What is Shark Bait?
How is Shark Bait different from Shark Tank?
How do I submit something to Shark Bait?
Can I submit anything?
Can I submit my bait anonymously?
Can I comment anonymously?
What are points? How do I get them?
How do ratings work?
How do I submit feedback?
Privacy Policy

What is Shark Bait?

Shark Bait is a place for you to sound off about everything IT -- the good, the bad, and the just plain weird stuff that you have to deal with every day. It might be a gripe about someone you work with who just doesn't get I.T. It could be a complaint about ridiculous UI in an application you're working on. Or it may be a rave about a gadget that you got for your birthday.

You can also leave comments about other people's "baits", or assign them a rating. In other words, you can lay bait, or rate bait. Or say the bait is too late, or that it's just not great. 'K?

How is Shark Bait different from Shark Tank?

There is a connection. Shark Bait grew out of recognition that Computerworld readers love Shark Tank , a long-time feature that's based on true stories of IT cluelessness and mishaps. You will notice that some of the baits in Shark Bait are the same types of stories that you'll see in Shark Tank.

But there are some differences, too. Shark Tank highlights that amusing place where people and technology collide, but Shark Bait gets into other subjects -- a slam against a company, a rant about a piece of hardware, or a glowing recommendation of a tool that you just can't live without.

Also, Shark Tank is written by Sharky, based on user submissions. Shark Bait is created by users, and the baits tend to be raw -- the baits include lots of details as well as the unfiltered voices of readers.

And, most importantly, while submissions that are used for Shark Tank are rewarded with a free Sharky T-shirt (submit your entry here ), Shark Bait rewards users with instant gratification, and, if you are registered user, points.

How do I submit something to Shark Bait?

Just click on this link, and follow the instructions.

Can I submit anything?

Just like a real shark won't go for a rubber ducky or plastic lures, Shark Bait feeds off raw meat from the IT world. Shark Bait will spit out offtopic baits and comments, spam, or anything we suspect isn't the real deal.

Other no-nos:

• Potentially libelous baits
• Obscene or off-color baits
• Personal attacks, insults, or threatening language
• Hateful or mean-spirited remarks.
• Plagiarized material or material that violates intellectual property rights.
• Private, personal information published without consent.
• Commercial promotions or spam.
• Hyperlinks to material that is not directly related to the discussion.
• Meaningless baits or comments that are intended to game the points system
• Anything that violates the law.

So, if it's about IT, you can submit it. Editors may edit the bait for length, clarity, links, or other iffy bits. Most baits are immediately published as-is, but editors remove anything that is inappropriate. Registered users who repeatedly abuse the Shark Bait service will have their accounts disabled or deleted.

Also, be sure to read Computerworld's terms of service and privacy policy before you submit.

Can I submit my bait anonymously?

Yes, but you won't get points for it.

Can I comment anonymously?

Yes, but you won't get any points.

What are points? How do I get them?

You have to be a registered user and logged in to get points. You get 1000 points just for registering (sign up here). You get 500 points for posting a valid bait, and 100 points awarded for leaving a valid comment (deleted baits or comments will result in equivalent point levels being subtracted). Those with the greatest number of points make it onto our Big Fish roster, which lists the 20 users with the most points.

Points are worth gift certificates at ThinkGeek. Click here for more information.

How do ratings work?

Any visitor can rate baits on a scale of 1 to 5 sharks. 1 means bad, 5 means good. All ratings for a bait are combined into a Current Rating.

Comments can also be rated up or down, but only by logged in users.

Yes, we know it's confusing to have two ratings systems but in the original plan there were actually going to be three!

How do I submit feedback?

Questions, complaints or suggestions about Shark Bait? Send them to: sharkbait@computerworld.com

All other questions related to Computerworld please visit the Computerworld Help Desk.

Policies

Use of Shark Bait is governed by the Computerworld Terms of Service, the Computerworld Privacy Policy, and other Computerworld policies listed below. Please read this document carefully before accepting these terms and completing Shark Bait registration. If you do not agree, you will be unable to complete registration.

