The McGraw-Hill Companies' Customer Privacy Policy has been developed as an extension of our commitment to combine the finest quality products and services with the highest level of integrity in dealing with our customers. The Policy guides how we collect, store and use information about customers and prospects, and it will be continuously assessed against new technologies, business practices and our customers' changing needs.

Our Policy recognizes two kinds of personal data that deserve different levels of protection. Personally-Identifiable Information includes, for example, e-mail addresses, billing information, employment status and "click stream" data that tracks visitor activity on a Web site or online service. A subset of that category, Sensitive Data, deserves additional safeguards. Sensitive Data includes, by way of example, Social Security numbers, mothers' maiden names, personal financial data (such as specific salary, portfolio or net worth information), information about specific medical conditions and most information about children. Our business units collect Personally-Identifiable Information and Sensitive Data only when there is a legitimate business need to do so.

1. Notice. We will inform you about why we are collecting Personally-Identifiable Information and how we intend to use it. We need to collect and store your name, address, and other basic Personally-Identifiable Information, for example, to provide you with the product or service you requested, as well as for billing purposes. This information also enables us to develop and customize products to better meet your needs and preferences and to offer you products from The McGraw-Hill Companies and other sources that may be of interest to you.

2. Opt Out. From time to time, we are approached by companies and organizations that have a product or service that we believe may be of interest to you. We may share your Personally-Identifiable Information with these companies in an effort to help you find these resources. We will, however, offer you the opportunity to "opt out" of having your Personally-Identifiable Information shared with third parties that are not affiliated with The McGraw-Hill Companies.

If your relationship with us includes providing one of the Corporation's business units with Sensitive Data, we will protect that information with extra care. We will not distribute Sensitive Data outside of the family of The McGraw-Hill Companies, and will give you the chance to opt out of sharing this information within our own organization.

3. Security. We will maintain appropriate safeguards to ensure the security, integrity and privacy of your Personally-Identifiable Information.

4. Review and Correction. We are continuing to enhance our procedures to enable you to review and correct, upon request, the Personally-Identifiable Information we collect from you. Currently, most of our units require that you make such a request in a manner that can be verified.

Questions and comments? The McGraw-Hill Companies Customer Privacy Policy has been developed out of respect for the privacy preferences and choices of our customers and prospects. We have established procedures to ensure that every reasonable effort is made to address your concerns. Each business unit within The McGraw-Hill Companies has designated a privacy official to implement our Customer Privacy Policy for its respective customers and prospects. You should find contact information on each of our units' Web sites that collect data from you.

The Corporation also has established a standing Privacy Steering Committee consisting of senior corporate executives and managers from our major business segments. This Committee will continue to oversee implementation of and compliance with our Policy and will adapt the Policy to reflect changes in technology and customer expectations. The co-chairs of the Committee also are charged with handling any unresolved customer concerns. You can reach them by sending an e-mail message to washaff@mcgraw-hill.com.

To ensure that we are following our stated Policy, we also are conducting periodic and random audits of our Web sites and other products and services. The results of our review are shared with senior management and our Board of Directors. A report of our experience will be available in 1999.