This information is collected in our members-only club in order for us to forward email without requiring the child to publish her email address, and to provide a searchable listing of potential penpals with similar traits and interests.

Some of this information is collected in other areas of the site to identify and reward girls who submit articles or other material or who win contests.

None of the information collected at this site is ever disclosed to any other party. It is used strictly to provide the services described above.

If you are a citizen of the USA, you have the option to agree to the collection and use of your child's information without consenting to the disclosure of the information to third parties. This applies to all websites operated in the USA. Websites operated in the USA may not require a child to disclose more information than is reasonably necessary to participate in an activity as a condition of participation.

Furthermore, any parent or child may review, alter, and delete the child's information online at any time. Detailed instructions for doing so are available by contacting the Editor.

Membership

A Girl's World Online Clubhouse was designed for girls and teens by girls and teens with the help of caring adults. A Girl's World can be explored and enjoyed without any registration information. There are over 100 pages of columns, features and advice which can be looked at by anyone.

Parental Permission

In our members-only club, girls 7-17 can get a penpal without publishing their email address! After girls join, they can write girls the world over!

As of April 22, 2000, the Federal Trade Commission's COPPA Act (Children's Online Privacy Protection Act) requires websites to obtain verifiable (written) parental consent in order for children under 13 in the United States to use penpal, chat or message board technology. The law has determined that email is no longer an acceptable means of obtaining consent because it is not verifiable. This means that on AGW, girls must send in a signed, parent permission form to join. For more information on the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act which sets the registration rules we follow, visit the FTC's Kidsz Privacy site.

AGW does not sell email addresses to third parties. Please be aware that A Girl's World Online Clubhouse doesn't give email addresses out to anyone. Ever. Period. Our computer keeps that a secret. This site does not sell or give out email addresses or personally identifiable information about our members to anyone else. We do ask users to tell us whether they'd like to receive free email newsletters. They may say no and unsubscribe at any time.

We also invite parents and girls to help out the club by buying books in our Amazon.com bookstore for members and by shopping at our mall. Amazon.com has terrific security measures in place to protect your privacy while shopping. We also invite girls to contribute articles to the club, write a story or poem, or shop in our mall to help support the club. A signed parental permission form, mailed to us, is required from all members. We don't give, trade, sell, or otherwise distribute any personal information you provide to us to sign up for our club or any other area on our site.

Information Use

At A Girl's World, we value your privacy. We are parents and caring adults who provide a backbone of support for the girls and teens who run this site. We also don't give, trade, sell, or otherwise distribute any personal information you provide to us to sign up for our club or any other area on our site.

For the safety and privacy of the girls the world over who visit our site, no personally identifiable information such as last name, school, city, etc. will be published in any area on A Girl's World.

Our members may choose to create a penpal profile from a standard questionaire with general information about their likes and dislikes. This information is not personally identifiable. We don't give any member the opportunity to submit any personally identifiable or specific information, such as last name, city, address or school or physical traits through the forms on our site.

Members and their parents can view, correct, update, and delete profile information and email addresses from our penpal databases at any time. All they need is their penpal ID number and their passcode: the email address at time of signup. The only purpose of the profile information is for penpals to be able to create a brief, general description of their own likes and dislikes so they can find a penpal match.

Please be aware that AGW doesn't give email addresses out to anyone. Ever. Period. Our computer keeps that a secret. This site does not sell or give out email addresses or mailing lists or personally identifiable information about girls to anyone else.

For the safety and privacy of the girls the world over who visit our site, no personally identifiable information such as last name, school, city, etc. will be published in any area on AGW.

Any personal information a girl provides on our site is used only to supply the information or services that user requests. We don't share it with any other organization. We also don't use this information for any unsolicited follow-up contact.

Advertisers

We clearly identify any paid sponsored contests, banners or other ads as advertisements.

Tracking Visitors and Opinion Polls

Our Web server does recognize a visitors domain name, and we do keep track of how many times unknown persons click on or download a webpage. However, we do not use cookies to track individual visitors or monitor their movements. We do ask girls their opinions in forms and surveys. This site is run for and by girls, 7-17. We want to do a great job and create the kind of Girl's World you want. Any information girls volunteer in forms and surveys is used only for our own internal review to improve our website or for entertainment purposes.

Circle of Friends Club: A signed, parental permission form or a credit-card payment is required in order to participate in this program. Parents sign their daughters up voluntarily and can change or delete their information from our system at any time. Also, when a member registers, an e-mail is sent alerting them to the fact that they have registered and instructions are provided about how to delete their registration whenever they choose.

Scoop Editorial System: A signed, parental permission form is required to be mailed in to the club in order to participate in this program as an editor. Parents sign their daughters up voluntarily and can change or delete her information from our system at any time. Also, when a member registers, an e-mail is sent alerting them to the fact that they have registered and instructions are provided about how to delete their registration whenever they choose.

Newsletters: When girls signup for our program, they are invited to get our free email newsletter. Or, they can write to an email address to subscribe or unsubscribe from our newsletter list. We never send out any unsolicited newsletters. Newsletter signup email addresses are retained in order for girls to get their newsletter. A girl can delete herself from our newsletter list at any time.

