Last Revised: August 4, 2010
To see our Terms & Conditions click here.
1. Introduction:
We take seriously the collection of any personally identifiable information and personal contact information (“personal information”) from our visitors and are committed to protecting each visitor’s privacy in accordance with these policies. We use the term “visitors” to include registered members of Phila News Now communities and any other person that accesses our websites at any point for any amount of time, unless designated otherwise. Please carefully review our information collection practices and privacy protections below.
Your use of the Site indicates to us that you have read and accept our privacy practices, as outlined in this Privacy Policy. If you have any questions or concerns regarding this Privacy Policy, please contact: (insert email)
2. How to Contact Us:
You may contact us directly if you have any questions regarding the content and material on the website or if you have any questions about our privacy policies. Please contact us at (insert info here).
3. Collection of Personal Information:
We provide various informative, educational, and entertaining features as part of the Site. To operate these features, we collect certain non-personal and personal information from our visitors for specific purposes. For website activities that request personal information, you agree to provide accurate and current information about yourself. We may conduct contests, sweepstakes and/or special events through the Site. To participate in these events, you must meet the designated criteria for participation, and minimum age requirements (for example, twenty-one (21) years of age or older) for the specific event.
We may retain personal information for an indefinite amount of time to preserve our database and to comply with various federal and state laws.
4. Use of Personal Information:
To participate on the Site, or in online activities, special events, contests, sweepstakes or other features available on the Site, you may be required to provide personally identifiable information such as your name, street and e-mail addresses, telephone number, birth date and gender (“personal information”). We may also survey visitors about various topics, including how we can improve the Site and services. Response to our surveys is entirely voluntary.
The only personal information the Site obtains about you is information voluntarily provided by you through the Site. This means that a person can visit the Site and navigate through the Site without giving us personal information. To gauge the effectiveness of the Site, we may collect non-personal information about our members and visitors, such as Internet server and browser identification, the Internet service provider, clickstream information, the web page from which a person enters the Site, webpages visited, and duration of visit and domain type. This information does not reveal a visitor’s personal identity.
5. Use of Cookies and Tracking Devices:
The Site uses cookies or other tracking devices. A cookie is a small data file that contains a unique identification number that a website places on your hard drive when you visit a site. The “cookie” is able to store information such as data about your computer, the type of browser you use, and how many times your computer visits a certain site. Cookies do not allow the Site to access personal information that you haven’t already provided. Cookies enable us to track how often visitors are visiting The Site and specific pages, the number of entries in specific events, the estimated audience size for sponsors and advertisers, and user preferences. You can refuse to use cookies by turning them off in your browser. Please contact your browser’s software manufacturer for questions on how to disable your cookies. You do not need to have cookies turned on to use most of the Site. However, you may find that some areas on the Site will be slower, or may not function at all, and you may not be able to participate in certain activities such as contests or sweepstakes if the cookies are disabled.
The Website may use clear GIFs [Graphics Interchange Formats] (also known as pixel tags, web beacons or web bugs). A clear GIF is a tiny line of code that is programmed to collect certain information about a visit to a particular website. We use GIFs to gather non-personal, aggregate information on visits to the Site, track usage of website links and assist with registration and other features. We do not disclose personal information that may be linked to our GIF collection practices to third parties. Other websites that you may link to through the Site may also use clear GIFs. Phila News Now, its parents and subsidiaries are not responsible for the use of clear GIFs by other website operators. Visitor’s must review other website operators’ privacy policies to determine the type and extent of tracking devices used.
6. Third Party Cookies and Tracking Devices:
We use a third-party advertising company to serve ads on the Site. This advertising company may collect and use information (not including your name, address, e-mail address or telephone number) about your visits to our site and other websites not owned and operated by Phila News Now, and may also combine this information with other data about your purchases and interests from other online and offline sources, in order to provide advertisements about goods and services of interest to you. In addition, we may share non-personal website usage information about visitors to the Site with this company for the purpose of managing and targeting advertisements and for market research analysis on the Site and other websites. For these purposes, Phila News Now and our third party advertising company may note some of the pages you visit on the Site through the use of pixel tags (also called clear GIFs). In the course of serving advertisements to the Site, our third party advertisers may place or recognize a unique “cookie” on your computer.
