Privacy policy

[Name of Web site] is committed to protecting your online privacy while providing you with the most useful and enjoyable Web experience possible. While you can use many features of [name of Web site] anonymously, you are required to provide personal information to gain access to some of our premium content and services.

How we collect and use personal information

Registering for membership on [name of Web site] gives you access to all the site’s information and features. The only information required is your name, e-mail address, country, and ZIP/postal code. With your approval, we occasionally will send e-mail to notify you about important changes to the site, new services, and special offers from us. If you would rather not receive these e-mail notifications, you can simply indicate that preference either when you register or at any time you modify your account. In addition to receiving e-mail announcements, you can also sign up for daily and weekly e-mail services that provide [description of services].

If you enter a contest or respond to a promotion, we may ask for your postal address so we can notify contest winners and deliver promotional goodies. When you enter this information, we will save it in your member profile so that you won’t have to enter it again. We occasionally may also send you postal mail to notify you about important changes to the site, new services, and special offers from us and select [name of Web site] partners. If you would rather not receive such information via postal mail, you can indicate this when you enter your address or you can modify your account at any time to indicate your preference.

Our Free Product Info service lets you sign up to receive e-mail product announcements and other news from third parties, including software publishers, hardware manufacturers, and service providers. You can add or remove product information topics from your personal list at any time on your Free Product Info page.

[Name of Web site] works with Postmaster Direct, the world’s leading e-mail announcement service, to prevent unauthorized use of your e-mail address and make sure you receive information only about the topics you specify.

How we protect your personal information

All personal data you enter on [name of Web site] is encrypted with secure server software (SSL) that encodes the information before your Web browser software sends it to us. The SSL software decodes the data only after it reaches our server, meaning hackers can’t snatch any of your personal information while it is in transit. Once the data reaches our site, the same state-of-the-art security software we use to guard all of our company’s essential business data protects your personal data as well.

In addition to using the most secure technology available, we work tirelessly to make sure that we use any information you provide us only in ways you have approved. We send you only the e-mail you have approved in your account information or on your e-mail subscription sign-up page. And when you sign up for Free Product Info, Postmaster Direct distributes all the announcement e-mails you request directly without ever releasing your e-mail address to a third party.

How we use "cookies"

As you probably know, "cookies" are small pieces of information that some Web sites store on your computer's hard drive when you visit them. Like many other Web sites, [name of Web site] uses cookies to identify members so they don’t have to enter a user ID and password upon each visit. Most Web browsers automatically accept cookies but allow you to modify security settings so you can approve or reject cookies on a case-by-case basis. Even if you do not use cookies, you can still access all of the features on our site by logging in manually with each visit.

What we provide to third parties

While [name of Web site] does not provide any third-party access to your personal information except to facilitate your own attempts to register with our partners or receive offers from select partners as mentioned elsewhere in this policy, we may provide third parties with aggregate statistics about our customers, traffic patterns, and related site information. This data reflects site usage patterns gathered during millions of customer visits to our Web site each month, but it does not contain behavioral or identifying information about any individual member unless that member has given us permission to share that information.

[Name of Web site] uses a third-party advertising company to serve ads when you visit our sites. This company may use information (not including your name, address, e-mail address, or telephone number) about your visits to our and other Web sites in order to provide advertisements about goods and services of interest to you. In addition, we share Web site usage information about visitors to our site with this company for the purpose of managing and targeting advertisements on our sites. For this purpose, we and our third-party advertising company note some of the pages you visit on our sites through the use of pixel tags (also called “clear gifs”). If you would like more information about the information collection practices of this third-party advertising company or would like to know more about your option to not have this information used by this company, click here [insert link here to such information].

Obtaining your consent

By using our Web site, you give [name of Web site] permission to collect information about the pages served to you as an anonymous user for the purpose of calculating aggregate site statistics. If you register at [name of Web site], you authorize [name of Web site] to use information you provide to personalize the information we deliver to you and to use your demographic information when calculating aggregate customer data. As a registered member, you give [name of Web site] and our agents permission to send you e-mails related to the subscription e-mail services to which you subscribe and the Free Product Info topics you select.

If you are under the age of 18, you must not provide your name, e-mail address, or any other identifying information without the consent of your parent or guardian, or as otherwise provided for by applicable law.

Any changes to our privacy policy will be posted on this page so that you are always aware of what information we collect, how we use it, and under what circumstances we disclose it.

Children's Privacy Protection

While few, if any, of our Web site(s) are directed or accessible towards children, we are committed to comply with applicable laws and requirements, such as the United States’ Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA).

We maintain high regard for the protection of our children's information and records. Should you ever have any questions regarding this information, please feel free to contact us immediately.

We ask that all minors utulize the Internet with parental supervision.

Resources for Privacy Information

Federal Trade Commission http://www.ftc.gov/

TRUSTe (www.truste.org) Leading "seal" program awards trustmarks to Web sites that meet stringent privacy policy requirements and enforcement criteria. Licensed Web sites are required to post privacy statements. Web site contains how-to-join information, privacy statement wizard, and extensive links and resources.

Online Privacy Alliance (www.privacyalliance.org) The Online Privacy Alliance is a cross-industry coalition of more than 50 global companies and associations commited to promoting the privacy of individuals online. The Alliance is an ad hoc organization. Its sole purpose is to work in the coming year to define privacy policy for the new electronic medium and to foster an online environment that respects consumer privacy.

PrivacyExchange (www.privacyexchange.org) is an online global resource for consumer privacy and data protection laws, practices, issues, trends and developments worldwide. Created specifically to serve businesses, educators, and the media as a research tool, the PrivacyExchange contains a legal library, international policy and practice news, and an experts forum.

Tell us what you think

[Name of Web site] welcomes your questions and comments about our privacy policy. Please send e-mail to [e-mail link to Company].