Submissions

Girls: Any submission you send to us or article you edit for us becomes the property of A Girl's World Online Clubhouse and cannot be returned. When you send in any Submission to A Girl's World Online Clubhouse, or edit an article for us, you are agreeing to the following:

• Your work is wholly original. You wrote it. It's entirely yours.
• You've already received your parent's permission to submit this work to us. Submitting your work signifies your parent's permission.
• A Girl's World has the right to publish both your Submission and your first name, last initial, age, state or country and penpal number if provided by you in connection with your Submission for any type of use.
• A Girl's World has the right to publish or use that Submission for any type of use.
• All materials you post, edit, email, mail or submit to "A Girl's World" including ideas, suggestions, concepts, stories, advice, artwork, photographs, graphic files, notes, messages, chats or any other material ("Submissions") will become the property of "A Girl's World Online Clubhouse" and cannot be returned.
• By submitting your writing or artwork or pictures, you give us the right to publicly release and exhibit that material.
• At our discretion, we can edit your material, broadcast it, reproduce it, publish it and display it in any media.
• Your submissions will be considered non-confidential and non-proprietary by A Girl's World.
• A Girl's World will have no obligation regarding your Submission.
• A Girl's World or its designees will be entitled to copy, distribute, incorporate, modify and otherwise use your Submission for any time or commercial or non-commercial use including in any media whether now known or not yet conceived.

Thank you for sharing your time and talent with the girls of the world. All submissions will be used to help support this site and inspire, entertain and educate girls the world over.

Trademarks and Copyright

All materials on this site including articles, logos, graphics and all other text or images are copyright 1994-2007 by A Girl's World Online Clubhouse (tm). Materials may not be reproduced, reprinted, or published, in any media, electronic or otherwise, without our prior written consent. A Girl's World Online Clubhouse is trademarked and may only be used with our express written consent.

Disclaimer

"A Girl's World" has been designed to inspire, entertain, educate and inform girls 7-17. Although we do our best to be accurate, it is our mission that this site and the articles on it be written for girls and teens, by girls and teens and edited by the same. Therefore, we cannot verify every fact or check every link. No warranty, expressed or implied, concerning their accuracy or contents is made. Mistakes will be made in grammar, HTML coding, and sometimes even facts. It's all a part of the learning process for the girls who participate here. We appreciate your understanding. Articles, interviews, opinions stated and materials posted on this site do not necessarily reflect the views of the members of A Girl's World or its staff.

We do not promise that any page will load or program on our site will run on your computer and we are not responsible if they do not. The materials and programs on this site are provided "As Is" and without express or implied warranties of any kind. We do not promise that the information on our Site will be accurate, complete, uninterrupted or error-free, that defects will be corrected, or that this Site or the servers that make it available are free of viruses, worms, Trojan Horses or other harmful components. You (and not A Girl's World Productions) assume the entire cost of all necessary servicing, repair or correction arising out of your use of this Site. Anything you see, read or do on this site is provided solely for entertainment purposes. In no event will A Girl's World Productions, Inc. be responsible or liable to any person or entity for any damage, loss, injury, liability or other cause of any kind based upon or resulting from any use or inability to use the pages or programs on our Site.

A Girl's World is not responsible for any Submissions or Material posted on any page or any forum, chat room, or message sent by means of our Penpal Program or "E-Cards". You agree to indemnify A Girl's World Productions, Inc. and its officers, directors, employees, agents, staff and volunteers from and against any and all third party claims, demands, liabilities, costs or expenses, including reasonable attorney's fees, resulting from your breach of any of the agreements, representations, and warranties on this page. The contents and programs on this Site are presented solely for the purpose of entertainment. This Site is controlled and operated by A Girl's World Productions, Inc., operating within the state of California in the United States of America. A Girl's World makes no representation that the contents or programs on this Site or appropriate or available for use in other locations. Those who choose to access this Site from other locations do so on their own initiative and are responsible for compliance with local laws, if and to the extent local laws are applicable.

Linked Sites

From time to time, we may link to another site from A Girl's World. These linked sites are not under our control. Therefore, when you use a link on our pages you do so entirely at your own risk. A Girl's World is not responsible for the content found on any linked site or any link contained in a link site. The mention of a linked site on our pages is not an endorsement of that site.

Restrictions on Use of Materials

• You are not free to copy our articles or other information onto your site without getting our written permission first.
• You are not free to copy our pictures or graphics or other images to your site or reproduce them for any purpose without getting our permission first. Many of these images are owned by artists and photographers and are used by us with their permission.
• You may link to one HTML page. Please link to www.agirlsworld.com
• You may not link to a single image or article. The articles on our site change daily and monthly, so what was "Pumas" one month will be "Oranges" the next and confuse your readers.
• You are not free to copy the organization, design or other creative aspects of our site without getting our written permission first.

Design Values

Our site has been carefully designed to be fun and easy to access for all girls including the blind and disabled. We describe all pictures used with text for voice readers. We don't use frames or any of the really fancy web design tools because they tend to crash girl's browsers or slow down page loads. Our girls help design pages that can be viewed on many browser platforms. We keep things simple because our goal is to be user friendly and safe for girls of all ages in countries around the world.

Suggestions

What do you think of A Girl's World? Love it? Let us know! Even volunteers need encouragement! Need improvement? What can we do to make this an even better experience for girls and teens? You can make a suggestion or comment about A Girl's World here.

Write for the Club

Write for the Club: Find out how in the Scoop area.

Problems?

Here's how to Contact the Club By Electronic mail.

In your messages, please don't forget the following information:

• Parents first and last name
• Daughter's name
• Daughter's penpal number if member of Penpal Club
• Your email address -generally, we will only respond by email.

Company to Company

This website is run by A Girl's World Productions, Inc. Here's where to find more information on who we are and what we do.

Phone or Fax

Contact us By Mail

By Mail

A Girl's World Online Clubhouse PO Box 153551 San Diego, CA 92195-3551