Privacy Policy
Privacy Policy for Americans for Peace Now
1. Preamble
Welcome to the website of Americans for Peace Now ("we" or "us"). We've designed this Website (the Website or the Site) to foster debate, and allow people to organize around key issues.
APN promises and assures you that it will not sell, share, or trade donors' personal or contact information with anyone else, nor will we send mailings on behalf of other organizations. Any personal information you provide is kept confidential, stored in a secure location, and is accessible only to designated staff.
2. Your Privacy
The terms "users," "you" and " your" refer to any visitor to the Website, including (i) casual visitors (Site Visitors) who do not participate in the organizing and debating activities that take place at the Website (the Opinion Exchanges), (ii) individuals who wish to participate in the Opinion Exchanges that take place at our site, and register at our Site to participate in this manner (Participants); and (iii) individuals who wish to coordinate discussions, debates, and organizing activities on the Site (and who qualify for these tasks).
We are committed to maintaining - in the manner you specify - the privacy of information you share with us while visiting our Site and interacting with us online. We believe that the best privacy policy for an "opinion exchange" site (like our Site) is a policy that allows each visitor (i) to participate in the discussion and exchange to the extent he or she wishes, and (ii) to share personal information proportionate to this participation. Participants on the Website, therefore, choose how much personal information they wish to share online, and manage their involvement accordingly. For example, a visitor to our Site who wishes simply to observe would provide little, if any, personal information, or information about his or her political views. In contrast, a visitor who wishes, via our Site, to organize around our issue(s) would necessarily provide information concerning his or her political views, as well as contact information, and other personal information to create a communications "focal point."
This privacy policy and agreement (the Privacy Policy or Policy) embodies the above philosophy of "participant's choice." The Policy, accordingly, covers how, with your permission (as set out below), we collect, use, and treat personal information that you may provide through our Website or while participating in the Opinion Exchanges.
3. Your Consent
Please read this Privacy Policy carefully; when you consent to this Policy's terms, it creates legal obligations on you and on us. We ask you to show your consent to the terms of this Privacy Policy in different ways, depending on your relationship to the Site. The procedures for consenting to this Policy are (a) less formal if you are simply a casual Site Visitor, and (b) more formal if you are seeking to become a Participant.
Consent by Site Visitors
By accessing and using our Website as a Site Visitor, you are acknowledging that you have read and understood this Privacy Policy and agree to be legally bound by it. If you do not agree with the terms of this Privacy Policy, please refrain from using our Site.
Consent by Participants
If you register as a Participant, you will be prompted to click an "I Accept" button linked to this Policy during the registration process. Clicking "I accept" confirms your agreement to be bound by this Privacy Policy.
Connection to Terms of Use
Clicking the "I accept" button will also further confirm your agreement to comply with the "Code of Conduct" and other terms contained in our Terms of Use.
4. The Types of Information You May Provide
Information you may provide while visiting our Site or while participating on our Site falls into three broad categories: (i) Personal Information; (ii) Position Information; and (iii) Anonymous Information. We use the term Personal Information to mean any information you provide to us over the Site that could reasonably be used to identify you, including your name, address, e-mail address, birth date, financial information, telephone number or any combination of such information that could be used to identify you. We use the term Position Information to refer to information you may provide concerning your position on political and other issues under discussion on our website. Anonymous Information is information that does not identify you, and may include statistical information concerning, for example, users' participation in Opinion Exchanges, or the pages on our Site that Users visit most frequently.
These three categories of information can be further divided into (iv) information that we collect directly from you, or that you provide to us (Site-Directed Information), and (v) information you intend to provide or make available to Participants and others on our Site (Participant-Directed Information). Our Privacy Policy governs all Site-Directed Information - whether this information is Personal Information, Position Information, or Anonymous Information - and does not govern Participant-Directed Information. This Privacy Policy does not govern Participant-Directed Information, because you control how much or how little information you choose to share in your Participant-Directed communications, and we have no direct control over your choice of what to share in Participant-Directed communications. Accordingly, although in our Terms of Use we obligate Users to refrain from using information obtained from our Site for any purpose other than Educational Uses, and although we provide you with guidance on "good information practices" in your Participant-Directed communications, we are not responsible for these communications and what Users choose to do with this Participant-Directed Information.