Policies

1. COMPUTERWORLD TERMS OF SERVICE AGREEMENT

Terms and Conditions of Use
Welcome to COMPUTERWORLD ("Service"), an online service of Computerworld, Inc. ("CW"). Your use of the Service will be subject to the terms of this Terms of Service Agreement (TOS). The TOS may change from time to time. Use of service after a change will subject you to the new terms. IF YOU DO NOT AGREE TO THESE TERMS DO NOT USE THE SERVICE AS VIOLATION OF THE TERMS CAN LEAD TO LEGAL LIABILITY.

Participation and Conduct
During the term of this Agreement, COMPUTERWORLD grants to you a terminable at will non-exclusive license to use and display the Service, and to download materials available through the Service, all solely for your personal, non-commercial use. You may not transfer, assign, sub-license, lend, or re-sell the rights granted under this license. Any use in violation of these limits shall constitute a violation of the terms of this license. Absolutely no framing of our site is permitted.

You may participate in any blog comment or messaging threads offered through the Service, but you agree not to post any material the content of which (i) is defamatory, libelous, obscene, indecent, abusive, threatening to others, or in violation of any law; or (ii) infringes the copyright, trademark right, or other intellectual property right of any third party. You will be solely responsible for all content that you post on the Service.

You agree to indemnify CW and its officers and employees from and against all liabilities, judgments, damages, and costs (including attorney's fees) incurred by any of them which arise out of or are related to the content that you post. Blog comments and messaging are intended only for the personal use of subscribers, and may not be used for commercial purposes or for organized political activity.

COMPUTERWORLD reserves the right to monitor content posted on the Service, and to modify or remove any messages or postings that it deems, in its sole discretion, to be abusive, defamatory, in violation of the copyright, trademark right, or other intellectual property right of any third party, or otherwise inappropriate for the Service. COMPUTERWORLD also reserves the right to edit or modify any submissions in response to requests for feedback, Letters to the Editor, or other commentary. Notwithstanding the foregoing, COMPUTERWORLD is not obligated to take any such actions, and will not be responsible or liable for content posted by any subscriber in any blog, message board, or other area within the Service.

Copyright and Trademarks
The Service is the personal property of CW. CW retains the right to bar any individual or entity from the Service. Accessing the Service after being barred shall constitute an act of trespass. The Service and all materials published therein, including but not limited to articles, graphical images, interactive applications, audio clips, and video clips (collectively, the "Content"), are protected by copyright and are owned by COMPUTERWORLD or its licensors. You may not modify the Content or re-publish, re-transmit, or otherwise distribute directly or via links any Content to any third person except for your personal, non-commercial use, as permitted by the license granted above. It is understood that some of the content appearing on the site is news and as such releases are not obtained from individuals or entities for the use of the name, likeness, or trademarks. It is your sole obligation to a) determine if your uses require releases or permission, and b) to obtain the necessary releases.

COMPUTERWORLD, COMPUTERWORLD online and their respective logos are trademarks of International Data Group, Inc.. All other trademarks on the Service are the property of their respective holders.

Permissions
All requests for licensing, reprints, linking and other usage of material on Computerworld should be addressed to permissions@computerworld.com. We will review your request, and provide you with an approval or rejection as soon as we have evaluated the request. We will attempt to approve or disapprove within 24 hours of each request.

Exclusions of Warranty and Liability
THE SERVICE AND ANY EXECUTABLE PROGRAMS AND OTHER MATERIALS PROVIDED THROUGH THE SERVICE ARE PROVIDED "AS IS" AND WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, AND ALL EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES ARE HEREBY EXCLUDED, INCLUDING, WITHOUT LIMITATION, THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.CW DOES NOT WARRANT THAT THE SERVICE OR ANY MATERIALS OBTAINED THROUGH THE SERVICE ARE VIRUS-FREE. IF YOU DOWNLOAD EXECUTABLE PROGRAMS FROM THE SERVICE, THE ENTIRE RISK AS TO THE RESULTS AND PERFORMANCE OF SUCH PROGRAMS IS ASSUMED BY YOU. CW IS NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR THE ACCURACY OF OR ERRORS OR OMISSIONS IN ANY SUCH PROGRAMS, AND PCWCI DOES NOT WARRANT THAT THE OPERATION OF ANY SUCH PROGRAMS WILL BE UNINTERRUPTED OR ERROR-FREE, OR THAT ANY DEFECTS IN ANY SUCH PROGRAMS WILL BE CORRECTED. CW DOES NOT WARRANT THAT THE CONTENT OF ITS STORIES WILL BE ERROR FREE.

