PRIVACY POLICY
A. Our Commitment to Privacy
Whisper Editions recognizes the importance of respecting and protecting your privacy. This privacy policy ("Privacy Policy") discloses the information that Whisper Editions gathers on the web sites that Whisper Editions owns, including any features, applications, widgets or online services that post a link to this Privacy Policy, whether accessed via computer, mobile device or otherwise (collectively, the “Sites”). This Privacy Policy also states the ways in which Whisper Editions processes and, sometimes, shares such information and how you can correct or change that information. The Sites also include versions designed for browsing on mobile devices and the use of such devices is governed by this Privacy Policy as well.
Except where otherwise expressly indicated herein or on the Sites, this Privacy Policy applies only to information collected on the Sites and does not apply to information collected outside of the Sites. Before using or submitting information to the Sites, please review this Privacy Policy carefully.
By using or accessing the Sites, you signify your agreement to be bound by this privacy policy.
B. Information Whisper Editions Collects
Whisper Editions collects the following types of information from users of the Sites:
1. Personally Identifiable Information
Whisper Editions may receive and store any information that you enter on the Sites or provide to Whisper Editions in any other way that would allow Whisper Editions to identify you or contact you (collectively "Personally Identifiable Information"). The Personally Identifiable Information that you provide will be used by Whisper Editions only in accordance with this Privacy Policy. Examples of Personally Identifiable Information Whisper Editions may collect from you and use:
· the names and e-mail addresses of those who opt-in to Whisper Editions e-mail newsletters or otherwise communicate with Whisper Editions by e-mail;
· information you provide to Whisper Editions in order to RSVP for events;
· information you provide to Whisper Editions in the entry form for some sweepstakes and contests offered on the Sites or through social media sites and information provided by winners of those sweepstakes and contests for a required background check or for tax purposes;
· information you provide about yourself when you post to the Sites; and
· if you choose to interact with the Sites using social media sites such as Facebook Connect, we may collect information from your Facebook account through an automated connection to Facebook.
You can choose not to provide Whisper Editions with certain Personally Identifiable Information, then you may not be able to take advantage of many features of the Sites, such as registering to use certain restricted areas of the Sites or through Facebook, participating in various promotional opportunities or receiving e-mail alerts or newsletters.
With regard to your personal information, Whisper Editions primarily uses your personal information in connection with your relationship with the company and your experience on the Sites. Please remember that if you participate in social networking features on the Sites, your information may be made public.
2. Automatic Information
Whisper Editions may receive and store certain types of information whenever you interact with Whisper Editions through the Sites. We automatically receive and record your browser information, operating system information, IP address, cookie information and the page you requested. This information will not be stored in a manner that is personally identifiable with you and may include the following:
(1) Aggregate Information
In connection with your visit to the Sites, Whisper Editions may automatically collect usage information, such as the numbers and frequency of users and their characteristics and information about similar groups of users, such as parents, certain age groups or users that live in a particular geographical area. This data is only used in the aggregate as a statistical measure and not in a manner that would identify you personally. Aggregate information generally is collected through the use of cookies and Web Beacons as discussed below.
(2) Cookies
Whisper Editions uses “cookies” to help you access and navigate the Sites more efficiently and to statistically monitor how many people are using the Sites. A “cookie” is a small file or tool stored on your hard drive containing information that allows Whisper Editions to deliver customized information to you. If you become a Registered User, Whisper Editions may use cookies to store your e-mail address, user name, preferences and password so that Whisper Editions can identify you when you return to the Sites, track your use of the Sites and customize the Sites for you. You may set your browser to notify you of or decline the receipt of cookies. Certain features of the Sites may not, however, function properly or be available if your browser is configured to disable cookies.
Whisper Editions uses both "session" and "persistent" cookies on the Sites. Session cookies are temporary bits of information that are erased once you exit your web browser or turn off your computer. Persistent cookies are more permanent bits of information that are placed on the hard drive of your computer and stay there unless you delete the cookie. Persistent cookies store information on your computer for a number of reasons, such as retrieving certain information you have previously provided (i.e., username and password), helping to determine what areas of the Sites you find most valuable and customizing the Sites based on your preferences on an ongoing basis.
