5 Categories Privacy Statement

5 Categories is committed to protecting and respecting your privacy. This Privacy Statement sets out our privacy policy and explains what we do with the personal information that we collect from you. Please read the following to understand our practices regarding personal information and how they affect you as you use our features and services. This statement discloses our current privacy practices; if we make material changes to these practices, we will announce them. If you have any questions or concerns regarding this statement, you should contact 5 Categories at support@5Categories.com.

This Privacy Statement answers the following questions:

1. What information does 5 Categories gather about you?
2. How does 5 Categories use your personal information?
3. How do we use "IP addresses" and "cookies"?
4. Will 5 Categories disclose any of your personal information?
5. What kind of security measures do we take to protect your information from accidental loss or disclosure?
6. Will 5 Categories use your information for direct mailings?
7. How can you deactivate your account or correct or revise information that we have about you?
8. How do we respect children's privacy?
9. What else should you know about your privacy?
10. How will you know whether 5 Categories’ privacy policy has changed?

What Information Does 5 Categories Gather About You?

5 Categories collects information about our readers so that we can provide a more interesting and useful service. We ask for your name, email address, and other personal information when you register to use certain features of our Web site, or if you sign up for special or personalized services, such as our newsletter. We sometimes conduct surveys as well, although you do not have to respond to them.

If you use our recommendation service to email one of our articles to a friend, you will need to provide us with your friend's email address and your email address as a return address. We will automatically send this person a one-time email, with the recommended article attached, as well as invite your friend to visit and register with our site. We will not use these email addresses for any other purpose.

We collect IP addresses for site security and to help us understand how people use our sites so that we can improve our sites and our users' respective experiences. For similar quality reasons, we use a feature known as a "cookie." Cookies contain bits of information that websites transfer to your computer's hard drive for record-keeping purposes. Cookies can make the Web more convenient by storing information about your preferences on a site. Although we may assign your browser a cookie, the cookie does not tell us who you are. Only you can tell us that. We discuss cookies later in this Privacy Statement.

When you place an order for a product or service, we need to know the sort of information typically used for credit card transactions, such as your name, mailing and billing addresses (and shipping address, if different), telephone number, and credit card number and expiration date. Gathering this information allows us to process and fulfill your order and notify you of your order status. We will also use your information to contact you regarding your order if necessary. We encrypt all of this information using Secure Socket Layers (SSL) technology.

We may also collect your email address when you submit content to our site (for example, a review of the product or testimonial). Unless we get your approval, we will not display your address with your submission.

Besides cookies, we may also use tiny electronic images (called "single-pixel GIFs" or "Web beacons"), which allow us to count users who have visited specific pages or access certain cookies. We may use single-pixel GIFs in the following ways:

• To count and recognize users.
• To conduct research and for auditing purposes.
• To determine aggregate information about users, including demographic and usage information.
• To determine which email messages were opened and/or acted upon when we send HTML-formatted email messages (messages resembling Web pages that include graphics).

How Does 5 Categories Use Your Personal Information?

5 Categories collects personal information to provide you, the user, with the best and most personalized experience possible.

We conduct research on our users' demographics, interests, and behavior based upon the information you provide us when you register or based upon the information on our server log files. This research is compiled and analyzed on an aggregated basis. We will not contact you for any product or service other than the 5 Categories Investment newsletter. You may opt out of receiving emails at the bottom of every email sent.

How Do We Use "IP Addresses" and "Cookies"?

IP Addresses

Your Web browser or email application automatically provides your Internet Protocol address ("IP address") to other computers with which you communicate over the Internet, so that they know where to send you information.

We receive an IP address each time you view one of our Web pages, because the browser automatically reports it to us. We also may store the IP address when you register with 5 Categories, post a message, or buy something from us.

We may use IP addresses for various purposes, including:

• Diagnosing service or technology problems.
• Assessing and maintaining system security.
• Studying how people use our site and how we can improve it.

Cookies

Cookies are used on our sites in the following ways:

• We use cookies to access your stored account information automatically when you log on to our site, in order to deliver a better and more personalized service.
• We use cookies to estimate our audience size and usage patterns.
• We use cookies to allow you to access your account information automatically, as well as make changes to your personal information.

