WATCHDOG CITYTM PRIVACY STATEMENT
LAST REVISION: June 9, 2010
Watchdog City is committed to respecting the privacy rights of our online visitors. To that end, this privacy statement (the "Privacy Statement") sets forth what information is collected on the Watchdog City website, as well as how that information is used, maintained, and, in some cases, shared with third parties. This Privacy Statement also sets forth how to contact Watchdog City should you have any privacy inquiries. This Privacy Statement is incorporated into and is a part of the User Agreement for the WatchdogCity.com website. Any capitalized terms defined in the User Agreement will have their defined meanings when used in this Privacy Statement.
BY USING OR ACCESSING THE WATCHDOGCITY.COM SITE AND/OR USING ANY SERVICES OR TOOLS PROVIDED ON THE WATCHDOGCITY.COM SITE, YOU ACCEPT AND AGREE TO THE PRACTICES DESCRIBED IN THIS PRIVACY STATEMENT.
Changes to this Privacy Statement
This Privacy Statement may be changed in accordance with the process described in Section 2 (Changes to this User Agreement and Policies) of the User Agreement. The Last Revision date at the top of this page specifies the date upon which the current version of this Privacy Statement became effective. Please check the Historical Changes table at the bottom of the User Agreement for a description of all changes to the User Agreement and associated Watchdog City Policies. As stated in the User Agreement, changes to this Privacy Statement will apply retroactively to all personal information collected by Watchdog City. Your access to or use of this Site after any such change becomes effective represents your agreement to such changed term(s).
Information We Collect
When you access the Site you provide us with two types of information: (1) personal information that you knowingly and voluntarily choose to disclose to us, (2) usage information that we automatically collect as you interact with the Site and/or the services or tools provided by the Site.
(1) Personal Information
You can browse the Site without telling us who you are or revealing any personal information about yourself, but you cannot take part in the Watchdog City marketplace except for searching the calendar, local sports scores or the obituaries until you register using our online registration form. On the registration forms you may be required to provide us with your contact and identity information, residence / place of business information, billing information, bank account details and other personal information as indicated on the forms throughout the Site. You always have the option not to provide information by choosing not to use a particular service or feature on the Site. If you post content, you must use your real name, the same way journalists and opinion writers reveal their names in a newspaper.
If you choose to buy or sell content on the Site, we collect information about your buying and selling behavior. We also collect other users' comments about you in our ratings area, which is part of our ongoing credentialing process.
When you establish a credit account with us to pay the fees we charge for posting and selling content, we collect some additional information, such as a billing address, a credit card number and a credit card expiration date and tracking information from checks or money orders.
If you choose to leave feedback for other users, we will collect that information you provide to us. We retain this information as necessary for credentialing, to resolve disputes, provide customer support and troubleshoot problems as permitted by law.
Children under eighteen (18) years of age are prohibited from using the Site. We ask that children under 18 not submit information to us.
(2) Usage Information
We also employ cookies and similar technologies to collect and aggregate information about users, including but not limited to their IP address, the type of web browser used, web pages viewed (including the URL of the third party website that brought you to the Site (if any) and the URL of any third party website you go to directly from or immediately after leaving our Site), and other users interacted with. We may also employ cookies and similar technologies in order to assist in processing your order if you make a purchase from us. Our cookies and other tracking technologies are not intended to collect personally identifiable or sensitive information. The aggregate information we collect is analyzed and may be combined with similar aggregate information of other users. You may be able to reject cookies or otherwise disable the collection of usage information, but doing so may negatively affect your ability to use some functions of the Site. We may use small, invisible images called "web beacons" to determine whether an email we have sent has been opened, or to determine whether certain content has been copied to other locations on the web.
Using Information We Collect
We use your name, address, telephone number, and email address for the purpose of communication with you regarding the services and tools provided by the Site. We also use this information, as well as your credit card or other billing account type, number, and expiration date, for the purpose of billing you for the content you purchase or paying you for the content you sell. We may use the results of information provided by the web beacons embedded in the content to submit DMCA claims to other sites or to assist content owners in enforcing their rights with regard to the content. We use the aggregate information we collect to help us understand and better respond to our users' needs. If you give us permission, we will add you to the email or other mailing lists you select.
Maintaining Information We Collect
Security
The security and confidentiality of your personal information is important to us and we will take reasonable security measures to protect it, including measures to protect against unauthorized access to or unauthorized alteration, disclosure or destruction of data. These security measures include, for example, internal reviews of our data collection, storage and processing practices and security measures, as well as physical security measures to guard against unauthorized access to systems where we store personal data. If you have any questions about the security of your personal information on the Site, please contact us at privacy@WatchdogCity.com.
Changing or Removing Information
We will provide you with access to personally identifiable information you provide to us, and will correct or delete such data at your request to the extent that it is not otherwise required to be retained by law.
