Privacy Policy

Media and Democracy Coalition Privacy Policy

Effective as of: February 14, 2012

The Media and Democracy Coalition ("MADCo") is committed to protecting the personal information that you provide and entrust to us when using the Media and Democracy Coalition's websites. This online privacy statement (the "Privacy Statement") describes how we treat all user data collected by MADCo during your visit to the MADCo Site, both technical data that is automatically collected and voluntarily submitted data.

For purposes of this Privacy Statement, the "MADCo Site" is the website whose home page is www.media-democracy.net, and includes all web pages whose domain name contains the following: www.media-democracy.net and for sites housed under the Democracy In Action Salsa platform, we have created under the MADCo brand. Additionally, this is not the privacy statement for any blogs, forums or social networking sites where MADCo has a presence that are on websites other than the MADCo Site. Further, this is not the privacy statement for the websites of any MADCo local affiliates, and you should refer to the privacy statements on those affiliates' websites or contact those affiliates to learn the manner in which they treat information you provide to them through their websites.

MADCo may occasionally update this Statement. We will post any changes on this web page, so be sure to check back periodically.
 
User Data We Collect
We collect two types of user data: (1) technical data that is automatically collected from all visitors to the MADCo Site ("Automatically Collected Data"); and (2) data that you voluntarily submit to us (described below under "Voluntarily Submitted Data").

Automatically Collected Data
We automatically collect Internet Protocol ("IP") addresses and domain names of the originating visitor's computer on our server and may know some information you have previously provided through cookies. (See the section on "Cookies" below for more information.) We also track the number and frequency of hits per page, as well as length of website visit, using IP addresses and/or session cookies, but we do not associate any individual IP address or session information with any other personally identifying information except to detect security intrusions or certain unlawful activity. We use this information to perform website traffic analysis so we can better improve the MADCo Site experience.

In addition, if you come to the MADCo Site from a website link, we may also identify the source of that link so that we can evaluate what content is persuading web users to become involved in MADCo's work.

Voluntarily Submitted Data
We may collect Voluntarily Submitted Data, including personal data, that you voluntarily provide, such as your name and postal address, phone number, e-mail address, and similar information, and transactional information, such as giving and action-taking history, when you participate in certain activities on the MADCo Site, including (but not limited to) when you:

• join or renew your membership to MADCo;
• make an additional contribution to support MADCo;
• sign up for our MADCo e-mail network;
• send correspondence, place a call, or inform us about a call to your government representative, or send correspondence to a friend (e.g., when you tell-a-friend or send an e-card) or to other targeted representatives through the MADCo or Democracy In Action Salsa site under the MADCo brand;
• register online for an event;
• participate in one of our online petitions or surveys;
• post a blog comment;
• submit feedback to MADCo; or
• participate in any activity that requires your Voluntarily Submitted Data.

When you send correspondence to a friend, your friend's email address is only captured by us temporarily in order to complete your send request.
MADCo uses the Salsa platform for many of its online functions including but not limited to:

• Events management registration
• Contact and actions directed at Congress or Governmental bodies
• Newsletter circulation
• Fundraising and Donations

Democracy In Action Salsa Labs Privacy Policy
Optional and/or voluntary information is provided by users when they take action on a member organization's campaign, donation, signup or other page created with the Salsa platform. This information belongs to the member organization, in this instance, MADCo, and will not be used by Salsa Labs for any purpose other than aggregate statistics.

Out of respect for the privacy of Salsa Labs users, we always present the option to unsubscribe from our communications.

Salsa Labs clients, partners and member organizations, MADCo, have all agreed to adhere to our strict privacy policy and will not share with a third party any personally identifiable information gathered through Salsa without the express consent of users.

Salsa does not collect personally identifying information that users divulge about other people, such as the information provided in our tell-a-friend feature.
Salsa does not actively market to children, and we never knowingly ask a child under 13 to divulge personal information.
Salsa may collect demographic data through automatic logging files in order to enhance the usefulness of our site.
 
Cookies
We collect some data through the use of cookies. Cookies are alphanumeric identifiers that are transferred to your computer's hard drive and either stored permanently for future access by the transferor ("Long-term Cookies") or temporarily to facilitate the transferor's website analysis and functionality ("Short-term Cookies") or that are transferred temporarily to your computer's Random Access Memory ("Session Cookies").
 
We may transfer a Long-term Cookie only in circumstances in which you are notified prior to the cookie being stored, for example, when you select a "remember" option on the MADCo Site. If you select one of these options, a Long-term Cookie will be stored on your computer's hard drive solely for the purpose of automatically filling in the information you have asked to be remembered, for example, automatically filling in your password when you log in to the MADCo Site or your postal address when you write a letter to your representative. These "remember" options are offered only for your convenience and are completely voluntary. If you do not select a "remember" option, we will not transfer a Long-Term Cookie to your computer's hard drive.
We may use Session Cookies whenever you visit the MADCo Site for our website traffic analytics application and the Site's interactive applications, such as in our online advocacy. Session Cookies last only as long as your session on the MADCo Site. They expire when the session ends and are not written onto your computer's hard drive. We also use Session Cookies in e-mails containing the HTML-format. If you select "text-only" format preference, emails sent to you will not contain any Session Cookies.
We also may use Short-term Cookies to facilitate some of our website analysis and functionality, such as maps and videos.  These Short-term Cookies are set to expire within one hour of their being placed on your hard drive.
 
Salsa Labs Cookie Policy
A "cookie" is a small file assigning you a unique ID that is placed on your computer by a web server. Salsa Labs' web site uses cookies within our action centers in order to identify return visitors and make it easier to take action. We may also from time to time use cookies on the homepage so that frequent visitors are not presented a pop-up window each time they visit.
 