Most browsers are set up to accept cookies, but you can configure yours to refuse cookies or notify you when you've received one. Browsers differ, so check your "Help" menu to learn how to change your cookie preferences. If you reject cookies on our sites, though, you will not be able to access all areas of them or use many of their features, including our discussion boards and portfolio tracker. When you accept our cookies, we cannot use them to find out who you really are, unless you tell us. And even then, they won't tell us what you are thinking, your ATM PIN, or to whom you are writing love letters.

For more information about cookies, read the unofficial Cookie FAQ from CookieCentral.com.

Will 5 Categories Disclose Any of Your Personal Information?

5 Categories will not disclose any personally identifiable information about individual users, except as described in this Privacy Statement. We do not give, rent, lend, or sell individual information to advertisers.

As for individually identifiable information, we may disclose it only under the following circumstances:

• We may disclose information to others when we have your consent.
• If you buy something from us, we will disclose your personal information to the extent necessary to fulfill your order and charge your credit card (if applicable). We may use a credit card processing company to verify your card number and process the transaction.
• If you use our recommendation service to email one of our articles to a friend, 5 Categories will automatically send this person a one-time email, with the recommended article attached. The email address you give us will appear on the "From" line of the email, thereby disclosing this information to whoever opens and reads the email. Similarly, if you send email from our site, by using "Reply to Author" or "Email this Post," your address may appear as the return address of that email.
• We may disclose your personal information as required by applicable law, or in response to legal process, to protect the rights or property of 5 Categories, or to protect the safety of 5 Categories, our users, or others.
• We may employ contractors or other third parties to help with our operations. We may give them access to databases of user information, so that they can perform their services for us, including performing system maintenance, displaying personalized content (such as portfolios), or performing list analysis or management. These parties are all subject to confidentiality agreements that restrict their use and disclosure of information they obtain through their relationship with 5 Categories.

What Kind of Security Measures Do We Take to Protect Your Information From Accidental Loss or Disclosure?

5 Categories is committed to protecting your personal information. We store information you provide us on our secure servers. Further, the information you provide when making a purchase is encrypted with SSL technology.

Do not share your passwords with anyone. 5 Categories will never ask you for your password in an unsolicited phone call or email. If you are using a computer to which others have access, such as one in a computer lab, Internet cafe, or public library, always remember to log out and close your browser window when leaving our site.

Will 5 Categories Use Your Information for Direct Mailings?

No.

How Can You Deactivate or Reactivate Your Account or Edit the Information We Have About You?

If you want to correct or change information in your Personal Profile, or any other tidbits we have about you, please go to http://www.5Categories.com/users/update. Either you will be able to make your changes right there, or we will give you instructions.

If you want to make changes to your paid 5Categories newsletter subscriptions or free trials, please email us If you want to change your email address for email products, do so at http://www.5Categories.com/payments/update.

Please note that if you have opted out of receiving emails and other communications from us and you subsequently select to receive one of our free reports or take a free trial subscription, you will need to opt out again if you still prefer us not to contact you. Otherwise, we may contact you using the email address you provided us at the time you signed up for the free report or offer.

How Do We Respect Children's Privacy?

Our sites are not directed at children under the age of 13. We operate our sites in compliance with the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act and will not knowingly collect or use personally identifiable information from anyone under 13.

What Else Should You Know About Your Privacy?

When you post information on discussion boards, and in such features as your Personal Profile, that information, along with your screen name, is visible to the public. Please remember that whenever you disclose personal information publicly that information can be collected and used by others. In short, if you post personal information online where people can see it, people will know that information and you may receive unsolicited messages from other parties in return. If you do not want strangers to have your email address, you should not post your email address on a discussion board.

Also please be aware that when you post messages on our discussion boards, people can respond to your posts through our "Reply to Author" email function. Of course, they still will not know your email address (unless you send email to them).

While we do our best to protect your personal information, 5 Categories cannot ensure or warrant the security of any information you transmit to us, and you do so at your own risk. What does all of this mean? Just as in the investing world, you must protect yourself. You are responsible for maintaining the secrecy of any password and/or account information. Please be careful and responsible whenever you are online, especially when using a computer that other people can also use.

How Will You Know Whether 5 Categories's Privacy Policy Has Changed?

We may change this Privacy Statement at any time, but we will give notice of any material change (or any notices that we are required to give you) on our websites and/or in email messages.

Last Updated: August 17, 2009