BEAT THE STREET GAME:
TheStreet.com
Privacy Policy
Last revised: January 12, 2007
TheStreet.com, Inc. shares your concern about the protection of your personal information online. This is our policy regarding the privacy of information we collect on our web sites. We have recently revised our policy. Please take some time to review the new version below.
This Privacy Policy includes examples of the types of personal information we collect and the kinds of companies with whom we share such information. These examples are illustrative and should not be considered a complete inventory of our information collection, use and sharing practices. We will comply with applicable state laws that may restrict the types of information we may disclose about you or require us to provide you with additional notices.
Information Gathered and Tracked by TheStreet.com, Inc.
TheStreet.com, Inc. gathers two types of data about users: (a) personal information, which individual users provide (i) when registering as a member of TheStreet.com, our free flagship site, (ii) when registering as a subscriber to one of our premium subscription services, and (iii) voluntarily at certain other points, such as contests or surveys; and (b) tracking information, which is automatically collected about all visitors to our sites.
PERSONAL INFORMATION
TheStreet.com collects personal information in several places on our web sites, which are set forth generally below. 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 over the telephone or via email.
Membership
Currently, we do not require users to become members of TheStreet.com in order to have access to the free commentary, analysis and news available on our flagship site, www.thestreet.com. However, if you'd like to receive one or more of our free email newsletters, gain access select commentary articles from RealMoney and daily archives of Jim Cramer's radio program, or use our MyStockWatch service to filter content from TheStreet.com, we require you to register here to become a member.
In order to register, you'll have to supply us with your email and postal addresses, choose a unique User Name and Password, and provide us with some additional information about you (the reason for your visit to TheStreet.com, what kind of investor you are, etc.). Additionally, 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.
Premium Services
If you'd like access to one or more of our premium subscription-based services, you first must register as a member of TheStreet.com as described above, and then you'll have to pick a unique User Name and Password. Then, on the subscription registration page for the premium service you are interested in, you'll need to supply us with the information specified to activate your free trial or paid subscription.
Real-Time Portfolio Tracker
You may, at your option, subscribe to a real-time, streaming Real-Time Portfolio Tracker, which is provided to us as a result of a partnership with B4Utrade.com Corp. Use of the B4Utrade.com Real-Time Portfolio Tracker is completely voluntary and is the privacy or your portfolio information is governed by B4Utrade.com's Privacy Policy.
MyStockWatch
We provide a free service called MyStockWatch, which you can use to stay current on TheStreet.com or RealMoney coverage of stocks in your portfolio. Registered members of TheStreet.com may create up to five lists with a maximum of 50 tickers each. You must therefore enter in tickers of stocks you are interested in following. This information is kept confidential and is not utilized for marketing purposes by TheStreet.com.
Blogs and Chats
We provide blogs featuring running commentary throughout the trading day by RealMoney's most popular contributors, including Jim Cramer. This exciting feature allows subscribers to respond to a blogger's commentary or to another subscriber's post. The blogs are provided subject to their own terms of use, which can be found here. Only paid subscribers of our RealMoney service may use the blogs. 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. We also host chat events for discussion of various topics. Please note that information you submit to the blogs or during a chat 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 reactions to a particular article. Because information obtained in these surveys is connected with individual subscribers and is used internally 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 sometimes 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 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 data 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.
Tracking by TheStreet.com
We use cookies in several ways to track user behavior. First, 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.com, Inc. 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" or "one pixel .gif files") to measure the effectiveness of our advertisements.
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.
Revenue Science
In addition to our own internal tracking, we utilize the services of Revenue Science, a company that provides data analyses and audience segmentation services, in order to better target advertising to our visitors based on their activity on our sites.
- To view Revenue Science's privacy policy, click here.
- Revenue Science does not collect personally identifiable information, but instead performs real-time targeting of advertising based on anonymously tracked user activity. This enables us to serve advertisements that are more likely to be interesting to users based on their activity on our sites.
- If you would like to opt out of Revenue Science's association of tracking information with your browser, please click here and follow the instructions on the page.
Atlas
TheStreet.com uses Atlas, an operating unit of aQuantive, Inc., a digital marketing company.
- The privacy policy of Atlas can be found here.
- Atlas serves TheStreet.com advertisements on our own sites and on web sites from which we have purchased online advertising, such as Yahoo! Inc. and MSN Money. Atlas also uses web beacons to collect anonymous, non-personally identifiable tracking information about users who register with our site through such advertisements, including the user's anonymous cookie ID, the specific advertisement posted on the site, the time and place of delivery. The identities of all users who see an ad from an Atlas server remain completely anonymous to Atlas.
- If you would like to opt-out from such tracking, click here, and Atlas will change your cookie to one that does not contain a unique user ID number, which will prevent Atlas from collecting any information from your use of the Internet by preventing information from being associated with your browser.
