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Privacy policy

Last Updated: May 21, 2018

INTRODUCTION

The News Literacy Project (“NLP”), 5335 Wisconsin Ave. NW, Suite 440, Washington, DC 20015, takes the privacy of personal information seriously. This Privacy Policy addresses NLP’s practices regarding information collected from visitors to www.newslit.org, www.checkology.org, and any other of our websites, applications, and network-connected products and services that link to this Privacy Policy (referred to as a “Site” or the “Sites”); however, this Policy does not apply to (1) students who are users of our Checkology® virtual classroom or (2) any information-gathering, use, or dissemination practices related to information collected from a visitor other than directly through or from the Sites, such as from telephone, facsimile, postal mail, personal delivery, or other or additional offline means or media.

By using the Sites, each visitor (sometimes referred to as “you” or “your”) consents to the collection and use of personal information by NLP in the manner stated here.

This Privacy Policy applies to current and former users of the Sites. The term “personal information” as used here refers to nonpublic information that identifies you as an individual.

If you have any questions concerning this Privacy Policy, please email NLP at [email protected].

INFORMATION ABOUT CHILDREN

The Sites are not intended for children under the age of 18, except that students may be invited by a teacher to use our Checkology virtual classroom. How we collect, use, and disclose student information is not covered by this Privacy Policy; the Checkology Student Privacy Notice provides details about our handling of personal information about such students. Other than personal information collected about student users of the Checkology platform, the Sites do not knowingly collect personal information about children under the age of 18.

UPDATES AND CHANGES TO NLP’S PRIVACY POLICY

We reserve the right to change or amend this Privacy Policy from time to time. We will inform you about any changes or amendments to this Policy by posting a note when you enter the Sites, recommending you to take look at the “Last Updated” legend at the top of this page to see the revised Privacy Policy. Accordingly, we recommend that you review this Policy regularly. You agree to accept posting of a revised Privacy Policy electronically on the Sites as actual notice to you. Any dispute over our Policy is subject to this notice.

COLLECTION OF PERSONAL INFORMATION FROM VISITORS TO THE SITES

When you interact with us through the Sites, we may collect information from you as described in this Privacy Policy.

We collect personal information that you submit through the Sites in order to benefit from specified features or to participate in certain activities, such as information that you knowingly provide when you contact us through the “Contact Us” portion of the Sites or when you create an account on one of the Sites or when you sign up for an email newsletter. If you make a donation on the Site, we may collect your credit or debit card or other financial account information. We may combine information you submit through the Sites with other information we have collected from you, whether online or offline. We treat the combined information in accordance with this Privacy Policy.

PASSIVE INFORMATION COLLECTION, USE, AND CHOICES

As you navigate the Sites, certain Personal Information may be passively collected, meaning it is gathered without your actively providing it. This is done using the following techniques in the following ways:

  • Cookies: As many companies do, our Sites may use “cookies” to help make sure the Sites are meeting the needs of their users and to help us make improvements. Cookies are bits of text that are placed on your computer’s hard drive when you visit certain websites. We may use cookies set by us on the Sites to tell us, for example, whether you have visited us before or if you are a new visitor. We use third-party cookies set by our service provider, Google Analytics, to collect information about how visitors use the Sites, including how long you spend on each page and how you got to the Sites. We do not use data collected by cookies to identify who you are. We do not allow Google to use or share our analytics data. You can visit https://www.google.com/analytics/learn/privacy.html to learn more about Google Analytics’ use of cookies.
  • IP Addresses: An IP address is a unique identifier that certain electronic devices use to identify and communicate with each other on the Internet. When you visit our Sites, we may view the IP address of the device you use to connect to the Internet. We use this information to determine the general physical location of the device and understand from what geographic regions our website visitors come. We also may use this information to enhance our Sites. We do not use this data to identify who you are as an individual.
  • Through your browser: Certain information is collected by most browsers, such as your Media Access Control (MAC) address, computer type and operating system type and version screen resolution, and Internet browser type and version. We do not use this data to identify who you are as an individual.
  • Social media widgets:Our Sites may include social media tools, including social media widgets or plug-ins, to connect you to your social media accounts. These features may set a cookie or use other automatic collection and tracking technologies to collect information about you and your use of the social media features through and in connection with our Sites. These social media tools may be hosted by a third party. Your interactions with these tools and the corresponding social media platforms are governed by the privacy policies of the companies that provide such platforms.

You can refuse our use of some or all cookies by turning off the use of cookies in your web browser. If you use your browser settings to block all types of cookies, you may not be able to access all or parts of our Sites or functionality may be limited.

You can set your browser to notify you before you receive a cookie, giving you the chance to decide whether to accept it. You can also set your browser to turn off cookies.

You can visit https://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout for information on how to opt out of Google Analytics cookies.

Changing your internet browser settings can prevent the use of cookies. Each browser has a different procedure for disabling the use of cookies. The Help function within your browser should tell you how. Alternatively, you may visit http://www.aboutcookies.org, where you can review information on how to control cookies on a variety of browsers. You will also find details of how to delete cookies from your computer and other general information about cookies.

