Comments

When visitors leave comments on the site we collect the data shown in the comments form, and also the visitor’s IP address and browser user agent string to help spam detection.

An anonymized string created from your email address (also called a hash) may be provided to the Gravatar service to see if you are using it. The Gravatar service privacy policy is available here: https://automattic.com/privacy/. After approval of your comment, your profile picture is visible to the public in the context of your comment.

Media

If you upload images to the website, you should avoid uploading images with embedded location data (EXIF GPS) included. Visitors to the website can download and extract any location data from images on the website.

What personal data we collect and why we collect it

Contact forms

• We collect general types of information about you when you visit and use our website; examples include personal information, demographic information, behavioral information, and indirect information. Sometimes we collect combinations of these types of information.
• Personal information is information that can be used to identify you or any other individual to whom the information may relate. This is information is only collected when you contact us. Such information may include your name, address, telephone number(s), and email address. We only collect this information during the course of communicating with us about an article or other matters on our website.
• Demographic information is information that may or may not be unique to you in the sense that it refers to selected population characteristics. Such information may include but is not limited to, zip code, telephone number(s) (including mobile phone number(s) and carriers), birth date, gender, salary range, education and marital status, occupation, industry of employment, personal and online interests. This may be collected during surveys or contests we may run on our website.
• Behavioral information is information pertaining to how you use our website, the areas of our website that you visit, the articles you read, what services you access, and information about your computer hardware and software, including your IP address, geographic location, browser preference, operating system type, domain names, times that you access the internet, and other websites you have visited.
• Third party information is information about you that we acquire from a third party which may include personal, demographic, behavioral and indirect information.
• Web technology information is information we automatically collect from you when you visit our website. This includes information collected from the use of cookies, Web beacons or JavaScript.
• No Information Collected from Children. We will never knowingly collect any Personal Information from children under the age of 13. If we obtain actual knowledge that we have collected Personal Information about a child under the age of 13, that information will be immediately deleted from its database. Because it does not collect such information, we have no such information to use or to disclose to third parties.

Cookies

If you leave a comment on our site you may opt-in to saving your name, email address and website in cookies. These are for your convenience so that you do not have to fill in your details again when you leave another comment. These cookies will last for one year.

If you visit our login page, we will set a temporary cookie to determine if your browser accepts cookies. This cookie contains no personal data and is discarded when you close your browser.

When you log in, we will also set up several cookies to save your login information and your screen display choices. Login cookies last for two days, and screen options cookies last for a year. If you select “Remember Me”, your login will persist for two weeks. If you log out of your account, the login cookies will be removed.

If you edit or publish an article, an additional cookie will be saved in your browser. This cookie includes no personal data and simply indicates the post ID of the article you just edited. It expires after 1 day.

Embedded content from other websites

Articles on this site may include embedded content (e.g. videos, images, articles, etc.). Embedded content from other websites behaves in the exact same way as if the visitor has visited the other website.

These websites may collect data about you, use cookies, embed additional third-party tracking, and monitor your interaction with that embedded content, including tracking your interaction with the embedded content if you have an account and are logged in to that website.

Collection and Use of Technology information

• Cookies. We and our service providers use “cookies” to collect and analyze information about your browsing on our website. The data stored in our cookies allows us to understand how you found our website and what pages you click on during your visit. We use cookies to improve our marketing and website and your experience on our website. A cookie is a small data file stored by your web browser on your computer. When you click on our website, our cookies allow our services providers to recognize you by an identification number in the cookie. You may accept or reject cookies through your web browser settings. However, if you block cookies you will not be able to make a purchase on our website.
• Web Beacons. A “web beacon” (often referred to as a pixel tag or a clear gif) is a tiny graphic image placed on website pages and in emails, advertising and other marketing communications that allows us or our vendors to determine whether you have performed specific actions. When you access a page, open email messages, or click on advertising, the web beacon generates a notice of that action to us or our vendor. We use that information to analyze our marketing efforts and our website effectiveness.
• Google Analytics. We use Google Analytics on our website. In doing so, Google collects and analyzes information about how people use our website, including information about browsing and buying activities. To perform some of these services, they may collect and use information from ours and third-party cookies. To learn more about Google Analytics’ privacy practices and any opt-out choices it offers, click here.
•  Third Party Advertising. We may use third-party advertising companies to serve ads to you based on the technology information we have collected. These ads may be our or other third party’s ads. As such, we also allow third-party companies to collect certain information when you visit our website site and to use that information to serve or send you their ads for products and services. We may combine and associate the information we collect through these technologies with other information we have collected from and about you.
• Do Not Track Signals. At this time, we do not respond to browser “do not track” signals.