CW WILL NOT BE LIABLE FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, SPECIAL, INCIDENTAL, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES (INCLUDING, WITHOUT LIMITATION, DAMAGES RESULTING FROM LOST PROFITS OR REVENUE; LOSS OF USE OF OR RELIANCE ON THE SERVICE, INFORMATION PROVIDED OR OF ANY EXECUTABLE PROGRAMS; LOSS OF USE OF DATA OR EQUIPMENT; OR OTHER SIMILAR DAMAGES) ARISING OUT OF THE USE OR INABILITY TO USE THE SERVICE OR ANY EXECUTABLE PROGRAM OBTAINED THROUGH THE SERVICE, EVEN IF CW HAS BEEN ADVISED OF THE LIKELIHOOD OF SUCH DAMAGES. IN NO EVENT SHALL CW'S TOTAL LIABILITY TO YOU FOR ALL DAMAGES, LOSSES AND CAUSES OF ACTION (WHETHER IN CONTRACT, TORT, OR OTHERWISE) RELATING TO THE SERVICE EXCEED $100.

SOME STATES DO NOT ALLOW EXCLUSION OR LIMITATION OF IMPLIED WARRANTIES OR LIMITATION OF LIABILITY FOR INCIDENTAL OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES, SO THE ABOVE LIMITATIONS MAY NOT APPLY TO YOU.

Notices
CW may give notice to you through general posting on the Service, through postal notification, or through e-mail notification, in its sole discretion. You may give notice to CW via e-mail at online@computerworld.com, by postal mail to One Speen Street, Framingham, MA 01701 U.S.A., or via facsimile to (508) 879-0184.

CW reserves the right, in its sole discretion, to restrict or block the access of any subscriber to the Service, or any section thereof.

General
Any failure by CW to enforce any provision of this Agreement shall not be construed as a continuing waiver of any rights under such provision. In the event that any portion of this Agreement is held unenforceable, the remaining provisions of the Agreement shall remain in full force and effect.

Indemnity
In the event you breach the terms of this license, or if, any claims are made against CW (its employees, officers or directors resulting from your actions) you shall be liable to CW for all damages, costs, judgments, expenses (including reasonable attorney fees) which it incurs.

This Agreement shall be governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of the State of Massachusetts, as applied to contracts entered into and performed within Massachusetts. You agree to grant jurisdiction over yourself to the courts of Massachusetts and designate it as the forum for resolution of all disputes arising under this Agreement.

This Agreement states the entire agreement between the parties with respect to the Service, and all prior or contemporaneous agreements are merged herein and superseded hereby.

2. COPYRIGHT INFORMATION

Copyright and Trademarks
The Service and all materials published therein, including but not limited to articles, graphical images, interactive applications, audio clips, and video clips (collectively, the "Content"), are protected by copyright and are owned by COMPUTERWORLD or its licensors. You may not modify the Content or re-publish, re-transmit, or otherwise distribute any Content to any third person. You may copy and display the Content solely for your personal, non-commercial use, as permitted by the license granted above.

COMPUTERWORLD, COMPUTERWORLD online and their respective logos are trademarks of International Data Group, Inc.. All other trademarks on the Service are the property of their respective holders.

Permissions
All requests for licensing, reprints, and other usage of material on Computerworld should be addressed to permissions@computerworld.com. We will review your request, and provide you with an approval or rejection as soon as we have evaluated the request. We will attempt to approve or disapprove within 24 hours of each request.

