your personally identifiable information to third parties. We share your information only with our affiliates and service providers in order to provide you with our services. We may also share in aggregate, statistical form, non-personal information regarding the visitors to our site, traffic patterns, and site usage with our partners, affiliates or advertisers. In addition, we may share any personally identifiable information you provide to us through our site with the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission and may otherwise disclose information we maintain, including personally identifiable information, when required to do so by law or regulation, or in response to a request from a law enforcement or governmental agency or authority.
MODIFICATIONS
We strive to maintain the accuracy of any personally identifiable information that may be collected from you, and will use our commercially reasonable efforts to respond promptly to update our database when you tell us the information in our database is not accurate. It is your responsibility to ensure that such information is accurate, complete and up-to-date. You may obtain from us by email the information in our records. If you wish to make any changes to any personally identifiable information you have provided to us, you may do so at any time by contacting us at info@houstonmerc.com.
MAILING LISTS
When you register as a participant, you may choose to subscribe (at no charge) to our mailing list. If you choose to subscribe to the mailing list, we will periodically send to you company updates, new product and service offerings and other information regarding our services.
OPT OUT
You may opt out of receiving communications from us and our affiliates by following the opt-out link provided in any email received from us or by emailing us at info@houstonmerc.com.
CONSEQUENCES OF NOT PROVIDING INFORMATION
You may choose not to provide us with your personally identifiable information. However, choosing not to provide certain requested personally identifiable information may prevent you from accessing and taking advantage of certain services offered by HMX.
CHILDREN
In compliance with the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act, 15 U.S.C. §§ 6501-06 and 16 C.F.R. §§ 312.1-312.12, our site does not permit children under 13 years of age to become users, and we do not collect information from children. By using our site, you represent that you are not under 13 years of age.
THIRD PARTY WEBSITES
HMX may reference or provide links to third party websites. We are not responsible for the third party websites, and you should review the privacy policies posted on such sites. Please be aware that HMX does not control, nor are we responsible for, the privacy policies or information practices of third parties or their websites.
PROTECTING YOUR PERSONALLY IDENTIFIABLE INFORMATION
HMX employs security systems to protect the information we receive from you from unauthorized disclosure. If you are a registered participant, you should not share your password with anyone. In addition, if you suspect unauthorized access to your information, it is your responsibility to contact HMX immediately. HMX personnel will never ask you to divulge your password in written or electronic communications. We will only ask you for your password when you contact us and only in cases where you request customer service to correct a service problem which requires your password. Please be aware that Internet data transmission is not always secure and we cannot warrant that information you transmit utilizing this site is secure. Because security is important to both HMX and you, we will always make reasonable efforts to ensure the security of our systems.
BUSINESS TRANSFER
HMX may, in the future, sell or otherwise transfer some or all of its assets to a third party. Your personally identifiable information and/or technical information we obtain from you via this site may be disclosed to any potential or actual third party purchasers of such assets and/or may be among those assets transferred.
ACCEPTANCE OF THESE TERMS
This Privacy Statement is incorporated into and subject to the terms of the HMX Terms of Use. If you do not agree to the terms of this Privacy Statement, please do not provide us with any information and do not use this site. By using this site and voluntarily providing your personally identifiable information to us, you consent to the collection and use of such personally identifiable information as set forth in this Privacy Statement.
EFFECTIVENESS
This Privacy Statement is effective as of July 1, 2009. We reserve the right, at any time, to modify, alter, or update this policy, and any such modifications, alterations, or updates will be effective upon posting. We will notify our registered participants of any such changes by email. In the event we modify this Privacy Statement, your continued use of this site will signify your acceptance of the modified Privacy Statement.
QUESTIONS?
Questions regarding this Privacy Statement should be directed to legal@houstonmerc.com. HMX may also be contacted directly at the following address and phone number:
Houston Mercantile Exchange, LLC
722 Pin Oak Road, Suite 203
Katy, Texas 77494
Phone: (866) 659- 6372
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