Privacy Policy

MainStreet.com

Privacy Policy
Dated: January 18, 2008

TheStreet.com, Inc. (“TSC” or “we”), which owns and operates MainStreet.com (the “Site”), shares your concern about the protection of your personal information online. This is our policy regarding the privacy of information we collect on the Site. Please take some time to review our Privacy Policy. It includes examples of the types of personal information we collect and the kinds of companies with whom we share such information. These examples are illustrative and should not be considered a complete inventory of our information collection, use and sharing practices. We will comply with applicable state laws that may restrict the types of information we may disclose about you or require us to provide you with additional notices.

Information Gathered and Tracked

We gather two types of data about users of the Site: (a) personal information, which individual users provide (i) when registering as a member of MainStreet.com or as a subscriber to any of our services and (ii) voluntarily at certain other points, such as contests or surveys; and (b) tracking information, which is automatically collected about all visitors to our sites.

Personal Information

We collect personal information in several places on the Site, as set forth generally below. We will always provide a secure area of our sites for you to enter your information, but if you prefer, you may talk offline to a customer service representative and provide the required information over the telephone or via email.

• Membership
  Currently, we do not require users to become members of MainStreet.com in order to have access to the free content, such as {describe}, on the Site. However, if you'd like to [gain access to, receive or use--state what content requires registration] we require you to register here to become a member. In order to register, you'll have to supply us with your email and postal addresses, choose a unique User Name and password, and provide us with some additional information about yourself [(the reason for your visit to the Site, what kind of investor you are, etc.)]. Additionally, you will be required to verify your email address by clicking on the activation link in the Welcome Letter that will be sent to you upon your submission of a completed registration form.
• Blogs and Chats
  We provide blogs this exciting feature allows subscribers to respond to a blogger's commentary or to another subscriber's post. The blogs are provided subject to their own terms of use, which can be found here. We urge and encourage participants posting comments on the blogs to include their full name in any comment and to disclose any positions held in securities they discuss in any comment. We also host chat events for discussion of various topics. Please note that information you submit to the blogs or during a chat will be available for any user of that service to read, and is no longer private.
• Surveys/Polls
  At certain times, you may be asked to participate in surveys, which are generally aimed at obtaining general information (for example, your investment experience or your reactions to a particular article). Because information obtained in these surveys is connected with individual subscribers and is used internally to better market our services, participation is voluntary. In addition, some columnists will on occasion take polls of their readers. Such polls are solely for the editorial use of the individual columnists, and participation is voluntary.
• Contests and Sweepstakes
  We sometimes offer contests or sweepstakes in which certain personal information is required for registration, for purposes of verifying the entrants' identities and notifying the winners. If the contest or sweepstakes is being administered by a third party, this information will be disclosed to that third party. However, entrants may select contest names distinct from their User Names, and the information is not connected with their User Names.

Tracking Information

Tracking data consists of both individual and aggregated tracking information and is automatically gathered using "cookies." A cookie is a small data file containing information, such as a user's login name, that is written to the user's hard drive by a web server and used to track the pages visited.

• Tracking by TSC
  We use cookies in several ways to track user behavior. First, the information we gather on an individual basis is used for internal purposes only, such as accessing a member's account information. We also use tracking information on an aggregate (anonymous) basis, to track the readership of stories and usage of our products, to analyze traffic patterns on our sites, and to provide anonymous reporting of usage for internal and external clients. We may use the services of outside companies to assist us in analyzing tracking data. In all cases, cookies used by us are encoded and contain a unique digital signature to prevent tampering. They do not contain user passwords. We also employ technology that is commonly referred to as "action tags" (also known as "web beacons" or "one pixel .gif files") to measure the effectiveness of our advertisements.

  You can control your browser's settings regarding cookies by selecting "Internet Options" or "Preferences" in the menu bar of your browser. This will allow you to prevent your browser from accepting new cookies, have your browser notify you when you receive a new cookie, or disable cookies altogether. However, because cookies allow you to easily navigate our web sites without having to constantly log in using your User Name and password, we recommend that you leave them turned on.

• Tracking by Advertisers and Outside Agencies
  The Site contains display ads sold by us or by outside advertising agencies. These ads may contain cookies which will be deposited on your hard drive if you click on the ads. Information generated from cookies deposited on your hard drive by our advertisers is collected by them, and we do not have access to this information nor are we responsible for their privacy policies or practices.

Use of Personal Information by TSC and its Affiliates

TSC uses and discloses personal information obtained from users of the Site to provide them with products and services, to enhance users' experiences on the Site and other web sites we operate and for other lawful purposes. One or more of our affiliated companies may also perform services for us, such as administering a sweepstakes or contest, and we may disclose your personal information in connection with the performance of such services.

Disclosures to Non-Affiliated Third Parties as Permitted by Law

We do not sell your personal information or disclose such information to nonaffiliated companies or other third parties, except to provide you with products or services, when we have your permission, or as otherwise permitted by law. In particular, we may disclose some or all of your personal information under the following circumstances:

• On a confidential basis to nonaffiliated companies we engage as contractors or agents to perform services for us, such as maintaining software or administering a sweepstakes or contest. We may also provide such information to other companies, such as direct marketers, to perform marketing services on our behalf or, where permitted and appropriate, to financial institutions, such as banks, insurance companies and securities broker-dealers, with whom we have joint marketing agreements. Information will be shared with such contractors or other third parties only to the extent reasonably necessary for them to perform the agreed services and pursuant to confidentiality obligations.
• In response to subpoenas, court orders, or other legal process or requests from law enforcement agencies or our regulators.
• In connection with a proposed or actual sale or other transfer of substantially all of our assets related to any web site that we own or operate and any product or service that we offer. In that event, we will require the third party who receives the information to honor our current Privacy Policy, until the third party provides you with notice of changes to our Privacy Policy and permits you to exercise any rights you may have under applicable law to limit disclosures of information about you.

Creating and Updating the Information

MainStreet.com offers to its members the ability to correct or update online the information we collected during registration by visiting the Account Information page. You may also contact our customer service department by email at members@thestreet.com or by telephone at (866) 321-TSCM [8726], between the hours of 8:00 a.m. and 6:00 p.m. EST.

Security

TSC limits access to personal information about you to those employees whom we determine need access to that information to provide products or services to you. We maintain physical, electronic and procedural safeguards that comply with federal standards to guard your personal information. However, no security system is impenetrable. We cannot guarantee the security of our servers, nor can we guarantee that information that users supply will not be intercepted while being transmitted to us over the Internet.

Former Customers

We disclose personal information about former customers only in accordance with this Privacy Policy.

Your Independent Relationships with Other Companies

Please note that this Privacy Policy will not apply to your independent relationships with other companies that from time to time may offer you products and services on the Site. Those companies' privacy policies will govern how they collect, use and disclose personal information that you provide to them.

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Questions or comments regarding this policy should be directed to privacy@thestreet.com. TSC reserves the right to modify this policy.