Many companies offer programs that help you to visit web sites anonymously. While Whisper Editions will not be able to provide you with a personalized experience if Whisper Editions cannot recognize you, Whisper Editions wants you to be aware that these programs are available.
(3) Web Beacons
During your use of the Sites, you may encounter Web Beacons, which may come from Whisper Editions or from third parties that advertise or provide content on the Sites. A “Web Beacon” (sometimes also called a “web bug” or "clear gif") is a small graphic image in a web page, a web-based document or an e-mail message that generally allows the party that set the Web Beacon to monitor certain information about the viewer of the web page, web-based document or e-mail message and may allow access to certain cookies. Web Beacons are usually invisible to the user because they are very small (generally one square pixel). In general, however, any electronic image viewed as part of a web page, including an advertisement, can act as a Web Beacon. Web Beacons on the Sites typically collect the URL of the page from which the Web Beacon originates, the type of browser requesting the Web Beacon, the IP address of the computer to which the Web Beacon is sent and the time that the Web Beacon was viewed. Certain Web Beacons used by third party advertisers or content providers may collect information that allows such third parties to determine how many people are viewing and/or clicking on certain advertisements or viewing certain content for purposes of helping these parties serve and manage their advertisements and content. These Web Beacons do not collect or store Personally Identifiable Information but they may, however, be used in conjunction with cookies to identify certain aggregate information about users.
(4) E-mail Communications
When you send an e-mail to Whisper Editions, either through the contact information on the Sites or otherwise, Whisper Editions may retain your e-mail address and the contents of the e-mail that you send. If you want to keep the information in your e-mail(s) or posting(s) private or proprietary, please do not send such information in an e-mail or otherwise post such information to Whisper Editions. To help Whisper Editions make its e-mails more interesting and helpful, Whisper Editions also may receive a confirmation when you open an e-mail from Whisper Editions if your computer supports this type of program.
C. How Whisper Editions Uses Information
When you provide Whisper Editions with your Personally Identifiable Information, Whisper Editions may use it to facilitate communication between you and Whisper Editions, notify you of features or special events, and provide you with other information Whisper Editions feels may be of interest to you. Whisper Editions also uses information collected to customize, analyze, adjust and improve the Sites to meet Whisper Editions’s users' needs and expectations.
Whisper Editions also may use the information to prevent fraud and other prohibited or illegal activities and for other legally permissible purposes. These uses of your Personally Identifiable Information may include, without limitation, the following:
1. E-mail Newsletters
You may choose to receive a newsletter via e-mail from Whisper Editions, which may include information such as highlights from different areas on the Sites, information about new features, and information about upcoming events. You can unsubscribe from the newsletter at any time by clicking on the “unsubscribe” link at the bottom of any e-mail newsletter sent to you and following the instructions.
2. Promotional Use
Whisper Editions may publish your name, voice, likeness and other Personally Identifiable Information for advertising, marketing, publicity and promotional activities.
3. Aggregate Information
The aggregate information collected by Whisper Editions is used to create profiles of the audience for the Sites that include anonymous statistical demographic information but no Personally Identifiable Information. This aggregated information is used to, among other things, determine trends and needs and supply market research to potential advertisers and partners to help them understand the Sites’ audiences.
D. With Whom Whisper Editions Shares Information
Whisper Editions reserves the right to use your Personally Identifiable Information to send you periodic e-mailings with information on new products and services, updates to Whisper Editions’s Sites or upcoming events.
If you “opt in” to receive information about identified advertisers or their services or products, Whisper Editions may share your Personally Identifiable Information with them. If you have questions about how these companies use your Personally Identifiable Information, Whisper Editions encourages you to review and understand their respective privacy policies. You may at any time “opt out” of having your Personally Identifiable Information as part of Whisper Editions’s marketing mailing list or otherwise (see “Opting Out” below).
From time to time, in Whisper Editions’s sole discretion, Whisper Editions may use your Personally Identifiable Information to send you important administrative information regarding the Sites and related services or changes to Whisper Editions’s terms and policies. Because this information may be important to your use of the Sites and related services, you may not opt out of receiving such communications.
