CNET Networks, Inc.
Overall Privacy Statement
Your privacy on the Internet is of the utmost importance to us. Because we gather certain types of information about the users of CNET's network of sites and services, we feel you should fully understand the terms and conditions surrounding the capture and use of that information. This privacy statement discloses what information we gather, how we use it, and how to correct or change it.
1. Information CNET Gathers and Tracks
CNET gathers three types of information about users: data that users provide through optional, voluntary registrations on several of our sites and in certain contests and sweepstakes; data that is voluntarily transmitted to CNET through the utilization of CatchUP; and data CNET gathers through aggregating tracking information derived mainly by tallying page views throughout our sites and click through on our newsletters. Such information enables us to better tailor our content to readers' needs and to help our advertisers better understand the demographics of our audience. Because CNET derives its revenue mainly from advertising, providing such aggregated demographic data is essential to keeping our service free to users. The only situation in which CNET divulges information about an individual user to a third party is with certain contests and sweepstakes--and then, only with the user's express consent.
CNET gathers user information in the following processes:
• Optional Registration
Several CNET sites offer free, voluntary registration to users: CNET.com, News.com, and Gamecenter.com. By registering, users can enter the sites without having to log on each time; they gain access to the polling area; and they can take advantage of personalization (the ability to select content according to a user-supplied profile).
During registration the user is required to supply a username, password, and email address, and must answer mandatory survey questions about age, gender, income, Internet connection, zip code, country, employment status, and other employment information.
During registration the user has the option of supplying a first name, last name, and password hint. In addition, the user can opt to subscribe to various CNET electronic newsletters and to have his or her email address and/or URL appear in postings.
• Polling
Several CNET sites offer interactive polls to users so they can easily share their opinions with other users and see what the CNET audience thinks about important issues. CNET uses a system to "tag" users after they have voted, so they can vote only once on a particular question. This tag is not correlated with information about individual users.
• CNET Auctions
To actively participate in auctions, users must register (this is separate from CNET registration). During registration the user is required to supply a username and password, along with a name, full address, daytime phone, and credit card information. CNET will never divulge personally identifiable information to a third party (except to comply with federal and state laws).
• Message Boards/Forums
Users of the CNET Message Boards and of Builder.com's Builder Buzz bulletin board must register separately for these services (both are free of charge) in order to post messages, although they needn't register to visit the site. During registration the user is required to supply a username, password, and email address.
• Electronic Newsletters (Dispatches)
All the CNET sites except Search.com offer a free electronic newsletter to users. CNET gathers the email addresses of users who voluntarily subscribe. Users may remove themselves from this mailing list through the subscription management pages. Users can also subscribe to the newsletters at the time of registration.
CNET delivers newsletters, marketing and product offerings via email to only registered recipients from our subscription center. The email tracking system recognizes the URL that was clicked, and records some information about you and your computer, such as the email address that you provided to us, the browser, operating system and IP address.
CNET also uses the feature of your browser to set a "cookie" on your system. This allows us to measure and report the click through rate on e-mails delivered and them better determine future content.
While aggregate counts of click through behavior are provided to advertisers, an advertiser will never know that a specific user clicked their ad. CNET does not target advertising against specific user information. CNET will not provide specific user information to any third party company.
• News.com's "Send This Story to a Friend" Service
A reader can choose to electronically forward a news story to someone else by clicking the link at the top of that story. The user must provide their email address, as well as that of the recipient. This information is used only in the case of transmission errors and, of course, to let the recipient know who sent the story. The information is not used for any other purpose.
• Surveys
Occasionally CNET conducts user surveys to better target our content to our audience. We sometimes share the aggregated demographic information in these surveys with our advertisers and partners. We never share any of this information about specific individuals with any third party.
• Contests and Sweepstakes
CNET offers contests and sweepstakes in which we request certain personal information. At a minimum, the required information includes name and email address; in some cases, the user must answer mandatory survey questions about a range of other personal data. The information gathered in the entry form is used to verify the entrant's identity, to send the entrant an email notification that their entry has been received, and to contact winners and/or prize recipients. There are two situations in which CNET will divulge this information to a third party--provided the user gives express consent:
1. A user may expressly choose to receive additional information from the contest sponsor, in which case the user's personally identifiable information is divulged to the advertiser.
2. Some of the contests may be hosted on the CNET site but administered by the sponsor; in such cases, the information a user provides is passed on to the third party as long as that user gives express consent.
