ASSTR Site Privacy Statement

This privacy statement is applicable to the https://www.asstr.org and http://assm.asstr.org World Wide Web sites operated by ASSTR and does not necessarily apply to any third-party web site hosted at or by ASSTR, including, but not limited to, and /nifty/ ("Nifty.org mirror site").

ASSTR does not collect personally identifiable information about individuals except when such individuals specifically provide such information on a voluntary basis. For example, such personally identifiable information may be gathered from a contest, survey, or sweepstakes registration, the registration process for subscription sites or services and in connection with content submissions, community postings (e.g., chat and bulletin boards), suggestions, voting/polling activities and transactional areas. Personally identifiable information on individual users will not be sold or otherwise transferred to unaffiliated third parties without the approval of the user at the time of collection. At such points of collection, the user will have the opportunity to indicate whether he or she would like to "opt out" of receiving promotional and/or marketing information about other products, services and offerings from ASSTR and/or any third parties. Further, notwithstanding any opt out of promotional information by the user, ASSTR reserves the right to contact a subscriber regarding account status, changes to the subscriber agreement and other matters relevant to the underlying service and/or the information collected.

ASSTR reserves the right to perform statistical analyses of user behavior and characteristics in order to measure interest in and use of the various areas of the site. ASSTR will provide only aggregated data from these analyses to third parties.

Additionally, users should be aware that when they voluntarily disclose personally identifiable information (e.g., user name, e-mail address) on any ASSTR public bulletin boards or in any chat areas of the ASSTR Site, that information, along with any substantive information disclosed in the user's communication, can be collected and correlated and used by third parties and may result in unsolicited messages from other posters or third parties. Such activities are beyond the control of ASSTR.

Users also should be aware that non-personal information and data may be automatically collected through the standard operation of ASSTR's internet servers or through the use of "cookies." "Cookies" are small text files a web site can use to recognize repeat users, facilitate the user's ongoing access to and use of the site and allow a site to track usage behavior and compile aggregate data that will allow content improvements. Cookies are not programs that come onto a user's system and damage files. Generally, cookies work by assigning a unique number to the user that has no meaning outside the assigning site. If a user does not want information collected through the use of cookies, there is a simple procedure in most browsers that allows the user to deny or accept the cookie feature; however, users should note that cookies may be necessary to provide the user with certain features (e.g., customized delivery of information) available on the ASSTR Site.

Upon request, ASSTR will allow any user to "opt out" of further promotional contacts at any time. Additionally upon request, ASSTR will use reasonable efforts to allow users to update/correct personal information previously submitted which the user states is erroneous to the extent such activities will not compromise privacy or security interests. Also, upon a user's request, ASSTR will use commercially reasonable efforts to functionally delete the user and his or her personal information from its database; however, it may be impossible to delete a user's entry without some residual information because of backups and records of deletions.

The foregoing policies are effective as of January 1, 2000. ASSTR reserves the right to change this policy at any time by notifying users of the existence of a new privacy statement. This statement and the policies outlined herein are not intended to and do not create any contractual or other legal rights in or on behalf of any party.