HEALTH IMPACT NEWS NETWORK

Privacy Policy

[Sophia Media, LLC] (“Company” or “we”, “us” or similar terms) respects your privacy and is committed to protecting it through our compliance with this Privacy Policy.

1. How This Privacy Policy Applies

This Privacy Policy describes the types of information we may collect from you, or that you may provide, in connection with your access to or use of (i) our website www.healthimpactnews.com or any other websites operated by us that link to or otherwise reference that they are subject to this Privacy Policy (collectively, the “Site“), and (ii) any features, functionality, information or services (including content and material) made available by or on behalf of us through the Site (clauses (i) and (ii), collectively, the “Services”), and our practices for collecting, using, maintaining, protecting and disclosing that information.  Without limiting the foregoing, this Privacy Policy applies to information we collect through e-mail, text and other electronic communications between you and the Services.

The Services may include links to third party websites and/or services.  This Privacy Policy does not apply to information collected by or through any such third party websites or services, and the collection and use of your information by such third party websites and services are governed by the privacy policies, if any, of such third parties.

Please read this Privacy Policy carefully to understand our policies and practices regarding your information and how we will treat it. If you do not agree with our policies and practices, your choice is not to use the Services.  By accessing or using the Services, you agree to this Privacy Policy. This Privacy Policy may change from time to time (see Section 9 (Changes to our Privacy Policy)).

2. Information We Collect About You and How We Collect It

We may collect several types of information from and about users of the Services, including information:

  • by which you may be personally identified, such as name, postal address, e-mail address or any other information that is defined as personal or personally identifiable information under applicable law (“personal information”);
  • that is about you but individually does not identify you, such as your interactions with the Services; and/or
  • about your internet connection, the equipment you use to access the Services, and usage details.

We may collect this information:

  • Directly from you when you provide it to us.
  • Automatically as you interact with or otherwise use the Services (including usage details, IP addresses and information collected through cookies and other tracking technologies).
  • From third parties, for example, (i) our service providers that furnish us with analytical information on users of the Services and (iii) any social networking sites or services (such as Facebook, Twitter, and other social media providers) through which you may be permitted to register or interact with the Services.

a. Information You Provide to Us. The information we collect on or through the Services may include:

  • Information that you provide by filling in forms on our Site, for example, when you register to receive one of our newsletters, register for (or update) your user account, or request further information or services through our contact form.
  • Records and copies of your email, text and electronic communications, if you contact us.
  • Your search queries on the Site.

Please note that any suggestions, feedback or other information that you provide to us relating to our business, the Services or our other products or services (including suggested new products or improvements to existing products) is provided to us on a non-confidential and unrestricted basis. You also may provide information to be published or displayed (hereinafter, “posted“) on public areas of the, or transmitted to other users of the Services or third parties (collectively, “User Contributions“). Please note that information (including personal information) that you choose to post as part of a User Contribution is by nature information that you have decided to make public and, therefore, is not subject to the restrictions on use or disclosure under this Privacy Policy.  Your User Contributions are posted and transmitted to others at your own risk. We cannot control the actions of other users of the Service with whom you may choose to share your User Contributions. Therefore, we cannot and do not guarantee that your User Contributions will not be viewed by unauthorized persons.

b. Information We Collect Through Automatic Data Collection Technologies.

As you interact with or otherwise use the Services, we may use automatic data collection technologies to collect certain information about your equipment, browsing actions and patterns, including:

  • Details of your interactions with the Services, including (i) pages, content and our other resources that you access and use, and (ii) traffic data, location data, logs and other communication data.
  • Information about your computer and internet connection, including your IP address, operating system and browser type.

The information we collect automatically does not include personal information, but we may maintain it or associate it with personal information we collect in other ways or receive from third parties. It helps us to provide and improve the Services and to deliver a better and more personalized service, including by enabling us to:

  • Estimate our audience size and usage patterns.
  • Better understand your preferences and interests (e.g., articles that may be of interest to you), allowing us to provide a more personalized experience for you.
  • Recognize you when you return to the Site.

