Privacy Policy

Like all commercial websites, Hot Air needs to know who its audience is for advertising and administrative purposes. At the same time, we understand that our users value their privacy. This policy is designed to balance your right to be left alone with our desire for certain basic data about your computer system.

Log Files

If you don’t register, the information we collect will be limited to your general Internet settings or “log file.” Log files typically include your operating system, your ISP and IP address, the type of browser you’re using, the resolution of your monitor, and the pages on our site that you clicked through while visiting. (Updated June 6, 2007, to reflect the fact that people who register to comment may provide their names as well as their e-mail addresses.)

Comments and E-mails

Hot Air will not record your e-mail address unless (a) you register to post comments on our site, or (b) you send us e-mail.

If you register to post comments, you must provide us with a valid e-mail address. We won’t share it with anyone (except our contractors and under certain extraordinary circumstances described below), but we will cancel your registration and block you from re-registering with that address if you violate our terms of use. (Updated June 6, 2007, to reflect the fact that Hot Air’s contractors may have access to registrants’ e-mail address.)

If you send us e-mail, your e-mail address will usually be displayed at the top of your message. Hot Air retains most of the messages it receives, so your address likely will remain on record in our e-mail archives. These archives are stored on servers owned and operated by third parties such as Google Inc. (Updated June 6, 2007, to reflect the fact that our e-mail is stored on external servers.)

Cookies

Hot Air may use cookies to record your log file and, if you’ve registered to comment, to remember your Hot Air login and password for you. We may also grant permission to our advertisers to use cookies in their ads. Cookies are small text files placed automatically on your hard drive by your web browser when you visit certain websites in order to make those sites easier to use. You can configure your browser to disable cookies and/or to alert you when new ones are being sent, but please note that some features of our site might not work properly if you do so.

Disclosure

Hot Air generally will not disclose information we have collected from your log file except to our contractors and in the aggregate, as part of demographic analyses to help advertisers or other third parties better understand our audience (e.g., “30% of our users use Mozilla Firefox”). We do, however, use Sitemeter, which discloses information about individual log files. In addition, we may disclose information about your individual log file or, if you’ve registered to comment, your e-mail address in the following two extraordinary circumstances: (a) if we believe in good faith that we are required to do so by law, or to comply with a court order or judicial proceeding; or (b) if we believe in good faith that such disclosure is necessary to defend the legal rights and interests of Hot Air Network, LLC, or its individual contributors; or (c) if we believe in good faith that such disclosure is necessary to protect the site’s infrastructure (for example, to investigate denial of service attacks. (Updated June 28, 2007.)

Notwithstanding the foregoing, if you send us an e-mail message, Hot Air will assume that you consent to your message – including your e-mail address - being reprinted in full on our website should we deem it worthy of publication. If you do not consent to your e-mail being made public, please say so in your message.

Threatening communications

Notwithstanding any of the foregoing provisions, Hot Air reserves the right to collect, disclose, and publicize personal information about anyone who sends a threatening communication, in any format or by any medium, to Hot Air Network, LLC, or any of its officers, directors, employees, independent contractors, affiliates, or agents. Hot Air will not honor requests for privacy attached to such communications.

Miscellaneous

This privacy policy applies to HotAir.com. It does not apply to our advertisers (including advertisers who use cookies in their ads on our site), online merchandisers, websites to which we link, or any other third party, none of which are owned or operated by Hot Air Network, LLC, and about which we make no warranties or representations. For information about a third party’s privacy policy, please consult their individual website.

Hot Air reserves the right to transfer or assign the data collected from our users in the event of a merger, acquisition, sale, or other change of control. In the event of bankruptcy, insolvency, reorganization, receivership, or assignment for the benefit of creditors, Hot Air may not be able to control how our user data is disposed of.

This privacy policy may be revised from time to time. Please check this page periodically for updates. Your use of our site on any given date indicates your acceptance to the terms of this policy as of that date.

Last updated: June 6, 2007