3. EDITORIAL GUIDELINES FOR IDG SITES

The same ASME principles that mandate distinct treatment of editorial content, advertisements, and special advertising sections ("advertorials") in print publications also apply to online editorial projects bearing the names of print magazines or offering themselves as electronic magazines. The dynamic technology of electronic pages and hypertext links create a high potential for reader confusion. Permitting such confusion betrays reader trust and undermines the credibility not only of the offending online publication or editorial product, but also of the publisher itself. It is therefore the responsibility of each online publication to make clear to its readers which online content is editorial and which is advertising, and to prevent any juxtaposition that gives the impression that editorial material was created for–or influenced by–advertisers.*

Note: Computerworld stories are archived on this Web site for historical purposes. Information in the stories is accurate at the time the story is posted. However, product specifications and availability, promotions, prices, relationships, contact numbers and other specific information may change over time. Information as stated in the story may or may not be in effect after the date on the story.

4. 10 CORPORATE RULES OF CONDUCT

We hereby call on editors, publishers, and advertisers to follow this set of standards:

1. The home page of a publication's Web site (or other electronic venue) shall identify the publication by displaying its name and logo prominently in order to make clear who controls the content of the site. All editorial content is under the sole control of editors.

2. All online pages should clearly distinguish between editorial and advertising or sponsored content. If any content comes from a source other than the editors, it should be clearly labeled. A magazine's name or logo should not be used in a way that suggests editorial endorsement of an advertiser. The site's sponsorship policies should be clearly noted, either in text accompanying the article or on a disclosure page (see item 8), to clarify that the sponsor had no input regarding the content.

3. Hypertext links that appear within the editorial content of a site, including those within graphics, should be at the discretion of the editors. If links are paid for by advertisers, that should be disclosed to users. Links from editorial content to advertisements on the site are not permitted.

4. Special advertising or "advertorial" features should be labeled as such.

5. To protect the brand, editors/producers should not permit their content to be used on an advertiser's site without an explanation of the relationship (e.g. "Reprinted with permission").

6. E-commerce commissions and other affiliate fees should be reported on a disclosure page, so users can see that the content is credible and free of commercial influence. Exact fees need not be mentioned, but users who are concerned about underlying business relationships can be thus reassured.

7. Advertisers or e-commerce partners should not receive preferential treatment in search engines, price comparisons and other applications presented under the content provider's brand. An editorial site should not try to vouch for others' tools that it may offer.

8. A Web site should respect the privacy of its users. If a site intends to collect information about its visitors--whether the data will be disseminated to third parties or not--it must offer users a chance to decline if they choose, through an "opt-out" option. As part of its privacy policy, the site should explain its use of cookies and other data collection methods and tell what it intends to do with the information it gleans. Potential benefits to the user–broader site access, better personalization features, etc.–should be presented as well.

* Original ASME guidelines are in plain text; IDG-specific additions are in bold

5. COMPUTERWORLD ONLINE PRIVACY POLICY

The Computerworld Web site and associated sites are maintained by

Computerworld, Inc.
One Speen Street
Framingham, MA 01701.

Computerworld collects personally identifying information and data about individuals, their company, and the companies demographics (“personally identifying information and data”) including (i) when you provide information to Computerworld, such as when you register or sign up for any of our products such as publications, subscriptions, e-mails, contests, newsletters, memberships, RSS Feeds, webcasts, White Papers, online seminars, conferences and other communications with Computerworld, (ii) when you register or sign up on the Computerworld site or when you register for any other IDG Publishing Network products individually or through “auto register”, your information will be known to Computerworld and (iii) from time to time we may add other information that we collect from third party sources to enhance the information that you provided to Computerworld

Below is the current policy regarding the usage of personally identifying information and data collected by Computerworld. We reevaluate this policy on an ongoing basis based on feedback from readers. Computerworld reserves the right to change its privacy policy. However, if there are any changes to the use of personally identifying information and data that is different from that stated at the time of collection, we will notify you by posting a notice on our website.

Computerworld or one of our IDG affiliated companies, or third party partners may place a "cookie" in the browser files of a user's computer. The cookie itself does not contain any personally identifying information, except when such information has been supplied by a subscriber or registered user.

If you have registered with Computerworld, the information in your "cookie" is used to provide a more personalized experience on our Web site.

