Privacy Policy | American Briefing

Privacy Policy

Privacy Policy

This Privacy Policy describes the data protection practices of American Briefing (“American Briefing”) and its related websites, publications, and services, including Pop Acta Media, LLC and O2M Digital, LLC (collectively, “Services”) and governs your use of American Briefing websites and Services. We urge you to read this Privacy Policy carefully. Use of our Services constitutes acceptance of all terms contained herein. If you do not agree to this Privacy Policy, do not use the Services.

How We Collect Information

We obtain information about you through a variety of sources, including:

  1. Directly from you when you use our Services, request information from us, sign up for one of our newsletters or publications, participate in surveys, or attend conferences or events.
  2. Through automated means when you use our Services; for example, when you visit our website, we may collect your IP address and other similar information.
  3. From others. We may collect other information about you from third parties and outside sources, such as business partners, data analytics providers, public records, and marketing firms. This information collected from third party sources may be used to supplement the information that we collect directly from you to provide or improve our Services.

Information We Collect

Personal Information

“Personal Information” means any information that identifies, relates to, describes, or is capable of being associated with, or could reasonably be linked, directly or indirectly, with a particular individual or household. Some Services require you provide certain Personal Information.

Personal Information that we collect includes, but may not be limited to, the following categories of data:

  • Identifiers, including name, phone number, mailing address, email address, registration data, including account user name and passwords, and other contact details.
  • Protected classification characteristics under federal or state law, including age (40 years or older), national origin/citizenship, sex (including gender, gender identity, and gender expression), and veteran or military status.
  • Commercial information, including records of personal property, products or services purchased, obtained, or considered, or other purchasing or consuming histories or tendencies.
  • Internet or other similar network activity, including IP address, browser type, operating system, browsing history, search history, and information about your interaction with a website, application, or advertisement.
  • Inferences drawn from your Personal Information, including preferences, characteristics, psychological trends, predispositions, behavior, attitudes, intelligence, abilities, and aptitudes. For example, as part of our Services, we help our clients identify individuals who may want to make donations or otherwise further their agenda. We may collect donor information from our clients, and compare such information with that received from other clients and the information we hold.

Non-Personal Information; Cookies, Web Beacons, and Server Logs

Non-Personal Information does not identify you, but provides insights regarding your use of our Services.

We may utilize “cookie” technology on our websites. Cookies are bits of data stored on your hard drive that contain no personally identifying information, but which help enhance your web-browsing experience. Not all web browsers accept cookies, and those that do usually provide a preference or setting that allows you to refuse and remove most types of browser cookies. If your browser does not accept cookies, you may still enjoy our websites.

We may also use local shared objects, also known as flash cookies, to store your preferences such as volume control for videos, or display content based upon what you view on our websites to personalize your visit. Third party partners provide certain features on our websites and may display advertising based upon your web browsing activity, using flash cookies to help track and store information about you. Flash cookies are different from browser cookies because of the amount of, type of, and how data is stored. Cookie management tools provided by your browser usually will not remove flash cookies. To learn how to manage privacy and storage settings for certain flash cookies, please visit:  https://www.macromedia.com/support/documentation/en/flashplayer/help/settings_manager07.html.

We, or a third party, may collect information using web beacons. Web beacons are electronic images that may be used on websites or in our communications to you. We and third parties use web beacons to deliver cookies, count visits, understand usage and campaign effectiveness and to tell if a communication has been opened and acted upon.

Server logs capture certain non-personally identifying data, such as the time and date of a web visit, the browser and operating system being used, and the web URL a user linked from. This information is used in aggregate form to help us plan system enhancements when necessary and to provide content that is compatible with our visitors’ web-browsing systems. We also collect information about keyword searches performed by visitors on our websites. We may keep logs of all words searched to help us learn what kinds of information our websites visitors are seeking, and to improve our service to visitors.

