Privacy Policy
Last revised: March 16, 2011
TheStreet.com, Inc. ("TheStreet") shares your concern about the protection of your personal information online. This is our Privacy Policy regarding the information we collect on our web sites. Please note that this Privacy Policy may change from time to time. If changed, we will post an updated Privacy Policy on this page for your review.
Questions or comments regarding this policy should be directed to privacy@thestreet.com.
This Policy applies to TheStreet Portfolio of Websites as such term is defined in the Terms of Use.
Information Gathered and Tracked by TheStreet
We gather two types of data about our users: personal information and tracking information.
PERSONAL INFORMATION
Personal information is provided by users when registering as a member of TheStreet, our free flagship site, or another one of our free websites, when registering as a subscriber to one of our premium subscription services, and voluntarily at certain other points, such as entering contests or completing surveys. We will always provide a secure area of our sites for you to enter your information, but if you prefer, you may talk offline to a customer service representative and provide the required information by email at members@thestreet.com, or by telephone at (866) 321-TSCM (8726), between the hours of 8:00 a.m. and 6:00 p.m. ET.
Currently, we do not require users to become members of TheStreet in order to have access to the free commentary, analysis and news available on TheStreet. However, if you would like to receive one or more of our free email newsletters, access our free portfolio tool, use certain other parts, or access additional products or features of our websites, we require you to register to become a member.
In order to register, you will have to supply us with your email address and choose a unique User Name and Password. You will be required to verify your email address by clicking on the activation link in the Welcome Letter that will be sent to you upon your submission of a completed registration form.
If you would like access to one or more of our premium subscription-based services, you first must register as a member of TheStreet as described above. Then, on the subscription registration page for the premium service you are interested in, you will need to supply us with the information specified to activate your free trial or paid subscription. This may include credit card or other payment account information which we maintain in encrypted form on secure servers. By registering, you consent to our using your information to contact you for account maintenance issues, or with offers for our products or services or the products or services of third parties. This contact may occur in any manner, including without limitation, via direct mail, email or telephone.
- Portfolio Tool - We provide a free portfolio tool which registered members of TheStreet can use to stay current on stocks in their portfolio. Participant's portfolio information is kept confidential.
- White Papers - We may offer white papers on various investment and financial topics. In order to download these special reports, you may be required to enter your email address, phone number and/or some additional personal information.
- Blogs - We may offer blogs featuring running commentary throughout the trading day by some of our most popular contributors. These blogs allow subscribers to respond to a blogger's commentary or to another subscriber's post. Access to some blogs may require a paid subscription to one of our premium services. We urge and encourage participants posting comments on the blogs to include their full name in any comment and to disclose any positions held in securities they discuss in any comment. Please note that information submitted to the blogs will be available for any user of that service to read, and is no longer private.
- Surveys/Polls - At certain times, you may be asked to participate in surveys, which are generally aimed at obtaining general information, for example, your investment experience or your reaction to a particular article. Because information obtained in these surveys is connected with individual subscribers and is used internally or by third-party partners to better market our services, participation is voluntary. In addition, some columnists will on occasion take polls of their readers. Such polls are solely for the editorial use of the individual columnists, and participation is voluntary.
- Contests and Sweepstakes - We may offer contests or sweepstakes in which certain personal information is required for registration, for purposes of verifying the entrants' identities and notifying the winners. If the contest or sweepstakes is being administered or sponsored by a third party, this information will be disclosed to that third party. However, entrants may select contest names distinct from their User Names, and the information is not connected with their User Names.
TRACKING INFORMATION
Tracking information is automatically collected about all visitors to our sites. This information consists of both individual and aggregated tracking information and is automatically gathered using "cookies." A cookie is a small data file containing information, such as a user's login name, that is written to the user's hard drive by a web server and used to track the pages visited.
We use cookies in several ways to track user behavior. Cookies store visitors' preferences and past activity in order to provide better service when visitors return. They are also used to customize the web page content on visitors' browser type or other information that the visitor sends. The information we gather on an individual basis is used for internal purposes only, such as accessing a member's account information. We also use tracking information on an aggregate basis, to track the readership of stories and usage of our products, to analyze traffic patterns on our sites, and to provide anonymous reporting of usage for internal and external clients. In all cases, cookies used by TheStreet are encoded and contain a unique digital signature to prevent tampering. They do not contain user passwords. We also employ technology that is commonly referred to as "action tags" (also known as "web beacons," "scripts" or "one pixel .gif files") to measure the effectiveness of our advertisements.
In addition to cookies placed by TheStreet or its agents, as described above, advertisers and third-party advertising vendors, including Google, that serve ads onto our web sites, and other third party partners may use their own cookies or other tracking technologies for advertising or other purposes. We cannot be responsible for the privacy policies or practices of any such advertisers and vendors. Additionally, third party advertising vendors, including Google, show our ads on sites on the Internet. These companies utilize certain technologies including cookies to deliver targeted advertisements and marketing messages and to collect information about your visit to our sites and other web sites. If you would like more information about this practice or to opt out of having this information used by companies that are part of the Network Advertising Initiative to provide targeted ads, please visit http://www.networkadvertising.org/optout_nonppii.asp.
