Tripod, Inc., part of the Lycos Network, is a member of the TRUSTe program. Tripod knows that if our dream of creating a vital online community is to come true, we must do everything we can to develop and maintain that old-fashioned village sense of trust. This statement discloses the privacy practices for the Site. Questions regarding this statement should be directed to Tripod's Membership Services at [email protected] for clarification.
TRUSTe is an independent, non-profit initiative whose mission is to build users' trust and confidence in the Internet by promoting the principles of disclosure and informed consent. Because this site wants to demonstrate its commitment to your privacy, it has agreed to disclose its information practices and have its privacy practices reviewed and audited for compliance by TRUSTe. When you visit a Web site displaying the TRUSTe mark, you can expect to be notified of:
- What information this site gathers/tracks about you
- What this site does with the information it gathers/tracks
- With whom this site shares the information it gathers/tracks
- This site's opt-out policy
- This site's policy on correcting and updating personally identifiable information
- This site's policy on deleting or deactivating your name from our database
Questions regarding this statement should be directed to Tripod's Membership Services ([email protected]) , or TRUSTe (www.truste.org) for clarification. To return to the Tripod homepage, click here.
Our Privacy Vow
The Site is part of the Lycos Network of web sites, and we at Tripod believe that strong electronic privacy is crucial for the ongoing success of the Internet as a service, commercial, and entertainment medium but we do need to understand user behavior in order to server you better. To achieve this goal, we need to understand what differentiates you from each of our millions of other unique users. We collect information in two ways: registration and cookies.
Registration
Tripod gathers information about our Members that allows us to offer compelling services and easily accessible online content in a manner that provides personal privacy protection as well. When you join Tripod we ask you to provide us information such as your first and last name, zip code, email address, and country. We ask these questions in the event that we need to verify your identity for security purposes.
Cookies
As a standard practice, Tripod assigns a random number to each user for anonymously tracking content preferences and traffic patterns. This random number lets us keep track of "How many" times customers are doing specific things - like visiting our site each month - without really knowing who those customers are. This random number is kept in a file on your computer called a "cookie." Cookies are pieces of information that Web sites transfer to your computer's hard drive for record-keeping purposes. Tripod uses cookies to make visiting the Site easier. Cookies allow us to save passwords and preferences for you so that you won't have to re-enter them the next time you visit. Cookies, by themselves, cannot be used to determine the identity of any user: Unless you specifically tell us, Tripod will never know who you are.
In addition, third party advertising networks may issue cookies when serving advertisements. The use of cookies is now an industry standard, and you'll find them used on most major web sites. Most browsers are initially set up to accept cookies. If you prefer, you can restart your browser either to notify you when you've received a cookie, or to refuse to accept cookies. You should understand that areas of certain sites will not function properly if you set your browser to not accept cookies.
Use of Information
Any information you provide to Tripod when registering for Tripod's products and services is maintained and accessible only by Tripod, the Lycos Network of sites, and only a few of Tripod's service providers. We use the information collected to provide you the best products and service on the Web and the ability to personalize portions of our site. Some of these personalized services are made available directly by Tripod ("Info Flashes" is a good example of such a personalized service). In other instances it is our service providers who provide these tailored services (such as Barnesandnoble.com's Affiliate Program or Cdnow's Cosmic Credit).
We analyze search habits in hope of presenting our users with the most relevant and valuable advertising information. We develop summary - not individual - reports for our advertisers. The advertisers who make it possible for you to use Tripod for free need information to determine the effectiveness of their advertising investments. We never tell our advertisers who it was that saw or clicked on their advertisements unless you have specifically told us this is acceptable.
Occasionally, we will send you communications via e-mail providing you useful information about product enhancements or new products and services. It is our policy only to send e-mail to customers who give us permission to do so. Instructions for unsubscribing are included in these e-mails. For further instructions, please see the "Opt-out Policy" below.
Sharing of Information
Except as described in this Privacy statement, Tripod will never willfully disclose individually identifiable information about its customers to any third party without first receiving that customer's permission. The individually identifiable information that you provide will be used extensively within the Lycos Network to provide a personalized experience to you. It will also be shared with Tripod's partners that provide some of the personalized content on our site (see "Use of the Information" above for some examples) and other third parties unrelated to offerings on the Lycos Network, but only if you have given your permission for this to occur. Our privacy guarantee to you remains unchanged.
Opt-Out Features
Tripod believes its users should control the communications directed to them. Every time we collect name and address information about you:
- You can tell us if you don't want to receive communication from Tripod such as email newsletters announcing contests or new features
- You can tell us if you don't want to receive communication from third-party companies who offer a product or service that we think would be of value to you.
Correcting and Updating
Our Membership Service Department ([email protected]) and Help Section (http://help.tripod.com) enable you to correct and update your personally identifiable (member) information online or via e-mail.
Deleting/Delist
Currently, as a Tripod member you can reach our Membership Services Department ([email protected]) to delete or deactivate your information from the database.
