Thinkport Privacy Policy

Your privacy is very important to Maryland Public Television (MPT). We will not distribute personal information collected or contained within Thinkport without your permission. Thinkport adheres to a strict policy for ensuring the privacy of your - as well as your students' and childrens' - personally identifiable information (such as full name, address, email address, telephone number and/or other identifiable information) and preserving the integrity of this online medium. Please read through the following information to learn more about your rights and responsibilities as a Thinkport community member.

Gathering and Use of Information
1. We will not collect personally identifiable information from you, other than what you supply to us on a voluntary basis.

2. In order to participate in some activities, you might be asked to provide some personally identifiable information.

3. Thinkport may use your personally identifiable information for internal purposes only and will not disclose your personal information to any third party unless we are required to do so in response to a subpoena, warrant, or other legal process.

4. We will explain the extent of its use at the time you are asked to provide personal information. If you do not want this information to be collected or used by us for these purposes, you can simply "opt out" or contact us at the addresses below and we will delete your personally identifiable information. Under certain circumstances, opting out may prevent your participation in activities for which personal information is needed.

Childrens Policy
For Parents and Caregivers:

You trust us to provide responsible and quality content for children. As we move through the digital world, this trust becomes even more important to you, and to us. We believe the following promises will improve the safety, value, and enjoyment of your child's visits to our site and our affiliated sites.

We may collect limited personal information from your child. For most activities on Thinkport, your child is not required to provide any information and we will not ask for any information. We do not require a child to disclose more information than is reasonably necessary to participate in an activity as a condition of participation. In order to play Lure of the Labyrinth <http://labyrinth.thinkport.org/www/>, a child must first select a username and password. In selecting a username, please do not use your full name or other identifiable personal information. The username and password will allow you to return to the game at the point in the game where you left off, without having to return to the beginning of the game. We do ask for an email address. The email address is collected only for the purpose of identifying a username and password in the event they are forgotten. For security purposes, we immediately encrypt email addresses through hashing.

The limited personal information that we may collect (i.e. an email address) will only be used for internal purposes. We do not disclose this information to third parties unless we are required to do so in response to a subpoena, warrant, or other legal process.

To the extent that we collect personal information, we only collect that information directly from a user. We do not collect information passively, such as through cookies. In the event that we were to use cookies we would use them to measure the number of visitors to our site and not to track any personal information about you.

Parents may review or have deleted the information that we have collected about their child and they may refuse to permit further use of their child’s information, by emailing us at thinkport@mpt.org or by contacting us at the address below.

You should check back at this policy frequently, since it is subject to change from time to time, and your continued use of the site is conditioned upon your acceptance of any modifications hereto.

We want to make this site a place where families can explore the Web together, and where parents and caregivers are happy to have their children interact, learn and play. If you have any comments or questions, we're happy to hear them. This is, after all, your site.

If you have any questions or concerns regarding this policy, send us an email at thinkport@mpt.org. You may also contact us at:

Thinkport
11767 Owings Mills Blvd
Owings Mills, MD 21117
(410-581-4073)

Acceptance of Thinkport Privacy Policy Terms and Conditions
By using this site, you signify your agreement to the terms and conditions of this Thinkport Privacy Policy. If you do not agree to these terms and conditions, please do not use Thinkport. We reserve the right, at our sole discretion, to change, modify, add, or remove portions of this policy at any time. Please check this page periodically for any changes. Your continued use of Thinkport following the posting of any changes to these terms shall mean that you have accepted those changes. If you have any questions or concerns, please email us at webmaster@thinkport.org.

Terms of Use of Thinkport
The following rules govern the use by you of THINKPORT. The rules set forth herein apply to all materials, online communications and other information that is or becomes available on THINKPORT (collectively, "Information"). BY LOGGING IN AND USING THINKPORT, YOU SPECIFICALLY AGREE TO ABIDE BY THESE RULES AND ANY MODIFICATIONS THERETO.

1. Personal Uses Permitted.
THINKPORT is an online information exchange service for use by Maryland Public Television (MPT) and the general public. You shall not post, publish, transmit, reproduce, distribute or in any way use or exploit any Information for commercial purposes or otherwise use the Information in a manner that is inconsistent with these rules and regulations.

