Frequently Asked Questions

Like any community, Freeople has certain standards. When members join our site, they agree to abide by these rules. To remain a part of the Freeople community, members must be considerate to others. Repeated violations of these standards may result in a member being barred from entry or participation.

We reserve the right to revise our code of conduct standards at any point in the future. At this time the core code of conduct policies are as follows:

• Member Names and Personal Information: While Freeople does not prohibit the use of nicknames for your username or "handle", please refrain from using anything offensive. If you choose a username that, in our sole discretion, is obscene, indecent, abusive or which might otherwise subject us to public disparagement or scorn, we reserve the right, without prior notice to you, to automatically change your username, delete your posts from our site, deny you access to our site, or any combination of these options. And also never post a message under another person's name or pretending to be another person. When posting a message, your username is the only information that is displayed. However, you should always exercise judgment when revealing personal information about yourself when you post messages in public areas. For more information, please read Freeople's Privacy Policy.
• Forums Topics of Discussion: While our forums encourage a wide range of opinions, please keep your posts focused on the topic of the forum in which you are submitting your message. Each forum has a different topic, so what is appropriate in one forum or thread may not be appropriate in another. Most all questions are answered in the forums and not answered by email, so everyone can benefit from the replies and its content.
• Inappropriate Language: Inappropriate language directed toward other site members is not permitted. Inappropriate or offensive language includes, but is not limited to, any language or content that is sexually oriented, sexually suggestive or abusive, harassing, defamatory, vulgar, obscene, profane, hateful, or that contains racially, ethnically or otherwise objectionable material of any kind. We ask that you please be considerate to other members on the site when posting your messages.
• Harassment and Flaming: Members are not permitted to harass or "flame" other members. Please do not post or transmit any unlawful, harmful, threatening, abusive, harassing, defamatory, vulgar, obscene, profane, hateful, racially, ethnically or otherwise objectionable material of any kind, including, but not limited to, any material which encourages conduct that would constitute a criminal offense, violate the rights of others, or otherwise violate any applicable local, state, national or international law. Please note that this also includes the posting of taunts on the site solely for the purpose of deriding the topic and/or members.
• Copyrighted or Trademarked Materials: It is illegal to post any content that is copyrighted or trademarked, unless you hold the copyright or trademark. Any material protected by copyright may not be posted in the message boards without the expressed permission of the author or owner of the copyright on that material. This includes reproducing the full text of news stories, articles, etc. It is acceptable to provide a link to copyrighted material, to post brief excerpts, or to paraphrase other works, though we do strongly encourage you to cite the original source whenever possible.
• Unlawful Activities: This site is a place for ideas and constructive participation, and not a place to violate any laws or to discuss illegal activities. This type of activity includes, but is not limited to, advocating or asking for information regarding public defamation, vandalism, and destruction of property. Please refrain from posting this kind of message.
• Posting Advertisements: This is a site focused on pro-freedom candidates and their supporters, so advertisements are not allowed in this venue. A member may answer another member's question about their occupation or business, however, blatant advertising or solicitations of or for business is prohibited. This includes, but not limited to, personal resumes and links to products or services with which the poster is affiliated, whether or not a fee is charged for the product or service. Spamming, in which a user posts the same message repeatedly, is also prohibited. Pyramid schemes--chain letters that involve money--are not only prohibited by Freeople standards, but they're also illegal. It is permissible for members to mention services or products that are provided by them or the companies with which they are affiliated, as long as the information is germane to the topic, is not a blatant advertisement, and the members mention their affiliation with the company in the content of the message.
• Posting Images: Members are allowed to embed images in their messages by linking to an image that exists on another site or uploading an image to Freeople. In addition to the copyright restrictions mentioned above, users should also refrain from embedding any images of a sexual or offensive nature. If you are uncertain is an image is acceptable or not, please just post a link to the image with a warning that it goes to a page that some may find offensive. Any links to clearly offensive or pornographic materials will be removed immediately at the moderator's discretion.
• Posting Links: Our policy on linking to other sites is pretty simple. Members may link to any other site that provides information that helps answer another member's question or is just of general interest to members. One of the most basic tenets of the Web is the open exchange of information, and the Freeople moderators wholeheartedly support this type of exchange. The only type of linking (besides porn and spam, of course) that will not be allowed on our site is when members solicit people to leave our site and join a competing service. That's just common sense. We won't allow people to use our site to promote a competing service any more than a brick-and-mortar store would allow his competitor to paste flyers all over his walls. However, people are always welcome to link to any online resource, whether it's on our site or any other site, in order to share useful information with fellow members.
• Other General Rules of Conduct: You shall not post on the site any Content which (a) is libelous, defamatory, obscene, pornographic, abusive, harassing or threatening, (b) contains viruses or other contaminating or destructive features, (c) violates the rights of others, such as Content which infringes any copyright, trademark, patent, trade secret or violates any right of privacy or publicity, or (d) otherwise violates any applicable law. You may not post on the site any links to any external Internet sites that are obscene or pornographic. You shall not use the site for any commercial purpose, to distribute any advertising or solicitation of funds or goods and services or to solicit users to join competitive online services.
• Banning: Freeople reserves the right at its sole discretion to restrict, suspend, or terminate your access to any part of the site. If you violate any of the rules stated in this FAQ or any other terms of use documents, the offending messages will be removed. Any member who violates our policies and refuses to comply with the policies of the site will be banned. For more information, please read Freeople's Terms of Use.
• Managing User Content: Members are solely responsible for all Content that they post on our site. Freeople shall have the right, but not the obligation, to correct any errors or omissions in any Content, as it may determine in its sole discretion. Freeople and its affiliates further reserve the right, in their sole discretion, to delete or remove any user content from the site and to deny the access of any member to all part of this site, at any time for any reason without prior notice or liability. However, we obviously don't want to do that, so just follow the rules, okay?

