01. Does ComputerUser ask for personal information?
Yes, we do. ComputerUser asks for your name, e-mail address, and other personal information when you sign up for our services, such as $NetQuote, ISP Quick Quote, UserRFQ, ComputerUserTV, Forums, Blogs, newsletter. We also ask for such information at other times, such as whenever you enter one of our contests or other promotions sponsored by ComputerUser and/or our many partners. ComputerUser, Inc. ("ComputerUser") recognizes that its customers, visitors, users, and others who use www.ComputerUser.com or other web sites owned or operated by ComputerUser (the "ComputerUser Sites") (collectively or individually "Users") value their privacy. This Privacy Notice details important information regarding the use and disclosure of User information collected on the ComputerUser Sites. ComputerUser provides this Privacy Notice to help you make an informed decision about whether to use or continue using the ComputerUser Sites. This Privacy Notice is incorporated into and is subject to the ComputerUser Terms of Use. Your use of the ComputerUser Sites and any personal information you provide on the ComputerUser Sites remains subject to the terms of this Privacy Notice and our Terms of Use. Please note that any video, image, or other content posted at the direction of Users onto the ComputerUser Sites becomes published content and is not considered personally identifiable information subject to this Privacy Notice.
02. How Does ComputerUser use my personal information?
ComputerUser goal in collecting personal information is to provide you, the user, with the most personalized Web experience possible and our advertisers with an efficient means to reach the right audience. By knowing a little about you, ComputerUser is able to deliver more relevant content and advertisements, and hence a better service, to you. ComputerUser allows other companies, called third-party ad servers or ad networks, to serve advertisements within the ComputerUser Sites. These third-party ad servers or ad networks use technology to send, directly to your browser, the advertisements and links that appear on the ComputerUser Sites. They automatically receive your IP address when this happens. They may also use other technologies (such as cookies, JavaScript, or Web Beacons) to measure the effectiveness of their advertisements and to personalize the advertising content you see. ComputerUser does not provide any personally identifiable information to these third-party ad servers or ad networks without your consent or except as part of a specific program or feature for which you will have the ability to opt-in or opt-out. However, please note that if an advertiser asks ComputerUser to show an advertisement to a certain audience (for example, men ages 18-34) or audience segment (for example, men ages 18-24 who have viewed certain channels of content) and you respond to that advertisement, the advertiser or ad-server may conclude that you fit the description of the audience they are trying to reach. The advertiser may also use information regarding your use of the ComputerUser Sites, such as the number of times you viewed an ad (but not any personally identifiable information), to determine which ads to deliver to you. YOU ARE RESPONSIBLE TO REGISTER PROPERLY WITH THE CORRECT AGE. THIS IMPORTANT INFORMATION IS NECESSARY WHEN THIRD PARTY ADVERTISMENTS ARE DISPLAYED. NOTIFY US IMMEDIATELY IF YOU DISLIKE ANY INFORMATION DISPLAYED BY FILLING OUT THE CONTACT FORM.
03. What if I make a purchase through a store affiliated with ComputerUser?
If you place an order at an online store affiliated with ComputerUser, we will collect information from you, including your credit card and contact information. This information will be used by the merchant. ComputerUser does not own the store and all transactions and use of any customer information are the sole responsibility of the merchant. For further information regarding the merchant's use of customer information, contact that merchant store directly.
04. Will ComputerUser disclose any of my personal information?
ComputerUser will not disclose any of your personal information without your consent or except as part of a specific program or feature for which you will have the ability to opt-in or opt-out. ComputerUser may release personal information when we believe in good faith that the law requires it, or to protect the rights or property of ComputerUser and to comply with state and federal laws (such as U.S. Copyright Law) or in response to a court order, subpoena, or search warrant.
ComputerUser also reserves the right to disclose personally identifiable information and/or non-personally-identifiable information that ComputerUser believes, in good faith, is appropriate or necessary to enforce our Terms of Use, take precautions against liability, to investigate and defend itself against any third-party claims or allegations, to assist government enforcement agencies, to protect the security or integrity of our web site, and to protect the rights, property, or personal safety of ComputerUser, our Users or others.
