You can trust TopCities with your personal information. We are dedicated to ensuring the confidentiality and privacy of any personal information you disclose to us. Furthermore, we ask for the minimum amount of information necessary to administer our services. The following statement outlines in detail our practices and policies regarding online privacy.

1. What is TopCities?
2. What information does TopCities gather and track?
3. How does TopCities use my information?
4. How private is my account information?
5. How secure is my account information?
6. Does TopCities condone spam?
7. How do I update my account information?
8. How do I delete or deactivate my account information from TopCities's database?
9. How does TopCities use cookies?

1. What is TopCities?
   TopCities is a Web publishing service that allows anyone to build sophisticated Web pages quickly and easily. Your Web site and any files associated with it are stored at www.TopCities.com, allowing you to have universal access through any Web browser and any compatible computer. Only you (and anyone you invite to join your TopCities) will have access to your files. Your unique TopCities member name and password gives only you access to your files.

2. What information does TopCities gather and track?
   
   • When you sign up for a TopCities account, we ask that you give us your name, e-mail address, and month and year of birth. We also ask that you tell us how you heard about TopCities and whether you have built a Web page before. You have the option of providing us with additional demographic information (such as your interests and computer experience).
   • When you connect to our Web site, we will detect your IP address and store a cookie on your computer. An explanation of cookies can be found in #10.
   • When you fill out a form on our site requesting technical support, information, or free services, we ask you for your contact information and other information relevant to that particular service.
   • When you fill out a form on our site requesting a paid service, we ask you for relevant financial information (such as a credit card number or bank account number).
   • We occasionally ask users to fill out optional online surveys. These optional surveys ask for demographic information and other information about computer use.

3. How does TopCities use my information?
   
   • Your contact information from the sign-up form is used to send you information about our company and products. We also use this information to contact you when necessary. Any demographic information you provide us is used only in broad aggregate form and is not passed on unless you sign up to receive targetted newsletters from us and our partners. In that case, such information is needed to provide you with information that will appeal to you.
   • Your unique IP address is used only when we need to diagnose technical problems with our site. We use cookies to correctly deliver account information to you. To find out more about cookies, please see #10.
   • Any information you provide to us through a form requesting technical support, information, or free services is used in for that specific situation only. The information you submit is not saved or used for any other purpose.
   • Any information you provide to us through a form requesting a paid service is used to administer the service and to bill the user for products and services. Occasionally we partner with other companies that can help us better provide paid services to our customers. In these cases, we will explicitly tell you that the data we are collecting will be shared with third parties, in which case those disclosures shall override anything to the contrary in this policy.

4. How private is my account information?
   
   • TopCities ensures the confidentiality of all information you provide about yourself. We will not share your information with any third party without your express permission or a valid court order. The only exception to this is when you sign up for our optional newsletters. In such circumstances only the demographic data you have provided us will be sent to our newsletter partners.
   • You have exclusive access to your account information when you login to www.TopCities.com. Our Technical Support staff has access to your account information, which we view only when technical support or maintenance requires it.
   • When you invite other users to join your TopCities (or TopCities mailing list), or if you join a TopCities (or TopCities mailing list), your member name, first and last names, e-mail address, and date of last login become visible to the other members of that TopCities (or TopCities mailing list).
   • TopCities makes chat rooms, guest books, and other means of online communication available to its users. Please remember that any information that is disclosed in these areas becomes public information. You should exercise caution when deciding to disclose your personal information in a public forum such as a chat room or guest book.
     
     
5. How secure is my account information?
   TopCities has security measures in place that filter and block known offenders and methods of intrusion into our system. These measures protect the loss, misuse, and alteration of the information under our control.
   
   
   
   
6. Does TopCities condone spam?
   No. We encourage our users to publicize their Web sites, but sending spam or unsolicited e-mail to publicize a TopCities Web site is strictly prohibited. It is prohibited to send unsolicited commercial e-mail that advertises or mentions a TopCities Web site over our (or any) network. It is also inappropriate to widely publicize your password if you have placed your content behind password protection. If we receive reports that a TopCities page has appeared in an unsolicited e-mail or other spam, or if a password to a protected page has been inappropriately publicized, we will remove the site from our servers. If the site's content is in violation of our Terms of Service, we will remove the site immediately.

7. How do I update my account information?
   You can control and update your contact information when you login by visiting the Personal Profile section under My Account.

8. How do I delete or deactivate my account information from TopCities's database?
   If you wish to remove your membership, please contact Account@TopCities.com with a request to do so. Your account will be permanently removed from our database and no record of it will remain.

9. How does TopCities use cookies?
   When you visit www.TopCities.com, we automatically store a cookie on your hard drive that identifies you to our site each time you visit. To ensure that someone else who uses your machine after you will not automatically be able to login as you, close your Web browser every time you are done using TopCities. Cookies are pieces of information that a Web site saves on an individual's computer for site administration and record-keeping. Cookies enhance your computer's performance when surfing the Web by storing passwords, preferences, and other functional information. The use of cookies is an industry standard and most major Web sites, including Microsoft and Netscape, use them to improve their services.
   
   Third Party Advertising - We use DoubleClick's Sonar Network and other third-party advertising companies to serve ads when you visit our Web site. These companies may use information (not including your name, address, email address or telephone number) about your visits to this and other Web sites in order to provide advertisements on this site and other sites about goods and services that may be of interest to you. If you would like more information about this practice and to know your choices about not having this information used by these companies, click here.
   
   This site also uses the services of Engage for the serving and/or targeting of ads, promotions and other marketing messages. To do this, Engage collects anonymous data typically through the use of cookies. To learn more about Engage, including your ability to opt out of the Engage system, go to http://www.engage.com/privacy.
   
   Third Party Cookies - In the course of serving advertisements to this site, our third-party advertiser may place or recognize a unique "cookie" on your browser.