While not a part of our code of conduct, I would recommend for everyone to continually focus on sharing a positive message. I think we can all agree there is no greater message of hope than freedom.

Your use of our site or any of the products or services offered on the site (collectively, the "Services") is subject to these Terms of Use (these "Terms"). We may modify these Terms at any time without notice to you by posting revised Terms on our site. Your use of our site constitutes your binding acceptance of these Terms, including any modifications that we make.

Some of the Services may be subject to additional posted conditions. Your use of those Services is subject to those conditions, which are incorporated into these Terms by reference. In the event of an inconsistency between these Terms and any additional posted conditions, the provisions of the additional conditions shall control.

We have the right, but not the obligation, to take any of the following actions in our sole discretion at any time and for any reason without giving you any prior notice:

1. Restrict, suspend, or terminate your access to all or any part of our Services;
2. Change, suspend, or discontinue all or any part of our Services;
3. Refuse, move, or remove any material that you submit to our site for any reason;
4. Refuse, move, or remove any content that is available on our site;
5. Deactivate or delete your accounts and all related information and files in your account;
6. Establish general practices and limits concerning use of our site.

You agree that we will not be liable to you or any third party for taking any of these actions.

You understand and agree that our Services may include communications such as service announcements and administrative messages from us or from our partners and that these communications are considered part of the Services. You will not be able to opt out of receiving these messages. You also understand that our Services may include advertisements.

Content on our site

Our site includes a combination of content that we create, that our partners create, and that our users create. All materials published on our site, including, but not limited to, written content, photographs, graphics, images, illustrations, marks, logos, sound or video clips, and Flash animation, are protected by our copyrights or trademarks or those of our partners. You may not modify, publish, transmit, participate in the transfer or sale of, reproduce, create derivative works of, distribute, publicly perform, publicly display, or in any way exploit any of the materials or content on our site in whole or in part. If you would like to request permission to use any of the content on our site, please review our copyright notice and visit our Permissions and Reprints page.

You are solely responsible for all materials, whether publicly posted or privately transmitted, that you upload, post, e-mail, transmit, or otherwise make available on our site ("Your Content"). You certify that you own all intellectual property rights in Your Content. You hereby grant us, our affiliates, and our partners a worldwide, irrevocable, royalty-free, nonexclusive, sublicensable license to use, reproduce, create derivative works of, distribute, publicly perform, publicly display, transfer, transmit, distribute, and publish Your Content and subsequent versions of Your Content for the purposes of (i) displaying Your Content on our site, (ii) distributing Your Content, either electronically or via other media, to users seeking to download or otherwise acquire it, and/or (iii) storing Your Content in a remote database accessible by end users, for a charge. This license shall apply to the distribution and the storage of Your Content in any form, medium, or technology now known or later developed.

