SourceWatch:Privacy policy

The Center for Media and Democracy (CMD), the host of SourceWatch, believes strongly in the internet as a vital tool for education, advocacy and information exchange. In order for the tool to be used effectively, any information provided online must be used appropriately and responsibly. To protect your online privacy we have developed the following privacy policy.

Personally Identifiable Information

We will not collect any personally identifiable information about you, such as your name, email address, credit card or other information, unless we explicitly request the information and you choose to provide it. We use your personal information to send you email alerts, respond to questions or requests and process online donations. You can always "opt-out" of our online communications to keep from receiving unwanted emails.

CMD does not sell or trade names or other personal data that we collect on our website, nor do we maintain any credit card information. Credit card donations through our website are processed by Democracy In Action, which is committed to providing safe, secure and private online transactions. For further details about their privacy practices, please consult their Privacy and security policy directly.

When you make a donation to us through the Donate button on our website, Democracy In Action shares your contact information (name, address and email address) with us. We maintain this information in our database of supporters in order to keep you abreast of our future work and related issues that may be of interest to you. You may also receive our newsletter, PR Watch. If you do not want to receive materials from us, you can call (608) 260-9713 or email us at editor AT prwatch.org.

Cookies

We use cookies to store visitors preferences, record session information, alert visitors to new areas that we think might be of interest to them when they return to our site, and record past activity at a site in order to provide better service when visitors return to our site.

Email Lists

Users who sign up for our email lists will receive regular communications that are explained on the sign-up page for each list. Each list will provide information on how to unsubscribe to this service.

If you join or donate to the Center for Media and Democracy online, you will receive our regular membership communications as detailed on the online sign-up form. Otherwise, your information will be used only for the purposes for which it was provided, and we will not sell, rent, provide or disclose personally identifiable information to any commercial users or marketing firms.

Browser Information

When you visit the Center for Media and Democracy website to read or download information, we may collect and store the following general information in order to analyze trends, gather broad demographic information, and monitor site traffic patterns that can help us further develop and improve the design and functionality of our site: your computer's IP address, browser type, and operating system, the date and time you access our site, the Internet address of the website from which you linked directly to our site, the search terms used in connecting to our site, and the various pages that you visit while on our site. We will not disseminate this information to the general public.

Publicly Sharing Your Comments

We often receive information from website visitors who have successfully participated in our programs and/or used our resources. In certain instances, we would like to publicly share the comments and stories we receive by posting this information on one of our websites. We will not, however, publicly share ANY information we receive on any of our websites without first receiving the express consent of the individual who submitted the information.

Protecting Our Children

Center for Media and Democracy will make all efforts to comply with the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act of 1998. Please notify us of any receipt of information by children under 13 by emailing us at editor AT prwatch.org.

Other Security Measures

We want to provide Center for Media and Democracy members and other supporters with a secure experience whether they are making a donation or joining for the first time. We will use all reasonable means to safeguard the privacy of your personal information. Our technical security measures include using industry standard 128bit encryption to secure the transfer of data between your browser and our servers. When our forms ask users to enter sensitive information (such as credit card number and/or social security number), that information is encrypted and is protected with one of the best encryption methods in the industry today, Secure Sockets Layer (SSL). While on a secure page, such as our membership form, the lock icon on the bottom of Web browsers such as Netscape Navigator and Microsoft Internet Explorer becomes locked, as opposed to un-locked, or open, when you are just 'surfing'.

Policy Revisions

We reserve the right to periodically amend this privacy policy. If we make any substantial changes in the way we use your personally identifiable information, we will notify you by posting an announcement on our web site. Regardless of later updates, we will never use the information that you submit under this current notice in a new way without providing you an opportunity to opt-out or otherwise prevent that use.

Access and Correction of Visitor Data

Upon request we will provide access to the information that we maintain about you. You can request this information by emailing us at the below address. Visitors can have this information corrected by completing the feedback form or visiting their password protected member profile.

We work hard to ensure that your experience on our site is a positive one. If you have any questions about this privacy policy or your dealings with our site, please contact us at the address below.