If you interact with the Sites through social media sites such as Facebook, Whisper Editions may share information with such sites and other users of the Site. In connection with contests, sweepstakes and games, Whisper Editions may publicize the identity and entries of the winners and other participants.
1. Fulfillment of Services
Whisper Editions may retain other companies and individuals to perform functions consistent with Whisper Editions’s Privacy Policy on Whisper Editions’s behalf. Examples include customer support specialists, web hosting companies, fulfillment companies (e.g., companies that fill product orders or coordinate mailings), data analysis firms and e-mail service providers.
2. Sweepstakes, Contests and Editorial Uses
Often times, sweepstakes, contests and giveaways (together, “Contests”) offered on the Sites are sponsored by unaffiliated third parties. Information that you provide as part of an entry into a Contest sponsored by an unaffiliated third party will be shared with the sponsor if Whisper Editions advises you of such in the Contest’s official rules. Some Contests also may require consent to the release of information contained within the entry form for background check purposes or tax purposes if you become a winner. You should carefully review the official rules of each Contest that you enter as they may contain additional important information about Whisper Editions’s or the Contest sponsor's use of your Personally Identifiable Information.
Whisper Editions also may use your Personally Identifiable Information in response to a solicitation for editorial, online and/or on-air purposes and for marketing and promotional purposes in connection with such solicitation. If such information is used online, on a mobile application or in a telecast, no Personally Identifiable Information, other than name, city and state, will be disclosed without your specific consent.
3. Compliance with Law and Fraud Protection
Whisper Editions may disclose any information, including without limitation Personally Identifiable Information that Whisper Editions deems necessary, in its sole discretion and without your prior permission, to comply with any applicable law, regulation, legal process or governmental request. Whisper Editions also may exchange information, including without limitation Personally Identifiable Information, with other companies and organizations for credit fraud protection, risk reduction and related activities or to protect the rights, property of safety of Whisper Editions and its agents, employees or affiliates or others. Whisper Editions reserves the right to disclose a user’s Personally Identifiable Information if Whisper Editions believes the user is in violation of Whisper Editions’s Terms of Use, even without a subpoena, warrant or other court order.
4. Children
The Sites are general audience sites and are not intended for children under 13. Whisper Editions requires that only persons 13 years of age or older use any of the Sites. By using the Sites, you hereby represent that you are at least 13 years old. Whisper Editions does not knowingly market to, solicit information, accept service or collect information from children under the age of 13. If Whisper Editions becomes aware that it inadvertently received personal information from a visitor under the age of 13 on the Sites, Whisper Editions will delete the information from its records.
5. Sale or Transfer of Information
In the event of a sale, merger, liquidation, dissolution or sale or transfer of substantially all of the assets of Whisper Editions or the Sites, personal Information and/or other information collected about you from the Sites may be sold, assigned or transferred to the party acquiring all or substantially all of the equity and/or assets of Whisper Editions or the Sites in order to permit the party to continue the operation of the Sites. Subject to your ability to opt-out, you consent to the sale and transfer of your information as described in this paragraph.
6. Opting Out
Whisper Editions respects the privacy of your Personally Identifiable Information. If you tell Whisper Editions that you do not wish to have this information used as a basis for further contact with you, Whisper Editions will respect your wishes. You also may choose not to provide Whisper Editions with certain information, but that may result in you being unable to use certain features of the Sites.
You may instruct Whisper Editions to stop sending you certain promotional materials (e.g., e-mail messages, newsletters, postcards and letters) by following the unsubscribe instructions provided in those materials. Whisper Editions may, however, continue to contact you to provide service to your account. Please note that if you use more than one name or e-mail address when communicating with Whisper Editions or participating on the Sites, you may continue to receive communications from Whisper Editions to any name and/or e-mail address which you have not specified in your opt-out request.
Whisper Editions provides you with the following options for removing your Personally Identifiable Information from Whisper Editions’s database for marketing purposes:
1. You can send an email to Whisper Editions:
· info@WhisperEditions.com
E. Important Disclosures, Practices and Contact Information
1. Third Party Links
The Sites contains links to third-party web sites. Please be aware that Whisper Editions cannot control and is not responsible for the information collection practices of such web sites, which may differ from those of Whisper Editions. Whisper Editions encourages you to review and understand the privacy policies of these web sites before providing any information to them.
