This privacy policy extends to the following sites: DVDHelp.us, VCDHelp.us, SVCDHelp.us, DivXHelp.us, WinHelp.us, MP3Help.us. HowToCopyADVD.com, DVD-Help.com, JakesJokes.com, TackyTeeShirts.com, OnlineStrategyGuide.com, SlayersFan.com, HHGTTGOnline.com, and any other sites within the QualityHelp.us network, including, but notlimited to, the full gamut of the ever-growing DVDHelp.us tech support network.

DVDHelp.us Privacy Policy *Last Updated: Mar. 3, 2005*

This Policy is designed to assist you in understanding how this site collects, uses, and safeguards the personal information you provide to this website. Throughout this document, the terms "we" and "us" refer to the DVDHelp.us website and/or the administrator(s) of the DVDHelp.us website, and the terms "you" and "yours" refer to you, the user of this website.

What Information Do We Collect and How Do We Use it?

When you visit this site you may provide DVDHelp.us with two types of information: personal information you actively choose to disclose ("Active Information") through making a purchase or contacting DVDHelp.us, and use information collected, in a way not visible to you, on an aggregate anonymous basis as you and others browse this site ("Passive Information"). It is important to know that by visiting a site outside of DVDHelp.us (and related sites listed above) you will not have the protection of this Privacy Policy, but rather you will be subject to that site's Privacy Policy, if they have one.

No Use of Our Site by Persons Under 13

In accordance with United States law pertaining to collection of personal information from minors, no person under 13 should disclose information on this site. The Help Area (the interactive message boards) comply with COPPA guidelines and require that anyone under the age of 13 print a predesigned parental permission form and mail it to the address listed, complete with parent's signature as authorization that their child may use this service. Anyone may freely browse the Help Area for assistance without parental permission, but children under age 13 may not post messages. They may only read unless and until COPPA guidelines have been satisfied and parental permission is obtained by DVDHelp.us in writing. You may learn more about protecting children's privacy online by visiting www.ftc.gov/kidzprivacy .

Passive Information Collected

Our site utilizes a standard technology called "cookies" to collect information about how this site is used. Passive Information gathered may include, but is not necessarily limited to, the date and time of visits, the site pages viewed, time spent at this site, the sites visited just before and just after this site. Passive Information is collected on an aggregate basis without any association to your personal information so that you remain anonymous. If you do not wish to transmit "cookie" information about yourself, you may turn off the cookie function in your web browser; please consult the "Help" section of your browser or firewall software to correctly do so. Note that certain features of this website, such as logging into the Help Area, require the use of cookies. This is because certain features of this site need to keep track of your session in order to show, for example, which messages you have already read, or which files you have already rated. In some cases, certain features may be hosted off-site by one or more third-party content providers. You may choose not to participate in these certain areas of this website by simply turning off the cookie function in your web browser. Again, please consult the "Help" section of your browser to correctly do so. The Help Area and Download Database scripts are hosted entirely on this site, and therefore do not share ANY information with third parties. Plese note that even in instances where cookies are passed through a third-party content provider, none of your personal information is shared unless you specifically choose to give out that information by, for instance, signing up for a service on some other website after you chose to visit them from a clearly marked link on DVDHelp.us.

We use Passive Information to gather information about this users and to enhance and design this site to make it easier, faster, and friendlier to use. Additionally, cookies help DVDHelp.us know information about how many people visit this site, when they visit and how they use this site. We do not connect any of this information to your personal information or email address. None of your information, I repeat, none of your information is passed along to search engines such as Yahoo! or Google unles you choose to actively click a link and go to their respective site. (At the time of this writing, both Yahoo! and Google are sponsors of this site, and provide advertisements for their respective services.)

What is a Cookie?