We may also use third-party web analytics services (such as Google Analytics) on our websites to collect and analyze usage information through cookies and similar tools; engage in auditing, research, or reporting; assist with fraud prevention; and provide certain features to you. To prevent Google Analytics from using your information for analytics, you may install the Google Analytics Opt-out Browser Add-on. On our websites, we may allow select third-party advertising technology partners to place cookies or other tracking technologies on the browser of your device to collect information about you as discussed above. These third parties (e.g., ad networks and ad servers such as Google and others) may use this information to serve relevant content and advertising to you as you browse the Internet, and access their own cookies or other tracking technologies on your browser to assist in this activity.  If you are interested in more information about these online advertising activities, and how you can generally control cookies from being put on your computer to deliver tailored advertising, you may visit the Network Advertising Initiative’s Consumer Opt-Out link, the Digital Advertising Alliance’s Consumer Opt-Out link, or Your Online Choices to opt-out of receiving tailored advertising from companies that participate in those programs. We do not control these opt-out links or whether any particular company chooses to participate in these opt-out programs. We are not responsible for any choices you make using these mechanisms or the continued availability or accuracy of these mechanisms.  Please note that if you use these mechanisms, you may still see advertising on our websites or across the Internet, but it will not be tailored to you based on your online behavior over time.

How We Use Your Information

We may use your Personal Information and Non-Personally Identifiable Information we collect about you for the purposes described in this Privacy Policy or disclosed to you on our websites. The legal bases for using your Personal Information include: (1) where use is necessary to perform our obligations by contract with you; (2) where use is necessary for our legitimate interests or the legitimate interests of others; (3) where we have a reason to process the data in accordance with applicable law; or (4) where we have your consent to engage in a particular processing activity.

For example, we may use your information to:

  • provide and improve our Services;
  • send you newsletters or other information you have requested;
  • understand you and your preferences to enhance your experience and enjoyment using our websites;
  • contact you about your use of our websites and to provide important website updates;
  • respond to your comments and questions and provide customer service;
  • request feedback and to enable us to develop, customize and improve our website;
  • send you surveys or questionnaires;
  • communicate with you about new contests, promotions and rewards, upcoming events, and other news offered by us or our selected partners;
  • use for editorial purposes, such as to contact you about content you have submitted to our website or to give attribution to content you submit;
  • link or combine it with other Personal Information we get from third parties, to help understand your needs and preferences, and provide you with better service and opportunities to participate across our brands (i.e. to receive our publications, to donate money to specific campaigns);
  • investigate and take action against fraudulent or illegal activity or improper conduct; and
  • use, store, or report your information for any other lawful purpose.

We may aggregate or de-identify information collected through our Services, and we may use such information for any purpose and may share such data with third parties.

How We Share and Disclose Your Personal Information

We may share your Personal Information, as follows:

  • With third parties who perform services on our behalf. These service providers provide a variety of services, including data hosting and storage, advertising and marketing, website content and features, analytics, research, customer service, payment processing, security, fraud prevention, and legal services.
  • As required by law or in a good faith belief that such access, retention, or disclosure is reasonably necessary to: (a) comply with legal process (e.g. a subpoena or court order); (b) enforce any contracts with you, if relevant; (c) respond to claims that any content violates the rights of third parties; (d) respond to your requests for customer service; and/or (e) protect the rights, property or personal safety of American Briefing, its agents and affiliates, its users and/or the public.
  • As described above, we help our clients identify individuals who may want to make donations or otherwise further their agenda. We may disclose such Personal Information that we have collected about you with our clients. You may opt out of the use of your Personal Information for these purposes by contacting us, as detailed below.
  • When you provide us with consent to do so.

Your Rights and Choices

Depending on applicable data protection and privacy laws, you may be entitled to a variety of legal rights regarding the collection and processing of your Personal Information.

