(Last updated 10-Jun-2009.)

TidBITS Publishing Inc. takes online privacy very seriously. We actively protect the privacy of users of TidBITS Web sites and people who subscribe to TidBITS publications and mailing lists.

Subscription Lists & Email Addresses -- TidBITS holds the names and email addresses of subscribers in the strictest confidence, and will not disclose specific subscriber information under any circumstances unless required by law. TidBITS subscriber databases and subscription lists can be accessed by only a few members of the TidBITS staff and are well protected against theft, tampering, and misuse (electronic or otherwise).

Aggregate information about TidBITS subscription lists (such as the total number of subscribers) may be discussed in TidBITS publications, used to promote TidBITS, or disclosed to sponsors or advertisers.

To receive a TidBITS publication or mailing list via email, you must give us your email address - without it, we can't send you anything. Although we don't require subscribers to tell us their names, your email program or provider may include your name with your subscription request. If so, we'll record your name with your email address; the information helps ensure we don't confuse you with anyone else when sorting out subscription problems.

If you want to be notified of updates to TidBITS publications on a regular basis without subscribing via email, consider using an RSS news reader and pointing it at our RSS feed.

Contributions to TidBITS -- If you participate in our voluntary contribution program, TidBITS receives and records information related to your contribution, including your name, email address, postal address, and contribution amount, but not your credit card number. As with our subscriber databases and subscription lists, this information is held in the strictest confidence. The information can be accessed by only a few members of the TidBITS staff and is well protected against theft, tampering, and misuse (electronic or otherwise).

If you have chosen to list your name and a URL to a Web page of your choice, that information appears on our TidBITS Contributors page, which is available to the public. Also appearing on that page is aggregate information about the number of contributors.

If you asked us to remind you to renew in a year, we will send you an email reminder at that time. We may also send you email to aid in resolving problems relating to a contribution or to communicate with you about other issues related specifically to contributors.

Contribution processing is handled for TidBITS by Kagi and PayPal. To process your payment, Kagi collects information including your name, postal address, email address, and credit card number. Use of that information is governed by their privacy policy. Kagi offers both secure and insecure Web payment forms. To process payments via PayPal, PayPal collects contact and financial information; for more details, see their privacy policy.

Take Control Books -- If you purchase one of our Take Control electronic books, TidBITS receives and records information related to your purchase, including your name, email address, and postal address, but not your credit card number. As with our subscriber databases and subscription lists, this information is held in the strictest confidence. The information can be accessed by only a few members of the TidBITS staff and is well protected against theft, tampering, and misuse (electronic or otherwise). We use your email address to inform you of updates to products you've purchased; other communications are governed by you agreeing to be contacted during the order process or signing up for the double opt-in Take Control announcement list.

Take Control order processing is handled for TidBITS by eSellerate. To process your payment, eSellerate collects information including your name, postal address, email address, and credit card number. Use of that information is governed by their privacy policy.

Processing of orders for print-on-demand versions of Take Control books is handled for TidBITS by QOOP. To process your payment, QOOP collects information including your name, postal address, email address, and credit card number. Use of that information is governed by their privacy policy.

Purchases of TidBITS Tchotchkes -- Orders for TidBITS merchandise are handled for us by CafePress.com. To process your order, CafePress.com collects information including your name, postal address, and credit card number. Use of that information is governed by their privacy statement.

We can query CafePress.com's Web site and see information about orders, including your name, the date you placed the order, and the specific products you ordered. We hold this information in the strictest confidence. The information can be accessed by only a few members of the TidBITS staff, although we have no control over the security precautions on the CafePress.com site.

Web Server Usage -- TidBITS records information about how people access our Web sites. This information includes your IP address (or the DNS name associated with it) and what Web software you're using. Our Web server software uses session-based cookies to maintain state between pages that could be customized based on your TidBITS account. Those pages generally include mailing list subscriptions and preferences and TidBITS Talk.

We may record information about queries submitted to TidBITS search facilities to better understand how people use our search features. As with other Web accesses, this information generally cannot be associated with any particular user; in any case, query information is not disclosed to anyone outside the TidBITS staff.

Editorial Mail -- Email messages sent to TidBITS editorial addresses are considered public statements and become the property of TidBITS Publishing Inc. Unless noted otherwise in the message itself, TidBITS may publish such messages (including the author's name and email address) in whole or in part on TidBITS Web sites and/or in TidBITS publications. TidBITS will generally try to contact correspondents before any such publication, but makes no guarantee to do so. TidBITS will honor any request not to publish a message, or not to publish the correspondent's name or email address.

Web Site Comments -- To post a comment on an article, you must provide your name and email address. Your name will appear on all of your comments. We use your email address only to send you a one-time verification message confirming that you posted the comment. We also store your address to allow you to verify using other Web browsers in the future. TidBITS holds these email addresses in the strictest confidence, and will not disclose specific subscriber information under any circumstances unless required by law. TidBITS databases can be accessed by only a few members of the TidBITS staff and are well protected against theft, tampering, and misuse (electronic or otherwise).

Discussion Lists & Archives -- TidBITS maintains email discussion lists. Although subscriber information is maintained in the strictest confidence (see above), participating in discussion lists will reveal information about yourself such as your email address and (possibly) your name to all subscribers. This information could be collected by a third party. Additionally, users should consider any discussion list a public forum, and exercise caution in disclosing any personal information.

Web-based archives of discussion lists maintained by TidBITS will also include information disclosed by discussion participants; however, we go to some effort to ensure information such as email addresses can't easily be harvested by automated programs.

Surveys -- TidBITS may ask readers and/or Web site users to participate in surveys. In all cases, participation will be voluntary. If a survey asks for personal information, answering those questions will be optional.

DealBITS Drawings -- To participate in DealBITS drawings, you must provide us with your email address and name. We will use that information for necessary administrative communications, such as notification of all the participants of the winning entry. We will publish the name (but not the email address) of the winner(s) in TidBITS and in an email message to all DealBITS participants. Lastly, we will share the name and email address of the winner(s) with company providing the prize for purposes of registration or delivery (in which case the winner(s) may be required to provide a postal address to the sponsoring company as well).

We will not share names or email addresses of any other DealBITS participants with any third party, including the sponsoring company.

Translations and Mirror Sites -- TidBITS publications are translated into a variety of languages, and those translations are hosted by several mirror sites.

TidBITS can't control the privacy policies of mirror sites, and it's possible they differ significantly from ours. If you're concerned, consider accessing TidBITS material directly from our servers, rather than from a mirror.

Some TidBITS translations are available via both email and the Web. In the cases where email or Web distribution takes place via TidBITS servers, the privacy policies outlined above apply in full. However, we cannot vouch for the privacy policies of other organizations hosting translation mailing lists or Web sites. We encourage such sites to post their own privacy policies, or indicate they fully comply with the policies outlined here.

External Links -- TidBITS's Web sites and publications contain numerous links to other network sites. TidBITS cannot be responsible for the privacy practices of other organizations or the content of external Web sites.