For example, in our forums, a cookie allows us to show you which posted messages are new since your last log-in. You may change your forum registration profile information in our Community Service Center.

If you haven't registered with our site, we may place a cookie on your system to help provide a more personalized experience on Computerworld.com. This cookie identifies you as a unique user by means of a tracking ID. However, if you have not registered on our site, we cannot link that user ID with personal identifying information and data about you such as your name or e-mail address.

Other cookies without personally identifying information and data are used to enable Computerworld to manage the banner advertisements presented or personalized information to the user.

Browsers or third-party software can allow you to block the use of cookies while you surf our site. Or, you can use third-party "anonymizer" services to mask information in your cookies, or even general data such as your IP address. In such cases you would not be able to take advantage of most of the personalization services offered by Computerworld.com.

The aggregated information we collect is used for a number of purposes including the following :

1. to improve the content and design of the Computerworld Web site

2. to enable our audit bureau to verify our claims of traffic to the site

3. to help advertisers, potential advertisers or marketers assess the suitability of the site for their ad campaigns

4. as clear GIFs, also known as pixel tags, provided by our ad-serving company to help manage online advertising. These clear GIFS let our ad-serving company recognize a browser's cookie when a user visits our site. The information we collect and share through this technology is not personally identifiable (It does not include your name, address, telephone number or e-mail address). For more information about our ad-serving company or for your choices about not having this anonymous information used, please visit www.doubleclick.net .

5. Computerworld has contracted with DoubleClick to serve all advertising on www.computerworld.com, both on the Web site itself and through its e-mail newsletters. When DoubleClick is serving ads, it recognizes certain types of non-personally identifiable information, such as a user's IP address, browser version or type, operating system, service provider and time zone. DoubleClick also uses cookies to note the general content of the sites that users visit over time in order to serve ads on this site and other sites. Any pages a user calls up on www.computerworld.com aren't connected with personally identifiable information collected either at www.computerworld.com or elsewhere. For more details about the non-personally identifiable information DoubleClick collects and the opportunity to opt out of such data collection, please visit www.doubleclick.net/privacy_policy/. We use web metric vendors to gather information to help us understand how users utilize our websites and other electronic products.

6. We may create and use aggregate customer data to understand more about the interests of our customers and may use the data to offer goods and services we believe may be of interest to our customers, on behalf of Computerworld, its sister IDG companies, or select organizations.

7. Computerworld has partnered with ThinkGeek, Inc. to provide gift certificates in exchange for points earned on Shark Bait (http://sharkbait.computerworld.com). By participating in this program you agree to the following terms and conditions:

I. Computerworld reserves the right to:
a. terminate this offer at any time without prior notice
b. alter the requirements and conditions for earning points and their value in gift certificates at any time
c. share with ThinkGeek contact information about Shark Bait registrants obtained through Shark Bait registration
d. cancel at any time an account deemed fraudulent for reasons including, but not limited to: duplicate accounts, fraudulent posting/commenting and valueless posts/comments
e. remove points from an account earned through fraudulent actions
f. cap the number of gift certificates given within a certain timeframe
II. Computerworld is in no way responsible or liable for any products obtained through ThinkGeek or for the availability of any ThinkGeek services or products
III. Points have no cash value
IV. Gift Certificates may be exchanged only on merchandise as offered through ThinkGeek at the time of redemption and are governed by the terms and conditions set by ThinkGeek, Inc.
V. Computerworld is in no way responsible for lost or stolen merchandise once points have been redeemed.
VI. Once removed, Points will not be reinstated to your account.
VII. In conjunction with redeeming points, registrants agree to confirm that all contact information in their Shark Bait account is up-to-date and accurate.
VIII. Delivery of gift certificates is not guaranteed and is subject to ThinkGeek’s terms and conditions
IX. Accounts that have met Computerworld’s point requirements in a given time period will be sent to ThinkGeek for prize fulfillment at the sole discretion of ThinkGeek.

Postal addresses, and other personally identifying information and data will be used to promote Computerworld and other IDG companies' products and services, and may be rented and/or licensed to selected outside firms for promotional purposes. Offers for which the personally identifying information and data are rented and/or licensed for use and the users are required to target their offers carefully.