How We Use Information Collected

We use the information we collect to resolve any questions or issues you bring to our attention; analyze the effectiveness of our website and marketing; or to carry out various business functions. Examples of how that information is used include:

• Marketing Purposes. We use the information we collect from you to determine your interests in the articles on our website. If you review or use “Sponsored Content” we use your to track whether your purchased products or services from the Sponsor of such content. In addition, we may use your information to provide interactive features of our website, such as comments, ratings, and reviews. We may also use the information we collect to identify service or advertising preferences. We may also use it so we can determine what articles are most popular or what features are most popular. The information we obtain from “Sponsored Content may be used to provide you information about third party products and services which we believe will be of interest to you. This may be done by us or a third party vendor.
• Internal Operations. We also use the information we gather to improve the effectiveness of our website, advertising on our website, customer service and marketing efforts or conduct research and analysis of our marketing and advertisements or to perform other business activities as needed.
• Legal Compliance. We use the information we gather to detect and prevent fraudulent transactions and monitor against theft. In addition, we use such information to protect the security and integrity of our website and our business.

How long we retain your data

If you leave a comment, the comment and its metadata are retained indefinitely. This is so we can recognize and approve any follow-up comments automatically instead of holding them in a moderation queue.

For users that register on our website (if any), we also store the personal information they provide in their user profile. All users can see, edit, or delete their personal information at any time (except they cannot change their username). Website administrators can also see and edit that information.

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What rights you have over your data

If you have an account on this site, or have left comments, you can request to receive an exported file of the personal data we hold about you, including any data you have provided to us. You can also request that we erase any personal data we hold about you. This does not include any data we are obliged to keep for administrative, legal, or security purposes.

Where we send your data

Visitor comments may be checked through an automated spam detection service.

Information We Share With Others

We disclose your information to third parties throughout the world, or combined personal, demographic, behavioral or indirect information, in the following ways:

(i) Sponsored Content Product and Service Delivery. We share your information with third parties who help us in the delivery of the products and services you have requested on the Sponsored Content pages.

(ii) Website Functionality. We share your information with companies and individuals we employ to perform technical functions on our behalf. Examples include third parties who host our website, analyze our data, provide marketing assistance, process credit card payments and provide customer service.

(iii) Third Party Products and Services. We share your information with third parties who will provide you with their opportunities, products or services. This includes your personal and non-personal information and includes your interests and preferences, so they may determine whether you might be interested in their products or services.

(iv) Anonymous information. We share aggregated anonymous information about you, combined with other persons using our website with third parties, so that they can understand the kinds of visitors that come to our website, and how those visitors use our website. This includes demographic information and behavioral information.

(v) Legal Process. We disclose your information if legally required to do so, or at our discretion, pursuant to a request from a governmental entity, or if we believe in good faith that such action is necessary to: (a) conform to legal requirements or comply with legal process; (b) protect our rights or property, or our affiliated companies; (c) prevent a crime or protect national security; or (d) protect the personal safety of users or the public.

(vi) Acquisition or Merger. We may disclose and transfer your information to a third party who acquires any or all of our business, whether such acquisition is by way of merger, consolidation or purchase of all or a substantial portion of our assets. In the event we become the subject of an insolvency proceeding, whether voluntary or involuntary, we or our liquidator, administrator, receiver or administrative receiver may sell, license or otherwise dispose of, such information in a transaction approved by the court.

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How we protect your data

We endeavor to safeguard and protect your information. When you submit personal information to us, it is protected both online and offline. We have security measures in place to protect against the loss, misuse, and alteration of personal information under our control. The servers in which we store your information are kept in a secure physical environment. The servers have industry-standard firewalls. Access to such servers is password protected and access by our employees is limited. Currently, we use Secure Socket Layer software (“SSL”) to protect data and to secure any transactions. Although we take commercially reasonable technological precautions to protect your personal information, no information transmission over the Internet can be guaranteed to be 100% secure; therefore, we cannot and do not warrant that your information will be absolutely secure. Any transmission of data at or through our website is at your own risk. However, access to your information is strictly limited and not accessible to the public.

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Change to Privacy Policy

We reserve the right to make material changes to the substance of this Privacy Policy. We will post those changes through a prominent notice on the website so that you will always know what information we gather, how we might use that information, and to whom we will disclose it.

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Your California Rights

Under California law, a California resident with whom we have an established relationship has the right to request certain information with respect to the types of personal information we have shared with third parties for their direct marketing purposes, and the identities of those third parties, within the immediately preceding calendar year, subject to certain exceptions. All requests for such information must be in writing and sent to relief@us-assistance.org

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Third Party Collection Use of Your Information

Third parties also collect and use information about you on our website in the following ways: Advertiser cookies and web beacons. Advertising agencies, advertising networks, and other companies who place advertisements on our website and on the internet generally may use their own cookies, web beacons, and other technology to collect information about you. We do not control the use of such technology and have no responsibility for the use of such technology to gather information about you.

Hyperlinks and Sponsored Content. Our website contains hypertext links to the website of third parties. We are not responsible for the privacy practices or the content of such other website. Such links are provided for your convenience and reference only. On Sponsored Content, such links are to advertisers who place advertising with us. However, each has its own policies and terms which govern the collection and use of your information when you reach their website. Please review these terms and conditions as they are different from ours. The inclusion of a link to a website does not imply any endorsement of the services or the website, its contents, or its sponsoring organization.

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