The Ayn Rand Institute (ARI) respects the privacy of its online visitors. Please contact us should you have any questions about the operation of the site or to be removed from our database.

The following discloses our information gathering and dissemination practices for the Web site located at the URL http://www.aynrand.org.

ARI does not require visitors to register or provide information to us in order to view the general content of our site. ARI collects names, email addresses and other personal information when submitted by a visitor via an online form, which a visitor may choose to submit for purposes such as registering to view restricted or customized content, making a donation, or otherwise communicating with ARI. This data is used solely by ARI and is not shared with, traded or sold to third parties. Users can edit their personal information by clicking on the "My Profile" link located towards the top left of any page or here: Update My Profile.

To those who submitted their contact information on our site in request of general information, ARI may send announcements and special offers from the Ayn Rand Bookstore and Objectivist Conferences, which are both operated by ARI. Opt-out instructions are included in all such messages.

ARI's site collects non-personal data through the use of Web browser "cookies." "Cookies" are small files stored by your browser on your hard drive. ARI's Web site uses "cookies" to recognize visitors and facilitate visitors’ access to restricted and customized content, and to allow the compilation of aggregate data. From this data we can evaluate site usage and better determine how to improve our visitors' experience within our site. Most Web browsers have a setting the visitor can adjust to deny the placement of "cookies," when the visitor desires this. If a logged-in visitor wishes to log out permanently until such time that he is required to enter his user name and password in order to be logged in again, he must first turn off the "remember me" feature in his profile, and then log out.

ARI collects an IP address from all visitors to our site. An IP address is a number that is automatically assigned to your computer when you use the Internet. We use IP addresses to help diagnose problems with our server, administer our site, analyze trends, track users' movement, and gather broad demographic information, in order to improve the site and deliver personalized, custom content. IP addresses are not linked to personally identifiable information.

ARI uses industry-standard https security protocol to communicate with your Web browser during online credit card transactions. ARI uses a credit card processing company to process online donations. This company also uses security encryption and does not share personally identifiable information, storing it on a secure server only to process and record credit card transactions. You may also make a donation by credit card by calling our Donor Services Specialist at (949) 222-6550, ext. 204, or by postal mail:

Attn: Donor Services
Ayn Rand Institute
2121 Alton Parkway, Suite 250
Irvine, CA 92606-4926

ARI's site contains links to other Web sites. Please note that when you click on one of these links, you are entering another Web site for which the Ayn Rand Institute has no responsibility.