Privacy and Policy Terms
The DOT-COM Alliance, made up of staff from Internews Network, the Academy of Educational Development (AED), and the Education Development Center (EDC), is responsible for this site. All material on this web site from the various DOT-COM Alliance members and resource partners is subject to the following terms and conditions. In addition, the members of the DOT-COM Alliance may have additional terms and conditions that govern the use of their material.

Disclaimer Concerning the DOT-COM Alliance Web Site
Core funding for the DOT-COM Alliance Web Site is provided by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), Bureau for Economic Growth, Agriculture & Trade, Office of Energy and Information Technology (EGAT/EIT/IT) and Office of Women in Development (EGAT/WID), under the terms of Award numbers:

• GDG-A-00-01-00009-00, dot-GOV (led by Internews);
• GDG-A-00-01-00014-00, dot-ORG (led by AED);
• GDG-A-00-01-00011-00, dot-EDU (led by EDC).

This web site was developed by AED. The opinions expressed herein are those of AED and/or the DOT-COM Alliance and do not necessarily reflect the views of the U.S. Agency for International Development. Every effort is made to provide accurate and complete information on the DOT-COM Alliance web site. However, neither DOT-COM Alliance nor AED can guarantee freedom from errors. Therefore, neither the DOT-COM Alliance, nor AED nor their employees make any warranty, expressed or implied, with respect to this information, nor do they assume any legal responsibility for it or its use.

Disclaimer Concerning Third Party Links
This site contains links to third party web sites. These external links are provided for users' convenience. AED and/or the DOT-COM Alliance neither control nor guarantee the accuracy, relevance, timeliness, or completeness of any linked information. Further, the inclusion of links to other web sites is not intended to assign importance to those sites and the information contained therein, nor is it intended to endorse, recommend, or favor any views expressed or services offered on them or the organizations sponsoring them by trade name, trademark, manufacture, or otherwise.

Disclaimer Concerning Forums and Discussion Groups
The DOT-COM Alliance web site may contain bulletin boards, chat rooms, access to mailing lists, and other message or communication forums. Users must agree to use the communication forums only to send and receive messages and material that are proper and related to the particular forum. When using a forum, users shall not do any of the following:

• Defame, abuse, harass, stalk, threaten or otherwise violate the legal rights (such as rights of privacy and publicity) of others.
• Publish, post, distribute or disseminate any defamatory, infringing, obscene, indecent or unlawful material or information.
• Upload or attach files that contain software or other material protected by intellectual property laws (or by rights of privacy of publicity) unless you own or control the rights thereto or have received all necessary consents.
• Upload or attach files that contain viruses, corrupted files, or any other similar software or programs that may damage the operation of another's computer.
• Delete any author attributions, legal notices or proprietary designations or labels in any file that is uploaded.
• Falsify the origin or source of software or other material contained in a file that is uploaded.
• Advertise or offer to sell any goods or services, or conduct or forward surveys, contests, or chain letters.
• Download any file posted by another user of a Forum that you know, or reasonably should know, cannot be legally distributed in such manner.

All forums or discussion groups are public and not private communications. Furthermore, chats, postings, conferences, e-mails and other communications by other users are not endorsed by the DOT-COM Alliance, and such communications shall not be considered reviewed, screened, or approved by the DOT-COM Alliance. We reserves the right for any reason to remove without notice any contents of the communication forums received from the users, including without limitation e-mail and bulletin board postings.

Privacy Statement
Your privacy is important to us. Because we gather certain types of information about the users of the DOT-COM Alliance web site and services, we want to ensure that you fully understand the terms and conditions surrounding the capture and use of that information. We do not collect personal information about you when you visit our site unless you choose to provide this information to us; for example, when you subscribe to a discussion forum or upload information to our databases. However, we collect and store certain information automatically in order to evaluate and improve our web site over time.

Subscription to the Dissemination List
The DOT-COM Alliance maintains a mailing list for disseminiation of news about the DOT-COM Alliance. Subscription to this list is free and open to the public. You can subscribe (and unsubscribe) at any time by visiting any page of the web site, filling in the email address where current information is sent and clicking on subscribe. You can also send a message to and request to be subscribed or unsubscribed. A confirmation of your request to subscribe is sent to your email address to avoid unwanted subscriptions.

The DOT-COM Alliance will also from time to time subscribe individuals automatically based on their direct requests or their relationship with DOT-COM. The DOT-COM Alliance will never sell, lend, share, or give your email address to any party outside of the DOT-COM Alliance or the United States Agency for International Development.


What We Collect and Store Automatically

• Name of the domain from which you access the Internet (for example, "aol.com," if you use an America Online account, or "princeton.edu," if you connect from Princeton University's domain);
• Date and time you access our site; and
• IP Address of the Web site from which you linked directly to our site.

When you register for a discussion forum or to input information into our databases, the DOT-COM Alliance web site sets a cookie, a small bit of code stored on your hard drive that enables you to manage your subscriptions and online profile. By setting this cookie the DOT-COM Alliance web site will remember you the next time you visit and won't have to bother you by asking questions you have already answered.

If You Send Us E-mail
You may choose to provide us with personal information, as in e-mail with a comment or question. We use the information to improve our service to you or to respond to your request. If we do not know the answer to your question, we may need to forward your e-mail to other persons who may be better able to help you.

Terms to Know
Cookie: A cookie is a small amount of data, which often includes an anonymous unique identifier that is sent to your browser from a web site's computers and stored on your computer's hard drive. Each web site can send its own cookie to your browser if your browser's preferences allow it, but (to protect your privacy) your browser only permits a web site to access the cookies it has already sent to you, not the cookies sent to you by other sites. Once the user has closed the browser the cookie will no longer be accessed during that session.

IP Address: When your web browser or email application requests a web page or email from another computer on the Internet, it automatically gives that computer the address where it should send the information. This is called your computer's "IP address." (IP stands for "Internet protocol.") For many users accessing the Internet from a dial-up Internet service provider (ISP), the IP address will be different every time you log on. The DOT-COM Alliance does this to learn about the geographical make-up of its web site traffic.

For more information, contact: Siobhan Green, Information & Dissemination Coordinator, DOT-COM Alliance.

Accessibility Statement
The Academy for Educational Development strives to make the DOT-COM Alliance web site fully accessible to users with disabilities, in accordance with section 508 of the U.S. Rehabilitation Act. If you experience any difficulties with accessibility, please do not hesitate to contact our webmaster at .

Some documents included on this site are in Adobe Portable Document Format (PDF) and require the Adobe Acrobat Reader or PDFViewer plug-in. This software is available for free download from Adobe. If you need to access a PDF through a screen reader, then please follow the instructions on Adobe's Acrobat Access 4.05 for Windows page. Additional plug-ins required may include Real Media Player or Apple QuickTime or Macromedia Flash. In the case of video and audio clips, transcripts are provided. Please contact if you find one missing.