5. The Relationship Between Information You Provide At Our Site and Information From Voter Lists and Other Offline Sources
Americans for Peace Now, Inc. will not trade, share or sell a donor’s personal information with anyone else, nor send donor mailings on behalf of other organizations. The policy is comprehensive and applicable to both online and offline donors.
6. Site-Directed Personal Information; Our Uses of this InformationWe share Personal Information you provide to us via the Website only as provided in this Policy, and only for Educational Use. We collect information from Site Visitors and Participants at different points on our Website and through our Services, and use this information as follows:
Registration Information; User Names.
In order to participate as a Participant in our Services, we require that you complete a registration form. This form asks for contact information, which includes such items as (i) name; (ii) mailing address; and (iii) email address. The registration process provides each Participant with a user name for our Site (the "User Name") and a password, which allow him or her to gain access to the our Site and related functionality. Our system relies on User Names as the public "identifier" for the particular Participant.
Information from Participants.
Email Addresses.
We use your e-mail address to send notifications relating to our Site, or organizational activities related to the Site. For example, we might use your email address to provide notice that a Participant has received a message or comment from you, and to invite others to join in the exchange on our Site. If you choose to use your non-Participant email address to directly contact a Participant in a group in which you are involved, then you will have revealed this email address to the recipients of this communication.
Access to and Use of Participant Information.
We use other third party service providers for our Site, and those providers issue licenses to us for the use of the software that creates our Site. Among other permissions specified in this Policy, we give permission to these providers to use the Personal Information of our Participants to provide certain technical support. Any such use by our providers will be subject to your right to opt out of receiving such communications.
Promotions.
We believe that our Participants' own experiences on the Site can often act as the strongest promotion for it, the software (licensed to us) that powers the Site, and related services. To promote and illustrate our services you agree that your Content may be used and adapted - without compensation to you - for these purposes. By "Content" we mean the content and information you post on our Site, including information about you and the actions you take.
Informational Notices and Bulletins.
Periodically, we may choose to send news, bulletins, or other information to Participants, and will use Personal Information to send such communications. If we choose to undertake such communications, you will have the ability to opt out of receiving these communications as provided in Changing or Removing Information.
Surveys.
Periodically, we may initiate surveys on our Site and we may request Personal Information from you in connection with such surveys. You are free to choose whether you participate in this type of survey. The information we request may include contact information (such as name and email address). Survey information will be used for purposes of monitoring or improving the use and appeal of this Site, and related Opinion Exchanges. We will notify you of relevant details in connection with asking for you participation in such surveys.
7. Your Responsibility for Participant-Directed Information
Participant-Directed Information is information you intend to provide or make available to other Participants on our Site. Although we counsel you to take care if you include Personal Information in your Participant-Directed Information, our Privacy Policy does not cover Participant-Directed Information. If you choose to disclose any Personal Information, any such information can be collected and used by other Participants or users, and you may receive unsolicited communications as a result. We provide a range of Services to assist you in making good choices concerning the information you disclose. Please see Further Privacy Tools for a description.
8. Anonymous, Aggregate Information
With our licensor and service-provider, we use Anonymous Information to analyze the effectiveness of our Site, to improve our services, and for other similar purposes. In addition, from time to time, we may undertake or commission statistical and other summary analyses of the general behavior and characteristics of users participating in our services and the characteristics of visitors at our Site, and may share Anonymous Information with third parties, including advertisers (if any). Rest assured, though, that Anonymous Information provided to third parties will not allow anyone to identify you, or determine anything personal about you. We may collect Anonymous Information through features of the software that supports our Services, through cookies, and through other means described below.
IP Addresses; Logs.
Either directly, or through our hosting service provider, we may automatically receive and record information in our server logs from your browser, including your IP address (the Internet address of your PC), your computer's name, the type and version of your web browser, referrer addresses, where the computer is routing from, and other generally-accepted log information. We may also record page views (hit counts) and other general statistical and tracking information, which will be aggregated with that of other users in order to understand how our Website is being used, and for security and monitoring purposes.
Cookies.
A cookie is a small amount of data, which often includes an anonymous unique identifier, which is sent to your browser from a website's computers and stored on your computer's hard drive. Cookies can be used to provide you with a tailored user experience and to make it easier for you to use a website upon a future visit. We may include cookies on our Website and use them to recognize you when you return to our Website. You may set your browser so that it does not accept cookies. Cookies must be enabled on your web browser, however, if you wish to access certain personalized features of our Services.
Tags.
