This update requires that you be on a web browser that can access DiscusWare's server via a standard web connection, and that you can access your board. All communication occurs between your browser and DiscusWare's server, or between your browser and your board; at no point does your board need to communicate directly with the DiscusWare server or vice versa.

When you connect to the online update service, the following information is transmitted via a secure, encrypted connection from your browser to DiscusWare's server:

• Software's identifying build number: This identifies the exact version of Discus Freeware or Discus Professional that you are currently running. The online update system works by transmitting to you only those files that have changed between the version of Discus you have and the one that you're upgrading to. The identifying build number is also displayed in the initial Version Manager screen, and is in a format like 0.4.10.001.

• Discus Professional license number and download password: If you are a Discus Professional customer, your license number (pre-filled onto the form for you) and your download password (must be entered manually) will be transmitted along with your request to verify your eligibility for the upgrade.

• URL to your discussion board: The URL to your board administration program, which consists of the "script URL" and "CGI extension" settings from your discus.conf file, is necessary so that the form actions on the pages generated from DiscusWare's server will properly direct your browser back to your discussion board.

• Whether or not your server is capable of handling compressed data: The board identifies whether the "Compress::Zlib" perl module is installed. If your server can handle compressed data, the amount of data transferred during an update can be reduced by 50% or more.

• Board administrator username: In most installations, the board administrator's username is "admin" but some sites change this. In order for your username to be correct when the DiscusWare web site directs your browser back to your board, we need to capture this information.

Only the information above is required to use the online update system. Among the information that we specifically do not capture:

• Your administration password in any form: Your administration password is stored in encrypted format in a cookie on your web browser, and is available only to pages in your own domain. Due to the design of cookies, the DiscusWare web site could not read this cookie (even if we wanted to). Since all interaction with your board is handled through your browser, the DiscusWare website does not need to capture this information.

• Database connection parameters: Our automated system does not need to know whether you are using a database, or the username and password for it.

• Identifying information or statistics: We do not collect, or attempt to collect, any personally identifying information about any user or moderator on your board, or statistics about your use of the software.

A "cookie" will be stored in your browser's memory throughout your interaction with the online update system so as to identify session data to make your progress through the system as seamless as possible. This "cookie" is not made available to any other web site, and in no way seeks to identify you personally. It expires and is removed from your browser's memory when you close your browser.

Please refer to the technical details above for an explanation of what information is transferred to DiscusWare's server when you access the online update service.

With regard to collected information: the information collected is used only for the purposes of verifying that you are entitled to receive the software update you have requested, and to enable the system to provide the software update correctly in a format suitable for your server. Specific uses of this information are as follows:

• We will validate the Discus Professional license number and download password against our license database and check to see if your license allows you to download the version of Discus Professional you have requested.

• If you are requesting Discus Professional, we will also keep a log of having seen your license number associated with the discussion board that you are attempting to update. This log may be analyzed for statistical purposes.

• Standard access logs, which will record the IP address from which you are accessing the service, the browser that you are using, and the referring page will be kept by DiscusWare's web server.

Collected information is made available to authorized DiscusWare employees for the purposes of validating your request and assisting in the delivery of products and services that you paid for.

If you violate the terms of the DiscusWare software license agreement, use or attempt to use this system to obtain products to which you are not entitled, or interfere or attempt to interfere with the availability or function of this system, we reserve the right to provide all of our records regarding this activity to authorities, collection agencies, our legal counsel, and any other entity deemed necessary to protect our rights.

DiscusWare will not use the information collected to send you any unsolicited mailings, either by postal mail or electronic mail, unless you request to receive such mailings by joining our product mailing list.

Except as noted above, we will never disclose your personal information (including all information that we collect through this system) to any other party in any way.