This policy will let you know:

1. What personally identifiable information is collected from you;
2. What cookies are and how they are used;
3. How your information is used;
4. Who is collecting your information;
5. With whom your information may be shared;
6. What choices are available to you regarding collection, use, and distribution of your information;
7. How you can access, update or delete your information;
8. The kind of security precautions that are in place to protect the loss, misuse, or alteration of your information;
9. What else you should know about your online privacy.

NOTICE: Click here for important information about safe surfing from the Federal Trade Commission.

Housing 101 collects information in several ways from different parts of our network of web sites.

Some personal information is gathered when you register. During registration, Housing 101 asks for your name, email address, and other personal information. The more information you volunteer (and the more accurate it is), the better we are able to customize your experience. Once you register you are no longer anonymous to Housing 101 - you are given a Housing 101 ID and are able to take full advantage of Housing 101's many offerings.

In addition to registration we may ask you for personal information at other times, including (but not limited to) when you enter a sweepstakes, contest or promotion sponsored by Housing 101 and/or our many partners; when you post a Housing 101 Classified ad; and when you report a problem with one of our sites or services. If you contact Housing 101 we may keep a record of that correspondence. Housing 101 also occasionally asks users to complete surveys that we use for internal research. Wherever Housing 101 collects personal information we make an effort to include a link to this Privacy Policy on that page.

As part of offering and providing customizable and personalized services, Housing 101 uses cookies to store and sometimes track information about you. A cookie is a small amount of data that is sent to your browser from a web server and stored on your computer's hard drive. All sites on Housing 101 where you are prompted to log-in or that are customizable require that you accept cookies. (See "What are my choices regarding collection, use and distribution of my information?" for more information on cookies.)

Generally, we use cookies to:

(1) Remind us of who you are and to access your account information (stored on our computers) in order to deliver to you a better and more personalized service. This cookie is set when you register or "Sign In" and is modified when you "Sign Out" of our services.

(2) Estimate our audience size. Each browser accessing US Housing is given a unique cookie which is then used to determine the extent of repeat usage, usage by a registered user versus by an unregistered user, and to help target advertisements based on user interests and behavior.

(4) Measure certain traffic patterns, which areas of Housing 101's network of web sites you have visited, and your visiting patterns in the aggregate. We use this research to understand how our users' habits are similar or different from one another so that we can make each new experience on Housing 101 a better one. We may use this information to better personalize the content, banners, and promotions that you and other users will see on our sites.

Advertising networks that serve ads onto Housing 101 may also use their own cookies.

Housing 101 also collects IP addresses for system administration and to report aggregate information to our advertisers. In addition, Housing 101 Mail includes IP addresses in outgoing mail message headers.

Housing 101's primary goal in collecting personal information is to provide you, the user, with a customized experience on our network of sites. This includes personalization services, interactive communications, many other types of services, most of which are completely free to you. In order to provide services free of charge, we display advertisements. By knowing a little about you, Housing 101 is able to deliver more relevant advertisements and content, and hence better service, to you.

In our role of delivering targeted advertisements, Housing 101 plays the middleman. Advertisers give us an advertisement and tell us the type of audience they want to reach (for example, males over 35 years old). Housing 101 takes the advertisement and displays it to users meeting that criteria. In this process, the advertiser never has access to individual account information. Only Housing 101 has access to individuals' accounts. This kind of advertisement targeting is done with banner ads as well as promotional email through Housing 101 Delivers.

When you are on a Housing 101 site and are asked for personal information, you are sharing that information with Housing 101 alone.

Promotions that run on Housing 101 may be sponsored by companies other than Housing 101 or may be cosponsored by Housing 101 and another company. Some or all data collected during a promotion may be shared with the sponsor. If data will be shared, you will be notified prior to the time of data collection or transfer. You can decide not to participate in the promotion if you don't want your data to be shared. Currently, most Housing 101 promotions are limited to US or North American residents.

Please be aware that Housing 101 advertisers or web sites that have links on our site may collect personally identifiable information about you. The information practices of those web sites linked to Housing 101 are not covered by this privacy statement.

As a general rule, Housing 101 will not disclose any of your personally identifiable information except when we have your permission or under special circumstances, such as when we believe in good faith that the law requires it or under the circumstances described below. The following describes some of the ways that your information may be disclosed.

Business Partners & Sponsors: Housing 101 may disclose your personal information to business partners or sponsors, but this is specifically described to you prior to data collection or prior to transfering the data. Details of shared use can be found in specific Terms of Service or Use Agreements, and sweepstakes and promotions rules. Some or all data collected during a US Housing promotion may be shared with a sponsor. If personally identifying data about you will be shared, we will tell you before we collect or transfer the data.

