The Hightower Lowdown, dba Public Intelligence, Inc. and its affiliated organizations and individuals (which may be collectively referred to herein as, among other things, “we,” “us” and “our”) are committed to maintaining the privacy of your personal information. The following policy explains our information collection practices, privacy policies and the choices available to you with regard to how your information is collected and utilized.
This privacy policy applies to HightowerLowdown.org and other sites owned and operated by Public Intelligence, Inc. or its affiliates (“Sites”) (unless otherwise indicated by such Sites). Each of the Sites may further supplement, revise or otherwise amend this privacy policy as it relates to such Site.
The Information We Collect
Personal information you provide to us, including, but not limited to, your name, age, address, e-mail address, credit card number and facts about your background, profession, and similar information.
Information regarding your interaction with our Sites, including, but not limited to, your IP address, device type, geographic location information, computer and connection information, statistics on page views, traffic to and from our Sites, and web log information.
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Information you provide to us through community discussions, member information pages, e-mails, chats, dispute resolution, or information you share with us through other social applications or websites.
Like most commercial website owners, we collect information using “cookies,” which are small data elements that we place in your computer or device to store your preferences. Cookies help us to deliver advertisements, identify unique browsers that visit us and track usage throughout our Sites. Cookies do not extract personal data about you, like your name or e-mail address. You may block the installation of our cookies by changing the setting on your browser. However, if your browser does not accept cookies, certain areas of the website may not function properly. Some third-party merchants and advertisers also use cookies. Because we do not control the privacy policies of third-party merchants, advertisers or any other sites to which we may provide hyperlinks, you should check the privacy policy of the site you are visiting to learn about that site’s practices regarding the use of your information.
How We Use the Information We Collect
For the purposes for which you specifically provided the information including, for example, to enable us to process, validate and verify subscriptions.
To send you e-mail notifications about our products, services and special offers, or to otherwise contact you.
To enhance existing features or develop new features, products and services.
To provide aggregate anonymous information to our advertisers to help them better understand our services and to monitor the reach of their advertising on the Sites.
To allow us to personalize the content and advertising that you and others see based on personal characteristics or preferences.
In the event of a sale, merger, bankruptcy or other change in control of HightowerLowdown.org, your information may be shared with the person or business that owns or controls this Site. Opting out of receiving information from third parties will not affect our right to transfer your information to a new owner.
If required to do so by law or in the good faith belief that such action is necessary to conform to the edicts of the law or comply with a judicial proceeding, court order or legal process or to protect and defend the rights or property of Public Intelligence, Inc and its affiliates.
Preserving the Privacy of Your Information
We endeavor to safeguard and protect your personal information. When you submit personal information on our Sites, such information is protected both online and offline. Only employees and supervisors with specific authorization have access to databases containing visitors’ personal information. The databases are protected in a secure facility and credit card information is transmitted via encrypted technology.
Although we take measures to safeguard against unauthorized disclosures of information, no method of transmission over the Internet, or method of electronic storage, is 100 percent secure, and we cannot assure you that personally identifiable information that we collect will never be disclosed in a manner that is inconsistent with this Privacy Policy.
E-mail Addresses: Except as may be required by law, or to comply with a judicial proceeding, court order or legal process, we will not share your e-mail address with third parties, although we reserve the right to present you with advertisements on their behalf.
Subscription Lists: In accordance with standard industry practice, we may rent, exchange or sell to third parties mailing address information you provide us when ordering a subscription to our print publication, The Hightower Lowdown. We adhere strictly to the Direct Marketing Association’s Ethical Business Practices. For information about these practices, visit the Direct Marketing Association’s site at www.dmaresponsibility.org.
Agents: We employ other companies and individuals to perform functions on our behalf. Examples include fulfilling orders, delivering packages, sending postal mail and e-mail, removing repetitive information from customer lists, analyzing data, providing marketing assistance, processing credit card payments and providing customer service. These agents have access to personal information needed to perform their functions, but are contractually prohibited from using it for other purposes.
Third-Party Providers: We also make some content, products and services available through cooperative relationships with third parties. For example, from time to time we may collect personally identifiable information from customers on behalf of third parties affiliated with political or other advocacy groups. We may share with third parties any information you provide, or that is collected, in the course of visiting any pages that are made available in cooperation with such third parties. In some cases, a third party may collect information from you directly, in which cases the privacy policy of such third party may apply to its use of your information. The privacy policy of third parties may differ from ours. If you have any questions regarding the privacy policy of a third party, you should contact the third party directly for more information.
Major Business Transactions: In the event of a major business transaction, our customer information may be one of the transferred business assets.
Other Information
Links: Our Sites may contain links to other sites whose privacy practices may differ from ours. We encourage you to read the privacy statements of each website. We are not responsible for the privacy practices or the content of such sites.