Telephone numbers of Computerworld print subscribers are used by Computerworld to collect re-qualification data and may be used by Computerworld, IDG and other IDG companies, affiliates and it's advertisers for promotional purposes. Computerworld may rent and/or license for use phone numbers to selected outside firms for promotional purposes. Offers for which the numbers are rented and/or licensed for use are required to target their offers carefully.

Fax numbers of Computerworld print subscribers are used by Computerworld to collect re-qualification data and may be used for surveys for Computerworld and third parties. Except as set forth in this policy no fax numbers are rented and/or licensed to outside firms.

E-mail addresses of Computerworld print subscribers are used for re-qualification purposes. These e-mail addresses may also be used to collect feedback by members of our editorial or research team, to promote Computerworld and IDG products and services, and they may be rented to other firms and/or licensed for promotional purposes. When you provide your email address to us, you agree to receive email from Computerworld and its sister IDG companies, and the IDG Network. We allow users to "opt-out" of receiving e-mail from outside firms, however, when e-mail information is collected and with each e-mail use of the user's address you can individually “opt-out” of receiving further e-mail from outside firms, Computerworld, its sister IDG companies and the IDG Network If a user does not choose to “opt-out” at the time the e-mail address is collected, or does not respond to the questions concerning how we may use their email address, the address may be rented and/or licensed for use to outside firms. Offers for which the e-mail address is rented and/or licensed for use require the users to target their offers carefully.

Users who later decide they want to change their preferences may do so at http://www.computerworld.com/action/member.do?command=newsletterLogin

Personal identifying information submitted on portions of our site developed with outside third parties may be shared with those third parties, and the information will be governed by those parties' privacy policies as well as Computerworld's. Computerworld, nor any of its parent companies or any of its subsidiaries or affiliates do not bear any responsibility for any actions or policies of such third parties.

Computerworld users should be aware that when they disclose personal identifying information (e.g., user name, address, company name, telephone number, demographic information, buying information, other data and E-mail address) in discussion forums, chat rooms or other areas that are publicly accessible by others, that information can be collected and used by others and may result in unsolicited messages from other posters or parties. Computerworld nor its parent company or any of its subsidiaries or affiliates are not responsible for any information that you provide in the above areas.

In the event that the ownership of Computerworld or any of its products are sold or transferred, all lists and data which contains personally identifying information and data including for example user name, address, company name, telephone number, demographic information, buying information, other data and e-mail address, will be transferred to the new owner.

6. PRINT SUBSCRIBER AND "AUTO REGISTER" PRIVACY POLICY

Computerworld collects personally identifying information and data about individuals their company and the company’s demographics (“personally identifying information and data”) (i) when you provide information to Computerworld, such as when you register or sign up for any of our products such as publications, subscriptions, RSS Feeds, web casts, White Papers, online seminars, conferences emails, contests, newsletters, memberships and other communications with Computerworld. (ii) when you register or sign up on the Computerworld site or when you register for any other IDG Publishing Network products individually or through “auto register”, your information will be known to Computerworld and (iii) from time to time we may add other information that we collect from third party sources to enhance the information that you provided to Computerworld.

Below is the current policy regarding the usage of personally identifying information and data collected by Computerworld. We reevaluate this policy on an ongoing basis based on feedback from readers. Computerworld reserves the right to change its privacy policy. However, if there are any changes to the use of personally identifying information and data that is different from that stated at the time of collection, we will notify you by posting a notice on our website.

Subscribers and applicants for Computerworld Print subscriptions are asked to complete a questionnaire with personally identifying information and demographics. The data is used in a number of ways including the following:

1. to improve the content of Computerworld

2. to notify subscribers about re-qualification and renewal

3. used by us for marketing Computerworld products and services

4. used by our audit bureau to verify cumulative demographic statistics

5. used by Computerworld, IDG, its subsidiaries and its affiliates and IDC for research surveys

6. used by Editorial for consultation with readers

Postal addresses, and other personally identifying information and data will be used to promote Computerworld and IDG products and services, and may be rented and/or licensed to selected outside firms for promotional purposes. Offers for which the names are rented and/or licensed for use and the users are required to target their offers carefully.