Because the rules and terms of each contest can vary, all information about each contest is clearly posted during the event. All contests and sweepstakes are conducted in full accordance with United States federal and state laws.
• Usage Tracking
CNET tracks user traffic patterns throughout all of our sites.
CNET sometimes tracks and catalogs the search terms that users enter in Search.com, but this tracking is never associated with individual users.
• Clear GIFs
On occasion, CNET uses clear GIFs to track user traffic patterns. CNET does not aggregate or track personally identifiable information when using clear GIFs, only usage patterns.
• Cookies
A cookie is a small data file that certain Web sites write to your hard drive when you visit them. A cookie file can contain information such as a user ID that the site uses to track the pages you've visited. But the only personal information a cookie can contain is information you supply yourself. A cookie can't read data off your hard disk or read cookie files created by other sites. CNET uses cookies to track user traffic patterns (as described above), when you register as a CNET member, and when you click an ad:
Registration: when you register, CNET uses a cookie to store a unique, random user ID. We do not store passwords or any personal information about you. We use this ID to identify you anonymously in our database and to track the pages you visit on our site. Cookies also enable you to enter CNET sites as a member without having to log on each time, and to visit member-restricted areas of the sites. We encrypt the user ID for added security.
Ads: CNET's advertising system delivers a one-time cookie to better track ad impressions and click rates.
If you've set your browser to warn you before accepting cookies, you will receive the warning message with each cookie.
You can refuse cookies by turning them off in your browser. You do not need to have cookies turned on to use any CNET site. However, you do need cookies to participate actively in CNET Auctions and CNET Message Boards.
• CNET Help.com
To post messages to CNET Help.com's question-and-answer service, the user must register separately and provide a valid email address. When the user posts a question or answer, it is sent out to public-domain newsgroups, along with the email address they provided during registration. These newsgroups are not in any way affiliated with CNET.
• CatchUp
The CNET CatchUp application and service uses proprietary technology to scan a computer and retrieve information regarding installed software and hardware. The information compiled by the application can voluntarily be submitted by users to generate customized results information. The information is not transmitted or stored with any personally identifying information, such as a user name or e-mail address.
• Opt-in Email Newsletters
CNET offers free email newsletters to users in association with NetCreations' PostMasterDirect, an independent company that creates targeted email newsletters to announce various products and services. When users subscribe to a CNET newsletter, they are given the opportunity to opt in, or join, announcement lists administered by PostMasterDirect. If users choose to opt in for an announcement list, they will receive email newsletters from third parties via PostMasterDirect on topics selected by the users. Users may have their email addresses removed from the opt-in announcement lists at any time by following the instructions printed in the email newsletters.
PostMasterDirect's email tracking system recognizes when a URL in the newsletter is clicked, and records information about the user and the user's computer, such as the email address registered with PostMasterDirect, the browser, the operating system, and the user's IP address. Use of this information is governed by CNET's privacy policy and the PostMasterDirect privacy policy. Personally identifiable information will not be used by CNET or PostMasterDirect for any purpose other than to deliver the newsletters. Neither CNET nor PostMasterDirect will provide this information to any third party.
• SavvySearch and MP3Meta.com
SavvySearch and MP3meta.com display banner advertising from third-party ad network Flycast.
During the process of delivering an ad to you, Flycast does not collect any personally identifiable information about you such as name, address, phone number, or email address. However, Flycast does obtain some types of non-personally identifiable information such as the service provider you use to connect to the Internet, your browser type, or your computer operating system (Mac OS or Windows, for example). The information collected by Flycast is used for the purpose of targeting ads and measuring ad effectiveness on behalf of our advertisers.
In some cases, you may voluntarily provide personal information in response to a specific ad (this ad may ask you to fill out a survey or provide your zip/postal code). If this does occur, Flycast may collect this information on behalf of an advertiser. This information is used by an advertiser to respond to your request. In addition, Flycast may combine this information with other users' information and review it in an aggregate form to understand the type of individuals who view a specific type of ad or visit a particular kind of Web site.
Flycast issues a cookie the first time it serves you an ad. A cookie is a unique number that is stored in a cookie file on your computer, and it helps Flycast target ads to you. This cookie helps Flycast ensure that it doesn't serve you the same ad multiple times, and helps advertisers in the Flycast Network to better understand usage patterns. Cookies are not required for Flycast to deliver ads. If you would like to opt out--that is, to prevent data from being stored by Flycast--please click here.