2. Data Security
Whisper Editions maintains a variety of commercially reasonable physical, electronic and procedural safeguards designed to protect your Personally Identifiable Information from unauthorized access and disclosure. For example, Whisper Editions uses accepted tools and techniques to protect against unauthorized access to Whisper Editions’s systems. You should be aware that Whisper Editions has no control over the security of other sites on the Internet that you might visit or with which you might interact, even when a link may appear to another Sites from one of the Sites.
Whisper Editions wants you to feel confident using the Sites, but no system can be completely secure. Therefore, although Whisper Editions takes steps to secure your information, Whisper Editions does not promise, and you should not expect, that your personal information, searches or other communications will always remain secure. In the event of a breach of the confidentiality or security of your information, including your Personally Identifiable Information, Whisper Editions will notify you as necessary and if possible so you can take appropriate protective steps. Whisper Editions may notify you under such circumstances using the e-mail address(es) that Whisper Editions has on record for you and/or by regular mail (if available). You also should carefully handle and disclose your Personally Identifiable Information.
4. Changes to this Privacy Policy
At any time without prior notice, Whisper Editions may update this Privacy Policy to reflect changes in Whisper Editions’s practices. When Whisper Editions posts changes to this Privacy Policy, Whisper Editions will revise the effective date at the bottom of this page. Whisper Editions encourages you to bookmark this Privacy Policy and to periodically review it to inform yourself of changes to it or any of Whisper Editions’s other policies. Any changes to Whisper Editions’s Privacy Policy will become effective upon Whisper Editions’s posting of the updated policy. Use of the Sites constitutes your acceptance of the terms of this Privacy Policy then in effect.
5. California Privacy Rights Under California Civil Code Section 1798.83
If you are a resident of California (“California Users”), in addition to the rights set forth in this Privacy Policy, you generally have the right to request information from Whisper Editions regarding the manner in which Whisper Editions shares certain categories of Personally Identifiable Information with third parties for their direct marketing purposes.
Under the law, however, a business is not required to provide this information if it adopts and discloses to the public (in its privacy policy) a policy of not disclosing customer’s personal information to third parties for their direct marketing purposes unless the customer first affirmatively agrees to the disclosure, as long as the business maintains and discloses this policy. Rather, the business may comply with the law by notifying California Users of their rights to prevent disclosure of personal information and providing a cost free means to exercise that right.
Please note that whenever you opt in to receive future communications from a third party, your information will be subject to the third party's privacy policy. If you later decide that you do not want that third party to use your information, you will need to contact the third party directly, as Whisper Editions has no control over how third parties use information. You should always review the privacy policy of any party that collects your information to determine how it will handle your information.
Please note that Whisper Editions is only required to respond to one request per customer each year. Whisper Editions is not required to respond to requests made by means other than through Whisper Editions’S e-mail address.
6. Users From Outside the United States
By visiting the Sites, submitting information or using any of Whisper Editions’s products or services, you acknowledge that you accept the practices and policies outlined in this Privacy Policy and consent to having your data transferred to and processed in the United States. If you do not agree to this Privacy Policy, please do not use Whisper Editions’s Sites.
The Sites is controlled and operated by Whisper Editions from the United States. Whisper Editions does not represent or warrant that the Sites, or any part thereof, are appropriate or available for use in any particular jurisdiction. Those who choose to access the Sites do so on their own initiative and at their own risk, and are responsible for complying with all local laws, rules and regulations. You also are subject to United States export controls in connection with your use of the Sites and/or services related thereto and are responsible for any violations of such controls, including, without limitation, any United States embargoes or other federal rules and regulations restricting exports. Whisper Editions may limit the availability of the Sites, in whole or in part, to any person, geographic area or jurisdiction that Whisper Editions chooses, at any time and in Whisper Editions’s sole discretion.
7. No Rights of Third Parties
This Privacy Policy does not create rights enforceable by third parties.
8. Contacting Whisper Editions
If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy, the practices of the Sites or your dealings with us, please feel free to contact Whisper Editions at:
· info@WhisperEditions.com
The Effective Date of this Privacy Policy is August 30, 2013.