Privacy Policy
Your privacy is important to us. our website has prepared these privacy and security policies (“Statement”) so you may better understand how our website (“our Website”) may use your personal information in connection with our Website and services, as well as how it protects your information against unauthorized use. Please take the time to review this Statement and contact us with any questions or concerns.
COLLECTION OF INFORMATION
Personal Information
our website may ask you to register and provide personal information in certain instances, such as when you make a comment to a story or when you contact our customer support group. Personally identifiable information that we may collect includes your name and email address.
Children’s Personal Information
our website does not knowingly collect personally identifiable information from users under the age of 13. If we find out that we have such personal information, we will take reasonable steps to delete it.
Website Usage Information
our website tracks navigational data (log files, server logs, click-stream) and information about how our Website is used by you (through cookies, Internet tags, or web beacons). We also collect information such as the URL of the Website you previously visited and the time of day that you use our Website. our website also keeps track of the pages you visit within our Website as well as any transaction details (downloads, orders, requests, or referrals). You can set your browser to notify you when a cookie is sent, or to refuse or delete cookies altogether, but in such cases certain features of our Website might not function as expected.
Third-Party Ad-serving Companies
On our Website, we will display third-party advertisements. While many of these advertisements are displayed by our website, we may allow third-party ad-serving companies or ad networks to display advertisements on our Website. Some of these ad networks may place a persistent cookie in order to recognize your computer each time they send you an online advertisement. Thus, third party ad-serving companies or ad networks may compile information about where you are using your computer, where you saw their advertisements, and which ads are clicked on. This information allows the third party to deliver targeted advertisements that they believe will be of most interest to you. our website does not have access to the cookies that may be placed by the third-party ad-serving companies or ad networks. We will not share information that will specifically identify you to an ad-serving company or ad.
HOW WE USE YOUR INFORMATION
Personal Information
our website collects, integrates, and uses your personal information to help enhance and personalize your use of our Website and the services that we may offer. This information also allows us to provide you with targeted content, information, and advertising (on our Website, in newsletters, via e-mail, etc.). We also use anonymous and aggregated data to create statistics and reports for various business purposes. We may aggregate anonymous data and share it with our advertisers or our website partners in order to offer you potentially desirable products and services.
our website may also use your information to communicate via our newsletters, but only after you give your express permission for such communication. The exception is the case of “service e-mails,” which we use to communicate with you regarding the system itself or your use of the system. Examples include: communication around system downtimes, announcements regarding the launch of new services, responses to customer service enquires, and messages regarding the completion of transactions you have initiated.
Website Usage Information
The website usage information we collect (e.g., cookies, Internet tags, web beacons, etc.) is used by our website to monitor the operation, technical functions, and quality of our Website and services. This information is also used to provide general statistics regarding use of our Website. We may also use such information for research or improvements of our Website and the services we offer you. This data is also used by our website to deliver customized content and advertising to you when your online behavior indicates that you are interested in a particular subject area. (i.e. you’ve communicated to us that you are particularly interested in recycling).
Disclosure of Data
our website keeps your personally identifiable information confidential. We do not disclose it to third parties or others that do not have a need to know such information, except under certain circumstances. Set forth below are various circumstances under which MNN.com may share your personal information:
- Certain of our employees and independent contractors have access to your personally identifiable information for the sole purpose of helping us run our business. These employees and contractors have confidentiality and security obligations.
- We may disclose your personally identifiable information in the event that we sell this Website or substantial parts of our business, provided that the buyer agrees to comply with this Statement.
- We may share your information with affiliated companies or strategic alliance partners, provided they comply with this Statement.
- Although we do not provide your personally identifiable information to our advertising customers and ad networks, we do aggregate and supply them with anonymous data (for example, “5,000 members of our website say that global warming is their top environmental concern”)
- If you post any information in public areas of our Website, such as blogs or article-commenting, it will be available to the public and we may reuse and republish such information at our discretion and in accordance with our Terms of Use.
- We may also share your personally identifiable information to respond to law enforcement requests, court orders, or other legal processes; or if we believe that such disclosure is necessary to investigate, prevent, or respond to illegal activities, fraud, physical threats to you or others; or as otherwise required by any applicable law or regulation.
- Before we disclose your personally identifiable information for other reasons, we will first obtain your consent, via e-mail, click-through, an online opportunity to enter your preference, or some other manner.
- In the event that we disclose your personally identifiable information as set forth above, we will require third party organizations to protect and maintain your personally identifiable information in compliance with the terms and conditions of this Statement.
Prohibited Disclosures
Except as set forth above, our website will not disclose your personally identifiable information to any third party, including advertisers, without your explicit consent. In addition, our website will not sell, rent, or otherwise disclose our website’s email list or address list except as explicitly set forth in this Privacy Policy.
CONTROL OF YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION
our website offers its users choices for the collection, use, and sharing of personally identifiable information at the time a user decides to register. In addition, users may stop the delivery of future communications from our website by unsubscribing at any time. For instance, each email you receive (aside from “service emails”) contain instructions explaining how to stop receiving such emails.
If your personally identifiable information changes (such as zip code, phone, or e-mail or postal address), or if you no longer desire our service, we provide a way for you to correct, update, or delete/deactivate your personally identifiable information. This can be done by visiting your account page on our Website or by emailing our Customer Support service at contact@our website.
PROTECTION OF INFORMATION — SECURITY
our website is committed to protecting the security of your personal information. We use a variety of up-to date security technologies and procedures to help protect your personal information from unauthorized access, use, or disclosure. For example, we store any personal information you provide on computer systems with limited access. These systems are located in controlled facilities. When we transmit highly confidential information over the Internet, we protect it through the use of encryption, such as the Secure Socket Layer (SSL) protocol.
You should keep in mind that no Internet communication is ever completely secure or error-free.
CHANGES TO THIS STATEMENT
We may periodically update this Statement to reflect changes in our services and policies. When we post changes to this Statement, we will revise the “last updated” date at the top of this Statement. If there are material changes to the Statement or in how our website will use your personal information, we will notify you either by posting a prominent notice prior to implementing the change or by sending you a direct notification. We encourage you to periodically review this Statement to be informed of how we are protecting your information.