Coremetrics
Coremetrics, an online marketing analysis company, is used by TheStreet.com to collect data as to what pages our customers are visiting and what, if any, pattern of page viewing exists. We utilize Coremetrics to analyze such customer activity data solely to better serve the interests of our customers. Only non-personally identifiable information is collected by Coremetrics for analysis, using anonymous cookies, and all such data belongs to TheStreet.com.
- If you would like to opt-out of this collection of tracking data, click here and follow the instructions to select one of the two available options for opting out.
- We also use Coremetrics to analyze anonymous commerce data to determine the performance of our marketing campaigns. To view the privacy policy of Coremetrics, click here.
Omniture
TheStreet.com uses Omniture, Inc., a provider of online business optimization software, to assist us in the capture and analysis of customer usage and tracking information. Omniture acts as a limited agent to TheStreet.com only for the purpose of providing such services. Any information obtained by Omniture from TheStreet.com is and will remain TheStreet.com's property, and will be treated by Omniture as proprietary and confidential information of TheStreet.com. As such, Omniture will not disclose such information to any third party, unless specifically and rightfully instructed to do so by TheStreet.com. Omniture will not review, share, distribute, print, or reference any session data of visitors to TheStreet.com websites except as requested by TheStreet.com or as may be required by law.
- To view the privacy policy of Omniture, click here. If you do not wish to allow your session visitation information to be aggregated and analyzed by Omniture, you may utilize the opt out mechanism found under the heading "OPT OUT METHOD" here.
Tracking by our Advertisers
TheStreet.com's advertisers include financial services companies (such as brokerage firms, banks, and mortgage companies) and non-financial services companies (such as computer manufacturers, software companies, automobile makers and retail stores). TheStreet.com's advertisers and advertising vendors display targeted advertisements. Although TheStreet.com does not provide any personal information to the advertiser or advertising vendor, by interacting with or clicking on an ad you consent to the possibility that the advertiser will assume you meet the targeting criteria used.
In addition to cookies placed by TheStreet.com or its agents, as described above, advertisers and advertising vendors that serve ads onto our web sites may use their own cookies or other tracking technologies. We cannot be responsible for the privacy policies or practices of any such advertisers and vendors.
DoubleClick
If you would like to know more about the privacy practices of our primary third-party ad server, please click here to view DoubleClick's privacy policy. DoubleClick collects certain non-personally identifiable information in order to better target advertising to you.
- If you would like to opt-out, click here, and DoubleClick will change your cookie to one that does not contain a unique user ID number, which will prevent DoubleClick from collecting any information from your use of the Internet.
Avenue A|Razorfish
Some advertisements on our site are served by interactive advertising agency Avenue A|Razorfish, another operating unit of aQuantive, Inc.
- The privacy policy of Avenue A|Razorfish can be found here.
- In addition to its own cookies, Avenue A|Razorfish uses "action tags" to measure the effectiveness of its ads on behalf of its clients. Avenue A|Razorfish uses an action tag to set or read its cookie. Any information that Avenue A|Razorfish collects using these cookies and action tags is completely anonymous. Avenue A|Razorfish may use information about your visits to this and other web sites in order to provide advertisements about goods and services of interest to you. Unless otherwise notified, Avenue A does not use names, addresses, e-mail addresses or telephone numbers, and does not link online actions to an identifiable person.
- The cookies and action tags utilized by Avenue A|Razorfish are served by Atlas, which is also an aQuantive, Inc. company. If you would like to opt-out, which will prevent Avenue A|Razorfish from collecting any information from your use of the Internet, click here, and Atlas will change your cookie to one that does not contain a unique user ID number.
USE OF THE INFORMATION
TheStreet.com, Inc. uses personal information obtained from its users as stated in this Privacy Policy, and to enhance users' experiences on our sites.
Disclosures Permitted by Law
TheStreet.com 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:
- 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, sending direct mail 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;
- In response to subpoenas, court orders, or legal process, from law enforcement agencies or state and federal regulators;
- 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 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.
Disclosures for Joint Marketing and Servicing
TheStreet.com 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 financial institutions, such as banks, insurance companies and securities broker-dealers, with whom we have joint marketing agreements.
Other Uses
- Free Newsletters
If you're a registered member of TheStreet.com, we use your email address to send you 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 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. EST. - Premium Services
If you're a subscriber, we use your email address, postal address or fax number, as applicable, to deliver our premium products and services. You can view your account information at any time by visiting the Account Information page 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. EST. - Special Offers and Advertisements
We may from time to time send you special offers and advertisements for products or services offered by third parties. We will not disclose any of your personal information to such third parties when we do this. If you do not wish to receive third party offers and advertisements, please change your settings on our Communication Preferences page, 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. EST.
CORRECTING AND UPDATING THE INFORMATION
TheStreet.com offers to its members the ability to correct or update online the information we collected during registration by visiting the Account Information 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. EST.
SECURITY
TheStreet.com, Inc. 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.com, Inc. 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.com's sites. Those companies' privacy policies will govern how they collect, use and disclose personal information that you provide to them.
Questions or comments regarding this policy should be directed to privacy@thestreet.com. TheStreet.com, Inc. reserves the right to modify this policy.
