Bitwire Media is dedicated to bringing you the content you want, the way you want it through programming featuring original, third-party and user-created content alike. This privacy policy applies to the operations of all Bitwire Media brands in the United States.

About Bitwire Media’s Privacy Policy

Bitwire Media takes great pride in the amount of care we take when it comes to the privacy of our users. Throughout our various brands, we collect different types of information about different users, and we want to do our best to ensure that these users completely understand the various terms and conditions that surround both the collection and use of this information.

The following policy discloses company-wide policies regarding user privacy. While these rules and regulations apply to all Bitwire Media brands, additional privacy policies may be defined for a specific brand on its’ website. Each of these policies is created and enforced under the restrictions of United States laws.

Bitwire Media may occasionally review and update this policy based on changes to laws, technology and operations within the company. All information collected by Bitwire Media (regardless of time before/after policy revisions) will be governed by Bitwire’s most recent privacy policy, posted on the main Bitwire Media website.

1. What personal information does Bitwire Media collect?

In order to offer you the most useful content and services, several areas of the Bitwire Media network require you to provide us with information as a condition of using that specific area. This may include registration for the ability to access certain areas of the network, post content, participate in discussions, participate in contests or sweepstakes, or subscribe to online or print material.

On many occasions, we collect information that is personally identifiable (ie. name, address, phone number, email, credit card information, etc.). We must stress that your anonymity is only intact when you do not provide any of this information, and you remain anonymous only when you refrained from doing so.

This information, however, is only collected when it is necessary and when it is willingly provided by the user. Other information that is not personally identifiable but may or may not be sensitive is also collected (ie. gender, username and password, password retrieval answers, and employment info, etc.).

2. What anonymous information does Bitwire Media collect?

By default, most internet browsers feature cookies, small files which store equally small amounts of data on your own computer about different activities performed on our sites. It is important to understand that cookies to not tell us any information about who you are unless you specifically provide us with that information. The use of cookies does not allow any personal information (see 1. What personal information does Bitwire Media collect? above) without the explicit entry of that information into one of our sites by the user.

Cookies can be disabled in most browsers if you would rather not have this sort of information collected, and the majority of the Bitwire Media network allows for this. However, participation in certain areas of the network may require cookies to be enabled (ie. remembering your login for future use, certain site preferences such as colors and layouts).

Throughout the network, Bitwire, and trusted third-parties that are presenting advertisements on our sites, use  technologies known as “web bugs” to track general user-traffic patterns around our sites. This is not selective and information is collected by these “bugs” with no settings or options to disable them. We also automatically collect and record various information for statistics (ie. browser/computer operating system, time of visits, page which you visited, popularity of different features, etc.).

However, it is critical to note that this information cannot be matched with any personally identifiable information about you unless you purposely enter this information on either one of our sites or a site owned by one of these third-parties (see 1. What personal information does Bitwire Media collect? above). Please note that use of these tracking technologies by these third-parties outside of Bitwire’s sites is subject to their own privacy policies.

3. How is this information used?

Bitwire uses the pieces of information it gathers for many purposes, including:

• To allow users access to different products and services  (ie. participation in comments, polls and forums, subscriptions to newsletters, etc.)
• To customize the content and advertising delivered to you according to your interests and preferences
• To generate overall statistical information about our visitors

4. How is this information shared?

Anonymous information will be made available to other people and organizations simply for statistical, promotional and other purposes. No information is disclosed (without user permission) that could be connected to you personally.

Personal information will be made available to other companies or people when:

1. You personally allow us to share that information when you provide it.
2. You opt into services that use third-party vendors for certain aspects of our content delivery (email subscriptions, rss feeds). This information will be relayed again if you unsubscribe from any of these services in order to cease delivery.
3. You participate in a service provided in conjunction with Bitwire by an outside partner.
4. You create a public profile detailing any of this information about yourself on one of our sites.
5. You participate in a contest or sweepstakes held through Bitwire. Information needed for prizes, etc. will be provided to any third-parties involved who need it in order to fulfill that prize.
6. Bitwire is required by law to release information about our users for various legal proceedings (ie. court orders, subpoenas, etc.).
7. An acquisition of one of our properties is made by another company or organization. Some or all of your information may be transferred as part of this process.
8. Bitwire Media believes that actions you have taken violate any applicable laws, our Terms of Use or any other usage guidelines outlined to you, or threaten the safety, rights, or property of our users, our company, and others.

5. Options regarding your privacy

Users are always asked to provide us with personally identifiable information at their own discretion. If you would rather not allow us to have this information about you, simply do not enter it anywhere throughout the network. While different aspects of our content delivery require certain pieces of information about you (ie. email newsletters, user accounts, etc.), the majority of our content and services are offered without any release of information required.

Information that you have entered on one of our sites can always be edited, changed or removed later, unless specifically noted otherwise. We cannot guarantee, however, that if you remove your account or subscription to one of our services, your information will also be fully removed. If you have any problems with this process contact details are available for the relevant brands and sites throughout the network.

6. Privacy of children

Various pieces of the Bitwire Media network are targeted towards children under the age of thirteen. We operate in compliance with the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) and do not knowingly permit registration by, or collection of information about users under the age of thirteen. This requirement is posted and enforced to the best of our abilities throughout our sites.

7. Privacy Policy changes

Any revisions or modifications made to our privacy policy will be reflected on this location within our network. If a change in the way information about our users will be used is made, the affected users will be notified via email or another appropriate medium.

Questions and Comments

If you have any questions regarding our privacy policy or any other aspects of the Bitwire Media network in general, please let us know using one of the contact options located here or on the specific brand or site you require information about.

Effective: June 2008