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Protecting your privacy!

WEEKLY READER'S ONLINE PRIVACY POLICY for Weekly Reader (http://www.weeklyreader.com)

Last Updated April 2003

Weekly Reader is very proud to offer kids, teens, teachers, and parents a safe place to visit on the Internet.

This Privacy Policy applies to our online practices only.

The following policy applies to Weekly Reader's Web site, located at www.WeeklyReader.com.

Weekly Reader is committed to protecting the privacy and security of its online visitors. This policy statement provides all of our visitors with an overview of the measures we have taken to provide a safe environment for everyone. By visiting the Weekly Reader Web site, you are agreeing to this privacy.

PERSONALLY IDENTIFIABLE INFORMATION

We collect personally identifiable information from our visitors 13 years old or older only when such visitors voluntarily submit such information.

We do not collect personally identifiable information from children under the age of 13 without first obtaining verifiable parental consent, unless we use such information for one or more of the following reasons: (1) to obtain parental consent or to provide parents with notice; (2) to respond directly on a one-time basis to a child's specific request; (3) to respond more than once to a child's specific request along with providing parental notice of such use; (4) to protect the safety of a child; or (5) to comply with legal requirements. The consent and notification process mentioned above gives parents the ability to let us know if they do not want us to make further use of the personally identifiable information we have collected from their child. Weekly Reader is compliant with the Federal Trade Commission's Children's Online Privacy Protection Act of 1998 (COPPA). Please visit the Federal Trade Commission's Web site at http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/conline/edcams/coppa/intro.htm for more information.

We consider the following, among other things, to be personally identifiable information: first and last name, e-mail address, street address, and phone number. We may request such personally identifiable information from children in connection with our contests; sweepstakes; games; surveys; forums; subscription registrations; content submissions; classroom activities; requests for suggestions; visitors' requests for products or services (such as our magazines); or requests for additional information, so that we can contact a winner, answer questions or requests, and fulfill orders. Unless we indicate otherwise, personally identifiable information collected from visitors to WeeklyReader.com will be used solely by Weekly Reader; co-operators of any customized features on our site, such as the Weekly Reader Editor's Choice Store; or Weekly Reader's agents for internal purposes and will not be sold or otherwise transferred to third parties.

It is Weekly Reader's policy never to post on its site more than a child's first name; the first initial of a child's last name; and the child's state, age, or grade unless we have permission from a parent or legal guardian to do otherwise. Weekly Reader will always seek parental permission and will not post a child's personal or nonpersonal information online unless we have written or e-mail permission from a parent or legal guardian.

FOR PARENTS

There are many activities on the Weekly Reader site that children can participate in and enjoy without having to share personally identifiable information.

For those activities that require personally identifiable information, such as contests and sweepstakes (in compliance with the Federal Trade Commission's Children's Online Privacy Protection Act), Weekly Reader will not condition a child's participation on that child's disclosing more personally identifiable information than is reasonably necessary to administer the activity. For certain online activities, we require verifiable parental consent before collecting or using a child's personally identifiable information. With those activities, Weekly Reader will notify the respective parent of our privacy policy and will obtain verifiable parental consent before collecting personally identifiable information from a child, unless one of the exceptions discussed above applies.

Parents can request to review or have deleted their child's personally identifiable information from Weekly Reader's records and can refuse to permit further use of a child's information by e-mailing Weekly Reader at weeklyreader@weeklyreader.com.

In some areas of our site, we collect personally identifiable information from parents. We use the personally identifiable information that parents provide to us to customize the content on WeeklyReader.com to parents' current and future needs. In addition, parents' personally identifiable information may be used to provide parents, via e-mail or other means, information about materials and activities that may be of interest to parents, including products or services of third parties. For those reasons, we may share such information with third parties. If you do not wish to receive such information or if you prefer not to have your personally identifiable information shared with third parties, please let us know. Either indicate which media notification you no longer wish to receive or indicate that you do not want to have your personally identifiable information shared with third parties, along with your name, home address, e-mail address, and phone number, and e-mail this information to weeklyreader@weeklyreader.com.

FOR TEACHERS

There are many teachers' activities on the Weekly Reader site that enable teachers to add dimensions to their classroom and students' activities. In order to create such online classroom activities, we will collect personally identifiable information from teachers and have teachers provide a password to their students so that students can publish materials online and do other class activities online through the use of such passwords. We will enable such passwords only with the verifiable consent provided by teachers acting on behalf of parents. We also have an eNewsletter, Subscriber and Special Offer emails teachers can voluntarily sign up for on our Web site. If you sign up for our newsletter, you will be entered into our database and receive this valuable resource free of charge.

A teacher may revoke the consent she or he has provided on behalf of her or his students' parents or inquire about personally identifiable information that has been collected from a student on WeeklyReader.com, by e-mailing us at weeklyreader@weeklyreader.com.

When teachers register with our site, we use their sign-in information, which contains personally identifiable information, to ensure that only the teacher who has signed in has access to his or her personal areas of the site. For example, only registered teachers are permitted to access his or her Writing Pals program or other programs that Weekly Reader Corporation may implement to assist teachers online in the future.

We also use the personally identifiable information that teachers provide to us to customize the content on WeeklyReader.com to teachers' current and future needs. In addition, teachers' personally identifiable information may be used to provide teachers, via e-mail or other means, information about materials and activities that may be of interest to teachers, including products or services of third parties. For these reasons, we may share such information with third parties. If you do not wish to receive such information or if you prefer not to have your personally identifiable information shared with third parties, please let us know. Either indicate which media notification you no longer wish to receive or indicate that you do not want to have your personally identifiable information shared with third parties; include your name, school address, e-mail address, and phone number, and e-mail this information to weeklyreader@weeklyreader.com. If you opt out of receiving third-party mailings, Weekly Reader will not share your e-mail address with third parties outside of the Weekly Reader Corporation and its partner companies.

