. The Association of Apple Computer User Groups Policy, Use and Privacy Statement __ The Association of Apple Computer User Groups is not associated with nor a part of Apple Computer, Inc. the manufacturer of Apple Computers based in Cupertino California. AACUG is an independant, non-competing educational organization promoting and providing membership services to computer clubs (User Groups), owners and industry firms focusing on Apple Computer products. By accessing or using the AACUG Web site, you agree to the terms of the AACUG Online Privacy Policy, as outlined below. If you do not agree to these terms, please do not access or use this site. __ AACUG reserves the right to change the Online Privacy Policy from time to time at its sole discretion. Your use of this site will be subject to the most current version of the Online Privacy Policy at the time of such use. Collection of personal information When you engage in certain activities on this site, such as registering for events, downloading software, or entering contests, AACUG may ask you to provide certain information about yourself by filling out and submitting an online form. It is completely optional for you to engage in these activities. If you elect to engage in these activities, however, AACUG may ask that you provide us with your personal information, such as your first and last name, mailing address (including zip code), e-mail address, job title and department, telephone, and other personal identifying information. __ When ordering products or services on the site, you may be asked to provide a credit card number. Depending upon the activity, some of the information that we ask you to provide is identified as mandatory and some as voluntary. If you do not provide the mandatory data with respect to a particular activity, you will not be able to engage in that activity. __ When you submit personal information to AACUG on this site, you understand and agree that this information may be transferred across national boundaries and may be stored and processed in any of the countries in which AACUG and its affiliates and subsidiaries maintain offices, including without limitation, the United States. You also acknowledge that in certain countries or with respect to certain activities, the collection, transferring, storage and processing of your information may be undertaken by trusted vendors of AACUG . How your personal information is used AACUG collects your information in order to record and support your participation in the activities you select. For instance, if you enter a contest, information is collected to qualify the entry and contact you regarding the contest or prize awards. __ The information that you provide is also used as part of our effort to keep you informed about new programs, AACUG visits to your town, special offers, and other information that may pertain to you, your group, or your members. Your choices with respect to personal information AACUG recognizes and appreciates the importance of responsible use of information collected on this site. If any information you submit is of a nature that requires us to transmit the information to parties outside our relationship, then it will be CLEARLY indicated on the form in use, and you will be given the option to decline use of the form, or decline use of the information to outside sources. __ If you do not want to receive promotional materials regarding AACUG or third party products or services, and you indicate this preference when you provide your initial personal information, AACUG will honor your preference by not providing your information to such third parties. __ Sometimes AACUG is called upon to provide aggregate data to third parties for statistical analysis. Such data is never linked to any particular individual in any way. Protection of your personal information __ The personal information that you provide in connection with registering yourself as an AACUG member, or member group, strictly classified as Registration Information. Registration Information is protected in several ways. Access by you to your Registration Information is not available online at all. It is safe from hackers, stalkers, predators, trollers and other low life harm doers. That's why the AACUG registry is closely held, and referrals are conducted in person, by registered and trusted volunteers or the AACUG officers themselves. __ In addition, your Registration Information resides on a secure server that only selected AACUG personnel have access to via password. AACUG encrypts your personal information and thereby prevents unauthorized parties from viewing such information in the unlikely event it must be transmitted off servers. __ Personal information that you provide that is not Registration Information also resides on a secure server and is only accessible directly by AACUG secure personnel. Since this information is not accessible from outside AACUG, nor any server accessable to any connected facility, you will not be asked to select a password in order to view or modify such information. This activity is handled in person by your AACUG representative. __ Please note that any information you post to a public bulletin board or Listserv, such as the AACUG UG Talk, UGRumors, or UG Announce, is available to all persons accessing that list or site. UG Members is a closed list and is available only through administrative subscription. Use of Cookies Regardless of what you've been told, read this carefully. __ When you visit AACUG , you can surf the site anonymously and access important information without revealing your identity in any way whatsoever. __ Unlike most other sites, we believe your data and habits are your business, and your business only. COOKIES WILL NEVER BE USED to track your visit, stalk you, or alert other in-house or third parties that you are online. __ A cookie is small amount of data that is transferred to your browser by a Web server and can be read by any server which has been coded to act upon your cookies. Most are harmless, however, ALL cookies must examine your hard drive to locate that particular cookie. Many of the spam trollers, stalkers and predators, as well as industrial sites, large commercial sites and high-pressure ecommerce sites track cookies for the purpose of profit. Many trade and even sell these cookies purely for their own benefits. __ While cookies cannot execute code or deliver viruses, there's very little else they can't do. Additionally, proof now exists that hackers and spam trollers regularly intercept your cookies and redirect them toward their own vices... be they spam, porno or high-pressure marketing tactics. __ Don't take our word for it. You can easily illustrate this by setting your browser to notify you when you receive a cookie, giving you the chance to decide whether or not to accept it. You will find that many, many cookies are planted on your computer by web sites on a regular basis. (As many as 35 cookies have been detected on some sites before the page even loads.) The potentially dangerous cookies are those planted by third parties other than domains directly related to the site you intended to view. These cookies will have targets not resident on the server you are visiting. Few people are aware this is happening, but we wanted you to. . . . .