Our site contains content that we create as well as content provided by third parties. This content includes, among other things, product information and news feeds. It also includes information about products and services offered by parties other than Freeople, such as descriptions, specifications, pricing, availability, and performance. We do not guarantee the accuracy, the integrity, or the quality of the content on our site, and you may not rely on any of this content. Without limitation, we are not responsible for postings by users in the user comments, forums, or feedback sections of our site.

You may be exposed to content that you find offensive, indecent, or objectionable or that is inaccurate, and you bear all risks associated with using that content. We have the right, but not the obligation, to remove any content that may, in our sole discretion, violate these Terms or that is otherwise objectionable.

Third-party sites, products, and Services

Our site contains links to other Internet sites owned by third parties. Your use of each of those sites is subject to the conditions, if any, that each of those sites has posted. We have no control over sites that are not ours, and we are not responsible for any changes to or content on them. Our inclusion on our site of any third-party content or a link to a third-party site is not an endorsement of that content or third-party site.

We do not endorse any of the candidates that we list or advertise on our site, and we disclaim any responsibility for or liability related to them or their actions. Your correspondence or related activities with third parties and candidate campaigns, including payment transactions and services transactions, are solely between you and that third party. You agree that we will not be responsible or liable for any loss or damage of any sort incurred as the result of any of your transactions with third parties. Any questions, complaints, or claims related to any product or service should be directed to the appropriate vendor or campaign.

Freeople fee-based services

Some of the Services require you to pay a fee, as described in the specific conditions included where those Services are offered. You agree to pay all fees and charges that you incur. Unless otherwise noted, all currency references are in U.S. dollars. We may, upon notice if required by applicable laws, at any time change the amount of, or basis for determining, any fee or charge, or institute new fees or charges. All fees and charges are payable in accordance with payment terms in effect at the time the fee or the charge becomes payable.

Privacy policy

All of the information that we collect from you, such as registration and credit card information, is subject to our privacy policy. Please see our full Privacy Policy here.

Your conduct on our site

If we request registration information from you, you will provide us with true, accurate, current, and complete information. You will promptly update your registration to keep it accurate, current, and complete. If we issue you a password, you may not reveal it to anyone else. You may not use anyone else's password. You are responsible for maintaining the confidentiality of your accounts and passwords. You agree to immediately notify us of any unauthorized use of your passwords or accounts or any other breach of security. You also agree to exit from your accounts at the end of each session. We will not be responsible for any loss or damage that may result if you fail to comply with these requirements.

The technology and the software underlying our site and the Services is the property of Freeople, our affiliates, and our partners. You agree not to copy, modify, rent, lease, loan, sell, assign, distribute, reverse engineer, grant a security interest in, or otherwise transfer any right to the technology or software underlying our site or the Services. You agree not to modify the software underlying our site in any manner or form or to use modified versions of such software, including (without limitation) for the purpose of obtaining unauthorized access to our site.

Without limiting the foregoing, you agree that you will not use our site to take any of the following actions:

1. Defame, abuse, harass, stalk, threaten, or otherwise violate the legal right of others;
2. Publish, post, upload, e-mail, distribute, or disseminate (collectively, "Transmit") any inappropriate, profane, defamatory, infringing, obscene, indecent, or unlawful content;
3. Transmit files that contain viruses, corrupted files, or any other similar software or programs that may damage or adversely affect the operation of another person's computer, our site, any software or hardware, or telecommunications equipment;
4. Advertise or offer to sell any goods or services for any commercial purpose unless you have our written consent to do so;
5. Transmit surveys, contests, pyramid schemes, spam, unsolicited advertising or promotional materials, or chain letters;
6. Download any file that you know or reasonably should know cannot be legally obtained in such manner;
7. Falsify or delete any author attributions, legal or other proper notices or proprietary designations or labels of the origin or the source of software or other material;
8. Restrict or inhibit any other user from using and enjoying any public area within our site;
9. Collect or store personal information about other end users;
10. Interfere with or disrupt our site, servers, or networks;
11. Impersonate any person or entity, including, but not limited to, a Freeople representative, or falsely state or otherwise misrepresent your affiliation with a person or entity;
12. Forge headers or manipulate identifiers or other data in order to disguise the origin of any content transmitted through our site or to manipulate your presence on our site;
13. Take any action that imposes an unreasonably or disproportionately large load on our infrastructure;
14. Engage in any illegal activities.

