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(As of January 22, 2007)
As the leading provider of financial publications in Asia, we want you to feel comfortable searching and exchanging information on our site. We realize the importance of feeling safe online and are fully committed to ensuring that your privacy is respected and protected.
Our Privacy Policy below outlines the type of information we typically request of you while you are within the Asia Economic Institute (AEI) Network, as well as ways in which we process and, sometimes, disseminate information collected from you. You are, of course, free to use the majority of our site without providing any personal information. The AEI Network is defined as all English-language, United States based web sites, web pages and channels owned, controlled and/or operated by Asia Economic Institute.
We frequently provide information and links to third party advertisers or partners. Information on how to access the privacy practices of these third parties is included below as well. If you have any questions or concerns that we do not answer in this Policy, please send us an email at feedback@asiaecon.org
We will notify our members when we make any significant changes to our Privacy Policy that affect the use of any personally identifiable information we collect. We will not make new use of any personally identifiable information which AEI gathered from individual members or visitors prior to any such significant change in our Privacy Policy without first obtaining the member's or visitor's consent for any new uses. In instances where we ask for your personally identifiable information and we tell you the data we are collecting on that page will be shared with unaffiliated third parties, and in cases where a member, visitor or subscriber to the AEI Network opts-in to share his/her information with third parties, those disclosures and opt-ins will override anything to the contrary in this Privacy Policy.
In addition, AEI reserves the right to make non-significant changes to our Privacy Policy that will not affect AEI's use of a user's personally identifiable information at any time without any notice to you other than posting any such changes in a revised Privacy Policy on the AEI Network. We encourage you to periodically review our Privacy Policy to be sure you are familiar with the most current version. The Policy will include the most recent date in which any revision has been made. Please note that this Privacy Policy is also incorporated into AEI's Terms of Service.

AEI gathers two basic types of information:

1. Information provided to AEI

In order to use many of AEI's features, tools and services, we ask you to register to become a member. During this member registration process, we will ask you for personally identifiable information such as your name, email address, mailing address, zip code, country, gender, birthdate, age, member name and password. AEI uses the information it gathers for several purposes, such as to understand more about our audience's interests, to communicate with you and to give you a better experience when visiting the AEI Network by personalizing tools, content, services and email messages (more details below). AEI also uses this information to build new services and develop offers that AEI believes are more relevant and valuable to you.
AEI, its advertisers and partners may ask you for information in order to provide you with access to goods, services and tools. When personally identifiable information provided by you is (i) collected by AEI and/or an AEI sponsor or partner or (ii) collected by AEI and shared with an AEI sponsor or partner, your permission will be obtained and you will be advised as to which privacy policy (ies) will control the collection and dissemination of the information provided if different from AEI's policy.

2. Information gathered by AEI

When you visit the AEI Network and interact with the services and tools that reside there, AEI and third parties with whom AEI has contracted to provide services to AEI may collect information on your actions. This type of information is generally collected from two sources. One is from the server log files and the other is from cookies. Please read more about them in section B(9).

The information collected by AEI is used to create aggregated portraits of the AEI audience, portraits which present anonymous statistical demographic information but no personally identifiable information. This aggregated information is used, among other things, to determine trends and needs, and also to supply market research to potential advertisers and partners to help them understand whom the AEI audience is. For example, we may create a report that tells advertisers that 60 percent of our members are professors in a certain field, so that they can determine which of their products or services are most appropriate for our members.

In order to better describe how information is collected and disseminated, please carefully review the list below.

1. Membership registration

Many areas of the AEI Network are reserved for AEI members who have registered with us; for example, chats, message boards and access to special services such as email, member pages, special offers and sweepstakes. This is necessary so that AEI can assure the quality of its forums. Registration is free. The membership registration form currently requires you to choose a member name and password and provide AEI with your first and last names, email address, mailing address, zip code, country, gender, age and birthdate. The form also includes optional information that you may choose to provide to us like marital status, household income, education and employment status. The personally identifiable information you provide during membership registration will not be given to unaffiliated third parties without your consent except in the limited circumstances described in the section of this Privacy Policy entitled "Information Sharing Policy".

2. Order forms and transactions with e-commerce partners and advertisers

The information provided via order forms is generally shared with advertisers and partners on an aggregated basis. In the event that an advertiser or partner wishes to offer free samples, or provide information about products and services and to do so requires personally identifiable information, AEI will provide you with the ability to "opt-in" and will often provide you access to the Privacy Policy of the advertiser for your review via a link. For purposes of this Privacy Policy, "opt-in" is generally defined as any affirmative action by an AEI member or visitor to submit or receive information, as the case may be.
When you provide personal financial and other personally identifiable information to one of AEI's e-commerce partners, this transaction will occur on the e-commerce partner's site, not the AEI Network and as such the financial and personally identifiable information you provide is collected by and controlled by the Privacy Policy of that e-commerce partner. It is important therefore that you familiarize yourself with the Privacy Policy of the e-commerce site with which you transact business.