Many promotions offer opportunities to request additional information from sponsors. By requesting more information, you give Housing 101 permission to transfer your personal information to the sponsor so they can fulfill your request. In many instances, only your email address will be shared. If more information will be shared with the sponsor, you will be notified prior to the transfer.

Third Party Data & Data in the Aggregate: Under confidentiality agreements, Housing 101 may match user information with third party data. Also, Housing 101 discloses aggregated user statistics (for example, 45% of our users are female) in order to describe our services to prospective partners, advertisers, and other third parties, and for other lawful purposes.

Other: Housing 101 may also disclose user information in special cases when we have reason to believe that disclosing this information is necessary to identify, contact or bring legal action against someone who may be causing injury to or interference with (either intentionally or unintentionally) Housing 101's rights or property, other Housing 101 users, or anyone else that could be harmed by such activities. Housing 101 may disclose user information when we believe in good faith that the law requires it and for administrative and other purposes that we deem necessary to maintain and improve our products and services.

If you indicated upon registration that you are interested in receiving offers or information from Housing 101 and our partners, we may occasionally send you e-mail about products and services that we feel may be of interest to you. Only Housing 101 (or agents working on behalf of Housing 101 and under confidentiality agreements) will send you these direct mailings and only if you indicated that you do not object to these offers. If you do not want to receive such mailings, simply tell us when you give us your personal information. Or, at any time you can easily edit your Housing 101 Account Information to no longer receive such offers and mailings. You will need your Housing 101 ID and Password in order to access your Housing 101 Account Information.

On some types of Housing 101 promotions, we will ask for your email address in order to update you on your score, entries, and status in prize drawings. When you participate in these types of promotions, you automatically receive promotion-related email, unless you choose the no-email option that some promotions offer. Occasionally these promotion-related email messages may include targeted advertisements.

You also have choices with respect to cookies. By modifying your browser preferences, you have the choice to accept all cookies, to be notified when a cookie is set, or to reject all cookies. If you choose to reject all cookies you will be unable to use those Housing 101 services that require registration in order to participate.

Housing 101 does not sell or rent user information to anyone. We will notify you at the time of data collection or transfer if your data will be shared with a third party and you will always have the option of not permitting the transfer. If you do not wish to allow your data to be shared, you can choose not to use a particular service or not to participate in certain promotions or contests.

You may edit your Housing 101 Account Information and your public Housing 101 Profile at any time by using your Housing 101 Login and password. If you have forgotten your password, you can request a new password. For all other problems signing in to Housing 101, please contact our webmaster.

Your Housing 101 account can be deleted or deactivated, but doing so will result in not being able to access any members-only area of the Housing 101 network. If you saved the confirmation email you received when you first created your Housing 101 account, you can use the URL provided in that message to delete your account at any time. Please contact us for further instructions about deleting or deactivating your Housing 101 account.

If you are participating in a Housing 101 promotion and you wish to update your email address on the promotions mailing list or to quit a promotion and cease receiving promotion-related email, please contact us.

Your Housing 101 Account Information and Housing 101 Profile are password-protected so that you and only you have access to this personal information. You may edit your Housing 101 Account Information and Housing 101 Profile by using your Housing 101 Login and Password.

We recommend that you do not divulge your password to anyone. Housing 101 will never ask you for your password in an unsolicited phone call or in an unsolicited email. Also remember to sign out of your Housing 101 account by quiting the browser application when you have finished your work. This is to ensure that others cannot access your personal information if you share a computer with someone else or are using a computer in a public place like a library or Internet cafe.

Unfortunately, no data transmission over the Internet can be guaranteed to be 100% secure. As a result, while we strive to protect your personal information, Housing 101 cannot ensure or warrant the security of any information you transmit to us or from our online products or services, and you do so at your own risk. Once we receive your transmission, we make our best effort to ensure its security on our systems.

Please keep in mind that whenever you voluntarily disclose personal information online - for example on message boards, through email, or in chat areas - that information can be collected and used by others. In short, if you post personal information online that is accessible to the public, you may receive unsolicited messages from other parties in return.

Ultimately, you are solely responsible for maintaining the secrecy of your passwords and/or any account information. Please be careful and responsible whenever you're online.

Please Contact Us with any questions regarding this statement.

Also see...

• Electronic Frontier Foundation - a civil liberties organization working to protect your rights online.
• Electronic Privacy Information Center - established to focus public attention on emerging civil liberties issues relating to the National Information Infrastructure.
• Privacy Issues Page - from the Center for Democracy and Technology (CDT).
• The EPIC Cookies Page - definitions, links, and news.
• How to Protect Your Privacy - information from the Federal Trade Commission.