We do share non-personally-identifiable information (such as anonymous User usage data, referring / exit pages and URLs, platform types, number of clicks, etc.) with interested third-parties to assist them in understanding the usage patterns for certain content, services, advertisements, promotions, and/or functionality on the ComputerUser Sites.
Under confidentiality agreements, ComputerUser may match user information with third party data. Also, ComputerUser does disclose aggregated user statistics (for example, 40% of our users are female) in order to describe our services to prospective partners, advertisers, and other third parties, and for other lawful purposes.
Additionally, if you make a purchase through a store affiliated with ComputerUser, be aware that the information that you provide, including but not limited to, your credit card number and contact information, is provided to the owner of that store. These merchants have separate privacy and data collection practices. ComputerUser has no responsibility or liability for these independent policies.
05. Will ComputerUser use my information for direct mailings?
Yes, but only if you give us permission
06. What are your rights and choices?
You may, of course, decline to submit personally identifiable information through the ComputerUser Sites, in which case ComputerUser may not be able to provide certain services to you. You may update or correct your personal profile information and email preferences at any time by visiting your account profile page. Please note that media files uploaded by Users to the ComputerUser Sites cannot be removed and remain subject to our Terms of Use. To protect your privacy and security, we take reasonable steps (such as requesting a unique password) to verify your identity before granting you profile access or making corrections. You are responsible for maintaining the secrecy of your unique password and account information at all times. Please contact ComputerUser with any questions or comments about this Privacy Notice, your personal information, your consent, or your opt-in or opt-out choices using this contact form.
07. What about protection of information from children?
Naturally, the safety of children is very important to us. You must be 18 years of age or older to use the ComputerUser site. Parental permission and direct supervision is required for any User under the age of 18. Protecting the privacy of children is especially important. For that reason, ComputerUser does not knowingly collect or maintain personally identifiable information or non-personally-identifiable information on the ComputerUser Sites from persons under 18 years of age, and no part of our website is directed to persons under 18. If you are under 18 years of age, then please do not use or access the ComputerUser Sites at any time or in any manner. If ComputerUser learns that personally identifiable information of persons less than 18 years of age has been collected on the ComputerUser Sites without verified parental consent, then ComputerUser will take the appropriate steps to delete this information.
08. What does ComputerUser use the information for?
If you submit personally identifiable information to us through the ComputerUser Sites, then we use your personal information to operate, maintain, and provide to you the features and functionality of the ComputerUser Sites.
Any personal information or video content that you voluntarily disclose online (on discussion boards, in messages and chat areas, within your public profile page, etc.) becomes publicly available and can be collected and used by others. Your account name (not your email address) is displayed to other Users when you upload videos or send messages through the ComputerUser Sites and other Users can contact you through messages and comments. Any videos that you submit to the ComputerUser Sites may be redistributed through the internet and other media channels, and may be viewed by the general public.
We do not use your email address or other personally identifiable information to send commercial or marketing messages without your consent or except as part of a specific program or feature for which you will have the ability to opt-in or opt-out. We may, however, use your email address without further consent for non-marketing or administrative purposes (such as notifying you of major ComputerUser Site changes or for customer service purposes).
We use both your personally identifiable information and certain non-personally-identifiable information (such as anonymous User usage data, cookies, IP addresses, browser type, click stream data, etc.) to improve the quality and design of the ComputerUser Sites and to create new features, promotions, functionality, and services by storing, tracking, and analyzing User preferences and trends.
We use cookies, clear gifs, and log file information to: (a) remember information so that you will not have to re-enter it during your visit or the next time you visit the ComputerUser Sites; (b) provide custom, personalized content and information; (c) monitor the effectiveness of our marketing campaigns; (d) monitor aggregate metrics such as total number of visitors, pages viewed, etc.; and (e) track your entries, submissions, and status in promotions, sweepstakes, and contests.