2. User's Obligation to Abide By Applicable Law.
In connection with the use of THINKPORT, you shall abide by all applicable federal, state or local laws, including those pertaining to such areas as libel, slander, defamation, trade libel, product disparagement, harassment, invasion of privacy, tort, obscenity, indecency, and copyright or trademark infringement ("Applicable Law"). The Information available on THINKPORT may include intellectual property that is protected under the copyright, trademark and other intellectual property laws of the United States and/or other countries ("Intellectual Property Laws"). Such Intellectual Property Laws generally prohibit the unauthorized reproduction, distribution or exhibition of all text, photographic and graphic (art and electronic) images, music, sound samplings and other protected materials. The violation of applicable Intellectual Property Laws may give rise to civil and/or criminal penalties. Additionally, by providing links to other sites, MPT (if applicable) is not responsible for and does not guarantee, approve,  or endorse the information or products available on these sites.

3. Disclosure of Online Communications.
You are cautioned that any online communications may not be fully confidential. In addition, you should be aware that federal postal regulations do not protect electronic mail. You should be aware that some administrative personnel of MPT may, in the course of their regular duties, have access to communications for technical or operational purposes. MPT may also disclose any communications to the extent permitted or required by law.

4. Prohibition Against Rogue Programming.
You shall not post, transmit or make available in any way through THINKPORT any software or other materials which contain a computer virus, trojan horse, timebomb, worm or other rogue programming ("Rogue Programming"). MPT has no obligation to detect the presence of any Rogue Programming. Any downloading of software or other materials or any other use of the Information on THINKPORT is at your risk, and you are advised to take adequate precautions to minimize any loss to your system caused by Rogue Programming, including use of anti-virus programs and proper backup of files.

5. Content of Information.
You are responsible for the content of any Information you put on THINKPORT. MPT has no obligation to, and does not in the normal course, monitor or control any Information that is or becomes available on THINKPORT. MPT reserves the right to review any Information that is or becomes available on THINKPORT. MPT reserves the right to refuse to post or to remove any Information that is, in MPT sole discretion, unacceptable, undesirable or in violation of these rules. MPT has no obligation to exercise such reservation of rights by MPT; however, MPT has adopted and implemented a policy respecting the copyright law that provides for the termination in appropriate circumstances of users of the THINKPORT system or network who are repeat infringers. MPT may terminate access for content providers or forum participants who are found repeatedly to provide or post protected material without necessary rights and permissions.

6. Disclaimer of Warranties.
THINKPORT IS PROVIDED ON AN "AS IS" BASIS WITHOUT WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EITHER EXPRESSED OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING WITHOUT LIMITATION WARRANTIES OF TITLE, NONINFRINGEMENT, OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. MPT DOES NOT WARRANT THAT ANY INFORMATION IS COMPLETE OR ACCURATE, THAT THINKPORT WILL BE UNINTERRUPTED OR ERROR FREE OR THAT ANY INFORMATION IS FREE OF ROGUE PROGRAMMING.

7. Limitation of Damages.
UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES, INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE, SHALL MPT BE LIABLE FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, PUNITIVE OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES THAT MAY RESULT FROM THE USE OR INABILITY TO USE THINKPORT, INCLUDING WITHOUT LIMITATION USE OF OR RELIANCE ON INFORMATION AVAILABLE ON THINKPORT, INTERRUPTIONS, ERRORS, DEFECTS, MISTAKES, OMISSIONS, DELETIONS OF FILES, DELAYS IN OPERATION OR TRANSMISSION, NONDELIVERY OF INFORMATION, DISCLOSURE OF COMMUNICATIONS, OR ANY OTHER FAILURE OF PERFORMANCE.

8. Release and Indemnity.
YOU HEREBY RELEASE AND WAIVE ANY AND ALL CLAIMS AND/OR LIABILITY AGAINST MPT ARISING FROM OR IN CONNECTION WITH YOUR USE OF THINKPORT. YOU ALSO AGREE TO DEFEND, INDEMNIFY AND HOLD HARMLESS, MPT FROM AND AGAINST ANY AND ALL CLAIMS OR LIABILITY, INCLUDING COSTS AND ATTORNEYS FEES, ARISING FROM OR IN CONNECTION WITH YOUR USE OF THINKPORT OR FAILURE TO ABIDE BY APPLICABLE LAW.

9. Modifications.
These rules may be modified by MPT from time to time and such modifications will be binding on you when placed online.