You agree to use our forum services, chat areas, news groups, communities and/or message or communication facilities (collectively, the "Site") only to send and receive messages and material that are proper and related to that particular area.

If you choose a username that, in our sole discretion, is obscene, indecent, abusive or that might otherwise subject us to public disparagement or scorn, we reserve the right, without prior notice to you, to automatically change your username, delete your posts from our site, deny you access to our site, or any combination of these options.

Unauthorized access to our site is a breach of these Terms and a violation of the law. You agree not to access our site by any means other than through the interface that is provided by Freeople for use in accessing our site. You agree not to use any automated means, including, without limitation, agents, robots, scripts, or spiders, to access, monitor, or copy any part of our site, except those automated means that we have approved in advance and in writing.

Use of our site is subject to existing laws and legal process. Nothing contained in these Terms shall limit our right to comply with governmental, court, and law-enforcement requests or requirements relating to your use of our site.

Requests to remove certain content from our site

If you believe that content you own has been copied and made accessible in a manner that violates your intellectual property rights, please review our copyright notice.

Indemnification

You hereby agree to indemnify, defend and hold Freeople LLC and all of our officers, directors, owners, employees, agents, information providers, affiliates, partners, and licensors (collectively, the "Freeople Parties") harmless from and against any and all liability, losses, costs, and expenses (including attorneys' fees) incurred by any Freeople Party in connection with any claim, including, but not limited to, claims for defamation, violation of rights of publicity and/or privacy, copyright infringement, or trademark infringement arising out of:

1. Your use of our site;
2. Any use or alleged use of your accounts or your passwords by any person, whether or not authorized by you;
3. The content, the quality, or the performance of content that you submit to our site;
4. Your connection to our site;
5. Your violation of these Terms; or
6. Your violation of the rights of any other person or entity.

We reserve the right, at our own expense, to assume the exclusive defense and control of any matter for which you are required to indemnify us, and you agree to cooperate with our defense of these claims.

Disclaimers

We disclaim any responsibility for the deletion, the failure to store, the misdelivery, or the untimely delivery of any information or material. We disclaim any responsibility for any harm resulting from downloading or accessing any information or material on the Internet using search results from our site. We disclaim any responsibility for, and if you subscribe to one of our fee-based services you will not be entitled to a refund as a result of, any service outages that are caused by our maintenance on the servers or the technology that underlies our site, failures of our service providers (including telecommunications, hosting, and power providers), computer viruses, natural disasters or other destruction or damage of our facilities, acts of nature, war, civil disturbance, or any other cause beyond our reasonable control.

WE DO NOT WARRANT THAT OUR SITE WILL BE UNINTERRUPTED OR ERROR FREE. IN ADDITION, WE DO NOT MAKE ANY WARRANTY AS TO THE CONTENT ON OUR SITE. OUR SITE AND ITS CONTENT ARE DISTRIBUTED ON AN "AS IS, AS AVAILABLE" BASIS. ANY MATERIAL THAT YOU DOWNLOAD OR OTHERWISE OBTAIN THROUGH OUR SITE IS DONE AT YOUR OWN DISCRETION AND RISK, AND YOU WILL BE SOLELY RESPONSIBLE FOR ANY POTENTIAL DAMAGES TO YOUR COMPUTER SYSTEM OR LOSS OF DATA THAT RESULTS FROM YOUR DOWNLOAD OF ANY SUCH MATERIAL. NEITHER WE NOR ANY OF OUR PARTNERS MAKES ANY WARRANTY THAT (i) OUR SITE WILL MEET YOUR REQUIREMENTS, (ii) OUR SITE WILL BE UNINTERRUPTED, TIMELY, SECURE, OR ERROR FREE, (iii) THE RESULTS THAT MAY BE OBTAINED FROM THE USE OF OUR SITE WILL BE ACCURATE OR RELIABLE, (iv) THE QUALITY OF ANY PRODUCTS, SERVICES, INFORMATION, OR OTHER MATERIAL THAT YOU PURCHASE OR OBTAIN THROUGH OUR SITE WILL MEET YOUR EXPECTATIONS, AND (v) ANY ERRORS WILL BE CORRECTED. NEITHER WE NOR ANY OF OUR PARTNERS MAKES ANY WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EITHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING, WITHOUT LIMITATION, WARRANTIES OF TITLE OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, WITH RESPECT TO OUR SITE, ANY CONTENT, OR ANY OF OUR SERVICES, TOOLS, PRODUCTS, OR PROPERTIES. YOU EXPRESSLY AGREE THAT YOU WILL ASSUME THE ENTIRE RISK AS TO THE QUALITY AND THE PERFORMANCE OF OUR SITE AND THE ACCURACY OR COMPLETENESS OF ITS CONTENT.