Telephone numbers of Computerworld print subscribers are used by Computerworld to collect re-qualification data and may be used by Computerworld, IDG, its subsidiaries and affiliates, their advertisers for promotional purposes. Computerworld may rent and/or license for use telephone numbers to selected outside firms for promotional purposes. Offers for which the telephone numbers are rented and/or licensed for use require users to target their offers carefully.

Fax numbers of Computerworld print subscribers are used by Computerworld to collect re-qualification data and may be used for surveys for Computerworld, IDG and its affiliates and third parties. Except as set forth in this policy, no fax numbers are rented and/or licensed to outside firms.

E-mail addresses of Computerworld print subscribers are used for re-qualification purposes. These e-mail addresses may also be used to collect feedback from subscribers by members of our editorial or research team, to promote Computerworld and IDG products and services, and they may be rented and/or licensed to other firms for promotional purposes. When you provide your email address to us, you agree to receive email from Computerworld, its sister IDG companies and the IDG Network. We allow users to "opt-out" of receiving e-mail from outside firms, however, when e-mail information is collected and with each e-mail use of the user's address you can individually “opt-out” of receiving further email from outside firms, Computerworld and its sister IDG companies. If a user does not “opt-out” at the time the e-mail address is collected, or does not respond to the questions concerning how we may use their email address, the address may be rented and/or licensed to outside firms. Offers for which the e-mail address is rented and/or licensed for use require the users to target their offers carefully.

In the event that the ownership of Computerworld or any of its products are sold the all lists and data which contains personally identifying information and data including for example user name, address, company name, telephone number, demographic information, buying information, other data and e-mail address, will be transferred to the new owner.

Print Subscribers or applicants who do not want their names used in any of the above ways may write and ask to be removed from the promotion list. Requests should be sent to:

Computerworld
P.O. Box 3500
Northbrook, IL 60065-3500

7. IDG PUBLISHING NETWORK ONLINE REGISTRATION PRIVACY POLICY

Below is the current policy regarding the usage of personally identifying information and data collected by the IDG Publishing Network. We reevaluate this policy on an ongoing basis based on feedback from readers. The IDG Publishing Network reserves the right to change its privacy policy. However, if there are any changes to the use of personally identifiable information and data that is different from that stated at the time of collection, we will notify you by posting a notice on our website.

About the IDG Publishing Network
The International Data Group, Inc. (IDG) family of on-line and print publications consists of hundreds of award-winning titles including CIO, CSO, Darwin, InfoWorld, Computerworld, Game Pro, Network World, Macworld and PC World. The IDG Publishing Network is a growing collection of IDG web sites that presently includes cio.com, csoonline.com, computerworld.com, darwinmag.com, infoworld.com, networkworld.com, macworld.com, maccentral.com, pcworld.com and gamepro.com. A complete listing is available at www.idg.com.

To access restricted content on any IDG Publishing Network web site you must be a member of the IDG Publishing Network. To become a member of the IDG Publishing Network, you need to provide certain information about yourself. Any of the IDG Publishing Network sites may use this identifying information for internal analytical and business development purposes and, to send you email. However, other forms of communication, including postal mail, may be directed to you pursuant to the site's specific privacy policy, as may be updated from time to time.

You can "opt-out" of receiving further email by clicking the appropriate links that appear at the bottom of any email you receive. If you do not want to receive other types of communication, including as applicable, postal mail, from the editor and publisher of the site, please refer to the site's privacy policy for the procedure to follow.

The IDG Publishing Network is intended for individuals over the age of 13 years old. Personal information may not be provided by anyone under 13 years of age. Further no one under 13 years old may participate in the forums or chat rooms or any other areas where public discussions may take place. In addition no one under that age of 18 may conduct any transactions for the purposes or purchasing or selling any items. Parents should be sure that their children are not conducting any of the above activities on the IDG Publishing Network.

If you have any questions or comments regarding the IDG Publishing Network or its use of information please send email to IDGNetwork@idg.com or write to us at IDG Publishing Network, 3 Post Office Square, Boston, MA 02109.