This website contains information about The Washington Post newspaper for use by our readers, advertisers and other members of the public.

What personally identifiable information will The Washington Post collect from me?

We receive and store any information you enter on this website or give us in any other way. We also receive and may store certain types of automatic information whenever you interact with us. For example, we obtain certain types of information when your web browser accesses this site, including your Internet Protocol (IP) address.

How will you use my information?

First and foremost, we will use the information for the purpose that you provided it - e.g. to start your subscription, to publish the classified advertisement that you ordered, or to answer the question you have asked us.

In addition, we may also use the information as part of our demographic research. In this event, the research is compiled and analyzed on an aggregated basis.

We may also use the information to contact you for reasons related to your original communication to us, or for matters including special offers that might be of interest to you.

With whom does The Washington Post share my information?

When you provide information to us, you are providing it to The Washington Post Company, its divisions and subsidiaries, or vendors providing contractual services for The Washington Post (such as hosting vendors and list managers). As a general rule, we will not disclose any of your personally identifiable information to any company other than these, except when we have your permission or under special circumstances, such as when we believe in good faith that the law requires it. Please note, however, that during the processing of transactions involving a credit card, we transmit your credit card number to the appropriate credit card company or bank. In addition, if customers do not pay us for products or services ordered, we may submit their account information to a third party collection agency.

Please be aware that on our site there are many links to washingtonpost.com, the Company's electronic information subsidiary. When you use those links, you leave our website. Washingtonpost.com, or any other web site that you visit, may collect personally identifiable information from you. Each site has its own privacy policy.

What about kids?

Kids under 13: Do not send us any information about yourself — including information like your name, address, or e-mail address. We do not knowingly collect personally identifiable information from children under 13. In the event that we learn that we have collected any personal information from a child under the age of 13 without verification of parental consent, we will delete that information from our database as quickly as possible.

Technology on the Internet is developing at a rapid pace, and we need to maintain our flexibility in the online arena. If we need to change our policy in the future, we will post these changes as soon as they go into effect.

Effective date: July 1, 2004