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PRIVACY POLICY
The following policy applies to the SCHOLASTIC.COM site.
Scholastic is committed to protecting the privacy and security of its online
visitors. This policy statement provides our visitors (e.g., parents, teachers
and children) with an overview of the measures we have taken to provide a safe
environment for everyone.
PERSONALLY IDENTIFIABLE INFORMATION
We only collect personally identifiable information from our visitors 13
years old or above when such visitors voluntarily submit such information.
We do not collect personally identifiable information from children under the
age of 13 without first obtaining verifiable parental consent, unless we only
use such information to: (1) obtain parental consent or provide parents with
notice; (2) respond directly on a one-time basis to a child's specific request;
(3) respond more than once to a child's specific request along with providing
parental notice of such use; (4) protect the safety of a child; or (5) comply
with legal requirements. The consent and notification process mentioned above
gives parents the ability to let us know if they do not want us to make further
use of the personally identifiable information we have collected from their
child.
We consider the following, among other things, to be personally identifiable
information: first and last name, email address, street address and phone
number. We may request such personally identifiable information from children in
connection with our contests, sweepstakes, games, surveys, forums, subscription
registrations, content submissions, classroom activities, requests for
suggestions, and visitors' requests for free products, services (such as our
magazines) or additional information, so that we can contact a winner, answer
questions or requests, and fulfill orders. Unless we indicate otherwise,
personally identifiable information from children under the age of 13 will be
used solely by Scholastic or its agents for internal purposes and will not be
sold or otherwise transferred to third parties.
It is Scholastic's policy never to post on its site, more than a child's
first name, first initial of last name, state, and age or grade.
FOR PARENTS
There are many activities on the Scholastic site that children can
participate in and enjoy without having to share personally identifiable
information.
For those activities that require personally identifiable information, such
as contests and sweepstakes (in compliance with the Federal Trade Commission's
Children's Online Privacy Protection Act), Scholastic will not condition a
child's participation in an activity on that child disclosing more personally
identifiable information than is reasonably necessary to administer the
activity. For certain online activities, we require verifiable parental consent
before collecting or using a child's personally identifiable information. With
these activities, Scholastic will notify the respective parent of our privacy
policy and obtain verifiable parental consent before collecting personally
identifiable information from a child, unless one of the exceptions discussed
above applies.
Parents can request to review or have deleted their child's personally identifiable
information from Scholastic's records, and refuse to permit further use
of a child's information by printing, completing and returning the letter
located at
http://www.scholastic.com/
parents/inforequest/index.htm.
FOR TEACHERS
There are many activities on the Scholastic site that are for teachers, which
enable teachers to add another dimension to their classroom and students'
activities. In order to create such online classroom activities, we will collect
personally identifiable information from teachers and have teachers provide a
password to their students so that students can publish materials online and do
other activities online in connection with their class through the use of such
password. We will only enable such passwords with the verifiable consent
provided by teachers acting on behalf of parents. With respect to the teacher's
personally identifiable information that we collect, we may use such information
to provide teachers with information about materials, activities or other things
which may be of interest to them, including products or services of third
parties.
FOR KIDS
Remember to be smart online. Do not give out your full name, email address,
home address, telephone number or any other personal information that would
enable someone to contact you either online or offline, without first asking
your parent or guardian for permission. Sometimes on our site we will ask you
for your first name and email address along with your parent's email or home
address. We do this so that we can contact your parent to let them know that we
have collected this information from you.
NON-PERSONALLY IDENTIFIABLE INFORMATION AND THE USE OF COOKIE TECHNOLOGY
We collect non-personally identifiable information through the use of a
software technology called "cookies", and through our visitor's
voluntary submissions to us and/or upon our request. By non-personally
identifiable information, we are referring to information about our visitor's
browser (e.g., Netscape Navigator or Internet Explorer), operating systems
(e.g., Windows or Macintosh), Internet service providers (e.g., AOL or NET.COM)
and other similar information which we track in aggregate form. We also collect
the following non-personally identifiable information in connection with content
submissions, games, classrooms and bulletin boards: first name only and first
initial of last name, state, age and grade. The non-personally identifiable
information that we track is anonymous and will never be identified with or lead
us back to any of our visitors.
Cookie technology helps us to know how many people visit us and where
visitors go on our site. Cookies are small bits of information we send to your
computer. Among other things, this non-personally identifiable information
allows us to know which areas are favorites, which areas need a bit of
improvement, or what technologies and Internet services are being used by our
visitors so that we may continually improve our visitor's online experiences.
USE OF IP ADDRESSES
We collect IP addresses to obtain aggregate information on the use of
Scholastic.Com. An IP address is a number assigned to your computer by a Web
server when you're on the web. When you are on our site, we have a back-end
server which logs your computer's IP address. We only use the information we
find out from tracking IP addresses in the aggregate, such as how many users
entered a specific area of our site, and not to track a specific IP address to
identify an individual user. However, we may use such information to identify a
user if we feel that there are or may be safety and/or security issues or to
comply with legal requirements.
SECURITY
Scholastic ensures that all information, personally and non-personally
identifiable information, that it receives via the Internet is secure against
unauthorized access. This information is kept in a safe and secure system
isolated from direct connection to the Internet. This means that no eyes but
ours will ever see the information that our visitors send to us, unless we
indicate otherwise.
In some places on our sites, parents and teachers may be able to purchase
items with the use of a credit card. In such instances, Scholastic uses secure
server software over a Secure Socket Layer (SSL) line, the latest technology to
protect your credit card information. SSL is the industry standard and among the
best software available today for secure commerce transactions. It encrypts all
of your credit card information so that the information from your credit card
cannot be read as it travels over the internet.
LINKS TO OTHER SITES
Visitors will find links from SCHOLASTIC.COM to independently owned,
controlled and/or managed World Wide Web or internet sites whose content we have
found of possible interest to our visitors. In many cases, but not always, the
links represent cooperative projects or mutual links established with the
organizations connected with these sites. While we initially visit these sites
to which we directly link, please note that we do not control the content that
appears on these sites and such content may be constantly changing. We recommend
that children check with their parents or teachers before clicking off to any
new sites.
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