Cookies are a feature of web browser (Internet Explorer, Netscape Navigator, etc.) software that allows web servers to recognize the computer used to access a site. They are small pieces of data that are stored by a user's web browser on one site to simplify subsequent interactions with that site by the same user or to use the information to streamline the user's transaction on related web pages. This makes it easier for a user to move from site to site or to complete various transactions over the Internet. Cookies should make your online experience easier and more personalized.

What if I don't want to use cookies or javascript?

Most of the features of DVDHelp.us can be accessed without the use of cookies or javascript. Some features, however, such as posting messages in the Help Area (which requires cookies in order to log in) will not be available unless you enable the use of cookies on your system. This is not out of a desire to invade your privacy, but rather a simple barrier of modern technology. If you want to sign in to the Help Area, and stay signed in to the Help Area, you will have to enable cookies. Period.

What is Spyware, Scumware, and Parasiteware?

Spyware is a parasite-like program that adds unwanted advertising, tracks your surfing habits, robs your system of performance, and generally invades your privacy without your permission for the benefit of unethical companies and/or individuals. Spyware, Scumware, and Parasiteware come in many forms, and more often than not, you will not even know that it is installed. It is usually bundled with what otherwise appears to be a harmless and legitimate program. Kazaa, Gator, and a host of other "utilities" sneak these things into your computer. (There are various sources, such as "Weather" utilities, "Set your clock" utilities, etc.) Sometimes they include it in the fine print of an end user license agreement, and sometimes they simply force it into your system. DVDHelp.us provides automatic Spyware scanning as a service to the visitors to this site. If Spyware is detected, and only if Spyware is detected, you will receive a message from this site bringing attention to this fact. You will then be offered a Spyware removal tool. If you are notified by DVDHelp.us that Spyware has been detected on your computer, DVDHelp.us highly recommends that you accept this offer in order to protect your privacy and regain lost system performance.

How Do We Secure Active Information and Passive Information?

We secure your personal information submitted by you by using reasonable efforts to prevent unauthorized access or disclosure, or accidental loss or destruction of Active Information and Passive Information. Other communications you may have with DVDHelp.us via email or snailmail may not be secure unless DVDHelp.us advise you that security measures are in place prior to your sending information. DVDHelp.us can not accept any responsibility for the security or privacy of email or snailmail, unless specifically indicated otherwise. Therefore, if you choose to communicate with DVDHelp.us through these means, you are assuming the risk of doing so and DVDHelp.us requests that you do not send or post potentially sensitive information through these means.

How does the CAN-SPAM Act of 2003 affect users of this site?

The CAN-SPAM Act of 2003 (also known as the "Controlling the Assault of Non-Solicited Pornography and Marketing Act of 2003"), which takes effect on January 1, 2004, is a US law that affects those who send email from the US. DVDHelp.us is based in the US, and is therefore under the jurisdiction of this law.

By registering for a membership on any part of this site including, but not limited to, the DVDHelp.us Help Area, you are agreeing to accept, by default, emails sent by the Administrator of this site. (You may opt out immediately afterwards or at any time thereafter.) Although DVDHelp.us rarely sends email, in the interest of upholding the letter of this law, notice is hereby given that all accounts are considered opted-in to emails sent by the Administrator(s) by default, including, but not limited to, those accounts that may or may not have made an active decision to opt in or opt out. Opt-outs will be respected with the exception of important site-related news, including but not limited to: Major site changes, URL changes, TOS/AUP updates, and other important information of which the users of these sites must be made aware.

Agreeing to the Terms Of Use and/or Acceptable Use Policy and/or the Terms Of Use for the Help Area and/or any DVDHelp.us general membership rules and/or requesting information from any of the sites within our network of sites will constitute "affirmative consent" for the purposes of the CAN-SPAM Act of 2003.

All users will have the option to easily opt out of any future DVDHelp.us promotional mailings via the "My Controls" section of the Help Area. There will be an email preferences section therein, where various email-related settings may be modified at the user's discretion.

