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| Privacy Policy for WestCarolinaNewsLink.com WestCarolinaNewsLink.com is committed to protecting its users' privacy. Users should review this privacy policy to better understand WestCarolinaNewsLink.com's views and practices, and how they pertain to them as users of WestCarolinaNewsLink.com's Web service. If at some point in the future, there is a change to these information usage practices that affect users' personal information, WestCarolinaNewsLink.com will notify users by e-mail of the relevant changes. At the time of the email message, users will be able to opt-out of this information usage by responding to the e-mail notification advising them of the changes in information usage. Users should also check this posted privacy statement for changes. WestCarolinaNewsLink.com strives to provide its users with a superior, personalized and customized Internet experience. To do so, WestCarolinaNewsLink.com may gather information about its users' geographic location, personal interests, and preferences, all the while ensuring for the privacy and protection of that information. As part of the WestCarolinaNewsLink.com registration process for or participation in certain features of the WestCarolinaNewsLink.com service, WestCarolinaNewsLink.com may require its users to provide individually identifiable information such as first name, last name, e-mail address, and zip code. WestCarolinaNewsLink.com also monitors and catalogs traffic patterns throughout its site. WestCarolinaNewsLink.com accomplishes this through a feature of a user's browser called a "cookie," which in turn assigns a random number, or "User ID," to the user's browser. Cookies, by themselves, cannot be used to isolate the identity of any single user. The WestCarolinaNewsLink.com User ID only identifies a user's computer. Unless users specifically disclose their identity, WestCarolinaNewsLink.com will never know who they are, even though it assigns their computers cookies. Most browsers are initially set up to accept cookies. If users prefer, they can reset their browser either to notify them when they have received a cookie, or to refuse to accept cookies. Users should understand that certain areas of the WestCarolinaNewsLink.com site will not function properly if they set their browser to refuse cookies. Companies, which purchase advertising on the WestCarolinaNewsLink.com service, also have the ability to assign their cookie to a user's computer, in a process which WestCarolinaNewsLink.com does not control. But since cookies aren't able to identify individuals (a user will be just a number to them), these advertisers will never know who a user is - and WestCarolinaNewsLink.com will never disclose such information to them. WestCarolinaNewsLink.com hopes to serve as the starting point for all its users' local online needs. More importantly, it wants to deliver a compelling online experience that will keep users coming back to visit the service again and again. WestCarolinaNewsLink.com uses the information supplied to it as a means to personalize portions of the service. Some of these personalized services are made available directly by WestCarolinaNewsLink.com, while others may be offered by its content partners. In addition, WestCarolinaNewsLink.com analyzes and evaluates user preferences, comments, and criticisms of its offerings in order to make improvements to the present and future versions of the service. To help its advertisers better understand its users' preferences and interests, WestCarolinaNewsLink.com may provide summary or aggregate - not individual - reports on a regular basis. (An example of the type of information provided in a summary report might be, "40,000 people clicked on Advertisement 'X' today and of those people, 50% had previously indicated they were interested in local sports"). WestCarolinaNewsLink.com's advertisers use this information to determine the effectiveness of their creative and media investments. WestCarolinaNewsLink.com never provides its advertisers with individually identifiable information about its users unless the user has given explicit permission for it to do so. WestCarolinaNewsLink.com will never willfully disclose individually identifiable information about its users to any third party without first receiving that user's permission unless it believes in good faith that the law requires it, or to protect the rights or property of WestCarolinaNewsLink.com. Individually identifiable information provided to WestCarolinaNewsLink.com is used throughout the service to provide a personalized experience for its users. In certain cases this information will also be shared with WestCarolinaNewsLink.com's content partners who provide content or enhanced services but only if the user has given permission. When information is given to a content partner to operate a service that partner may have its own privacy policy that users should read and understand before submitting any of their personally identifiable information to be shared with that partner. WestCarolinaNewsLink.com retains no responsibility or liability for privacy policies of those entities. Companies that purchase advertising on WestCarolinaNewsLink.com may track a user's navigation to and from their sites and collect aggregate information about the user when an ad is displayed or when the user clicks on their ads. WestCarolinaNewsLink.com does not control this collection of information, nor does it monitor the use of this information once its advertisers obtain it. Users should contact these advertisers directly if they have questions about the advertisers' use of this information. Additionally, WestCarolinaNewsLink.com does not control the information collection and distribution policies on sites outside of the WestCarolinaNewsLink.com service. As part of its Web service, WestCarolinaNewsLink.com allows users to interact and participate in various forms of communication with each other, such as classified ads, instant messaging, opinion polls and people directory. Users should be aware that any information disclosed in such communication becomes public information. Users should exercise serious caution when deciding to disclose individually identifiable information in one of these areas. WestCarolinaNewsLink.com cannot ensure the protection or security of information disclosed within these areas. Also as part of its Web service, WestCarolinaNewsLink.com may allow users to make purchases through an online store. In such a case, WestCarolinaNewsLink.com makes the personal information disclosed, such as name, credit card number and address, available only to the vendor or vendors from which the purchase is being made. These merchants may have separate and distinct privacy and data collection practices. WestCarolinaNewsLink.com retains no responsibility or liability for the privacy policies of these vendors. In addition, if a user chooses to make a purchase through some other online store or service linked from WestCarolinaNewsLink.com, any information disclosed, such as a credit card number or home address, will be received by the company operating the store. These merchants have separate and distinct privacy and data collection practices. WestCarolinaNewsLink.com retains no responsibility or liability for the privacy policies of these online stores. To obtain more information about an individual vendor's policy on privacy, users should visit their homepage and review their privacy statement before making a purchase decision. Any modifications to this policy will be posted in this space. WestCarolinaNewsLink.com has taken measures to ensure that user information is accessible only to select individuals with a "need to know" at WestCarolinaNewsLink.com. The information is stored on a secured database and is accessible only after a password has been entered. WestCarolinaNewsLink.com takes special care to protect the safety and privacy of young people using its services. The WestCarolinaNewsLink.com site does not knowingly collect information about children and the majority of its site is not specifically directed to children. WestCarolinaNewsLink.com believes that children should get their parents' consent before giving out any personal information. WestCarolinaNewsLink.com encourages parents and legal guardians to participate in their child's experience on its Web site. Children should always ask a parent for permission before sending personal information to WestCarolinaNewsLink.com, or to anyone on the Internet. |
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