3. Electronic newsletters and reminders

AEI offers free electronic newsletters on a variety of topics. If you choose to subscribe to any of these newsletters, currently the only information you will be required to provide is a valid email address. In order to receive these newsletters you must opt-in to receiving them. Generally, AEI does not share mailing lists from its electronic newsletters with third parties. However, in some situations, AEI may share its newsletter mailing lists with third parties who provide newsletter and/or reminder fulfillment services on behalf of AEI. In these instances, such third parties will be bound by the terms of this Privacy Policy. Additionally, AEI may provide third parties with a list of AEI members and visitors who have opted-in to receiving additional information from third parties.
In those instances where you opt-in to subscribe to a newsletter through a third-party email service or advertiser or partner, the email address information sometimes will be located on the third party's server, in which case we generally will notify you. In those cases, any information you provide is subject to that entity's Privacy Policy, not this one. Some of our partners' and advertisers' sites require that you specifically opt-out from receiving their newsletters. As a result, to stop receiving them you will need to affirmatively opt-out from the third party newsletter.

4. Surveys and polls

Our surveys ask for opinions on various issues and very often these surveys and polls are sponsored by or associated with AEI advertisers and partners. Occasionally, we may request demographic information (like zip code, age or gender). Most information obtained through surveys and polls is aggregated and used internally or shared with advertisers and partners only in the aggregated form. In the event personally identifiable information is requested as part of surveys or polls about any AEI member or subscriber, such personally identifiable information is never provided to unaffiliated third parties without your consent. In these instances you may expressly choose to receive information from a sponsor, in which case your information is provided to that sponsor only. Some survey answers may be added to your member portrait (so that we can better provide you with content, ads and offers that are most appropriate for you).

5. Contests and sweepstakes

We regularly operate sweepstakes, contests and giveaways throughout the AEI Network. We typically ask you for your email address (to notify you if you've won, or not). We also ask for first and last names, and sometimes post office addresses in order to verify the entrant's identity. In some situations, we need additional information as part of the entry process, such as a prize selection choice.

This information is shared with an unaffiliated third party:

a. When you choose to receive information from a third party sweepstakes sponsor;
b. When a sweepstakes is hosted by AEI but administered by a sponsor, again, we will advise you of this in the sweepstakes rules; or
c. Most sweepstakes and contests will also ask you to consent to the release of information contained within the entry form for tax purposes if you become a winner.

You should carefully review the rules of each sweepstakes, contest and giveaway which you enter as they may contain additional important information about AEI's or a sponsor's use of your personally identifiable information.

6. "Send this to a friend" and postcard service

AEI offers the ability to forward an article to another person via email or to send an electronic postcard. If you use either of these services, we will use the recipient's email address in order to send the article or postcard and we will also ask for your email address. In the case of postcards, we will ask for your email address and each may be stored so that we can ensure delivery and that the recipient can retrieve the postcard. We do not use the recipient's email address for any other purpose unless such recipient gives us permission to do so.

7. Links to partner and advertiser sites

The AEI Network contains links to advertiser and partner websites. We cannot be responsible for the privacy practices or the content of such non-AEI websites, and we do not control the practices of any of our advertisers or partners to whom we are linked. However, we generally will advise you when you are leaving the AEI Network through a link, and when that advertiser's or partner's Privacy Policy controls the collection and dissemination of the information you provide.
In order to participate in the partner and/or advertiser supplied services and tools you may be required to provide personally identifiable information to the advertisers and partners whose tools and services you have chosen to interact with. Each advertiser and partner will request different information from you.
In any instance where personally identifiable information is required to be provided to or shared with AEI advertisers and partners, AEI generally will advise you when such advertiser or partner will receive your personally identifiable information, and further advise you as to which Privacy Policy will control the collection and dissemination of personally identifiable information you provide. AEI will use commercially reasonable efforts to contractually require all such third party advertisers and partners to agree to abide by the terms of this Privacy Policy, as applicable.
The information you provide via links to co-branded pages, co-branded sites, third party sites or tools may be shared with advertisers and partners on an aggregated basis and in these instances your permission will not be requested since no personally identifiable information will be shared or provided to these third party sponsors or advertisers. AEI will, however, use commercially reasonable efforts to contractually require all such third party advertisers and partners to agree not to use any non-personally identifiable information about you, in conjunction with other sources of information, or otherwise, to identify you.
If you have additional questions about how one of our advertisers, partners or sponsors use information about you, we urge you to contact them directly.

