Pioneer and Apollo Astronaut Autographs

Astronaut Central Privacy Statement

Privacy of information gathered on the internet is of prime importance to users. First let us dispel the myths you may have heard: This is true of ALL SITES.

We don't know who you are unless you tell us.

Log Files

User logs are generated for every click of your mouse, and they do tell us an amazing variety of things, but NOT any personal information.

Logs tell us:
  • What browser and version you're using (hence your computer type),
  • Where you go, (what pages)
  • How long you stay there
  • Your IP address (a bunch of numbers) that don't tell us much except whether your provider is a .com, .org, or whatever, and what country you're connecting from.
They CAN'T tell us
  • Who you are
  • Your email address
  • Personal info

This log generation has been in use since the beginnings of the internet, and was never intended to invade privacy. In fact, it has only recently been used for marketing purposes, which is what we use it for. Most simple log reports will process the raw data and tell us

  • the percentage of what browsers are being used,
  • what web pages are the most popular, (& least popular),
  • how many bad links (unfortunately not WHERE they are),
  • top domains and countries visiting, referral sites-- that is, if you clicked on a link to us from somewhere else.
  • What search engine you used and what keywords you typed in

Log reports are a great way to see what's working and what's not on our website. Browser types helps us design the pages to look good and download faster, as this happens differently in every browser type.

Search engine keywords tell us what you're looking for and how we can add the proper tags to our pages so you can find us quickly. If we're getting a lot of French visitors, maybe we should do a bilingual site. If people continually exit on a given page, there's something wrong (or boring) with that page...etc.

So as you can see, logs are really innocent marketing tools, and have nothing to do with leakage of personal information. There are different software packages, some which are quite pricey, which can massage the log data and tell us exactly your path through our site, how long you stayed on each page, but NOTHING ABOUT YOU.

If you want to worry about privacy, worry about what information your INSURANCE COMPANY has about you. That will affect you more severely than someone knowing your shopping habits!


Cookies

Our shopping cart uses cookies to track what you have placed in your cart. The cookie carries an identifier that ties to our orders database. No personal information is transmitted in the cookie. The identifier helps us to "remember" what you have ordered or placed in your cart or on your "want list".

You do not need to register with Astronaut Central to use the shopping cart. However, if you do register you will have access to past orders to see what you ordered and the status of your orders. Your credit card information is not stored on our servers after your order has been processed. This information is secured in accordance with PCI DSS (Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard)--the credit card standard for protection of your information.

An independent company scans and tests our site regularly to assure that our site remains in compliance with the PCI DSS standard. Any problems are reported to us and immediately remedied.

We do not share our customer information with anybody else. We do use the information to contact customers about upcoming events or special sales.


Questions asked on our
MAILFORM

We ask:
  • Your name
  • Your address (for shipping orders or catalogs)
  • Your email address
  • How you found us (tells us where our advertising money and effort is best spent)
  • Whether you want email sale announcements (most do, but some don't, especially at work)
  • Your product preferences (so we avoid making offerings of things you aren't interested in)
  • Comments, questions, suggestions
We don't share this information with anyone

Google Ads

We use third-party advertising companies (Google with the DoubleClick DART cookie) to serve ads when you visit our website. These companies may use information (not including your name, address, email address, or telephone number) about your visits to this and other websites in order to provide advertisements about goods and services of interest to you. Users may opt out of the use of the DART cookie by visiting the Google ad and content network privacy policy. Novaspace and Astronaut Central have opted-out of Google's interest-based advertising program, but they still want us to include this information in our privacy policy.

Here's what Google has to say about opting out. Items in () have been added by us:

  • You (Astronaut Central) can opt out of showing ads that are based on user interest categories (e.g. 'space enthusiasts'). In turn, Google will not use visitation information from your sites (Astronaut Central) to help create interest categories. However, you cannot opt out of showing ads to users based on their previous interactions with the advertiser, such as visits to an advertiser's website.