09. What else should I know about my privacy?
Please keep in mind that whenever you voluntarily disclose personal information online - for example on message boards, through e-mail, blogs, or in chat areas - that information can be collected and used by others. In short, if you post personal information online that is accessible to the public, you may receive unsolicited messages from other parties in return. Furthermore, while we strive to protect your personal information, ComputerUser cannot ensure or warrant the security of any information you transmit to us, and you do so at your own risk. In addition, ComputerUser partners and third party Internet sites and services accessible through ComputerUser or parties whom we inform you are collecting data in connection with sweepstakes, promotions, etc., have separate privacy and data collection practices, independent of us. ComputerUser has no responsibility or liability for these independent policies or actions. The point? You are solely responsible for maintaining the secrecy of your passwords and/or any account information. PLEASE BE CAREFUL AND RESPONSIBLE WHENEVER YOU'RE ONLINE.
10. How does ComputerUser protect my personal information?
ComputerUser uses commercially reasonable physical, managerial, and technical safeguards to preserve the integrity and security of your personal information. We cannot, however, ensure or warrant the security of any information you transmit to ComputerUser and you do so at your own risk. Once we receive your transmission of information, ComputerUser makes commercially reasonable efforts to ensure the security of our systems. However, please note that this is not a guarantee that such information may not be accessed, disclosed, altered, or destroyed by breach of any of our physical, technical, or managerial safeguards. If ComputerUser learns of a security systems breach, then we may attempt to notify you electronically so that you can take appropriate protective steps. ComputerUser may post a notice on the ComputerUser Sites if a security breach occurs. Depending on where you live, you may have a legal right to receive notice of a security breach in writing. To receive a free written notice of a security breach (or to withdraw your consent from receiving electronic notice) you should notify us using this contact form.
11. Why does ComputerUser request the User to obey the law?
The ComputerUser Sites are hosted in the United States and are intended for and directed to Users in the United States. If you are a User accessing the ComputerUser Sites from the European Union, Asia, or any other region with laws or regulations governing personal data collection, use, and disclosure, that differ from United States laws, please be advised that through your continued use of the ComputerUser Sites, which are governed by U.S. law, this Privacy Notice, and our Terms of Use, you are transferring your personal information to the United States and you consent to that transfer.
12. What are the ways ComputerUser Collect information?
User Provided Information: You provide certain personally identifiable information (such as your name and email address) to ComputerUser when choosing to participate in various activities on the ComputerUser Sites such as uploading videos, posting messages in our forums or in the video comments section, entering contests or sweepstakes, taking advantage of promotions, responding to surveys, or subscribing to newsletters or other mailing lists.
Cookies Information: When you visit the ComputerUser Sites, we may send one or more cookies - a small text file containing a string of alphanumeric characters - to your computer that uniquely identifies your browser. ComputerUser uses both session cookies and persistent cookies. A persistent cookie remains after you close your browser. Persistent cookies may be used by your browser on subsequent visits to the site. Persistent cookies can be removed by following your web browser help file directions. A session cookie is temporary and disappears after you close your browser. You can reset your web browser to refuse all cookies or to indicate when a cookie is being sent. However, some features of the ComputerUser Sites may not function properly if the ability to accept cookies is disabled.
Log File Information: When you use the ComputerUser Sites, our servers automatically record certain information that your web browser sends whenever you visit any website. These server logs may include information such as your web request, Internet Protocol ("IP") address, browser type, browser language, referring / exit pages and URLs, platform type, number of clicks, domain names, landing pages, pages viewed and the order of those pages, the amount of time spent on particular pages, the date and time of your request, and one or more cookies that may uniquely identify your browser.
Clear GIFs Information: When you use the ComputerUser Sites, we may employ "clear GIFs" (a.k.a. Web Beacons) which are used to track the online usage patterns of our Users anonymously (i.e., in a non-personally-identifiable manner). In addition, we may also use clear GIFs in HTML-based emails sent to our users to track which emails are opened by recipients.
13. How do I contact ComputerUser?
Please contact ComputerUser with any questions or comments about this Privacy Notice using this contact form.
Electronic Privacy Information Center - established to focus public attention on emerging civil liberties issues relating to the National Information Infrastructure.
