Privacy Policy

TFE gathers and keeps track of:

• Information that users provide through optional, voluntary submissions. These are voluntary submissions made by You in order to receive Our electronic newsletters, to participate in Our message boards or forums, to email a friend, and from participation in polls and surveys.
• Information TFE gathers through aggregated tracking information derived mainly by tallying page views throughout Our sites. This information allows Us to better tailor Our content to readers' needs and to help Our advertisers and sponsors better understand the demographics of Our audience. Because TFE derives its revenue mainly from sponsorships and advertising, providing such aggregated demographic data is essential to keeping Our service free to users. Under no circumstances does TFE divulge any information about an individual user to a third party.

TFE gathers information about its users as follows:

OPTIONAL VOLUNTARY INFORMATION SUBMISSION

TFE offers the following free services, which require some type of voluntary submission of personal information by users:

TFE offers a free electronic newsletter to users. TFE gathers the email addresses of users who voluntarily subscribe to this service. At any time, users are free to remove themselves from this mailing list by following the link provided in every newsletter pointing the user to the subscription management page.

2. MESSAGE BOARDS/FORUMS

Users of the TFE's Message Boards and Forums can login to these areas with their TFE usernames free of charge in order to post messages. Authorization is not required in order to visit or otherwise use TFE's other services and/or products.

3. POLLING

TFE occasionally offers interactive polls to users in order to enable the users to share their experience with other users as well as to improve TFE's services. The collected information, including user opinions, testimony and other submitted information is aggregated. This information is not identifiable to any particular user. However, TFE may employ action "tags" (also known as single pixel gifs or web beacons) to tag users after they have voted, in order to prevent the same user from voting multiple times on the same issue. This "tag" is not correlated with the subject user's individual information.

4. SURVEYS

TFE may occasionally conduct user surveys to better target Our content to Our audience. We sometimes share the aggregated demographic information in these surveys with Our sponsors, advertisers and partners. However, in doing so, We will never share specific user information with any third party.

5. CHILDREN

Consistent with the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act of 1998 ("COPPA"), We will never knowingly request personally identifiable information from anyone under the age of 17 without first requesting parental consent.

6. USAGE TRACKING

TFE tracks user traffic patterns throughout its various sites. However, We do not correlate this information with specific data about individual users. TFE does break down overall usage statistics according to a user's domain name, browser type, and Multipurpose Internet Mail Extension ("MIME") type by gathering such information from the browser string (information contained in every user's browser).

TFE sometimes tracks and catalogs the search terms entered by users in Our Search function. However, this tracking is never associated with individual users. We use tracking information to determine which areas of Our sites users like and don't like based on traffic to those areas. We do not track what individual users read, but rather how well each page performs overall. This helps Us continue to improve Our services for Our users.

7. COOKIES

We may place a text file called a "cookie" in the browser files of Your computer. The cookie itself does not contain personal information, although it will enable Us to relate Your use of this site to information that You have specifically and knowingly provided. The only personal information a cookie can contain is information supplied by the user. A cookie cannot read data from the user's hard disk or read cookie files created by other sites. TFE uses cookies to track user traffic patterns (as described above).

Our advertising system delivers a one-time cookie to improve tracking of advertisement impressions and click rates.
You can refuse cookies by turning the cookie function off in Your browser. If Your browser is set to provide a warning before the cookie is accepted, You will receive the warning message with each cookie. You do not need to have cookies turned on to use TFE's site. However, You will need to enable/accept cookies if You wish to actively participate in Our message boards, forums, polling and surveys.

8. USE OF INFORMATION

TFE uses information voluntarily submitted by Our users to enhance the user experience in Our network of sites, whether by providing interactive or personalized elements on the sites or by improving future content in response to the interests of Our users.

As stated above, We use information that users voluntarily provide in order to send out electronic newsletters and to enable users to participate in polls, surveys, message boards, and forums.. TFE never shares newsletter mailing lists with any third parties, including advertisers, sponsors or partners. We use tracking information to determine which areas of Our sites users like and don't like based on traffic to those areas. We do not track what individual users read, but rather how well each page performs overall. This helps Us continue to build a better service for You. Because We don't track the usage patterns of individual users, an advertiser or sponsor will never know which particular user clicked their advertisement.

9. SHARING OF THE INFORMATION

TFE uses the above-described information to tailor Our content to suit Your needs and help Our advertisers better understand its audience's demographics. We will not share information about individual users with any third party, except in order to comply with applicable law or valid legal process or to protect the personal safety of Our users or the public.

10. SECURITY

TFE's data center operates secure data networks protected by industry standard firewall and password protection systems. Our security and privacy policies are periodically reviewed and enhanced as necessary. Only authorized individuals have access to the information provided by Our customers.

Our sites contain links to other sites. TFE is not responsible for the privacy practices or the content of such other websites.

11. OPT-OUT POLICY

We give users options wherever necessary and practical. Such choices include:

• The option to not register to receive Our electronic newsletters; and
• The option to not participate in certain interactive areas, which completely obviates Our need to gather any personally identifiable information from Our users.

12. YOUR CONSENT

By using this site, You consent to the collection and use of this information by TFE. If We decide to change Our Privacy Policy, We will post those changes on this page so that You are always aware of what information We collect, how We use it, and under what circumstances We disclose it.

13. NECESSARY DISCLOSURE

We will not share Your personal information with a third party except to assist Us in the processing or securing of Your personal information or when We are required by law unless We have given You notice and choice, in the good-faith belief that such action is necessary in order to conform to the edicts of the law, or We must comply with a legal process served on Our web site. We may also need to give out Your information if one of Our partners requires it, but these situations are rare.

14. PERSONAL INFORMATION FOLLOWING TERMINATION OF ACCOUNT

When Your TFE account is cancelled (either voluntarily or involuntarily) all of Your personally identifiable information is placed in "closed" status within Our corresponding databases. However, You should know that deactivation of Your account does not mean Your personally identifiable information has been deleted from Our database entirely. We will retain and use Your personally identifiable information if necessary in order to resolve disputes or enforce Our agreements.

15. CONTACT US

If You have questions or concerns regarding this statement, You can contact TFE at support@tfehosting.com.