PRIVACY STATEMENT

    Welcome to the Ohio Newspaper Association website.  Because your online privacy is very important to us, we want you to understand our practices with regard to collecting and using your information and the steps we take to safeguard it.  This statement applies to personally identifiable information collected only online within the United States on our website. 

Collection, Use and Disclosure of Personally Identifiable Information

    You do not need to reveal any personally identifiable information to browse and use our website. You can use our services and view our content anonymously.  However, you will be asked to register on our website when you wish to view certain aspects of the site or receive certain information, such as the ONA Bulletin.  Registration is free.  When you register, Ohio NIE website collects your name, address, city, county, state, zip code, phone number and email address.

    We collect your personally identifiable information so that we may share it with our member newspapers: www.ohionews.org/members.html.  We share it with no other entities.  Our member newspapers may use the personally identifiable information to contact you about special offers, subscription notices, or other promotions or advertisements.

    If you do not wish us to share your personal information with these entities, please do not register on our site.

Aggregate Information and Non-Personally Identifiable Information

    Our website collects some non-personal information about you using technology, so it may not be readily apparent to you that it is being collected.  For instance, when you come to our site, your IP address is collected.  An IP address is often associated with the place from which you enter the Internet like your ISP (Internet Service Provider), your company, or your university.  This information is not personally identifiable.  We use information collected through this technology to make our sites more interesting and useful to you.  We also track the pages or documents accessed within our site.  This information is collected for systems administration and for analyzing and improving the value of the material available on our website. This aggregate non-personal information is used to help our advertisers on our site design advertisements our users might like.  We do not combine this type of information with personally identifiable information.

Cookies

    We also use cookies on our website.  What are cookies?  Cookies are pieces of information that a website sends to your computer while you are viewing the website.  Because we do not collect personally identifiable information from you using our cookies.  But, these cookies, or pieces of information, allow the website to remember important information that will make your use of that site more useful.  We, as well as other Internet companies, use cookies for a variety of purposes.  For instance, we use cookies to remember you and to improve your navigation through our website features.  You can choose to have your computer warn you each time a cookie is being sent, or you can choose to turn off all cookies.  You do this through your browser (like Netscape Navigator or Internet Explorer) settings.  Each browser is a little different, so look at your browser Help menu to learn the correct way to modify your cookies.

Security of Information

    We view security of confidential and private information as a top priority.  Unfortunately, no data transmission over the Internet can be guaranteed to be absolutely secure and we do not ensure or warrant the security of the transmission of information.  We maintain access control procedures, including informing our employee of the privacy and security policies. Except when we share it with the entities listed above, your information is only accessible to those employees who have a legitimate need for the information in order to perform their jobs.

Disclosure Exceptions

    Notwithstanding the above policies, we reserve the right to disclose your personal information to appropriate third parties if we are required to do so by law or we believe that such action is necessary:

• To comply with legal process such as a search warrant, subpoena or court order;

• To protect the company's rights and property or defend against legal claims;

• To investigate, prevent or take action regarding illegal activities, suspected fraud, situations involving harassment, abusive messages or potential threats to the physical safety of any persons;

• To protect against misuse or unauthorized use of our website; or

• During emergencies, such as when we believe someone's physical safety is at risk; or

• In the event that we and/or our units or subsidiaries are ever sold, acquired, merged, liquidated, reorganized, or otherwise transferred, we reserve the right to transfer our user databases, together with any personally identifiable information contained therein, to a third party acquiring the assets.  In the event we do so, we will place a prominent notice of the sale on the homepage of our site, with links to information as to how you can change your privacy preferences.

Links to Other Websites

    We provide links to third-party websites and advertisers as a convenience to its users.  The inclusion of any link does not imply an endorsement or recommendation of the third-party organization, its website, or its products and services.  We have not reviewed and are not responsible for the privacy practices or content of such websites.  We urge you to consult those websites’ privacy policies.

Notification of Change

    We reserve the right to change this Privacy Policy.  The most current Privacy Policy will be posted on our website so you are always aware of what information we collect, how it is used, and under what circumstances, if any, it is disclosed.  We will occasionally update this Privacy Policy in response to changing business circumstances and legal developments. If there are material changes to this Policy, or in how we use your personally identifiable information, we will prominently post such changes prior to implementing the change. We encourage you to periodically review this Policy to be informed of how we are protecting your information.

Use Common Sense in All Your Online Activities

    Even the best policy can't protect your online privacy and security in all circumstances. Unscrupulous advertisers, hackers, and scam artists are constantly searching the Internet looking for new targets. Your best protection is to understand the limits to privacy on the Internet and use common sense in all of your on-line activities.

    Be aware that e-mail is an inherently insecure form of communication. Remember that third parties are sometimes able to illegally intercept your unencrypted messages.

    Anytime you visit a chat room or post a message to an on-line bulletin board, your e-mail address can be accessed by advertisers looking to compile lists for unsolicited commercial e-mail (also known as spam).  Be sure that you only disclose your e-mail address in circumstances in which it is safe to do so.

    Beware of scams in which persons unknown to you request your screen name, password, or credit card information. Make sure you verify the identity of anyone asking for personal information.

    Always monitor your children's on-line activities and educate them as to the rules for safe Internet use.  For more information, click here for the FTC’s webpage on Children’s Privacy.  
 

Further Information about Our Privacy Practices
 

    We hope that this policy fully explains our privacy practices.  To request further information about our privacy practices, or if you have any questions, you may send us an e-mail at fdeaner@ohionews.org, you can also write us at Ohio Newspaper Association, 1335 Dublin Rd. Suite 216-B, Columbus, OH 43215 or you may telephone us at (614) 486-6677.