Sharing Information with Third Parties
Use of Information Available Through the Site by Other Users
To facilitate interaction among all Watchdog City members, our Site allows users to access other users' contact information. Among other things, your name is posted as the author of your posting content, and for journalists, the work history you provide as part of registering for your journalist account is also available. Although we do not disclose your address or phone number as part of identifying you as the author of posted content, the disclosure of your name, combined with information you disclose (including, in the case of journalists, your work history), could enable others to identify you and contact you outside of the Watchdog City service. By entering into our User Agreement, you agree that: (i) with respect to your personal information, you consent to the provision of your information to other users for the uses described in clause (ii), below, and you acknowledge and agree that Watchdog City is not responsible for the use by other Site users of such information or any other information you have provided that is available to other Site users through the services and tools provided by the Site or that we provide to such other Site users as part of a transaction in which you have engaged (e.g., the purchase or sale of content from/to that Site user), and (ii) with respect to any other user's personally identifiable information that you obtain through the Site or through a WatchdogCity.com-related communication, Watchdog City hereby grants to you a license to use such information only for:
(a) Watchdog City-related communications, provided that such communications comply with the restrictions in clauses (i) - (ix) of Section 6 (Content) of the User Agreement and the Prohibited Content Policy, and
(b) any other purpose to which such user expressly consents (opt-in) after adequate disclosure of the purpose(s).
In addition, under no circumstances, except as defined in this Section or with our consent and the consent of such other Site user after adequate disclosure, are you permitted to disclose to any third party personally identifiable information about any other Watchdog CityTM user obtained through your use of the Site or the conduct of any transaction associated with the user through the Site.
For any contact information that you obtain outside of Watchdog City, to the extent you use such contact information as part of communication distributed using Watchdog City-provided functionality, you represent and warrant that you have no reason to believe that (i) sending such communication to the recipient would violate any law or order of a court or other competent authority (such as a restraining order or injunction) and (ii) such recipient has not previously objected to receiving a communication from you. Should you use any contact list or similar database obtained from a third party, you represent and warrant that you have used commercially reasonable efforts to verify that such list only contains contact information for individuals who have consented to having their contract information included on such a list.
Unless you have obtained a Site user's contact information through a means other than any Site functionality, you are not licensed to add a Site user to any non-Watchdog City mailing list or other contact list without their express (opt-in) consent and after adequate disclosure.
Sharing Information We Collect with Third Parties
In addition to any disclosures described in this Privacy Statement, we share your personal information with third parties only in limited circumstances where we believe such sharing is (1) legally required or done to comply with a request from a government agency, (2) done in order to provide and maintain the services (3) done in conjunction with a corporate restructuring, (4) done to protect against fraud or other damage to the Site or to other users, or (5) otherwise permitted by you. For example:
- We may provide information to payment service providers when you conduct payment transactions through the Site. The third-party service provider's privacy policy will apply to data communicated during these transactions. The third-party service provider may provide your name, billing address, and credit card information, along with the amount to be charged, to the bank that processes your credit card for billing purposes.
- We may provide information to service and content provider partners ("Partners") to help us provide and maintain the Site and associated services and tools. In connection with this, our Partners may have access to your personal information for a limited time. When we provide information to Partners, we implement reasonable contractual and technical protections limiting the use of that information to the Watchdog City-specified purposes.
- We may be required to disclose user information pursuant to lawful requests, such as subpoenas or court orders, or in compliance with applicable laws. We do not reveal information until we have a good faith belief that an information request by law enforcement or private litigants meets applicable legal standards. Additionally, we may share account or other information when we believe it is necessary to comply with the law, protect our interests or property, to prevent fraud or other illegal activity through the Site and associated services and tools, or to prevent imminent bodily harm. This may include sharing information with other companies, lawyers, law enforcement officers, or government agencies.
- If the corporate structure of Watchdog City were to change, your user information may be transferred to a new entity. Should such a transfer occur, we will require that the new receiving entity follow this privacy policy with respect to your personal information absent prior notice by the new entity to you of a change in policy in accordance with the process specified in the User Agreement.
This Privacy Statement in no way restricts or limits our collection and use of aggregate user information, which may be shared with third parties without your consent.
This Privacy Statement does not apply to information you provide to Watchdog City pursuant to the DMCA process described in Section 11 (Digital Millennium Copyright Act) of the User Agreement. If you submit a notification or counter-notification to Watchdog City pursuant to the DMCA process, all information contained in the notification or counter-notification may be provided to, in the case of a notification, the alleged infringer or, in the case of a counter-notification, the initial claimant.
This Privacy Statement does not apply to information you provide to Watchdog City as part of a report of alleged abuse or violation or your response to such a report. Watchdog CityTM reserves the right to use and disclose such information, including your name, in its sole discretion.
Transmission of Information to United States Servers
If you visit the Site from outside of the United States, information that we collect about you may be transferred to servers inside the United States and maintained indefinitely. If you are in the European Economic Area or Canada, you should be aware that this may involve the transfer of information out of countries located in the European Economic Area or Canada and to the United States or to our Partners who may host the data in countries other than the United States. By accessing and using the Site and associated services and tools, you agree and consent to such transfer and processing of your data.
Links to Third Parties
The Site may contain links to other services and websites. Should you access other services and websites through these links, you may be providing information directly to the other services and websites. Watchdog City is not responsible for the privacy practices of other services and websites. We encourage our users to read the privacy statements of each and every service and website that collects personal information; this Privacy Statement applies solely to information collected directly by Watchdog City.
Contacting Us
If you have any questions about this Privacy Statement, please contact us at privacy@WatchdogCity.com. You may also contact us by phone at (941) 227-6397.