We may use so-called "pixel tags" - small graphic images (also know as "web beacons", "single-pixel GIFS", or "Web bugs") - for purposes such as (i) to tell us what parts of our website have been visited, (ii) in connection with advertisements we may include on the Site, (iii) to measure the effectiveness of searches you perform on our Site, and for other purposes. Pixel tags also enable us to send email messages in a format you can read, and they inform us whether emails have been opened, to help ensure that our messages are of interest to our Participants. None of this data includes Personal Information, and you can opt-out of receiving these types of emails from us by following the directions provided in Changing or Removing Information. If any Personal Information is collected using such tools, it will be subject to the terms of this Privacy Policy.
Click-Throughs.
We may send email messages which use a "click-through URL" linked to content on our Website. When you click one of these URLs, you pass through our web server before arriving at the destination web page. We track this click-through data to help determine interest in particular topics and measure the effectiveness of our communications. If you prefer not to be tracked simply do not click text or graphic links in the email, or notify us in accordance with Changing or Removing Information.
Banner Ads; Advertising Profiles.
Our Site may include the use of ad banner partners for the serving and/or targeting of ads, promotions, and other marketing messages. These ads may be provided, in some cases, by a third party ad service provider or advertiser (Advertisers). These Advertisers may use traditional banner ads, or other advertising methods, such as advertising using profiles and related content. An Advertiser may place or utilize its own cookie on your browser, and may use Anonymous Information about your visit to our Site, such as the number of times you have viewed the ad. If the Advertiser requests that you provide to it Personal Information, please be aware that this Advertiser's use and collection of this information will be governed by its own privacy policy, and not our Policy. We recommend that you review the Advertiser's privacy policy before providing Personal Information.
9. Any Information Linked With Your Personal Information Is Protected As "Personal Information"
To enable us to better understand your characteristics and/or to provide services tailored to your needs, we may link (a) the Personal Information you have provided; with (b) Anonymous Information. If we combine or link any Anonymous Information or other information with your Personal Information, the resulting combination will be treated and protected as Personal Information under this Privacy Policy.
10. Disclosures To Third Parties
At our option, we will disclose your Personal Information to unaffiliated third parties without your express consent in the circumstances specified below. We will not otherwise disclose your Personal Information to third parties.
Third Party EducationalUse.
You agree that we may rely on and share information - including Personal Information -- with educational committees and others, provided the recipients of this Information agree to employ the information for Educational Purposes only (Third Party Educational Use). We will use reasonable efforts to obtain a commitment to this effect from recipients of Personal Information provided via our Website (Downstream Recipients), as specified in Downstream Restrictions below. You further agree that such Downstream Recipients may share such Information further "downstream," provided these "further downstream" users similarly agree to use the information for Educational Purposes only, in the manner set forth in Downstream Restrictions.
Downstream Restrictions
Our obligations under this Third Party Educational Use shall be fulfilled, and Downstream Recipients' obligations shall similarly be fulfilled, where the following language is included in the file that contains a User's Personal Information -- in a prominent, identifiable location:
IMPORTANT LICENSE AND RESTRICTED EDUCATIONAL USES NOTIFICATION.
By accessing or using the data contained in this file, the recipient (You or the Recipient) expressly acknowledges and agrees (i) that this data includes personal information originally sourced from a Site website designed for educational uses; (ii) that Your use of this data must comply with data subjects' opt-out and other rights under CAN-SPAM (15 U.S.C. sect. 7701-7713) and other applicable legal requirements; and (iii) that You shall use such personal information FOR EDUCATIONAL PURPOSES ONLY. The term "Educational Purposes" means informing, organizing, identifying issues, and other similar activities. The term "Educational Purposes" expressly excludes commercial use or partisan political activity. You may transfer the data contained in this file to others, provided you include this exact License and Restricted Uses Notification in the file, in a prominent, identifiable location. YOU HAVE NO RIGHT TO ACCESS, USE, OR TRANSFER THE INFORMATION IN THIS FILE UNLESS YOU HAVE UNCONDITIONALLY AGREED TO THESE TERMS AND CONDITIONS. BE ADVISED THAT THIS LICENSE AND RESTRICTED USES NOTIFICATION IS EXPRESSLY DESIGNED TO GIVE DATA SUBJECTS (AND THEIR REPRESENTATIVES) DIRECT RIGHTS TO ENFORCE AGAINST YOU EACH OF THE RESTRICTIONS SET OUT ABOVE.