FOR KIDS

Remember to be smart online. Do not give out your full name, e-mail address, home address, telephone number, or any other personal information that would enable someone to contact you either online or off line, without first asking your parent or guardian for permission. Sometimes on our site we will ask you for your first name and e-mail address along with your parents' e-mail or home address. We do this so that we can contact your parents to let them know that you have communicated with us and that we have collected this information from you.

NON-PERSONALLY IDENTIFIABLE INFORMATION AND THE USE OF COOKIE TECHNOLOGY

We collect non-personally identifiable information through the use of a software technology called "cookies" and through our visitors' voluntary submissions to us and/or upon our request. By non-personally identifiable information, we are referring to information about our visitors' browsers (e.g., Netscape Navigator or Internet Explorer), operating systems (e.g., Windows or Macintosh), Internet service providers (e.g., AOL or NET.COM), and other similar information which we track in aggregate form. The non-personally identifiable information that we track is anonymous and will never be identified with or lead us back to any of our visitors.

Cookie technology helps us to know how many people visit us and where visitors go on our site. Cookies are small bits of information we send to your computer. Among other things, this non-personally identifiable information allows us to know which areas are favorites, which areas need a bit of improvement, or which technologies and Internet services are being used by our visitors so that we may continually improve our visitors' online experiences.

USE OF IP ADDRESSES

We collect IP addresses to obtain aggregate information on the use of WeeklyReader.com. An IP address is a number assigned to your computer by a Web server when you're on the Web. When you are on our site, we have a back-end server that logs your computer's IP address. We only use the information we find out from tracking IP addresses in the aggregate, such as how many users entered a specific area of our site, and not to track a specific IP address to identify an individual user. We will use such information to identify a user only if we feel that there are or may be safety and/or security issues or to comply with legal requirements.

THIRD-PARTY ADVERTISING SERVERS

At times, we may use third-party advertising companies to serve ads when you visit our Web site. These companies may (via cookies, GIFs, or otherwise) use aggregate information (not including your name, address, e-mail address, telephone number, or any other personally identifiable information) about your visits to this and other Web sites in order to provide advertisements about goods and services that may be of interest to you. We do not share your information with those parties unless you fill out a form on our site and do not indicate that you do not wish Weekly Reader to share your information with third parties. If the form on our site does not have this check box, you will not receive communications from third parties. We do not allow those companies to collect information about you from our site, and we do not give those companies the right to collect or use personally identifiable information.

SECURITY

Weekly Reader Corporation ensures that all personally identifiable information that it receives via the Internet is secure against unauthorized access. This information is kept in a safe and secure system. That means that no eyes but ours will ever see the information that our visitors send to us, unless we indicate otherwise.

Weekly Reader takes every precaution to protect the personal and private information that you voluntarily submit to WeeklyReader.com. We do not collect private information from you unless you authorize such an act by willingly giving us your information when it is requested on the Weekly Reader Web site. Any information you submit to us, unless otherwise noted, is stored in a secure database. No one other than employees of Weekly Reader Corporation has access to the information stored in its databases. The private information that you submit voluntarily is not given or shown to any third-party companies or affiliates unless otherwise specified in our privacy policy or on the Weekly Reader Web site. We take every effort to use the latest software and to update our systems to ensure that your information is safe and cannot be viewed by anyone other than authorized personnel of the Weekly Reader Corporation.

Weekly Reader Corporation does not release or sell any personally identifiable information about Weekly Reader Web-site visitors to any third party for any purpose whatsoever unless otherwise stated at the time of collection.

WHY ARE WE SO SAFE?

Weekly Reader owns a secure certificate from VeriSign, an internationally recognized organization. Your information is encrypted through Secure Socket Layer (SSL) during transmission to our databases. If you wish to learn more about VeriSign, please visit its Web site at www.verisign.com. It encrypts all of your personal and credit card information so that this information cannot be read as it travels to our ordering system, and once it is received, it is stored in a secure location.

MORE GUARANTEE DETAILS

Under the Fair Credit Billing Act, your bank cannot hold you liable for more than $50 of unauthorized charges. Note that, in the event of unauthorized use of your credit card, you must notify your credit-card provider in accordance with its reporting rules and procedures.

LINKS TO OTHER SITES

Visitors will find links from WeeklyReader.com to independently owned, controlled, and/or managed World Wide Web or Internet sites whose content we have found of possible interest to our visitors. In many cases, but not always, the links represent cooperative projects or mutual links established with the organizations connected with these sites. While we initially visit these sites to which we directly link, please note that we do not monitor or control the content that appears on those sites and that such content may change constantly. We recommend that children check with their parents or teachers before clicking off to any new sites, and we encourage all end-users of WeeklyReader.com to read the privacy policies of all linked sites before navigating through them.

YOUR ACCEPTANCE OF THESE TERMS

By using the Weekly Reader Web site, you accept the conditions of our privacy policy. If you do not accept, please do not use our Web site. Please note that we may revise our above policy as the content on our site continues to change. After a change takes place, your continued use of Weekly Reader Web site means you accept those changes.

Our privacy standards are very high, and we value our relationship with our Weekly Reader Web-site users. If you have any questions about our privacy policy and security measures, please contact us directly at webteam@weeklyreader.com.

We hope that you enjoy exploring our Web site.