NEITHER WE NOR OUR PARTNERS SHALL BE LIABLE FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES ARISING OUT OF THE USE OF OR INABILITY TO USE OUR SITE, EVEN IF WE HAVE BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES.

SOME STATES DO NOT ALLOW EXCLUSION OF IMPLIED WARRANTIES OR LIMITATION OF LIABILITY FOR INCIDENTAL OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES, SO THE ABOVE LIMITATIONS OR EXCLUSIONS MAY NOT APPLY TO YOU. IN SUCH STATES, OUR LIABILITY AND THAT OF OUR THIRD-PARTY CONTENT PROVIDERS AND THEIR RESPECTIVE AGENTS SHALL BE LIMITED TO THE GREATEST EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW.

Arbitration

Freeople may elect to resolve any controversy or claim arising out of or relating to these Terms or our site by binding arbitration in accordance with the commercial arbitration rules of the American Arbitration Association. Any such controversy or claim shall be arbitrated on an individual basis and shall not be consolidated in any arbitration with any claim or controversy of any other party. The arbitration shall be conducted in Austin, Texas, and judgment on the arbitration award may be entered in any court having jurisdiction thereof. Either you or we may seek any interim or preliminary relief from a court of competent jurisdiction in Austin, Texas, necessary to protect the rights or the property of you or Freeople LLC (or its agents, suppliers, and subcontractors), pending the completion of arbitration.

Miscellaneous

We may be required by state or federal law to notify you of certain events. You hereby acknowledge and consent that such notices will be effective upon our posting them on our site or delivering them to you through e-mail. You may update your e-mail address by visiting the Services where you have provided contact information. If you do not provide us with accurate information, we cannot be held liable if we fail to notify you. You have the right to request that we provide such notices to you in paper format, and may do so by contacting the General Counsel, Freeople LLC, Austin, Texas 78727.

Our failure to exercise or enforce any right or provision of these Terms shall not constitute a waiver of such right or provision.

You agree that regardless of any statute or law to the contrary, any claim or cause of action arising out of or related to use of our site or these Terms must be filed within one (1) year after such claim or cause of action arose or be forever barred.

These Terms, including all terms, conditions, and policies that are incorporated into these terms by reference, constitute the entire agreement between you and Freeople and govern your use of our site, superceding any prior agreements that you may have with us.

These Terms shall be construed in accordance with the laws of the State of Texas, and the parties irrevocably consent to bring any action to enforce these Terms before an arbitration panel or before a court of competent jurisdiction in Austin, Texas if seeking interim or preliminary relief or enforcement of an arbitration award.

If any part of these Terms is determined to be invalid or unenforceable pursuant to applicable law, then the invalid or unenforceable provision will be deemed superceded by a valid, enforceable provision that most closely matches the intent of the original provision, and the remainder of the Terms shall continue in effect.

Any person who has filed official paperwork to run for political office can add their personal profile to the Freeople website, regardless of ethnicity, age, background, or political party affiliation.

The only caveat to this are people who believe racism, collectivism, bigotry and/or exploitation of children are in any form acceptable. We ask that any candidate who has expressed such beliefs in the past or present not request to have a profile posted.

If we do determine a candidate has expressed such views, Freeople reserves the right to remove a candidate profile.

No, a candidate will not be removed. First, Freeople does not endorse any political candidate for office. We provide applications and services to help enhance political campaigns and the efforts of a candidate's supporters.

