info - TheBackpacker.com Privacy Policy

Effective Date: December 10, 2007

This Privacy and Information Security Policy ("this Policy") discusses the personally identifying information ("PII") that we collect about you when you use our website http://www.TheBackpacker.com/ (the "Site") and the software, games and other services we provide on or through the Site (together with the Site, the "Service").

Who We Are. We are Demand Media, Inc. ("TheBackpacker," "TheBackpacker.com," "Site,""Service," "we," "us," or "our"). TheBackpacker.com is an online destination for wilderness backpackers and hikers. The site includes backpacking gear reviews, hiking trail reviews, hiking tips, messages board and more. In conducting our business, as further described below, we collect information, including PII, about the individuals who use the Service.

This Policy and the Terms of Use. This Policy is part of and incorporated into the TheBackpacker.com Terms of Use (collectively, the "Terms").

BY PROVIDING PII OR OTHER INFORMATION TO US OR BY USING OUR SERVICE, YOU AGREE TO THIS POLICY AND THE PRACTICES DESCRIBED IN THE POLICY.

1. INFORMATION YOU GIVE US
   1. The Types of Information TheBackpacker.com Collects. We collect any information you enter on the Service or give us in any other way (such as through an email, survey, or letter). The information that we collect varies depending upon how you use our Service. Our Account registration process requires that you provide us with your user name, birthday and e-mail address, and that you create and provide us with a password. We may also request other information, such as your actual first and last name, gender, and zip code.
   2. Information in Public Areas of the Site. Please keep in mind that whenever you voluntarily provide information in public areas of the Service, such as the user profile pages or forums, that information can be viewed and possibly used by others. We therefore advise visitors not to disclose contact information, including phone number, email address, street address or instant messenger address (within these public areas) that they do not wish to share. We are not responsible for PII you choose to submit in these public areas. Also, we may highlight content you post to the public areas of the Service such as reviews or comments, such as by featuring your content on the Site's home page.
2. AUTOMATIC INFORMATION COLLECTION
   1. Cookies. Like many Web sites, we use "cookies". Cookies are alphanumeric identifiers that we transfer to your computer's hard drive through your Web browser to enable our systems to recognize your browser. We use persistent, identifying cookies to remember your information and to link your activities to you. While you can take steps to warn of, block or disable cookies, if you do, the Service may not function and appear as we have designed it. Nonetheless, if you want to take these steps, you can do so by following the instructions associated with your browser. Our cookies do not collect PII that you provide to us during the registration process, but they do collect other information such as:
      1. the domain name and host from which you access the Internet and the Internet address of the site from which you direct-linked to ours;
      2. the date and time you access the Site and pages you visit;
      3. your computer's IP address and information about its operating system, platform and the Web browser type and version you use;
      4. demographic and other non-personally identifiable profile information about you; and
      5. information to combat fraud or misuse.
   2. Pixel Tags. In our e-mails to you, we use "pixel tags" to determine if your email software or service can display html-formatted e-mail (this helps us optimize the size of our e-mail messages and conserve bandwidth).
   3. Collection of Information by Third Parties. Some of the advertisers and other businesses that advertise or place other content our Site use cookies on our Site and may place a cookie on your computer. The content posted by these businesses will be identified as coming from a third party. In addition, we use third-party advertising companies to serve ads. These companies (1) use in