Privacy policy
Last
updated August 2008
TheMash.com strives to offer its visitors the many advantages of Internet
technology and to provide an interactive and personalized experience. We may
use Personally Identifiable Information (your name, e-mail address, street
address, telephone number) subject to the terms of this Privacy Policy. Please
note this policy applies only to information collected by TheMash.com online
and does not impact information collected or used by TheMash.com or its
affiliates through other means.
How we gather information from users.
How we collect and store information depends on the page you are visiting, the
activities in which you elect to participate and the services provided. You can
visit many pages on our site without providing any information. Other pages may
prompt you to provide information, such as when you register for access to
portions of our site, sign up for membership, request certain features (e.g.,
newsletters, news updates and other products), sign up for a newspaper
subscription or make a purchase. You may also provide information when you
participate in sweepstakes and contests, voting and polling activities, message
boards and chat rooms and other interactive areas of our site.
Like most Web sites, TheMash.com also collects information automatically and
through the use of electronic tools that may be transparent to our visitors.
For example, we may log the name of your Internet Service Provider or use
"cookie" technology. Among other things, the cookie may store your
user name and password, sparing you from having to re-enter that information
each time you visit, or may control the number of times you encounter a
particular advertisement while visiting our site. As we adopt additional
technology, we may also gather information through other means. In certain
cases, you can choose not to provide us with information, for example by
setting your browser to refuse to accept cookies, but doing so may limit your
ability to access certain portions of the site or may require you to re-enter
your user name and password. Additionally we may not be able to customize the
site's features according to your preferences.
What we do with the information we collect.
We will use your information only as permitted by law. Aggregated Information
(information that does not personally identify you) may be used in many ways.
As one example, we may combine information about your usage patterns with
similar information obtained from other users to learn which pages are visited
most or what features are most attractive. Aggregated Information may
occasionally be shared with our advertisers and business partners, but cannot
be used to contact you individually.
We also collect information to enhance your visit and deliver more individualized
content and advertising. For example, we may use Personally Identifiable
Information collected on TheMash.com to communicate with you regarding our
Terms of Service and privacy policy, products and services offered by
TheMash.com and other Tribune Company affiliates and partners, administration
of sweepstakes and contests, processing e-commerce transactions and other
topics we think you might find of interest. We reserve the right to share this
information with other Tribune Company business units and affiliates, including
for example our affiliated newspapers and entities in which Tribune Company has
an ownership interest (collectively, "Affiliates"). This policy does
not apply to any Affiliate's use of such information.
Personally Identifiable Information collected by TheMash.com may also be used
for other purposes including but not limited to site administration and
troubleshooting. Certain third parties who provide technical support for the
operation of our site (our Web hosting service and our newsletter provider, for
example) may access such information.
As we continue to develop our business, we may sell, buy, merge or partner with
other companies or businesses. In such transactions, user information may be
among the transferred assets. We may also disclose your information in response
to a court order, at other times when we believe we are reasonably required to
do so by law, in connection with the collection of amounts you may owe to us,
and/or whenever we deem it appropriate or necessary to give such information to
law enforcement authorities. Please note we may not provide you with notice
prior to disclosure in such cases.
Your choice to opt out.
The news, information, content, and interactive areas on TheMash.com are
supported by advertising revenue and a controlled program of e-mail marketing
is an important element of our online publishing business. Like other Web
publishers, we sometimes permit our advertising and promotional partners to
e-mail you about services, features, products, special offers and unique
content we believe might interest you. If you prefer not to receive e-mail
communications sent directly from our advertisers or promotional partners, you
will be given an opportunity to decline before you provide us information we
might use for this purpose. If you decline at the time you provide us such
information, we will not share the Personally Identifiable Information you
provide with non-Affiliated advertisers for such purposes, though we may on
occasion send you information on their behalf.
Affiliated sites, linked sites and advertisements.