Order Forms: Our Sites may use an order form for customers to subscribe to a publication or other services or to purchase certain items. We may collect visitors’ contact information (like postal and e-mail addresses). Contact information from the order form is used to send orders to our customers, or to send e-mail newsletters that they have requested. Users may opt out of receiving future mailings; see the “Opting Out and Contacting Us” section below.
Public Forums: Our Sites may make chat rooms, forums, message boards and/or news groups available to their users. Please remember that any information that is disclosed in these areas becomes public information and that information can be collected and used by others besides Public Intelligence, Inc and its affiliates. We cannot be responsible for any unauthorized third party’s use of information that you disclose online.
Children’s Privacy Statement
Our Sites are intended for adults and are not intended for children under the age of 13. We do not knowingly collect personally identifiable information from children under the age of 13 and therefore do not knowingly distribute such informatHightowerLowdown.orgion to third parties. If we become aware that we have inadvertently received personally identifiable information from a user under the age of 13, we will delete such information from our records.
California Privacy Rights
California law provides that we are required to disclose to our California customers, upon request, the identity of any third parties to whom we have disclosed personal information within the previous calendar year, along with the type of personal information disclosed, for the third parties’ direct marketing purposes.
If you are a California resident and would like to make such a request, please submit your request in writing to: Public Intelligence, Inc, 222 Sutter St 6th Floor, San Francisco CA 94108.
Do-Not-Track Signals and Similar Mechanisms
Some web browsers may transmit “do-not-track” signals to the websites with which the user communicates. We do honor “do-not-track” signals.
Collection of Information by Third-Party Sites and Sponsors
The ads appearing on our Sites are delivered to you by Google, our web advertising serving partner. Information about your visit to this Site, such as number of times you have viewed an ad (but not your name, address or other personal information), is used to serve ads to you on our Sites. And, in the course of serving advertisements to our Sites, third-party advertisers may place or recognize a unique cookie on your browser. Users may learn how to opt out of the use of these cookies by visiting the Google ad and content network privacy policy webpage.
We have contracted with a number of advertising network partners to monitor certain pages of our website and RSS feeds for the purpose of reporting website and RSS traffic, statistics, advertisement “click-throughs” and/or other activities on our website. Where authorized by us, these advertising network partners may use cookies, web beacons and/or other monitoring technologies to compile anonymous statistics about our website visitors. No personally identifiable information is transferred to these network partners and we do not authorize these network partners to collect and transfer personally identifiable information.
We may produce editorial features, contests, sweepstakes, special events or other offerings with the support of promotional partners. Personal information collected by our Sites in conjunction with such offerings may also be used for the marketing of additional services and events by the Sites and/or their promotional partners. If you do not want your personal information shared, you should not participate in such contests, sweepstakes, special events or other offers. We have no control over the promotional partners’ use of this information. Please see the rules of each individual offering and any applicable privacy policies for information on the choices you can exercise with respect to the use of your personal information. To the extent there is a conflict between this privacy policy and the rules or policies applicable to a special event, the rules and policies associated with the special event shall govern.
Google Analytics Advertising Features
In order to, among other things, better understand how visitors interact with the Sites, we utilize the following Good Analytics Advertising Features:
Remarketing with Google Analytics
Google Display Network Impression Reporting
DoubleClick Platform Integrations
Google Analytics Demographics and Interest Reporting
Among other things, these services provide aggregate, non-personally identifiable data that may enable us to personalize advertising content for you. Users may learn more about data privacy and security safeguards associated with these services, including available means of opting-out of such services, here.
Correct/Update Your Information
Our Sites give users the following options for changing and modifying information previously provided. To correct information you provided previously, click here to see The Hightower Lowdown E-mail Subscription services page. For changes, including renewals and address changes, to your subscription to our print publication, The Hightower Lowdown, visit the subscription services page.
Changes to This Statement
We may periodically change, modify or otherwise update this Privacy Policy. We will notify you of any material changes to this Privacy Policy by posting the revised policy on this page. Any changes to this Privacy Policy will become effective when posted on this page. The date of the most recent revision to this Privacy Policy is listed below. We encourage you to review our Privacy Policy on a regular basis. Your continued use of our Sites constitutes your agreement to this Privacy Policy and any updates. This statement is not intended to and does not create any contractual or other legal rights in or on behalf of any party.
Opting Out and Contacting Us
To opt-out of any promotional e-mail, based on information you provided to us through one of our Sites, fill out this form.
If you have any questions about this privacy policy or about our treatment of your personal information, click here or contact us by mail at the following address: Public Intelligence, Inc, 222 Sutter St 6th Floor, San Francisco CA 94108.
Last updated: May 6 2016.