Some of the technologies we may use for this automatic data collection may include:

  • Cookies (or browser cookies). A cookie is a small file placed on the hard drive of your computer. You may refuse to accept browser cookies by activating the appropriate setting on your browser or device. However, if you select this setting you may be unable to access certain features or functionality of the Services. Unless you have adjusted your browser/device setting so that it will refuse cookies, our system may issue cookies when you direct your browser to our Site or interact with the Services.
  • Web Beacons. Pages of our the Site and/or our e-mails may contain small electronic files known as web beacons (also referred to as clear gifs. pixel tags and single-pixel gifs) that permit us, for example, to count users who have visited those pages or opened an e-mail and for other related website statistics (for example, recording the popularity of certain website content and verifying system and server integrity).

We do not collect personal information automatically, but we may tie this information to personal information about you that we collect from other sources or you provide to us.

c. Information Provided to Us by Third Parties

            We may receive information about you from our business partners, including (i) service providers that furnish us with analytical information on users of the Services and (ii) social networking sites or services (such as Facebook, Twitter, and other social media providers) through which you may be permitted to interact with the Services.  These third parties may use cookies alone or in conjunction with web beacons or other tracking technologies to collect information about you.  We use the information provided to us by these third parties consistent with Section 4 (How We Use Your Information), and you hereby consent to our use of such information in such manner.  We do not control how these third parties themselves use or disclose the information they collected from or about you, nor is any such third party’s use or disclosure of such information subject to this Privacy Policy.

3. Third-party Use of Cookies and Other Tracking Technologies.

Some content or applications, including advertisements, on the Site are served by third-parties, including advertisers, ad networks and servers, content providers and application providers. These third parties may use cookies alone or in conjunction with other tracking technologies to collect information about you when you use the Services. The information they collect may be associated with your personal information or they may collect information, including personal information, about your online activities over time and across different websites and other online services.  They may use this information to provide you with interest-based (behavioral) advertising or other targeted content.

We do not control these third parties’ tracking technologies or how they may be used. If you have any questions about an advertisement or other targeted content, you should contact the responsible provider directly.  For information about how you can opt out of receiving targeted advertising from many providers, see Section 6 (Choices About How We Use and Disclose Your Information).

4. How We Use Your Information

We may use information that we collect about you or that you provide to us, including any personal information:

  • To operate and provide the Services.
  • To develop and improve the Services and our other products and services.
  • To communicate with you, and provide additional information that may be of interest to you, about the Company (including the Services and our other products and services).
  • To provide you with other information, products or services that you request from us.
  • To provide you with customer support, technical support, or administrative, account and security notices, including notice of changes to our Terms of Use or Privacy Policy or the products or services that we offer.
  • To conduct our administrative and internal business operations.
  • To fulfill any other purpose for which you provide it.
  • To comply with our obligations, as determined by us in good faith, under applicable law.
  • To carry out our obligations and enforce our rights arising from any contracts entered into between you and us.
  • In any other way we may describe when you provide the information.
  • For any other purpose with your consent.

We may use your information to contact you (including via email, text or other electronic communications) about products or services of the Company that may be of interest to you.  If you do not want us to use your information for such promotional purposes, see Section 6 (Choices About How We Use and Disclose Your Information).

We may use the information we have collected from you to enable us to display advertisements to our advertisers’ target audiences. Even though we do not disclose your personal information for these purposes without your consent, if you click on or otherwise interact with an advertisement, the advertiser may assume that you meet its target criteria.

5. Disclosure of Your Information

We may disclose aggregated information about our users, and information that does not identify any individual, without restriction.

We may disclose personal information that we collect or you provide as described in this Privacy Policy:

  • To our contractors, service providers and other third parties we use to support our business and who are bound by applicable law and/or contractual obligations to keep personal information confidential and use it only for the purposes for which we disclose it to them.
  • To a buyer or other successor in the event of a merger, divestiture, restructuring, reorganization, dissolution or other sale or transfer of some or all of our assets, whether as a going concern or as part of bankruptcy, liquidation or similar proceeding, in which personal information held by the Company about users of the Services is among the assets transferred.
  • For any other purpose disclosed by us when you provide the information.
  • With your consent.

