Privacy Policy — Your Privacy Rights
Last Updated: October 1, 2020
The Washington Update LLC is committed to respecting your privacy rights. This Privacy Policy (the “policy”) describes the policies that apply to our collection, use and disclosure of personal information about you collected through our website, TheWashingtonUpdate.com (the “website”). It does not apply to information that we obtain through other sources, including information that you provide to us offline.
We encourage you to read this policy carefully. If you have any questions about our privacy practices, our contact information is listed at the end of the policy.
Information we collect about you
Personal information that you provide. You may visit our website without providing us with any personal information. But if you choose to register as a member of our site or interact with us in any way, we may request certain information from you. This includes personal information, such as your name, e-mail address, physical address, and telephone number. In addition, if you send us an e-mail message or otherwise communicate with us, we may collect information you choose to provide us in that context.
Information obtained automatically. We (or our third-party service providers) may collect some information automatically about your computer when you visit the website. For example, we may collect your IP address, web browser software (such as Internet Explorer), and referring web site. We also may collect information about your activity on the website, such as which pages you choose to view.
Information from other sources. We also may obtain information about you from other sources, including service providers and contractors, and combine it with other information we have collected from you. For example, we may obtain information from third parties regarding your attendance at certain events or your updated contact information, and we may add that information to our database.
Use of cookies and other technologies. We use various technologies to collect information about your activities on our site.
• Cookies. When you visit our website, we may assign your computer one or more “cookies.” A cookie is a small text file that contains information that can later be read by us to facilitate your access to our site and personalize your online experience. For example, if you check the box entitled “Remember Me” when you sign into our website, we will record your username and password in a cookie file on your computer. This cookie may allow us to track information collected automatically, such as which pages of the website you view, between visits. Most browsers automatically accept cookies, but you can usually modify your browser setting to decline cookies by visiting the Help portion of your browser’s toolbar. If you choose to decline cookies, please note that you may not be able to sign in or use some of the interactive features offered on our website and that your election not to accept cookies may apply to sites other than our website.
• Other Technologies. We may use standard Internet technology, such as web beacons (also called clear GIFs or pixel tags) and other similar technologies, to track your use of our site. We also may include web beacons in e-mail messages or newsletters to determine whether messages have been opened. The information we obtain in this manner enables us to customize the services we offer and measure the overall effectiveness of our online content and the products and services we offer through the site.
Financial Information Provided to PayPal. In order to subscribe to certain paid content on the website, you must pay for your subscription through PayPal. When you use PayPal to process your payment, PayPal will require you to disclose certain personal information. We are not responsible for PayPal’s privacy practices, and we recommend that you consult PayPal’s privacy statements for information about how PayPal handles the information that it collects.
How we use the information we collect
We may use information that we collect about you to respond to your requests for information; deliver the products and services that you have requested; obtain feedback on our products and services; perform research and analysis about usage of and potential interest in our site and products, services, or content; provide you with e-mail alerts or communicate with you by e mail, postal mail, and/or telephone about products or services that may be of interest to you; develop and display content tailored to your interests on our site; analyze use of the site and improve our products and services; market the site and our products; investigate possible violations of our terms of use; enforce the site’s terms and conditions; and perform other functions as described to you at the time of collection or pursuant to your consent.
With whom we share your information
We also may share your personal information under the following circumstances:
• With other companies and individuals to perform functions on our behalf. Examples may include supporting our website functionality, conducting research regarding website usage, and supporting features offered through our website. These service providers have access to personal information needed to perform their functions.
• With selected companies whose products and services we believe you may find of interest. If you would prefer that we not share your information with any third parties for the third parties’ marketing purposes, you can notify us of your preference by emailing andrew.friedman@thewashingtonupdate.com.
• In response to a subpoena or similar investigative demand, a court order, or a request for cooperation from a law enforcement or other government agency; to establish or exercise our legal rights; to defend against legal claims; or as otherwise required by law.
• When we believe disclosure is appropriate in connection with efforts to investigate, prevent, or take other action regarding illegal activity, suspected fraud, violations of our Terms of Use, or other wrongdoing; to protect and defend the rights, property or safety of our company, our users, our personnel, or others; to comply with applicable law or cooperate with law enforcement; or to enforce our website terms and conditions or other agreements or policies.
• In connection with a substantial corporate transaction, such as the sale of our business, a divestiture, merger, consolidation, or asset sale, or in the unlikely event of bankruptcy.
• As otherwise described to you at the point of collection or pursuant to your consent.
We also may share information we collect in aggregated or other non-personally identifiable form with third parties, including service providers and marketing partners. For example, we may tell our marketing partners the number of visitors to our website and the most popular features or services accessed.
How you can access your information
You can review and update the personal information you have provided to us by contacting us directly. More information about how to contact us is provided below.
Third-party websites
There are some places on our website where you may click on a link to access other websites that do not operate under this Privacy Policy. For example, if you click on the logo of another company on our website, you may be taken to a website that we do not control. These third-party websites may independently solicit and collect information, including personal information, from you. We recommend that you consult the privacy statements of all third-party websites you visit by clicking on the “privacy” link typically located at the bottom of the webpage you are visiting.
How we protect your personal information
We take appropriate security measures (including physical, electronic and procedural measures) to help safeguard your personal information from unauthorized access and disclosure. We retain only your name, e-mail address, and encrypted password in our database. However, no system for transmitting or storing information on the Internet can be completely secure. Therefore, although we take steps to protect your information, we cannot promise, and you should not expect, that your personal information or other communications will always remain secure.
Children’s privacy
Our website is not intended for use by children, and we do not knowingly collect personal information from children under the age of 13. If we learn that we have collected information identifying a child under the age of 13, we will delete that information from our database.
Visiting our websites from outside the United States
This Privacy Policy is intended to cover collection of information on our website from residents of the United States. If you are visiting our website from outside the United States, please be aware that your information may be transferred to, stored, and processed in the United States, where our servers are located and our central database is operated. The data protection and other laws of the United States and other countries might not be as comprehensive as those in your country. By using our services, you understand that your information may be transferred to our facilities and those third parties with whom we share it, as described in this Privacy Policy.
Changes to this Privacy Policy
We may occasionally update this Privacy Policy, and any information that we collect will be subject to the privacy practices then in effect. As a result, we encourage you to review the privacy policy before accessing the site. In order to assist you in determining whether our policy has changed, we will list at the top of the policy the most recent date on which we updated it. If we make any material changes to this policy, we will notify you by sending an e-mail to the e-mail address you most recently provided us (if you have provided such an e-mail address to us) or by posting notice of the changes on our website.
How to contact us
If you have any questions about this policy or our information-handling practices, please contact us at:
The Washington Update LLC
andrew.friedman@thewashingtonupdate.com