Opt-in/out policy in plain language: When you sign up for a username on DVDHelp.us (ie - in the Help Area, etc.), part of that registration agreement is that you will be required to agree to be automatically opted in. You may, however, opt out immediately afterwards or at any time thereafter. This simplifies a number of Administrative issues, and satisfies the requirements of the CAN-SPAM Act of 2003.

You may always choose to opt in or opt out of the DVDHelp.us (or other sites within the network) newsletter(s), if one exists.

DVDHelp.us may, from time to time, send email(s) to verify that your user account is still active and/or that you wish to remain an active participant in the DVDHelp.us community. These emails will generally only be sent out to those who have not been visibly active (ie - made a post within the Help Area, etc.) within a certain amount of time, and is generally accepted as a routine maintenance procedure. Such email does not fall under the scope of the CAN-SPAM Act of 2003.

At any rate, DVDHelp.us generally does not send out promotional email in the first place. In the event of a major occurance (website address changed, new server(s), new features and/or sections of the site, etc...) we reserve the right to send an informative email to any email addresses on file, along with appropriate information as is called for by the situation. Such informative emails are not considered commercial in nature, and are, therefore, nt within the scope of the CAN-SPAM Act of 2003. Although we reserve the right to send email to all registered members of DVDHelp.us and/or the DVDHelp.us Help Area or any other section of DVDHelp.us, this priviledge is not abused, and any user(s) that have opted opt will be excluded from these mailings. Unsolicited emails are frowned upon by the Admisistration when they get them in their own inboxes, so you may rest assured that we know how you, the internet community as a whole, feel about this topic.

Official DVDHelp.us opt-in/out link: http://www.dvdhelp.us/optout.html

How You May Choose Not to Receive Information from Us or to Correct, Delete or Access Your Information

More often than not, any announcements pertaining to this website will be posted in either the website's message boards and/or in the Usenet newsgroup alt.binaries.vcd.only. However, from time to time, we may send you an informative email relating to website updates, and important notices relating to the website and/or the Usenet newsgroup alt.binaries.vcd.only. If you desire not to receive information or if you wish to correct your contact information, please make such modifications and/or opt-out of future optional emails via the "My Controls" link in the Help Area, or if you have difficulty understanding this process, you may request assistance by sending Jake an email at Jake - Webmaster of DVDHelp.us .

What is a Cookie?

Cookies are a feature of web browser (Internet Explorer, Netscape Navigator, etc.) software that allows web servers to recognize the computer used to access a site. They are small pieces of data that are stored by a user's web browser on one site to simplify subsequent interactions with that site by the same user or to use the information to streamline the user's transaction on related web pages. This makes it easier for a user to move from site to site or to complete various transactions over the Internet. Cookies should make your online experience easier and more personalized.

Notice:

We reserve the right to view any information passed through any of the sites that we operate. This includes, but is not limited to, email and/or PMs (private messages) for the purpose of investigating any potentially unlawful activity, including, but not limited to, allegations of threats against any person or entity, including the sites themselves. We also reserve the right to pass on to an appropriate law enforcement agency evidence of any such activity. By continuing to use any of our sites, including those sites which may or may not directly indicate that they make use of this privacy policy, you hereby agree to these terms and conditions, and agree to hold harmless all staff, executives, agents, affiliates, members, and/or employees of these sites against any damages, real or otherwise, even if said damages are found to be the direct or indirect fault of any staff, executives, agents, affiliates, members, and/or employees of these sites.

Likewise, we reserve the right to revise this policy at our discretion. Please check back on this site as this policy may be revised from time to time without other notice. The posting of a new or revised Privacy Policy at this location on the World Wide Web constitutes sufficient notice of such a change, and any continued use of this site after such notice is hereby considered to be an agreement to the terms, conditions, and policies mentioned herein.

If any portion of this policy is found by a judge of appropriate jurisdiction to be in conflict with the law, all remaining portions of the policy shall remain in full effect.