Individual rights vary depending on the laws of the jurisdiction applicable to you, but may include:

  • Right to know whether, and for what purposes and from what source, we collect and process Personal Information.
  • Right to access, modify, or correct Personal Information.
  • Right to know with whom we have shared your Personal Information, for what purpose, and what Personal Information has been shared.
  • Where processing of Personal Information about you is based on consent, the right to withdraw your consent to such processing.
  • Right to opt-out of the sale of your Personal Information.
  • Right to object to decisions based on profiling or automated decision-making that produce legal or similarly significant effects on you.
  • Right to request restriction of processing of your Personal Information or object to processing of your Personal Information carried out pursuant to (i) our legitimate interest or (ii) performance of a task in the public interest (including, but not limited to, processing for direct marketing purposes).
  • Right to data portability, which means that you can request that we provide certain Personal Information about you in a machine-readable format.
  • Right to erasure or the right to be forgotten, which means that you can request deletion or removal of certain Personal Information we process about you.
  • Right to appeal the decisions we make regarding the processing of your Personal Information. You may exercise this right by replying to the correspondence you receive from us, or by contacting us as described at the end of this Privacy Policy.
  • Right to lodge a complaint with a regulator, including relevant supervisory authorities, located in the jurisdiction of your residence, place of work, or where an alleged violation of law occurred.

You may exercise these rights, to the extent they apply to you, by contacting us as outlined at the end of this Privacy Policy. Note, however, that we may request certain reasonable additional information (that may include Personal Information) to help us authenticate your identity, your request, and to clarify or understand the scope of such requests. If we are unable to verify your identity or if we suspect fraudulent activity, we may decline to comply with your request. Should you wish to request the exercise of your rights as detailed above with regard to your Personal Information, we will not discriminate against you by offering you different pricing or services, or by providing you with a different level or quality of services, based solely upon this request.

You also have choices about how we communicate with you and how we process certain Personal Information about you. You may opt-out of receiving marketing or other communications from us at any time by following unsubscribe instructions provided in any email or text that you receive from us or by contacting us as provided at the end of this Privacy Policy.  If you opt-out of receiving email or other communications from us or otherwise modify the nature or frequency of communications, it may take up to ten (10) business days for us to process your request and you may continue to receive communications from us during that period. You will continue to receive administrative messages regarding our services, or transactions you have entered into with us, even after opting-out of promotional communications.

You also have the right to opt out of cookie collection.  Most web browsers automatically accept cookies, but you can usually modify this in your browser’s settings. This may prevent you from taking full advantage of our websites or applications.

California Civil Code Section 1798.83 permits California residents to request and obtain a list of what Personal Information (if any) we disclosed to third parties for direct marketing purposes in the preceding calendar year and the names and addresses of those third parties. Requests may be made only once a year and are free of charge. Under Section 1798.83, California residents are entitled to request and obtain such information, by contacting us at the details provided below.

Choices about Our Use and Sharing of Personal Information

If you do not wish to receive newsletters or other correspondence from us, you may click on the unsubscribe link at the bottom of any email. If you do not wish to receive texts from us, you may reply “Stop” in response to any text message, and if applicable, email us at [email protected], or completing an opt-out form located at http://optout.americanbriefing.com/. If you opt-out of promotional or newsletter communications from us, we may continue to send you certain communications such as service announcements and administrative messages that relate to us and our websites that are necessary to our relationship with you.

Your Sharing of Personally Identifiable Information

Please be aware when you connect and share your actions, comments, content and information, for example, through discussion board postings on our websites, those actions are not private. Others may capture Personal Information you post, including your email address, and may use the data to identify or contact you, including to send you communications. We cannot control, nor are we responsible for, such actions by others. Please be mindful of your own privacy needs as you choose who to connect with and what to share and make public. If you share information about others, please respect their privacy and get consent for any information you may share about them.

Third Party Activities

If you submit or choose to share Personal Information through a form or posting on any page of our websites, choose to otherwise share your Personal Information with a third party such as by sharing stories you read by connecting with social networking services, or click on a link on our website to go to a third-party site that may collect information about you, we are not responsible for the privacy practices of, including any marketing or other use of your Personal Information by, those third parties. To learn more about any other company or organization’s privacy practices, we suggest you contact them directly.