Second, we believe in providing our online community with the tools to communicate and share information on prospective candidates. One such tool is the Candidate Ratings voting system. Every community member can vote for candidates on a scale of 1 (poor) to 5 (excellent). Members also can change their vote in the future if they wish after learning more information about a candidate.

We expect over time the community as a whole will do a far better job of vetting candidates than one person or one organization could ever do. Profiles of poorly-rated candidates will not be removed from the site unless requested by the candidate. Candidates with the highest ratings will naturally receive the most support and assistance from the community as a whole.

Freeople takes pride in creating richer, deeper interactive experiences through freedom-oriented information that combines original, independent and user-generated content. This privacy policy applies to the U.S. operations of all services within Freeople LLC.

Overall privacy statement

We take your privacy seriously. Because we gather certain types of information about our users, we want to help you understand the terms and conditions surrounding the collection and use of that information. This privacy statement discloses the types of information we gather, how we use it, and how to correct or change it. These privacy practices apply to the Web site that you were viewing when you clicked through to this policy, which is operated directly by us, Freeople LLC.

1. What information does Freeople collect?

Our primary goal in collecting personal information is to provide you with the best and most useful content and services. Several of the services and features that we offer on our site require you to provide us with information as a condition of usage. These include access to subscription-only areas, the ability to post opinions or other content, participation in sweepstakes, contests and ratings, subscriptions to email newsletters and participation in message boards. We also collect information for the purpose of informing you with information on candidates in your area running for office.

We collect personally identifiable information, such as your name, email address, postal address, and phone number when you provide it to us. From time to time, we may also collect other sensitive information such as your job title, employer, username and password.

Once you register with Freeople you are no longer anonymous to us.

2. What is Freeople's practice regarding cookies?

Your Internet browser has a feature called cookies, which stores small amounts of data on your computer about your visit to any of our sites. You do not need to have cookies turned on to visit most of our sites, although active participation in certain areas of our sites may require cookies. Cookies alone tell us nothing about who you are unless you specifically give us personally identifiable information, in which case we use the information to enhance your services in the ways described below. By adjusting your settings on your browser, you may elect not to allow cookies to be collected.

We also use technologies to automatically receive and record information from our servers and from your browser, including your IP address, the time of your visit to pages on our site, and information about pages you visited. Unless you have registered for one of our products or services, the information we gather through the use of tracking technologies cannot be matched with any personally identifiable information about you.

We use cookies and tracking technologies in a variety of ways, including:

1. Keeping count of return visits to our site or our advertisers' sites;
2. Accumulating and reporting anonymous, aggregate (data collected in mass), statistical information on Web-site and advertisement usage;
3. Determining which features our overall user population likes best;
4. Saving your password so you don't have to re-enter it each time you visit our sites;
5. Displaying the most appropriate advertising or content based on your interests.

We allow other companies that are presenting advertisements on our sites and, sometimes, in our newsletters to use tracking technology on your computer. We do not give any personally identifiable information to them as part of this relationship. Unless you visit the Web site of these companies and provide them with personally identifiable information about yourself, these tracking technologies tell those advertisers nothing about who you are. Our advertisers' use of tracking technology is subject to their own privacy policies.

3. How does Freeople use the information?

We use the information we gather for four general purposes:

1. To customize the advertising and the content you see;
2. To enhance the user experience in our site. We use tracking information to determine how well each page performs overall based on aggregate user demographics and traffic patterns to those pages. This helps us continue to build a better service for you;
3. To fulfill your requests for certain products and services, such as sending out electronic newsletters and enabling you to participate in candidate ratings, polls, contests, and message boards;
4. To send you information you agreed to receive about topics we think will be of interest to you.

