Privacy Policy
Effective Date: June 27, 2012
Votocracy: Social Media For politicsTM
Welcome to the votocracy.com web site! This web site is operated by Votocracy LLC ("Company," "We" or "Us"), an independent, nonpartisan media company dedicated to promoting citizen participation in the United States political process. The services Company offers on votocracy.com (and any of its affiliated, replacement or successor web sites, all referred to as the "Site") include interactive applications for social and political networking on Facebook, information about candidates and potential candidates for United States office, message boards, community pages and other unique tools and technologies that support "more voices" and "more choices" in American politics (all referred to, collectively, as the "Company Services"). The following privacy policy ("Privacy Policy") explains the collection, use, disclosure, and protection of your personal information by Company.
By using the Company Services, you are consenting to this Privacy Policy. If you do not consent to this Privacy Policy, or are otherwise uncomfortable participating in a public social-networking environment, do not use the Company Services.
Votocracy LLC has been awarded TRUSTe's Privacy Seal signifying that this privacy policy and practices have been reviewed by TRUSTe for compliance with TRUSTe's program requirements including transparency, accountability and choice regarding the collection and use of your personal information. The TRUSTe program does not cover information that may be collected through downloadable software. TRUSTe's mission, as an independent third party, is to accelerate online trust among consumers and organizations globally through its leading privacy trustmark and innovative trust solutions. If you have questions or complaints regarding our privacy policy or practices, please contact us at 205 Marion Street, Seattle, WA 98104 or privacy@votocracy.com. If you are not satisfied with our response you can contact TRUSTe here.
The TRUSTe program covers information that is collected through this Web site and Votocracy Facebook application.
I. Collection of Information
We may collect anonymous information from you, as well as other users of the Company Services. This information includes your IP address and aggregate user information, such as your general behavior in Company Services, the use of certain portions of our Site and your user history. Such anonymous information may also be available to the third party provider of tools, links and other redirects. We use technologies such as cookies to collect this information (a cookie is a piece of data stored on a member's computer). We may use session ID cookies that confirm that users are logged in and terminate once the user closes the browser. We may also use persistent cookies that store information to make it easier for you to log in when you use Company Services. You may configure your browser to block cookies, but if you do so the Company Services may not function well or at all on your computer.
We use a third-party tracking service Google Analytics that uses javascript to track non-personally identifiable information about visitors to our site in the aggregate including geography, browser and bandwidth type, amount of time spent on the website, search terms to get to the website, pages visited and the amount of time spent on each page. We collect this information to enable us to improve the usability of the website. The third party merchandise vendor we link to, Caf� Press, uses Monetate to track users during their shop and payment process.
We partner with a third party ad network to either display advertising on our Web site or to manage our advertising on other sites. Our ad network partner uses cookies and Web beacons to collect non-personally identifiable information about your activities on this and other Web sites to provide you targeted or retarget advertising based upon your interests. If you wish to not have this information used for the purpose of serving you targeted ads, you may opt-out by clicking here. Please note this does not opt you out of being served advertising. You will continue to receive generic ads.
When you use the Votocracy Facebook application, you will provide us with personal information including your Facebook username and certain information from your Facebook profile. You will also give us permission to post information to your wall, to list you as a supporter ("Supporter") for Candidates you have chosen to support by "liking" them, to display any events you have organized for Candidates or your attendance at any events. Your profile information will be "private" (as defined by Facebook) and only be viewable by you and your Facebook friends and only editable by you.
If you register to be a Candidate for Votocracy, you will provide us with personal information such as your first, middle and last names, email address, telephone number, mailing address, and date of birth. You may also provide us with additional personal information from your Facebook profile. As a Candidate, you may also elect to submit information, opinions, text, sounds, photographs, audio, video, images, graphics, and other content or materials ("Member Materials") to the Company Services. As a Votocracy Candidate, your profile information will be made "public," as defined by Facebook and viewable by any visitor to the Site. You can edit and update your profile information at any time, but it will remain editable only by you. Company assumes no responsibility for removing or preventing the disclosure of private information in those pages of the Company Services. You should exercise caution when disclosing personal information in Company Services and in engaging with any other user of the Site.
II. Use of Information
We use non-personally identifiable information in an aggregate, anonymous manner primarily to (1) improve the design, functionality, and content of the Company Services; and (2) provide products and services that might interest our users. We also collect anonymous user information to enable a better user experience in Company Services, including the automated collection and storage of information related to user preferences and settings.
We collect personally identifiable information from users primarily to facilitate full participation in Company Services. For example, names, addresses and contact information are helpful for facilitating communication among users and birthdates are necessary to screen users that are under the age of 18 years.
Company may use your personally identifiable information in other ways in connection with our business. For example, we may use the information to do the following:
- alert you to improvements to the Company Services and solicit your opinion about such improvements;
- contact you to confirm or fulfill an order that you made;
- provide you with promotional material;
- and inform you of new and additional features or functionality within Company Services.
