Privacy Statement

We are committed to protecting member privacy online. We believe that greater protection of personal privacy on the web will not only protect members, but also increase member confidence and ultimately their participation in online activities. We intend to give you as much control as possible over your personal information. The purpose of our policy is to inform you about the types of information we gather about you when you visit our sites, how we may use that information, whether we disclose it to anyone, and the choices you have regarding our use of, and your ability to correct, the information. Our sites may contain links to other web sites, including web sites directed to children. We have no control over the privacy practices or the content of any of our business partners, advertisers, sponsors or other sites to which we provide links from our sites. You should check the applicable privacy policy of the web site sponsor when linking to other web sites.

I. Information Which We Collect

We may request that you voluntarily supply us with personal information, including your e-mail address, postal address, home or work telephone number, credit card number (only if you choose to purchase a product online), for purposes such as correspondence, making a purchase, or participating in online contests, surveys or games. If you choose to give us personal information via the Internet that we or our business partners may need -- to correspond with you, process an order or provide you with a subscription, for example -- it is our intent to let you know how we will use such information. Like many other commercial sites, our sites may utilise a standard technology called a "cookie" to collect information about how our site is used. Cookies were designed to help a web site recognize a user's browser as a previous visitor and thus save and remember any preferences that may have been set while the user was browsing the site. A cookie cannot retrieve any other data from your hard drive, pass on a computer virus, or capture your e-mail address. Our web sites may use cookies to enhance your visit. Cookies can securely store a user's password, personalize home pages, identify which parts of a site have been visited or keep track of selections, such as those selected in a "shopping cart." Our cookies may collect your domain name and track your selections through our web pages. We only use "cookies" to gather the information indicated in this policy and do not use cookies to gather personal identifying information about you without your consent. We also use cookies in connection with our chat rooms in order to record your preferences. These cookies store automatically information pertaining to the last chat room you visited, as well as certain comments that can be issues in the chat room, in order to facilitate your experience with the chat rooms. No additional identifying information is stored on these cookies. You also have the option of choosing to allow us to use a cookie to store your username, or "handle" and password on your computer for use in that chat rooms, forums and other sites as indicated on the particular site. We may require you to supply us with personal information (demographic information such as average age, income, education, population data, postcodes) during a "registration" process online prior to using certain features of our site. For example, you may be required to register to use chat rooms, forums, to access archival stories, to subscribe to newspapers, and to access other features. We use this general information to aggregate information according to demographics, such as gender, geographic location, age, income or a combination of these or other demographics. In addition, users may complete a subscription form online in order to subscribe to various publications. To subscribe, users must submit personal information in order for us to send the publication to you.

BOPA (and our statistical service providers) may use single-pixel gif images, sometimes referred to as web bugs or web beacons, to count Web page accesses and gather some general statistical information. BOPA does not gather personal information through the use of these images.

II. Use of User Information

We may perform statistical analyses of aggregate user behavior. This allows us to measure relative member interest in the various areas of our web sites for product development purposes. Any information we collect is used for its own internal purposes to improve the content of the web sites, to enhance users' experiences when visiting our sites, to customize the content and/or layout of our pages, and to provide the services required by an individual user. We do not use personal identifying information for any reason that is not disclosed either in this Policy or at the time the information is requested. We never send e-mail to you unless you request a particular service, or consent to being contacted by e-mail. There are instances where you will have the opportunity to subscribe to an e-mail list that will send information about the site or our advertisers to your e-mail address, but this will be done only with your permission and consent

III. Disclosure to Third Parties

We do not share personal identifying information with any third party without your permission. We disclose only in aggregate form our statistical analyses or demographics of users to third parties, such as advertisers or other business partners. In some instances, we operate shared web sites with businesses affiliated with us. Our privacy policy will apply to these web sites, and our affiliates adhere to our privacy policy and will not share personal information with any third party without your permission. PLEASE BE AWARE that when you voluntarily disclose personal information (such as your name, e-mail address) in chat areas or bulletin boards to third parties, that information may be collected by others outside the control of us and may result in unsolicited messages from others.

IV. Accuracy of User Information

In order to ensure the accuracy of personal information provided for registration, you may return to the registration form online in order to change information you have provided at any time. Questions regarding our privacy policy, the accuracy of your personal information or the use of the information collected should be directed via e-mail to website manager. These privacy policies are effective as of November 1st, 1999. We reserve the right to change this policy at any time, and will post any changes to this policy as soon as they go into effect.

V. Security of Information

We use our best efforts to ensure the security of personal information submitted by users. We do not collect credit card information for online purchases. When we collect other information from our users, it is stored in an area where the general public does not have access to it.

VI. Opting-out

At any time while assessing our site(s), any user while online may "opt-out" of further e-mail contact from us (while still allowing access to our sites). To opt out please change your setting in 'update membership details'.

VII. Use of Materials

The right to download and store or output the materials in our sites is granted for the user's personal use only, and materials may not be reproduced in any edited form. Any other reproduction, transmission, performance, display or editing of these materials by any means mechanical or electronic without the express written permission of us is strictly prohibited. Users wishing to obtain permission to reprint or reproduce any materials appearing on these sites may contact us at website manager.