8. Information collected by AEI through IP address and cookies

a. IP Address

Your IP address is a number that is assigned by your ISP (Internet Service Provider) to your computer to identify its location. We use your IP address to help diagnose problems with our server and to administer our website. We also sometimes use IP addresses to communicate with members and subscribers and possibly even ban those members who are not complying with our Terms of Service.

b. Cookies

Our site uses a feature of your browser to set a "cookie" on your computer. Cookies are small packets of information that a site's computer stores on your computer. The AEI Network can then read the cookies whenever you visit the AEI websites. We use cookies to save your password so you don't have to re-enter it each time you visit our site, to deliver content specific to your interests, to track the pages you've visited and to make sure you don't see the same ads repeatedly. These cookies allow us to use the information we collect to customize your AEI experience so that your visit to AEI is as relevant and as valuable to you as possible.
You may modify your browser preference to provide you with choices relating to ookies. You have the choice to accept all cookies, to be notified when a cookie is set or to reject all cookies. If you choose to reject cookies you may be unable to use those AEI services that require registration in order to participate or will have to re-register each time you visit the AEI Network. To learn more about the types of cookies used by the AEI Network, click here.

9. Information collected by third party advertising companies

Our advertising is currently served by third party advertising companies which deliver a cookie to you so the ads you see can be tracked and ensures that you are not shown the same ad too many times. Since the third party advertising company only tags your computer with a number, they know nothing about who you are. AEI does not provide these third party advertising companies with any personally identifiable information. However, these companies may use non-personally identifiable information about your visits to the AEI Network and other sites in order to provide advertisements about goods and services of interest to you. If you would like more information about this practice and to know your choices about not having this information used by these companies, click here.

10. Information sharing policy

AEI does not sell or otherwise share personally identifiable information with unaffiliated third parties without your consent except in the following instances:
(a) unless required by applicable law or pursuant to a court or similar order;
(b) as deemed necessary, in AEI's discretion, to protect the legal rights or the property of AEI, a member or third party, or to prevent personal injury; and/or
(c) in the event AEI is required to transfer personally identifiable information to a third party in the event of a sale, merger, assignment, joint venture or other transfer or disposition of a portion or all of the assets or stock of AEI or its affiliated entities (including, without limitation, in connection with any bankruptcy or similar proceedings). In addition, AEI reserves the right to allow access to its systems to third parties providing necessary technical services when such access is required in order to provide those services and to provide your personally dentifiable information to third parties who provide services on behalf of AEI, provided that such third parties are bound by AEI's Privacy Policy.

Please note, however, that AEI reserves the right to share any personally identifiable or other information about you which you provide to (or which is gathered by) the AEI Network with any or all of its subsidiaries and affiliates (collectively, our "Affiliates") (subject to the opt-out right set forth at the end of section B(12) with respect to disclosures of personally identifiable information to Affiliates for their direct marketing uses) and will also have access to any such information which you provide to (or which is gathered by) the web sites of any of our Affiliates.

11. AEI opt-in/opt-out policy

Upon registration or from time-to-time, you may be asked to indicate whether you are interested in receiving information from us about special offers or news about our sites and advertisers. You will also be provided with the opportunity to opt-in to receive offers directly from select companies other than AEI. If you do choose to receive these communications by means of an opt-in, we will occasionally send you an email message that matches your request(s). You may, of course, always choose not to receive any of this information from us. We currently provide the following opt-out opportunities:
a. Upon registration, you can choose to receive no communications from us other than an initial member welcome message.
b. At any time, you can follow a link provided in every newsletter or email message (except for e-commerce confirmation emails) to unsubscribe from that mailing list or email service.
c. At any time, you can contact us through feedback@asiaecon.org to have your contact preference changed to "Do Not Contact Me."
d. Please note that AEI reserves the right to contact you in the event of a change in the AEI Terms of Service and/or this Privacy Policy.
e. At any time, you can opt out of having your personally identifiable information shared with our Affiliates for their direct marketing purposes.

12. Change/modify/archive information

AEI provides you with the ability to access, correct or change certain information in your member portrait at any time, including contact information or other information you've provided to us. However, you cannot currently change your member name although you may re-register and choose a new name. To review, modify or delete your member information, please click here. Please be advised that AEI currently archives information it collects on its members and visitors.

13. How we protect and secure your information

AEI has numerous security measures in place to protect you from the loss, misuse and alteration of the information under our control, including your credit card information if you choose to conduct an e-commerce transaction on the AEI Network. All of your member information, as well as other sensitive areas like your free AEI email account, require use of your password. We recommend that you do not share your password with anyone.
AEI uses industry-standard tools, such as firewalls, to ensure that your information is secure and confidential.

14. Guidelines regarding children

Personal information about children is a concern for all of us. At AEI, we take the protection of children's privacy very seriously. AEI does not encourage participation or visitation by children. Visitors who are known to be under the age of 13 are prohibited from becoming a member.

15. Contact information

If you have questions about this Privacy Policy or anything else about AEI, you can contact us at the following email address: feedback@asiaecon.org.