You can control your browser's settings regarding cookies by selecting "Internet Options" or "Preferences" in the menu bar of your browser. This will allow you to prevent your browser from accepting new cookies, have your browser notify you when you receive a new cookie, or disable cookies altogether. However, because cookies allow you to easily navigate our web sites without having to constantly log in using your User Name and Password, we recommend that you leave them turned on.
USE OF THE INFORMATION
TheStreet uses the personal information and tracking information obtained from its users as stated in this Privacy Policy, and for the following purposes:
- To enhance users' experiences on our sites, including the display of customized content and advertising;
- To improve our content;
- To notify visitors about updates to our web sites;
- To maintain and improve our websites;
- To ensure the technical functioning of our web sites and services;
- To provide you via email, telephone, or SMS text message with information and offers for our products and services, as well as free email newsletters containing selected stories, market information, advertisements and links to our sites. You can select which free newsletters you would like to receive or remove yourself from our free newsletter delivery list at any time by visiting the Communication Preferences page under Your Account or contacting our customer service department by email at members@thestreet.com or by telephone at (866) 321-TSCM (8726), between the hours of 8:00 a.m. and 6:00 p.m. ET;
- To deliver our premium products and services. You can view your account information at any time by visiting the Your Account or by contacting our customer service department by email at members@thestreet.com or by telephone at (866) 321-TSCM (8726), between the hours of 8:00 a.m. and 6:00 p.m. ET; and
- To contact you via email, telephone, or SMS text message with special offers and advertisements for products or services offered by third parties. If you do not wish to receive third party offers and advertisements, please change your settings on our Communication Preferences page under Your Account, or contact our customer service department by email at members@thestreet.com or by telephone at (866) 321-TSCM (8726), between the hours of 8:00 a.m. and 6:00 p.m. ET.
TheStreet does not sell or disclose personal information about you described above to with other people or nonaffiliated companies, except to provide you with products or services, when we have your permission, or under the following circumstances:
- In response to subpoenas, court orders, or legal process, from law enforcement agencies or state and federal regulators;
- We provide the information to our subsidiaries and affiliated companies;
- We provide the information on a confidential basis to nonaffiliated companies we engage as contractors or agents to perform services for us, such as maintaining software or administering a sweepstakes or contest. Information will be shared with such contractors only to the extent reasonably necessary for them to perform services on our behalf, and pursuant to confidentiality obligations;
- If we sell or otherwise transfer substantially all of our assets related to any web site that we own or operate and any product or service that we offer. In that event, we will require such third party to honor our then-current Privacy Policy, until the third party provides you with notice of changes to our Privacy Policy and permits you to exercise any rights you may have under applicable law to limit disclosures of information about you;
- We may disclose all the information we collect as described above to other companies such as direct marketers to perform marketing services on our behalf, or to third parties with whom we have joint marketing agreements; and
- We may share with third parties certain pieces of aggregated, non-personal information, such as the number of users who clicked on a particular link or how many users clicked on a particular advertisement. Such information does not identify you individually.
PUBLIC FORUMS
Chat rooms, forums, message boards, and/or news groups are available to you through our Web site. Please remember that any information disclosed in these areas becomes public information. If you post personal information online that is accessible to the public, you may receive unsolicited responses. You should exercise caution when deciding to disclose any of your personal information in a public forum.
CORRECTING AND UPDATING THE INFORMATION
TheStreet offers to its members the ability to correct or update online the information we collected during registration by visiting the Your Account page. You may also contact our customer service department by email at members@thestreet.com or by telephone at (866) 321-TSCM (8726), between the hours of 8:00 a.m. and 6:00 p.m. ET.
SECURITY
TheStreet limits access to personal information about you to those employees whom we determine need access to that information to provide products or services to you. We maintain physical, electronic and procedural safeguards that comply with federal standards to guard your personal information. However, no security system is impenetrable. We cannot guarantee the security of our servers, nor can we guarantee that information that users supply will not be intercepted while being transmitted to us over the Internet.
FORMER CUSTOMERS
TheStreet discloses personal information about former customers only in accordance with this Privacy Policy.
YOUR INDEPENDENT RELATIONSHIPS WITH OTHER COMPANIES
Please note that this Privacy Policy will not apply to your independent relationships with other companies that from time to time may offer you products and services on TheStreet's sites. Those companies' privacy policies will govern how they collect, use and disclose personal information that you provide to them. TheStreet is not responsible for the privacy practices or content of those websites. We encourage you to review the privacy policy of any company before submitting your personal information.
Questions or comments regarding this policy should be directed to privacy@thestreet.com. TheStreet reserves the right to modify this policy.
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