In addition, the anonymous preference and interest information collected by Flycast is provided by Flycast to Engage Technologies and is used by Engage to create anonymous profiles on individual browsers. This information does not include any personally identifiable data (such as name, address, or email address) that is considered sensitive or controversial or would compromise your privacy. Engage profiles are accessed by Engage-enabled Web sites and marketers to tailor site content, promotions, and advertising, and to perform market research. Engage allows you to opt out of these profiles at any time. To do so, visit its site, where you can receive an opt-out tag that disables your browser from being recognized by the Engage system.
To find out more about how Flycast manages the privacy of information in conjunction with serving ads on this site, please visit Flycast's privacy page.
2. Use of the Information
CNET uses any information voluntarily given by our users to enhance their experience in our network of sites, whether to provide interactive or personalized elements on the sites or to better prepare future content based on the interests of our users.
- As stated above, CNET uses information that users voluntarily provide in order to send out electronic newsletters and to enable users to participate in polls, contests, message boards, and auctions. We send out newsletters to subscribers on a regular schedule (daily or weekly, depending on the newsletter), and occasionally send out special editions when we think subscribers might be particularly interested in something we are doing. CNET never shares newsletter mailing lists with any third parties, including advertisers or partners.
- When we use tracking information to determine which areas of our sites users like and don't like based on traffic to those areas. CNET does not track what individual users read, but rather how well each page performs overall. This helps us continue to build a better service for you.
- We track search terms entered in Search.com as one of many measures of what interests our users. But we don't track which terms a particular user enters.
- CNET creates aggregrate reports on user demographics and traffic patterns for advertisers and partners. This allows our advertisers to advertise more effectively, and allows our users to receive advertisements that are pertinent to their needs.
- Data gathered through the CatchUp service is used by CNET to optimize the service and improve the CNET sites and services.
- Data submitted through registration for opt-in email announcement newsletters are provided to PostMasterDirect so that it can deliver the announcements requested by users. This information is never shared with third parties, including the third parties that send announcements through PostMasterDirect. PostMasterDirect and CNET may use aggregated data regarding users' responses to the opt-in email announcement newsletters program to improve the service and to provide information to the companies sending the opt-in email announcements and to other advertisers.
3. Sharing of the Information
CNET uses the above-described information to tailor our content to suit your needs and help our advertisers better understand our audience's demographics. This is essential to keeping our service free. We do not share information about individual users with any third party, except in the case of some contests and sweepstakes--and then, only with a user's express consent. CNET may make registration records and log files available on a confidential basis to third-party auditors and to select measurement and analysis firms.
CNET has entered into an agreement to acquire Ziff-Davis, Inc., the operator of ZDNet.com, in a merger expected to close in October 2000. To prepare for the integration of the merger, CNET may share non-personally-identifiable information with Ziff-Davis.
CNET does not control the practices of our advertisers. If you have questions about how one of our advertisers uses information about you when you click their ad and go to their content, please contact them directly. (CNET will divulge information only as necessary to comply with state and federal laws.)
PostMasterDirect, CNET's partner in providing opt-in email announcement newsletters, has access to the information described in (2) above with respect to users who elect to receive opt-in email announcement newsletters. Neither CNET nor PostMasterDirect will share any of this information with third parties, including the companies that send announcements through PostMasterDirect. PostMasterDirect may use aggregated data regarding users' responses to the opt-in email announcement newsletters program to improve its services and to provide information to the companies sending the opt-in announcements.
4. Opt-out Policy
CNET gives users options wherever necessary and practical. Such choices include:
- Opting not to receive our electronic newsletters when registering for a site
- Opting not to provide certain personal information when registering for a site or when participating in some contests (see above)
- Opting not to participate in certain interactive areas, which completely alleviates the need to gather any personally identifiable information from our users
5. Correct/Update Policy
CNET offers users the ability to correct or change the information collected during registration for any site (see above). The instructions for doing this can be found in our Member Services area. Users may change this information at any time and as often as necessary. Users who are experiencing problems or who have any questions about how our services work can contact us at support@cnet.com.
6. Delete/Deactivate Policy
Users may unsubscribe to any of our electronic newsletters at any time by following the instructions contained at the end of every newsletter.
Currently, CNET does not offer users a means by which to completely delete personal information established at the time of registration for any site except CNET Auctions.