The Site may post banner ads and other forms of advertisements, and/or links to the websites of affiliate entities or of advertisers or sponsors who are companies that are not owned or operated by Phila News Now, its parents, affiliates or subsidiaries. These entities may independently solicit and collect personal information, or send their own cookies and/or clear GIFs to our visitors. The data collected is used in order to provide advertisements about goods and services that may be of interest to users of the Site and other interactive media and may be used to keep track of user response to each advertisement.
Please be advised that when you link to or visit an advertiser’s or sponsor’s website, we may frame the site with our website logo; however, you will be subject to the privacy policy and terms of usage agreement of that website operator. Phila News Now, its parents, affiliates or subsidiaries will not be responsible for advertiser or sponsor ads and/or links or the content, activities, information collection, use and disclosure practices of the websites of advertisers and sponsors.
7. Security Procedures:
We require our employees to protect the privacy of all information collected over the Site. Only employees and supervisors with specific authorization have access to databases containing visitors’ personal information. The databases are protected in a secure facility. If we decide to share visitor information with other members of the Phila News Now family, the receiving entity will also maintain the security and integrity of personal information collected over the Site.
Because no data transmission over the Internet is completely secure, and no system of physical or electronic security is impenetrable, Phila News Now can not guarantee the security of the information you send to us or the security of our servers or databases, and by using the Site you agree to assume all risk in connection with the information sent to us or collected by us when you use the Site. In the unlikely event that we believe that the security of your information in our possession or control may have been compromised, we may seek to notify you. If notification is appropriate, we may notify you by e-mail (provided we have your e-mail address).
For the convenience of our visitors, we may offer a list of helpful website links provided by other entities and/or persons. Phila News Now does not endorse or recommend, nor is it liable for, the products or services of any websites not owned or operated by Phila News Now. When you visit other websites you will also be subject to the privacy policies and terms of usage agreements, if any, of that website operator.
8. Notification of Changes in the Privacy Policy:
We will review our security measures and Privacy Policy on a periodic basis, and we may modify our policies as Phila News Now deems appropriate. We may also change or update our Privacy Policy if we add new services or features and will post these changes in this policy. We encourage you to review our Privacy Policy on a regular basis.
9. Links:
The Site contains links to third party sites. Please be aware that Phila News Now is not responsible for the privacy practices of any third party sites. Therefore, we encourage our users to read the privacy policy of each and every website that collects personally identifiable information. This Privacy Policy applies solely to information collected by the Site (thePhiaNews.com).
10. What You Should Know:
You should be aware that if you voluntarily disclose personal information online in a public area, that information may be collected and used by others. We do not control the actions of our visitors. If you disclose personal information in a chat room, forum, on your home page, or any other publicly accessible place on the Site, you do so at your own risk and you understand that your submitted information may be collected and used by others to send you unsolicited messages, advertisements, or for other purposes. Please remember that protection of your privacy begins with you and you should always be careful and responsible whenever disclosing information online.
11. Children’s Privacy Policy
Phila News Now respects the privacy of your child and we want to share with you our policies regarding children under the age of thirteen (13). We have developed this site to appeal to visitors over the age of thirteen (13). Although visitors of all ages may navigate through our website, we do not knowingly collect personal information from persons under the age of thirteen (13). If upon notification by a parent or guardian, or discovery by other means, that a child under thirteen (13) has improperly registered on this site by using false information, we will immediately remove this child’s participation and delete the child’s personally identifiable information from our records.
If we decide to request information from children, we will require verifiable parental consent before we collect any personal information from children under thirteen (13) years of age, except in the following circumstances allowed by law:
To provide notice and get consent from a parent or guardian;
To respond to a one-time request from a child, after which we will immediately delete the child’s information;
To fulfill a child’s request for a subscription to a online newspaper, magazine or specific information on a regular basis and we will notify the parent or guardian before we contact the child again;
To subpoena or warrant from law enforcement, or if permitted under other protect the safety of a child who is participating on this site; and
To protect the security or integrity of the site, take precautions against liability, respond to a validly executed provisions of law.