Other Methods.
The method for preserving the Educational Purposes only restriction set out in Downstream Restrictions is not the only method for properly preserving such restrictions, and we (as well as our Downstream Recipients and their further Downstream Recipients) may meet this obligation through other means, provided such means offer at least as much protection to the User's interests as the method set out in Downstream Restrictions.
Recourse.
Beyond making the efforts specified in this Section, you agree that we are not responsible for the conduct of a Downstream Recipient of Personal Information. For conduct by recipients that you believe is inconsistent with the Educational Purposes restrictions, or other applicable limitations on use, your recourse shall consist of enforcing your rights directly against such Downstream Recipient, either for breach of the License and Restricted Uses Notification set out in Downstream Restrictions or for violation of statutory or other legal obligation.
Site Vendors.
We employ other companies to perform functions on our behalf, such as maintaining the Website, providing services related to the Site, collecting information, responding to and sending electronic mail, or other functions necessary to our activities. For example, we license the software that runs our Site and obtain a range of maintenance and other services from third party providers. We may need to share your Personal Information with these providers and other companies that assist in the running of our Site (collectively, Site Vendors). We will provide Site Vendors with only that Personal Information necessary to perform their functions, and we will not allow them to use your Personal Information for any purpose inconsistent with this Policy. Please keep in mind, however, that we may provide certain Personal Information to these Vendors for additional purposes.
Questions of Harm.
We may reveal your Personal Information on a case-by-case basis to attorneys, private investigator organizations or law enforcement agencies if we believe (a) that you are in risk of harm from another, or (b) that you are harming or interfering (or will harm or interfere) with others or violating (either intentionally or unintentionally) our Terms of Use or otherwise violating legal rights.
Legal.
We will reveal your Personal Information, to the extent we reasonably believe we are required to do so by law. If we receive legal process calling for the disclosure of your Personal Information we will attempt to notify you via the email address you supplied during registration within a reasonable amount of time before we respond to the request, unless such notification is not permitted.
Transfer of Site.
We shall be entitled to transfer Personal Information to a third party in connection with a sale of all or substantially all of the assets of the entity responsible for the information under this Policy, provided the acquiring third party has agreed to safeguard your Personal Information with protections that in all material respects are the same as or more protective than those set out in this Privacy Policy.
11. Additional Tools for Protecting Your Privacy
We recognize that users may provide more personal information than they intend, or should, over the public areas on our Site. We seek to assist our Participants seeking to preserve an appropriate level of privacy, as follows:
Reporting of Problems.
If you feel that you or someone you know has been harassed or bullied on our Site, or that users have infringed on your privacy or violated our Code of Conduct, please report your concerns, using the "Report Abuse" links on our Site.
Good Practices.
You should take care to employ good "personal information practices" in using our Site, keeping in mind that, if you choose to include in Site-related communications information that personally identifies you -- such as your telephone number, street address, last name, email address, and any geographically recognizable photographs (if such features are available on the Site) - you may be contacted in a manner you do not wish by those who receive this information, as further detailed in Participant-Directed Information.
12. Changing or Removing Information; Opting Out
Discretionary Account Information.
To allow appropriate control over Personal Information, you can access your account (after supplying your User Name and password) to change your comments or your password, or to correct your email address for errors.
Opt-Out.
If we choose to send to you bulletins, updates, or other communications, including fund-raising related materials, we will provide you with the ability to decline -- or "opt-out of" - receiving such communications. Instructions for opting-out will be provided if and when we determine to send you such a communication. Please understand that you will not be allowed to "opt-out" of formal notices concerning operation of this Website, and legal and other related notices concerning your relationship to the Site.
Deleting Information Provided Via This Website
Finally, if you have provided us with Personal Information in connection with your use of this Site, upon your request, we will remove this Personal Information from our Website databases. Please understand, however, that it may be impossible to remove this information completely, due to backups and records of deletions. In addition, please understand that, if you request deletion of your information, you will be unable to utilize associated features of the Website and any associated Services. You may not remove de-identified, anonymous, or aggregate data from our databases.
Limitations on Deleting Information; Public Databases and Non-Website Information.
