Effective as of August 26th, 2010
1. INTRODUCTION
We take the privacy of members of, and visitors to, the http://californiachoices.org website (the “Service”) very seriously. Please read this Privacy Policy to learn more about how CaliforniaChoices.org (“California Choices,” “we,” our,” or “us”) treats information, including personally identifiable information, in connection with the Service. We provide this Privacy Policy because visitors to the http://californiachoices.org website have a right to know what information we collect, how it is protected and used, and the circumstances under which it may be disclosed. If you have comments, suggestions, questions, or concerns about our Privacy Policy, please contact us via email at privacy@californiachoices.org or by post at: California Choices, 300 Brannan Street, Suite 402, San Francisco, CA 94107.
Online Privacy Standards. We follow the principles supported by the Federal Trade Commission’s Fair Information Practices Principles, currently available at http://www.ftc.gov/reports/privacy3/fairinfo.shtm.
What This Policy Covers. This policy covers the ways in which California Choices treats information, including personally identifiable information, which we obtain when you use our Service. We regard personally identifiable information as information that someone can use to identify or contact you in person, such as your real name, telephone number, birth date, email address, or physical mailing address. Neither the technical information associated with your access to the Service – such as your internet protocol addresses, browser type, internet service provider (ISP), site entry/exit pages, operating system, date/time stamp, and click stream data – nor information that we use internally to identify you as a user in our system is considered personally identifiable information.
What This Policy Does Not Cover. This policy does not cover the privacy practices of third parties that we do not own or control. In addition, we may provide links to other services and on occasion to other sites that may interest you. All of these sites operate independently of California Choices and each has its own privacy and security practices. For your best on-line experience, we encourage you to review each website’s privacy and security policies before submitting any personal information to that website.
2. HOW WE COLLECT INFORMATION
Information You Provide
When You Post A Comment. When posting a comment to the Service, you will be asked to provide your name and email address in addition to the comment itself. You will also have the option of providing a homepage and a subject-line for your comment. California Choices stores this name, email address, and homepage information along with the comment; but only the name and homepage information will appear online alongside your comment.
When You Subscribe. When you subscribe to our email newsletter, you will be asked to provide your first and last name, email address, organization (optional), and professional title (optional).
When You Save Your Votes. When saving your vote, you will be asked to provide your email address. An email will be sent where you will be asked to set a password to retrieve your votes using your email address and the password you set. Your saved choices will be emailed to you but your email and saved choices will not be shared with anyone.
When You Share Your Votes With A Friend. When sharing your vote with a friend, you will be asked to provide your email address and your friend's email address. An email with your choices will be sent to your friend. Your choices, your email, and your friend's email will not be shared with anyone.
Information We Do Not Collect From Any Users
Children. As explained further in our Terms of Use (available at //www.californiachoices.org/terms-of-use), you must be 18 years of age or older – or, if you are under the age of majority in your jurisdiction, have the consent of your parent or guardian – to use the Service. Therefore, we do not knowingly collect personally identifiable information from or about children. In accordance with Federal Children's Online Privacy Protection Act of 1998 (“COPPA”), California Choices will never knowingly solicit, nor will we accept, personally identifiable information from visitors known to be under thirteen (13) years of age. If you believe that we have information from or about anyone under 13 years of age, please notify us by email at privacy@californiachoices.org or write to our Privacy Officer at the address noted above.
Information We Track
Log Files. Similar to many websites and internet services, we gather certain anonymous, non-personal information automatically and store it in web server log files. This information includes internet protocol addresses, browser type, internet service provider (ISP), site entry/exit pages, operating system, date/time stamp, and click stream data. We use this information to improve our site, analyze trends, administer the site, and gather aggregate information about our user base as a whole. Aggregate information is data we collect about a group or category of services or users from which individual user identities have been removed, and therefore does not include your personally identifiable information.
Cookies. A cookie is a small text file that is stored on a user's computer for record-keeping purposes. It can also help us understand how our site visitors arrive at our site and what pages they view during their visit. Similar to many websites, the Service stores an encrypted cookie on your computer so we can remember you when you come back without requiring you to log in each time. Cookies also allow us to track and understand the interests of our visitors and to enhance the overall experience on our Service. Cookies used by California Choices do not include your personally identifiable information
If you prefer not to receive cookies, you can set your web browser software to disable them. To do so, please refer to the help section of your specific browser for more information on how to manage or disable cookies. Please note that your browser must be configured to accept cookies to use some components of the Service.