USE OF PERSONAL INFORMATION COLLECTED 

We use Personal Information submitted by you or otherwise collected through the Sites and through other sources for the purposes described in this Privacy Policy and as otherwise described to you at the point of collection. Generally, we use the information you provide to use for the reason for which it was provided. For example, if you sign up to receive email notifications, we will contact you by email. If you provide us with information to make a donation, we will use the information to process your donation. Specifically, we may use Personal Information from or about you:

  • To respond to your inquiries and fulfill your requests, such as to send you information that you request, to register you for an event, and to fulfill your donations.
  • To send you important information regarding our relationship with you or regarding the Sites, changes to our terms, conditions, and policies, and other administrative information.
  • To comply with the law or legal process, to enforce our terms of use, to protect our rights, privacy, safety, or property and that of others, and to pursue available remedies or limit damages we may sustain.
  • For our business purposes, such as data analysis, audits, record-keeping, developing new products or services, enhancing the Sites, improving our products and services, identifying Sites usage trends, personalizing your experience on the Sites, and determining the effectiveness of our fundraising campaigns.

We may use any information that does not personally identify you, your computer, or your device, for any purpose.

NLP SHARING OF PERSONAL INFORMATION

NLP provides certain personal information to the following:

  • Those third-party service providers that provide services to NLP, such as our hosting service and video streaming service providers.
  • A party with which NLP enters or reasonably may enter into a corporate transaction — such as, for example, a merger, consolidation, acquisition, or asset purchase.
  • A third party pursuant to a subpoena, court order, or other form of legal process, in response to a request by or on behalf of any local, state, federal, or other government agency, department, or body, whether or not pursuant to a subpoena, court order, or other form of legal process.
  • If it is determined by NLP in its sole judgment that such disclosure or distribution is appropriate to protect the life, health, or property of NLP or any other person or entity.

THIRD-PARTY WEBSITES

NLP is not responsible for the privacy policies or the content of websites to which we link, and has no control over the use or protection of information provided by you or collected by those third-party websites. Whenever you elect to access a linked website, you may be asked to provide registration or other information. Please note that the information you are providing is going to a third party and you should familiarize yourself with that party’s privacy policy.

USE OUTSIDE THE UNITED STATES

NLP is based in the United States. No matter where you are located, you consent to the processing and transfer of your Personal Information in and to the United States and other countries. The laws of the United States and other countries governing data protection may not be as comprehensive or as protective as the laws in the country where you live.

SECURITY

NLP will take reasonable steps to protect the information collected and provided via the Sites from loss, misuse, and unauthorized access, disclosure, alteration, or destruction. However, you should understand that no transmission over the Internet is ever fully secure. Also, NLP uses reasonable efforts to ensure that the Sites are generally available. However, there will be occasions when access to the Sites will be interrupted or unavailable. NLP will use reasonable efforts to minimize such disruption where it is within its reasonable control. You agree that NLP shall not be liable to you for any modification, suspension, or discontinuance of the Sites.

DATA RETENTION

We generally retain Personal Information for so long as it may be relevant for the purposes identified in this Privacy Policy or at the time the information is collected, unless a longer period of time is required by law.

LAWFUL BASES FOR PROCESSING YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION

The laws in some countries require us to tell you about the lawful grounds we rely on to collect, use, disclose, and otherwise process your Personal Information. To the extent those laws apply, our lawful bases for processing your Personal Information are:

  • To enter into and perform a contract with you: We may process Personal Information to meet our contractual obligations to our users, or to take steps in anticipation of entering into a contract. For example, we process Personal Information on this basis to create an account or process a donation.
  • To comply with a legal obligation: We need to use and disclose Personal Information in certain ways to comply with our legal obligations.
  • For our legitimate interests, where those interests are not overridden by your fundamental rights and freedoms: In many cases, we handle Personal Information because it furthers our legitimate business interests. This includes:
    • Providing a safe user experience on our Sites.
    • Customer service.
    • Protecting users, our workers, and our property.
    • Analyzing and improving our operations (e.g., optimizing the design and operation of our Site).
    • Managing legal issues.
  • With your consent: Where permitted by law, we handle Personal Information on the basis of your implied or express consent.

YOUR DATA RIGHTS AND CHOICES

You can unsubscribe from certain emails by clicking on the “unsubscribe” link they contain. You can opt out of the use of certain cookie-related processing by following the instructions in the section above called “Passive Information Collection, Use, and Choices.”

The laws in some countries may give you particular rights with respect to your Personal Information, including the right to access the Personal Information that we maintain, and the right to object to certain processing of Personal Data by NLP. If you would like to submit a data access, correction, restriction, or deletion request, or an objection, you can do so by contacting NLP at [email protected] and we will process such request with respect to any Personal Information that we are able to link to you individually based on the information that you can provide to us. These rights and options that you have with respect to Personal Information are subject to limitations and exceptions under applicable law. In addition to those rights, if you live in certain jurisdictions, you have the right to submit a complaint to your relevant supervisory authority. However, we encourage you to contact us first at [email protected] and we will try to resolve your concerns.

CONTACT INFORMATION

If you have any questions or concerns about these terms and conditions, please email us at [email protected].