4. How does Freeople share the information?

Personally identifiable information

We will make your personally identifiable information available to other companies or people when:

1. You have elected to allow us to share that information at the time that you registered with us or provided us the information, or through a subsequent affirmative election through our website.
2. You volunteer information or create a public profile in the course of your participation in our community features such as forums, user opinions and reviews, chat rooms or other forms of public communication and interaction.
3. We hire third-party vendors to provide specialized services such as customer support; email message deployment; suppression, merge and de-duplication services; data processing; and special products or services that you have requested. These companies are only allowed to use the information in order to help us fulfill our services to you. We do not provide your information to these companies for their own, permanent use.
4. You unsubscribe for a mailing that we send to you on behalf of a third party. We may share your removal instruction with the third party so that it may be added to that person’s list of people to whom they may not send emails.
5. You are the winner of a contest or a sweepstakes that is co-sponsored with a third party and that third party needs your information in order to manage the prize fulfillment process.
6. When required by law, such as when we respond to subpoenas, court orders, or legal process.
7. We believe that your actions violate applicable laws, Freeople's Terms of Use, or any usage guidelines for specific products or services, or threaten the rights, property, or safety of our company, our users, or others.

Aggregate information

We aggregate personally identifiable information and disclose such information in a non-personally identifiable manner to advertisers and other third parties for marketing, promotional, and other purposes. We do not disclose to these entities any information that could be used to identify you personally.

Business transfers

We are always seeking to improve our business. In accomplishing these objectives, we may buy or sell a company, or our company may merge with or be acquired by another company. If we sell a business, we may transfer some or all of your information as a part of the sale in order that the service being provided to you may continue or for other business purposes.

5. What are my options?

Users who would rather not provide any of the user data requested by our registration process do not need to register with us. You can still view much of the content and use many of the services offered by our sites without registering.

We also give users the following options:

1. Opting not to receive our electronic newsletters or those of third parties when registering. Users who opt in may remove themselves from mailing lists at any time through the subscription-management pages or by following the instructions at the end of the e-mail they received from us;
2. Opting not to provide certain personal information when registering for a site, provided, however, that you may not be able to use some of our products or services without providing us with certain information.

6. How can I review and update my personally identifiable information?

You can review, correct, or change the information collected during registration for any of our sites. The instructions for doing this can be found in our member-services areas. Users may change information at any time and as often as necessary. Users who are experiencing problems with our services or who have questions about how our services work can contact us on the following page: www.freeople.com/contact.

7. How will I know if the privacy policy is changed?

Any modifications to our privacy practices will be reflected first within this area of Freeople. If there is a material change in our privacy practices, we will indicate on our sites that our privacy practices have changed and provide a link to the new privacy statement. If we are going to be using the information collected from users in a manner materially different from that stated at the time of collection, we will send affected users written notice of the change by e-mail.

8. Privacy of children

Our site is not directed to children under the age of 13. We operate our network of sites in compliance with the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act and do not permit registration by, and will not knowingly collect or use personally identifiable information from, anyone under 13 years of age.

Questions, Comments

Questions regarding this privacy statement or any other aspects of Freeople LLC should be sent to our corporate offices via email at www.freeople.com/contact. We read every message submitted and try to reply promptly to every one. We may also file your comments to improve the site, or review and discard the information.

Effective date: May 14, 2008

Freeople's publicly posted editorial and disclosure policy

One of Freeople's core values is integrity. We promise that our coverage will be fair, accurate, and ethical. For us to succeed, users must be able to trust our news, information, and recommendations to be unbiased and based on fact and careful analysis.

A media company's challenge is to give its users what they want in a way that leverages the unique power of the medium. Part of that power on the Internet is the ability to bring communities together; in doing so, the company must maintain a clear line between content and commerce. Ethical considerations such as clearly distinguishing editorial content from commerce content are of the utmost importance so as not to confuse or deceive users.

We have developed guidelines that set out certain minimum standards and fundamental rules in order to uphold our credibility. This policy addresses issues such as the receipt of gifts or services by Freeople employees from companies we cover, the trading of shares in companies we cover, and the distinctions between editorial and advertising content:

Freeople will disclose business relationships in editorial content whenever relevant

Freeople editors disclose business relationships whenever relevant, specifically in any editorial content where a Freeople partner or investor is a primary subject. Ordinary advertising relationships, content distribution agreements, and service contracts do not require disclosure.

Ads will be labeled as ads

Freeople generates revenue in part by selling advertisements in the form of banners, sponsorships, special advertising sections, and cobranded services. Advertisements or links that differ from the standards specified by the Internet Advertising Bureau are labeled advertisement, advertiser links, sponsor, or sponsored links to avoid confusion. A number of advertisements do not need labeling because they are obviously ads, such as those located in sidebar areas.