TheMash.com expects its partners, advertisers and third-party affiliates to
respect the privacy of our users. However, third parties, including our
partners, advertisers, affiliates and other content providers accessible
through our site, may have their own privacy and data collection policies and
practices. For example, during your visit to our site you may link to, or view
as part of a frame on a TheMash.com page, certain content that is actually
created or hosted by a third party. Also, through TheMash.com you may be
introduced to, or be able to access, information, Web sites, advertisements,
features, contests or sweepstakes offered by other parties. TheMash.com is not
responsible for the actions or policies of such third parties. You should check
the applicable privacy policies of those third parties when providing
information on a feature or page operated by a third party.
While on our site, our advertisers, promotional partners or other third parties
may use cookies or other technology to attempt to identify some of your
preferences or retrieve information about you. For example, some of our
advertising is served by third parties and may include cookies that enable the
advertiser to determine whether you have seen a particular advertisement
before. Through features available on our site, third parties may use cookies
or other technology to gather information. TheMash.com does not control the use
of this technology or the resulting information and is not responsible for any
actions or policies of such third parties.
A cookie gets entered by your Web browser into the "Cookies" folder
on your hard drive after you close your browser, and may be used by your
browser on subsequent visits to the Site. We use persistent and session cookies
to analyze and enhance your experience on the Site, and use third party ad
technology to serve ads. The data that is collected is the property of
TheMash.com, not the third party. We also allow third parties called ad
networks or ad servers to serve ads to you on TheMash.com. Cookies enable them
to compile information about where you, or others who have used your computer,
saw their advertisements and determine which ads are clicked on. This information
makes it possible for the ad technology, ad servers and ad networks to deliver
targeted advertisements to you on TheMash.com. TheMash.com does not have access
to the cookies that may be placed on your computer by third-party ad
technology, ad servers or ad networks. TheMash.com maintains relationships with
a number of third-party networks or providers, including without limitation Doubleclick,
RevenueScience, Unicast and Pointroll. Those parties that use cookies may offer
you a way to opt out of ad targeting. You may find more information at the Web
site of the individual ad network or the Network Advertising Initiative.
Please be careful and responsible whenever you are online. Should you choose to
voluntarily disclose Personally Identifiable Information on our site, such as
in message boards, comments pages, forums, chat areas or other interactive
areas of this Web site or in advertising or notices you post, that information
can be viewed publicly and can be collected and used by third parties without our
knowledge and may result in unsolicited messages from other individuals or
third parties. Such activities are beyond the control of TheMash.com and this
policy.
Children.
TheMash.com does not knowingly collect or solicit Personally Identifiable Information
from or about children under 13 except as permitted by law. If we discover we
have received any information from a child under 13 in violation of this
policy, we will delete that information. If you believe TheMash.com has any
information from or about anyone under 13, please contact us at the address
listed below.
Contacting us.
We can be reached by contacting:
TheMash.com
435 N. Michigan Avenue
Chicago,
IL 60611
Or E-mail: themash@tribune.com
Changes to this policy.
TheMash.com reserves the right to change this policy at any time. Please check
this page periodically for changes. Your continued use of our site following
the posting of changes to these terms will mean you accept those changes.
Information collected prior to the time any change is posted will be used
according to the rules and laws that applied at the time the information was
collected.
Governing law.
This policy and the use of this Site are governed by Illinois law. Any claim
related to the Site or this policy shall be brought in a federal or state court
in Chicago, Illinois, within six (6) months after the claim arises. You agree
no such claim may be brought as a class action. Users of TheMash.com consent to
the jurisdiction and venue of such court as the most convenient and appropriate
for the resolution of disputes concerning this policy. TheMash.com is
controlled, operated and administered entirely within the United States. If you
are located outside the United States, please note the information you provide
to us will be transferred to the United States. You hereby consent to this
transfer.
In the event case of any conflict between the terms of this policy and the
terms of any electronic or machine readable privacy policy (for example, a P3P
electronic privacy policy), the terms of this written policy shall control.
Copyright © 2008 Chicago Tribune Company