If you no longer wish to receive promotional materials please follow the unsubscribe link located at the bottom of the message you received or please contact us at help@votocracy.com.
III. Disclosure to Third Parties
Company discloses the information you make public in Company Services to third parties. For example, if you submit User Materials, we may publish those User Materials without restriction, including any personally identifiable information that may be included in, or accompanied with, User Materials. Further, any information disclosed as part of a public election, whether in connection with Company Services or otherwise, will be deemed public information and not subject to the terms of this Privacy Policy.
We will share your personal information with third parties only in the ways that are described in this privacy statement. We do not sell your personal information to third parties.
We may also disclose your personal information:
- To complete any commercial transactions you may engage in via Company Services, including information to third party payment processors or vendors, professional advisors, or customer service, these companies are authorized to use your personal information only as is necessary to provide these services to us;
- in response to a court order or request of law enforcement personnel,
- in connection with litigation or other legal proceedings between us and/or any third party,
- as required by state or federal agencies, such as the FEC or IRS; or
- to comply with applicable law or regulation.
Company maintains current tools and protection technologies, as well as physical, electronic, and managerial procedures to safeguard and prevent unauthorized access to private information in our possession and control. However, no technology or procedure is error or risk free and these measures may not fully protect your information at all times, particularly during transmission to our servers.
The security of your personal information is important to us. When you enter sensitive information (such as a credit card number) on our order forms, we encrypt the transmission of that information using secure socket layer technology (SSL).
We follow generally accepted standards to protect the personal information submitted to us, both during transmission and once we receive it. No method of transmission over the Internet, or method of electronic storage, is 100% secure, however. Therefore, we cannot guarantee its absolute security. If you have any questions about security on our Web site, you can contact us at privacy@votocracy.com.
Any third-party websites linked from the Company Services (for example, by banner advertisements) are governed by the privacy policies of the third parties that own and operate those websites. Company has no control over third-party websites and assumes no responsibility for their collection, use, disclosure, or protection of personal information.
If Votocracy is involved in a merger, acquisition, or sale of all or a portion of its assets, you will be notified via email and/or a prominent notice on our Web site of any change in ownership or uses of your personal information, as well as any choices you may have regarding your personal information upon such merger.
IV. Parents of Children Under 13
We do not knowingly collect age from anyone under the age of 13. Our Company Services are offered on the Facebook Platform and Facebook screens users for age through their registration process. In order to use our Company Services you must be a citizen of the United States who is 18 years of age or older, as further described in our Terms of Use. Any users who indicate that they are minors will not be allowed to access or use Company Services. Individuals under the age of 18 are not authorized to use Company Services and are blocked from the Site.
V. Access to your Information
If your personally identifiable information changes you may update it in Votocracy by making the change in your Facebook profile or by emailing our Customer Support at help@votocracy.com or by contacting us by postal mail at the contact information listed below. If you no longer desire to be a Candidate you can deactivate it by clicking on the link on your candidacy page. If you no longer desire our service you can remove the Votocracy Facebook Application from the Application Profile Page in Facebook.
VI. Facebook Connect
You can log in to our site using sign-in services such as Facebook Connect. These services will authenticate your identity and provide you the option to share certain personal information with us such as your name and email address to pre-populate our sign up form. Services like Facebook Connect give you the option to post information about your activities on this Web site to your profile page to share with others within your network.
VII. Social Media (Features) and Widgets
Our Web site includes Social Media Features, such as the Facebook Like button and Widgets, such as interactive mini-programs that run on our site. These Features may collect your IP address, which page you are visiting on our site, and may set a cookie to enable the Feature to function properly. Social Media Features and Widgets are either hosted by a third party or hosted directly on our Site. Your interactions with these Features are governed by the privacy policy of the company providing it.
VIII. Data Retention
We will retain your information for as long as your account is active or as needed to provide you Company Services. If you wish to cancel your account or request that we no longer use your information to provide you Company Services contact us at privacy@votocracy.com. We will retain and use your information as necessary to comply with our legal obligations, resolve disputes, and enforce our agreements. As use of Votocracy is expected to follow the two year election cycle in the United States, we will retain your data until December 31 of the next even year (i.e., through December 31, 2012 for current users who cancel their accounts).
IX. Updates to this Privacy Policy
We may update this privacy statement to reflect changes to our information practices. If we make any material changes we will notify you by email (sent to the e-mail address specified in your account) or by means of a notice on this Site prior to the change becoming effective. We encourage you to periodically review this page for the latest information on our privacy practices.
X. Contact Us
We welcome your questions, comments, and concerns regarding our Privacy Policy or information collected from you.
Contact information:
Privacy Officer
Votocracy LLC
205 Marion Street
Seattle, WA 98104