MarloThomas.com Privacy Policy
This Privacy Policy governs the online information collection practices of Open Road Web Biz LLC (“ORWB”, “we”, “our” or “us”) with respect to MarloThomas.com (the “Site”). We have developed this Privacy Policy to demonstrate our commitment to protecting any information we gather about you while you are using the Site. The Policy describes the type of information we collect from you, how that information may be used and shared, and what steps are taken to protect it. Please carefully review our information collection practices and privacy protections below.
Updates to this Privacy Policy
This Privacy Policy may be updated from time to time. We will notify you of any material changes by posting the new Privacy Policy on the Site. Your continued use of the Site following the posting of changes to this Policy will mean that you accept those changes.
I. Information Collection and Use
Personal Information
“Personal Information” refers to information about you that can be used to contact or identify you. The only Personal Information obtained by us about you is information voluntarily provided by you through the Site. This means that it is possible to visit and navigate through the Site without giving Personal Information. To contribute comments, images, multimedia or other content to the Site you must be registered. When registering you will be required to provide us with a limited amount of Personal Information such as your email address. You may then have the option to provide additional Personal Information such as your ZIP code.
We may request additional Personal Information from you in connection with your use of, or participation in, the Site, such as in connection with contests, sweepstakes, promotions, games, surveys, forums, content submissions, chats, bulletin boards, discussion groups, and any requests for services or additional information (including via email to us), and other activities, products, services or resources (each, an “Activity”) we make available on the Site. If you do provide us with Personal Information for any Activity, we may use it to conduct the Activity. In all of these cases, we will collect Personal Information from you only if you voluntarily submit such information to us.
Non-Identifying Information
We use other information we collect about you or that you provide or give us access to online (“Non-Identifying Information”) to evaluate use of the Site and to determine which areas we need to improve. By evaluating usage patterns, demographic data, interests and general behavior, we are able to better understand and serve you. This information is used exclusively in aggregate form. This Non-Identifying Information includes data such as how many persons visited a particular page or activity, the length of their visit, the average age of our visitors on the Site or a particular webpage on the Site, and the preferences of our visitors.
Certain Non-Identifying Information would be considered a part of your Personal Information if it were combined with other identifiers in a way that enables you to be identified. However, the same pieces of information are considered Non-Identifying Information when they are taken alone or combined only with other Non-Identifying information. We may combine your Personal Information with Non-Identifying Information and aggregate it with information collected from other Site visitors to attempt to provide you with a better experience, to improve the quality of the Site, and to analyze and understand how our Site is used. We may also use the combined information without aggregating it to serve you specifically, for instance to identify products or services we think may be of interest to you.
Publicly Shared Information
Please note that if you post Personal Information online, for example, on one of our public forums such as a message board or chat room or as part of your user profile, that information can be viewed, collected and used by third parties. Although we strive to protect our users' privacy, we cannot guarantee the security of information you post in these forums and have no control over how such third parties may use your information. You disclose such information at your own risk.
Information that Is Automatically Collected
We collect information about our Site’s visitors as a group through standard analysis of our web server log files. This information may include your computer’s IP address, information about your web browser and operating system and the pages you visit.
In addition, we or a third party service provider on our behalf will also track basic usage information such as click patterns, referring/exit pages, browser identification and clickstream information through web analytics software and cookies.
Cookies and Tracking Devices
This Site uses cookies or other tracking devices. Cookies do not allow us to access Personal Information that you haven’t already provided. Cookies enable us, or a third-party service provider on our behalf, 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, user preferences and other clickstream information. Cookies may also be used to recognize that you have provided Personal Information to us and refrain from requesting the same information a second time (e.g., a username and/or password, or an email address or other contact information). You can refuse to use cookies by turning them off in your browser. We require third-party entities to confine their use of cookies to the uses permitted by this policy, but we cannot be responsible for third-party uses of cookies.
This Site also uses clear web beacons and GIFs to gather information on visits to the Site, and track usage of website links and emails. We do not disclose Personal Information that may be linked to our GIF tracking practices to third parties.
As you may know, third-party vendors, including Google, show ads for us and our publisher on sites throughout the Internet. Further, third-party vendors, including Google, may use cookies to serve ads to you based on your prior visits to this Site. These targeted advertisements may appear on our Site or on other sites that you visit. No Personal Information is collected in this process. You may opt out of Google's use of cookies by visiting the Google advertising opt-out page (http://www.google.com/privacy_ads.html). You can opt out of other third-party vendors’ use of cookies by visiting www.networkadvertising.org/managing/opt_out.asp. Opting out will not in any way affect your use of our Site.
II. Information Use, Sharing and Disclosure
Except as otherwise provided in this policy or required under law, we reasonably endeavor to ensure that we never intentionally disclose any Personal Information about you as an individual user to any third party without having received your permission (through opting in or similar procedures). You agree that we may contact you based on the information you provide us.
We use the information we collect from you in a variety of ways, including using it to customize features and advertising that appear on the Site as well as newsletters sent to your email address. When you provide us with your Personal Information in connection with registering an account on the Site, you may have the option of informing us that you would like to receive promotional offers from us and/or third parties. This selection authorizes us and third parties to use the information that we collect online from you while you are using the Site in order to send promotional offers directly to you. If you choose to receive these promotional offers, your information may be used for direct mail or email marketing.
