BuddyMarks.com takes your privacy seriously. Because we gather certain types of information about our users we want to help you understand the terms and conditions surrounding the collection and use of that information. This privacy statement discloses the types of information we gather, how we use it, and how to correct or change it.

When you register for an account:
We Will:

1. Collect personally identifiable (e.g. name) and demographic (e.g. age, gender) information about you. We may use the demographic data to post ads (appealing to your demographic) on our Web site when you log in.
2. Provide industry-standard security to protect your personal information while it is in our possession. If you use your credit card to pay for premium services, then your credit card information will be encrypted using SSL technology and will be stored on secure servers.
3. Give you access to review and edit your personal information while it is in our possession.
4. Send you service announcements notifying you of any new products or updates to the service.
5. Make it easy for you to unsubscribe from any BuddyMarks mailing list by following directions at the bottom of any e-mail that you receive from us. *(unless it is vital to the operation of your account).

We Won't:

1. Send you unsolicited commercial e-mail (spam).
2. Share any data with outside parties that would identify a specific user.
3. Knowingly collect information from children under the age of 13.
4. Contact you via e-mail or any other method to ask you for your password. Do not share your password with anyone; you should only enter it directly into our Web site.
5. Contact you via e-mail or any other method to ask you for your credit card information. You should only enter this information directly into our Web site.
6. Materially change how we use your personally identifiable information without placing a prominent notice on our Web site first.

Our Web site uses cookies for the purpose of identifying you uniquely. This allows us to pre-populate your user name on the login page and to distinguish between your editing session and that of the many other people using our service. Cookies also ensure that you view relevant ad banners on our Web site when you log in. Our web-based website editing system will not function unless your browser is set to accept cookies.

Be aware that when you click on ad banners, you may be redirected to other sites not operated by BuddyMarks.com. You are responsible for information that you provide to these sites. We recommend that you review the privacy policy of any site that requests personal information. ** Note that this policy does not cover the privacy practices of these linked sites.

We use electronic images known as Tracking GIFs - sometimes called single-pixel GIFs, transparent GIFs, or clear gifs- that allow us to track general user traffic patterns. BuddyMarks.com also automatically receives and records information from our servers and from your browser including your IP address, the time, and information about the page you requested.

When visiting our site, some general information is collected including: IP address (your computer's unique signature) Operating system (e.g., Windows 95) Browser software (e.g., Microsoft Internet Explorer, Netscape) Internet Service Provider (e.g., Earthlink, Verizon). The information we collect is aggregated to reflect the population as a whole rather than focused on individuals. We use it to help us better understand the people who visit mail.com. In addition, like many other sites with paid advertising, we disclose some of this aggregate information to advertisers to inform them of the number of people who have seen and clicked on their advertisements.

We use third-party advertising companies 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 Web sites in order to provide advertisements about goods and services of interest to you. If you would like more information about this practice and to know your choices about not having this information used by these companies, http://www.networkadvertising.org/managing/opt_out.asp

We allow third-party companies to serve ads and/or collect certain anonymous information when you visit our web site. These companies may use non-personally identifiable information (e.g., click stream information, browser type, time and date, subject of advertisements clicked or scrolled over) during your visits to this and other Web sites in order to provide advertisements about goods and services likely to be of greater interest to you. These companies typically use a cookie or third party web beacon to collect this information. To learn more about this behavioral advertising practice or to opt-out of this type of advertising, you can visit networkadvertising.org.

We partner with ValueClick to serve ads and/or collect certain information when you visit our website. ValueClick may use cookies or web beacons to collect non-personally identifiable information during your visit to this website in order to help show advertisements on other websites likely to be more interesting to you. To learn more about this "behavioral advertising" practice or to opt-out of this use of your anonymous information, you can visit http://www.valueclickmedia.com/member_privacy.shtml

BuddyMarks.com reserves the right to modify all or some of this Privacy Policy at any time without notice. If we change our Privacy Policy, we will post a notice on our website so our users are aware of what information we collect, how we use it, and under what circumstances, if any, we disclose it. We will use information only in accordance with the Privacy Policy under which the information was collected unless we have received explicit authorization from the appropriate user(s) to do otherwise.

Questions? For any questions or comments concerning mail.com's privacy policy, please write to privacydirector@buddymarks.com