As provided in Information Sources, please keep in mind that this Privacy Policy applies only to information provided through this Website, and does not apply to "Non-Website Information," which is information we obtain or is provided via other channels, such as public databases. Therefore, if we remove information from our Website databases in accordance with Deleting Information Provided Via This Website, this will not remove Non-Website Information from our databases. We will retain this Non-Website Information in our databases, including Personal Information that may relate to our users, where applicable law permits us to retain the Non-Website Information. If you have questions concerning Non-Website Information, you may contact us as provided in Contact Us.
13. Security
We have put in place security systems designed to prevent unauthorized access to or disclosure of personally identifiable Site-Directed Information you provide to us, and we take all reasonable steps to secure and safeguard this Site-Directed Information. Our Site's password-protected section requires Users to give us unique identifiers such as their user id and password. Our employees (and employees of our affiliates and Site Vendors) are required to acknowledge that they understand and will abide by our policies with respect to the confidentiality of Personal Information.
Our security systems are therefore structured to deter and prevent unauthorized users and others from accessing information you provide to us. We also use software programs to monitor network traffic to identify unauthorized attempts to upload or change information, or otherwise cause damage. Please understand, though, that this information should not be construed in any way as giving business, legal, or other advice, or warranting as fail proof the security of information provided by or submitted to our Site. Due to the nature of Internet communications and evolving technologies, we cannot provide, and we disclaim, assurance that the information you provide us will remain free from loss, misuse, or alteration by third parties who, despite our efforts, obtain unauthorized access.
14. Notice of Security Incident
If we detect, despite the safeguards set out above, an intrusion or other unauthorized access to or use of Personal Information (an "Intrusion"), we will (i) notify effected users of the Intrusion if the information at issue is sensitive, as determined by law, (ii) deliver this notice by the means we deem most efficient under the circumstances (such as, for example, first class mail or email); (iii) use contact information for each effected user that is current in our files; and (iv) use commercially reasonable efforts to accomplish these steps and effect this notice in a timely manner. To the extent applicable law requires steps in addition to those specified above, we will under all circumstances comply with applicable law.
15. Notification of Changes
From time to time, we may change our Privacy Policy. If we make any changes regarding disclosure of Personal Information to third parties, upon your next login we will inform you of the modified policy. We will post notice of the new Policy from the privacy link on our Website. With respect to Site Visitors, your use of our Site following any such change constitutes your agreement to follow and be bound by the Privacy Policy, as changed. With respect to Participants, no such changes will take effect unless and until you have provided us with your consent to such changes, in accordance with Consent by Participants.
16. Relationship to Terms of Use and Other Contracts
This Privacy Policy must be read in conjunction with our Terms and Conditions of Use, and the provisions of our Terms of Use are incorporated herein. To the extent the Terms of Use conflict with the terms of this Privacy Policy, the terms of this Privacy Policy will control.
17. Participation by Children and Teens; Advisory
Our interest in protecting the privacy of our users, and allowing our users to choose the level of information they provide, applies particularly to younger visitors to our Site. Younger visitors may not understand the potential drawbacks of sharing Personal Information while participating in Opinion Exchanges on our Site. Therefore, due to this concern, and due to federal policy in favor of protecting children under 13 years of age (as reflected in the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act), WE DO NOT ALLOW INDIVIDUALS WHO WE KNOW ARE UNDER 13 TO PARTICIPATE IN OUR SITE OR SERVICES. Please understand that we cannot necessarily tell if a user is providing us with his or her true age. YOU MUST BE AT LEAST 13 YEARS OLD TO USE OUR SITE AND SERVICES. IF YOU ARE BETWEEN 13 AND THE APPLICABLE AGE OF MAJORITY, PLEASE REVIEW THIS AGREEMENT WITH YOUR PARENT OR GUARDIAN.
18. Further Resources
If you wish further information concerning privacy policies in general, concerning online networking and safety, and concerning the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act, you should visit the following sites:
* http://www.safeteens.com
* http://www.ftc.gov/privacy/index.html
* http://www.ftc.gov/privacy/privacyinitiatives/childrens_educ.html
* http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/conline/edcams/kidzprivacy/index.html
* http://www.wiredsafety.org/internet101/blogs.html
* http://www.netsmartz.org/netteens.htm
* http://www.isafe.org/channels/sub.php?ch=op&sub_id=media_tips
20. Contact Us
If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy, the practices of this Site, or your dealings with this Website, please contact us at:
Email: info@peacenow.org
21. Effective Date
The effective date of this Privacy Policy is August 1, 2009.