On occasion, for example, we may send you emails to introduce a product or a service that we think might be of interest to you. For us to obtain your permission to send you this information, we will give you an opportunity to "opt in" at the time our request for your Personal Information is made. If you do "opt in," you may choose to "opt out" at any time, even after you have provided Personal Information by notifying us of your desire to “opt out” by emailing such notice to admin@MarloThomas.com. Please note, however, that under certain circumstances, if you initially do not choose to "opt in" or if you later "opt out," you may not be eligible for certain benefits for which a name, email address, telephone number or other Personal Information is needed.
In addition, on occasion, we may share your information with necessary third parties for the purpose of carrying out a contest, special offer or promotion. Your participation in the contest, special offer or promotion constitutes your consent to such disclosure and use of such information.
Further, the information you enter when making a purchase or online donation, if applicable, will be directly provided to or shared by us with payment processors, financial gateways and your credit card company to authorize credit card payments. Such information may also be shared with necessary third parties solely for the purpose of carrying out the transactions.
Compliance with Laws and Law Enforcement; Safety
We will release specific information about you or your account to comply with any valid legal inquiry or process such as a search warrant, subpoena, statute or court order. In such cases, we may raise or waive any legal objection or right available to us. You authorize us to disclose any information about you to law enforcement or other government officials as we, in our sole discretion, believe necessary or appropriate. We may also release specific information in special cases, such as if there is an attempted breach of the security of the Site or a physical or property threat to you or others.
Third-Party Service Providers
We may provide access to your Personal Information and Non-Identifying Information to our third party service providers who are performing services for us in connection with the Site (e.g., without limitation, maintenance services, database management, web analytics and improvement of the Site’s features) and, if so, they will be obligated not to disclose or use your Personal Information for any other purpose.
Data Transfers
Your information may be transferred to, and maintained on, computers located outside of your state, province, country or other governmental jurisdiction where the privacy laws may not be as protective as those in your jurisdiction. If you are located outside the United States and choose to provide information to us, we transfer Personal Information to the United States and processes it there. Your consent to this Privacy Policy followed by your submission of such information represents your agreement to that transfer.
Business Transfers
We may sell, transfer or otherwise disclose some or all of our assets, including your Personal Information, in connection with a merger, acquisition, reorganization or sale of assets or in the event of bankruptcy.
III. Security
Protecting your privacy and your information is a top priority. We have taken reasonable measures to secure both your information and our physical premises. However, we cannot guarantee that our measures will completely bar unauthorized access to your information, and by using the Site you assume this risk. Only employees and select third party service providers with specific authorization have access to databases containing visitors’ Personal Information, if provided. We will review our security measures and Privacy Policy on a periodic basis and we may modify our policies as we deem 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.
IV. General
Use and Collection of Information by Third Parties
The Site may contain advertisements, including banner ads and/or links to the websites of advertisers or sponsors. These entities may independently solicit and collect Personal Information, or send their own cookies to you. Please be advised that when you link to or visit an advertiser’s, sponsor’s or other’s website, we may frame that website with our Site’s interface. It is important that you understand that you will be subject to the privacy policy and terms of usage agreement of that website operator when you click on a link to their website. We 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 third parties.
You should understand that information you provide through the registration process or post to the public areas of the Site may be accessible by, and made public through, syndication programs and by third party search engines, metasearch tools, crawlers, metacrawlers and other similar programs. When you voluntarily disclose Personal Information on publicly-viewable web pages, that information will be publicly available.
Children’s Privacy
This Site is not directed to children under the age of thirteen and we do not knowingly collect Personal Information from children under the age of thirteen. If we become aware that we have inadvertently received Personal Information from a user under the age of thirteen as part of the Site, we will delete the information from our records.
Because we do not collect any Personal Information from children under the age of thirteen, we also do not knowingly distribute such information to third parties. We also do not knowingly allow children under the age of thirteen to publicly post or otherwise distribute Personal Information through the Site.
Access to/Correction of Information
If you would like to review any Personal Information we have retained about you in our database, please send us an email request for this information at privacy@MarloThomas.com. To help us address your request, please specify which information you wish to review. Once you have reviewed this information, at your request, we will correct Personal Information about you that you state is erroneous. You should be aware, however, that it is not always possible to completely remove or modify information in our databases and servers, although we will always make reasonable efforts to do so upon your request. Please also understand that due to the volume of traffic on the Site and correspondence received, we cannot make any representations about the timeliness of the making of such modifications. In addition, we are unable to modify your information in the records of any third party who has been provided with your information in accordance with this policy.
Choice/Opt Out
If you "opt in" to receive information from us or others, you can change your mind later. If, at any time, you would like to stop receiving such information or opt out of a feature, you may go back to the Site and change your options. You should be aware, however, that it is not always possible to completely remove or modify information in our databases and servers, although we will always make reasonable efforts to do so upon your request. Please note that we are unable to have your information removed from the records of any third party who has been provided with your information in accordance with this policy.
Questions Regarding This Policy
If you have questions or concerns about this Privacy Policy, our privacy practices, or your dealings with us, please contact us by writing to admin@MarloThomas.com.