How We Use The Data We Collect
In addition to the uses described above, we use Automatically Collected Data to identify the source of user traffic (for example, umich.edu, or aol.com), but we do not tie this information to individual users in our database. We use data that indicates which sections of the MADCo Site are most visited so that we can evaluate the popularity of our different web pages and continue to improve the MADCo Site. We do not link any Automatically Collected Data with the Voluntarily Submitted Data you provide to us except to detect security intrusions or certain unlawful activity.

We use your Voluntarily Submitted Data for various purposes:

• To fulfill the request for which you specifically provided the data, including sharing the data with its intended recipient (e.g., delivering a petition you sign or a letter you wish to send to the recipient of the petition or letter);
• To analyze actions taken through our website;
• To periodically communicate with you concerning MADCo matters, such as delivering to you information and updates on our activities and action alerts, if you have not opted out of receiving such information and updates;
• To indicate you as the author of any comment you post, including on any MADCo Site blog or forum, when you opt to identify yourself as the author or when posting such comment requires such identification, and to display any personally identifying or other information you voluntarily include in such comments.
• To personalize the content that you see based on the activities and products that you have selected on the MADCo Site;
• To allow you to set and change user preferences;
• To allow you to renew your membership in MADCo;
• To offer you other ways to support MADCo, including solicitations for additional contributions if you have not opted out of receiving such communications;
• To confirm your contribution to MADCo;
• To confirm your registration to a MADCo event;
• To confirm a purchase;
• To respond to an inquiry or feedback you have made to MADCo; and
• To follow up with you with an email specific to an activity you have participated in or intend to participate in.

If your Voluntarily Submitted Data includes a U.S. zip code or state and you are a member, donor or subscriber to MADCo information, we may also share your Voluntarily Submitted Data with our local affiliate offices which may use that information:

• To periodically communicate with you concerning local affiliate matters, such as delivering information and updates on the local affiliate's activities, action alerts concerning local matters and invitations to local events, if you have not opted out of receiving that information;
• To confirm your registration to an event;
• To follow up with you with an email specific to an activity you have participated in or intend to participate in; and
• To offer you other ways to support MADCo, including solicitations for additional contributions, if you have not opted out of receiving such communications.

The MADCo Site is hosted by servers in the United States. Accordingly, if you are located outside of the United States, the Voluntarily Submitted Data you provide to us will be transferred to the United States. By submitting your Voluntarily Submitted Data, you consent to its transfer and storage in the United States and its use in accordance with the purposes for which it was originally collected (see below regarding third-party sharing of Voluntarily Submitted Data from non-U.S. residents).

If you are a U.S. resident, we may also from time to time combine your Voluntarily Submitted Data with some publicly available data collected from third parties to improve our services to you and for our own internal marketing, communications, and fundraising purposes.
 
Third Parties
Third Party Sharing
We share your Voluntarily Submitted Data with third-party service providers who fulfill your orders or transactions, contact you on our behalf, or facilitate some other aspect of MADCo activities, services or products, including those third-party service providers who collect, process, store and transmit information we collect on this website and those third-party service providers we use to assist us in our fundraising and communications efforts. These service providers have access to your Voluntarily Submitted Data solely for the purpose of providing these services to us on our behalf, and they are contractually prohibited from sharing your Voluntarily Submitted Data with third parties other than subcontractors assisting them in their providing these services to us who also are contractually prohibited from sharing our Voluntarily Submitted Data with any other third parties.  Please note that we do not share data from non-U.S. residents with any other third parties (except where required by law, see below), even if a non-U.S. resident has subsequently authorized such use, for example, by checking an opt-in request.

Except as described in this Privacy Statement, we will not share your Voluntarily Submitted Data with any third party unless we first notify you and offer you an appropriate choice to consent to such further use, for example, through an opt-out or opt-in request.
 
Third-Party Functionality
As discussed in the preceding section, to support certain functions carried out on the MADCo Site, MADCo uses third-party service providers. In limited instances with respect to specific optional functions on the MADCo Site, those third parties may have data collection, use or security procedures that differ from the practices outlined in this Privacy Statement and that may impact users of those optional functions. For example, a third-party service provider may support a specific web tool on the MADCo site, such as a web game that appears within the MADCo Site, even though that tool is actually on the website of the third-party service provider. Any time a third-party service provider's data collection, use or security practices differs from the data collection/use practices described in this Statement in a manner that would impact users of the MADCo Site, we will either describe on the page of the MADCo Site where such optional functions appear the specific data collection, use or security practices of such third-party service provider that would apply if you elect to use that optional function or we will provide a link to that third-party service provider's privacy policy.

Children
We do not knowingly collect information from children under the age of 13.
 
Security
The Voluntarily Submitted Data we collect about you is stored on a secure, password protected server and only authorized personnel have access to your information. We use industry-standard encryption technologies with respect to the receipt and transfer of Voluntarily Submitted Data you submit to us on the MADCo Site and only authorized personnel have access to your information. Nevertheless, despite our best efforts, no transmission over the Internet and no data storage method can be guaranteed to be 100% secure.

Updating Your Data
To update your Voluntarily Submitted Data or to make corrections, you can do so by using our User Preference Page, emailing info@media-democracy.net, or by sending us the update via postal mail sent to Media and Democracy Coalition, 1705 DeSales St NW, 5th Floor, Washington, DC 20036.
 
Comments and Questions
If you have any questions, comments or concerns about this Privacy Statement or our data collection practices or to request that we delete your Voluntarily Submitted Data, you can email MADCo at info@media-democracy.net, or send us your questions or comments via postal mail sent to Media and Democracy Coalition, 1705 DeSales St NW, 5th Floor, Washington, DC 20036.