We may also use third parties to serve ads on our websiteSite. Certain third parties may automatically collect information about your visits to this and other websites, your IP address, your ISP, the browser you use to visit our websitesSite  (but not your name, address, email address or telephone number). They do this by using cookies, clear gifs or other technologies. Information collected may be used, among other things, to deliver advertising targeted to your interests and to better understand the usage and visitation of our websitesSite and the other sites tracked by these third parties. This Privacy Policy does not apply to, and we are not responsible for, cookies or clear gifs in third party ads, and we encourage you to check the privacy policies of advertisers and/or ad services to learn about their use of cookies and other technology. If you would like more information about this practice and to know your choices about not having this information used by companies, please go to http://www.networkadvertising.org.

You may opt-out of certain interest-based advertising by  visiting http://optout.networkadvertising.org/#!/.  Please note that this will only allow you to opt-out of tailored advertisements delivered by members of NAI (“Network Advertising Initiative”).  We are not associated with or responsible for the management and processing of these requests.

Notwithstanding any other provision, we may work with a third-party partner who may collect information from you, such as your IP address and information about your browser or operating system, and may place or recognize a unique cookie on your browser for the purpose of enabling interest-based content or advertising to you. The cookies placed by our third-party partners contain no personally identifiable information; they may contain demographic or other interest-based data in a de-identified form.  The information in these cookies may be linked to data you voluntarily have submitted to us, such as your name, postal address or email, which we may share in hashed or encrypted form. To opt-out of these data provider cookies, please go to http://www.aboutads.info/choices.

Information Retention

We retain the Personal Information we receive as described in this Privacy Policy for as long as you use our websites or as necessary to fulfill the purpose(s) for which it was collected, provide our services, resolve disputes, establish legal defenses, conduct audits, pursue legitimate business purposes, enforce our agreements, and comply with applicable laws.

Children’s Privacy

The Services are intended for general audiences and not for children under age of 13.  If we become aware that we have inadvertently collected Personal Information from children under the age of 13 without valid parental consent, we will take reasonable steps to delete it as soon as possible.  We also do not knowingly sell or share the Personal Information of individuals under the age of 16 in a manner that constitutes a “sale” or “share” under applicable law.

Information Security

We take reasonable steps online and offline to safeguard the Personal Information that you provide to us. We utilize a variety of technical and organizational security measures to protect the information provided to use from loss, misuse, and unauthorized access, disclosure, alternation,  or destruction. However, it is common knowledge that transmission of information via the Internet is not wholly secure, and we cannot guarantee or warrant the security of your Personal Information,  transmitted to or through our websites or services or otherwise provided to us, and we cannot be responsible for the theft, destruction, or inadvertent disclosure of such information. It is your responsibility to safeguard any passwords, ID numbers, or other special access features associated with your use of the websites. Any transmission of information is at your own risk.

If you have any questions about security on our websites, or if you become aware of any unauthorized use of an account, loss of your account credentials, or suspect a security breach, notify us immediately at the email or address provided at the end of this Privacy Policy. If our security system is breached, we will notify you of the breach to the extent required under applicable law.

Privacy Policy Changes

We reserve the right, at our discretion, to change, modify, add, or remove portions of this Privacy Policy at any time. We will post any changes to this Privacy Policy on our websites. By continuing to use our Services, you are confirming that you have read and understood the latest version of our Privacy Policy.

Contact Us

If you have any questions or comments about this Privacy Policy, how we collect or use your Personal Information, or you wish to exercise any applicable rights, please contact us at:

Via Email:  [email protected]

or

Via Mail: 625 First St #183, Alexandria, VA 22314

Please note that American Briefing may apply any exceptions or other conditions available under law when responding to access, correction, deletion, or other requests. We make all reasonable efforts to confirm receipt of your request within ten (10) business days. If you have not received a response from us within this timeframe, please contact us through one of the methods above. Once a request has been received and verified by us, we will work to process all such requests within a reasonable timeframe and as required under applicable law.

This Privacy Policy was last updated in February 2023.