Freeople will disclose the business model

Freeople receives transaction fees from campaigns when we process contributions. Some campaigns and merchants in Freeople's price listings pay to be listed. Some campaigns and merchants pay a premium for placement order or prominence.

Freeople employees should avoid any appearance of impropriety

All Freeople employees go out of their way to avoid any appearance of impropriety in regards to securities transactions or inside information about any company, organization, campaign or government entity we cover. Freeople doesn't prevent employees from investing in their financial future, but all employees avoid any activity that might be perceived as speculation or misuse of information obtained at work.

Employees may not accept gifts of value

Freeople editorial employees are required to refuse benefits that could cause the giver or others to perceive that Freeople is beholden to another company, government organization or campaign. This includes accepting gifts, travel, and tickets to entertainment or sporting events.

Labeling content from external sources

Freeople labels content to indicate the source in cases where the information published was not generated by Freeople's editorial staff.

Corrections

We are committed to correcting quickly any errors in fact or interpretation. No error brought to the attention of an editor or a reporter will be allowed to remain in a Freeople article. Everything from a misspelled name to a gross material error will be corrected in a story's original file so that no inaccuracy remains in our permanent archive. We will also provide clarifications of stories that contained no clear error in fact but whose wording or headline is open to misinterpretation.

Linking to external sites

Freeople may link to non-Freeople content that could be considered offensive by certain readers. The use of a hyperlink never constitutes an endorsement of a company, a product, or an opinion. The use of the hyperlink does not imply that Freeople agrees with the content being linked to and provides no guarantee that the content contains accurate information. Freeople editors are under no obligation to link to any site.

Freeople strives to meet the highest editorial standards for accuracy and completeness in its information and reporting. Please visit our contact page to reach one of our groups or departments. You may e-mail press releases, candidate information, and story ideas directly to the appropriate group. If you are unable to find an appropriate category editor, we will forward the message to the site's editor in chief.

Contact us today.

Personal, noncommercial use

You may download, reformat, and print a limited amount of Freeople's content for your personal, noncommercial use. You may also include excerpts or limited portions of Freeople's information in printed memos, reports, and presentations. We ask only that you attribute this information to us by including "Used with permission from Freeople LLC, Copyright 20__. All rights reserved."

Links

You may link from another site to Freeople's online content, including profiles, articles, features, and video and audio clips.

Other reproductions

Any other reproduction of Freeople's content requires permission from us, and some forms of reproduction will require you to pay a licensing fee. All commercial uses of Freeople content require our permission, including the following:

• Use of Freeople's content in advertisements or promotions;
• Use of Freeople's trademarks or logos;
• Use of quotes, excerpts, or full text of Freeople's articles, blogs or features;
• Freeople does not allow the reposting of its online content (including video, audio, text, graphics, layout, and code) on a Web site or a public discussion board except in the case of a specific licensing agreement (see further details on video and audio usage below).

How to get permission

• Please submit a permissions request form by clicking here.
• For information regarding hard-copy reprints, contact us on the same request form.
• In all cases, if permission is granted, stories must be reproduced in their entirety, unedited, and accompanied by the following copyright statement and credit: "Used with permission from Freeople LLC, Copyright 200_. All rights reserved." Note: text, photos, graphics, audio and/or video material provided via third parties, such as Reuters, shall not be published, broadcast, rewritten for broadcast or publication, or redistributed directly or indirectly in any medium. Neither third-party materials nor any portion thereof may be stored in a computer except for personal and noncommercial use. Third parties will not be held liable for any delays, inaccuracies, errors, or omissions therefrom or in the transmission or delivery of all or any part thereof or any damages arising from any of the foregoing.

Freeople video clips and Webcasts policy

Commercial use

Freeople broadband video clips and Webcasts are available for commercial, nonbroadcast, and offline uses. Copies of video clips and Webcasts are available in VHS, Beta, and CD Master, and may be purchased throught the Freeople Permissions Department. For more information, please submit a permissions request form by clicking here.

Links

You may link to video clips and Webcasts on Freeople.

Note: We do not allow the rebroadcast of any Freeople video clips or Webcasts online. All Freeople video clips and Webcasts are protected by U.S. copyright and international treaties and may not be copied without the express permission of Freeople LLC.