We also may disclose your personal information:

  • To comply with any court order, law or legal process, including to respond to any government or regulatory request.
  • To enforce or apply our Terms of Use or other contracts.
  • If we believe disclosure is necessary or appropriate to protect the rights, property, or safety of the Company, our customers or others.

6. Choices About How We Use and Disclose Your Information

We strive to provide you with choices regarding the personal information you provide to us. We have created mechanisms to provide you with the following control over your information:

  • Tracking Technologies and Advertising. You can set your browser and/or device to refuse all or some cookies, or to alert you when cookies are being sent. To learn how you can manage your Flash cookie settings, visit the Flash player settings page on Adobe’s website. If you disable or refuse cookies, please note that some portions of the Services may then be inaccessible or not function properly.
  • Newsletters or Promotional Offers from the Company. If you do not wish to have your e-mail address used by the Company to promote our products, services or other offerings, you can opt-out by contacting us. In addition, if we have sent you a newsletter or promotional e-mail, you may unsubscribe or opt-out of future email distributions by following the procedures described in that email. We will respond to your request within 30 days from the date you contact us.
  • Social Networks. If you register with us via a third party social networking platform (e.g., Facebook), you may be able to manage the information you share with us and the interactivity between the Services and your social networking account by using privacy settings and other tools that may be provided by the social networking platform that you are using.  By registering with us through a social networking platform, you grant to us the right to collect and use the information that has been made available to be shared with us through that social networking platform.

We do not control third parties’ collection or use of your information to serve interest-based advertising. However these third parties may provide you with ways to choose not to have your information collected or used in this way. You can learn more about how to opt out of receiving targeted ads from members of the Network Advertising Initiative (“NAI”) on the NAI’s website located at www.networkadvertising.org.

7. Accessing and Correcting Your Information

[If you have set up a user account for the Services, you may use available account features to review and change your personal information.]  You also may send us an e-mail  to request access to, correct or delete any personal information that you have provided to us.  Please note that in some instances we may only be able to delete your personal information by also deleting your user account. We may not accommodate a request to change information if we believe the change would violate any law or legal requirement or cause the information to be incorrect.  We will respond to your request within 30 days from the date you contact us.

8. Data Security

We have implemented measures designed to secure your personal information from accidental loss and from unauthorized access, use, alteration and disclosure.  However, no security measures are perfect or impenetrable.  Therefore, we cannot guarantee the security of personal information provided to or stored by us, and are not responsible for the circumvention of any privacy settings or security measures with respect to the Services or our systems.

The safety and security of your information also depends on you. Where we have given you (or where you have chosen) a password for access to certain portions of the Services, you are responsible for keeping this password confidential. We ask you not to share your password with anyone.

9. Changes to Our Privacy Policy

It is our policy to post any changes we make to our Privacy Policy on this page. If we make material changes to how we treat our users’ personal information, we will notify you by e-mail to the e-mail address specified in your account and/or through a notice on the Site prior to the change becoming effective.  The date the Privacy Policy was last revised is identified at the top of the page. You are responsible for ensuring we have an up-to-date active and deliverable e-mail address for you and for periodically visiting this Privacy Policy to check for any changes. Your continued use of the Services after we make changes is deemed to be acceptance of those changes.

10. Children Under the Age of 13

Our Website is not directed toward or otherwise intended for children under 13 years of age. No one under 13 years of age may provide any personal information to or through the Services. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13.  If we learn we have collected or received personal information from a child under 13 without verification of parental consent, we will take prompt action to delete that information.

11. Contact Information

If you have any questions or comments regarding this Privacy Policy or our privacy practices, please contact us: (i) by mail, at Sophia Media LLC, 201 Hunters Crossing Blvd., Ste. 10 -149, Bastrop, TX 78602,  or (ii) by email here.