The Information You Provide
As you explore our website, you will come across places in which we ask you to provide us voluntarily with information about yourself. In most of these instances we are seeking only your e-mail address so that we can send you the specific information that you request, such as a newsletter or online subscription or purchase. In other instances, such as a contest, we request both your e-mail address and your name (along with your contest answer), so that we can contact you by name in the event that you win. If you choose to purchase an item through our direct sales service, we will need to collect additional information for billing and shipping, such as your full name, home address and credit card information. All of these activities–the subscriptions, contests and on-line purchases–are purely voluntary; if you do not wish to reveal your name, e-mail address or other information, you are free simply to ignore these offerings. If you decide to participate, we will not use your name or e-mail address for any purpose other than as stated, and will not sell or rent your name or address to third parties not affiliated with us. If you purchase an item from our website we may share your credit card information with an independent third party service whose function is to verify the information you provide, and we will store and make available information about recent purchases made through our website using your password. In addition, if you have been linked to our Shopping Cart service through the website of another publisher to complete your online purchase of that publisher’s books, we will share information about you and your purchase with that publisher.
At other places in this site, we ask for your feedback, opinion or suggestions, and provide you with a link for e-mailing us your response. We may also ask for your zip code or city of residence to gather geographical information about the visitors to our site. If you send your e-mail to us, it will include your e-mail address in the “From” line. But again, as in the case of subscriptions and contests, we promise to use the e-mail address we receive in this manner only for the purpose of responding to your questions or suggestions, and will not approach you with unsolicited offers or provide your e-mail address to anyone else.
One last area in which we ask for your name is on bulletin boards or forums–places on the site where you can participate in a discussion of a particular subject by posting written comments which are then entirely public. We ask for a name simply so that other people reading a string of comments will be able to determine which comments come from the same person. You may, therefore, provide a nickname or alias, if you prefer, so that your identity is not disclosed. You should be aware that if you do voluntarily disclose personal information (e.g. user name, e-mail address) on the bulletin boards or forums, that information can be collected and used by others and may result in unsolicited messages from other posters or parties. If you choose to participate anonymously, you should remember that you are still legally liable for the material you post, including claims of libel, invasion of privacy and copyright infringement.