3. HOW WE USE INFORMATION
California Choices’ Communications
We use emails and/or prominent notifications on our website as our primary means to inform our users of important Service announcements.
Newsletters. We use the email address provided when posting a comment or subscribe to our newsletter to deliver information from California Choices – and other like-minded entities – to you. These communications are purely optional, and each such communication will contain a prominent “unsubscribe” link to allow you to opt-out of such communications going forward.
On Our Website
When Posting a Comment. When posting a comment to the Service, you will be asked to provide your name (which may be anonymous) and email address in addition to the comment itself. You will also have the option of providing a homepage and a subject-line for your comment. All such information, with the exception of your email address, will be publication to the Service as part of the comment posting. Please do not include any personally identifiable information in any field that will accompany your comment.
When You Save Or Share Your Vote. When you save your vote to retrieve later we will send you a confirmation email and will email you with a reminder to vote. When you share your vote with a friend we will send an email to the address you provided with your votes. We take your privacy very seriously. Your email and vote choices will not be used for any kind of targeted marketing or sold to a third party.
Usage Statistics. As noted above, we use information collected from our web log files to calculate and publish anonymous, non-personal, aggregate statistics that we believe our users are interested in viewing. These statistics may also include data received from users who have elected to subscribe to our email newsletter. For example, we may track and publish the total number of users who have viewed a particular piece of published content or the total number of users who have subscribed to our email newsletter. We publish this data in aggregate form only, and do not tie it to any personally identifiable information.
For Internal Reporting and Analysis
As noted above, we use information gathered from log files and cookies to improve our site, analyze trends, administer the site, track the movement of users around the site, and to gather aggregate information about our user base as a whole. We do not tie this data to personally identifiable information.
4. HOW WE SHARE AND DISCLOSE INFORMATION
With Third-Parties
Sharing, Renting, and Selling Information We Collect. We will neither rent nor sell your personally identifiable information to anyone. We may share your personally identifiable information, including your email address, with like-minded entities for the purpose of furthering the mission of California Choices to inform voters. Occasionally we also share anonymous, non-personal, aggregate information about our user base with third parties, and we may publish these aggregate usage statistics on our website for the interest of our users. We do not tie this aggregate usage data to the personally identifiable information of any person.
Linked Services. In some cases, we allow you to access or link to other web services through our website. We make it easy for you to determine when you are accessing or linking to these other web services through our website. In all of these cases, those sites may choose to collect your personal information as they deem appropriate. As noted above, we are not responsible for or in control of how third parties collect, use, or disclose your information obtained through these linked services. We encourage you to be aware when you are using these third party services and, for your best on-line experience, we encourage you to review their policies before submitting any personal information to them.
As Necessary In Certain Legal Circumstances
Legal Requirements. We reserve the right to disclose your information, including personally identifiable information, when we have a good faith belief that access, use, preservation, or disclosure of such information is necessary to (a) comply with any law, regulation, legal process or enforceable governmental request, (b) enforce these Terms of Use, including investigation of potential violations of these Terms of Use, (c) detect, prevent, or otherwise address fraud, security or technical issues, or (d) protect against harm to the rights, property or safety of California Choices, its users, or the public as required or permitted by law.
Acquisition. If California Choices becomes involved in a merger, acquisition, or any form of sale of some or all of its assets, including bankruptcy, our assets, including user information, may be transferred to a third party. At that time, your user information may become subject to that third party’s privacy policy. Before we transfer your user information, we will notify you by posting a prominent notice on our site.
5. HOW WE KEEP INFORMATION SECURE
Security of Account Information. California Choices employs standard commercial security measures to maintain and protect the safety and confidentiality of your personal information.
6. UPDATES TO OUR PRIVACY POLICY
From time to time we will review, and may make changes to, our privacy policy. When we do so, we will either notify you by email or by placing a prominent notice on the Service. The most recent version of our Privacy Policy is always available at //www.californiachoices.org/privacy.