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Privacy

Privacy Policy For GBH.org Visitors
Thank you for visiting gbh.org and its associated sub-domains (the "Site" or "Sites). As an extension of our broadcast mission, we want your visit to gbh.org to enlighten, inform, and entertain you. We know you don't want the information you provide us shared indiscriminately. Here we explain what information WGBH Educational Foundation ("GBH") and our third-party vendors (collectively “we”) acting on our behalf to help deliver the services and operate and analyze use of the Site), collect, what we do with the information, and what controls you have over the information collected. We're committed to ensuring the privacy of your personally identifiable information, and to protecting your ability to make financial transactions and transmit your personal data with full confidence.

The privacy policy set forth here refers solely to gbh.org, and it’s associated sub-domains such as, but not limited to, main.wgbh.org, careers.wgbh.org, shop.wgbh.org and campaign.wgbh.org. Please read it carefully, and if you have any questions or concerns, please contact us. Also, note that gbh.org links to numerous other sites, such as PBS, NPR and Public Interactive. Please consult those sites to learn more about their policies.

By using this Site, you signify your agreement to the terms and conditions of this Privacy Policy for GBH.org. If you do not agree to these terms and conditions, please do not use this Site. We reserve the right, at our sole discretion, to change, modify, add, or remove portions of this policy at any time. Please check this page periodically for any changes. Your continued use of GBH.org following the posting of any changes to these terms shall mean that you have accepted those changes. If you have any questions or concerns, please contact us.

CHANGES TO THIS PRIVACY POLICY
Whenever this Privacy Policy for our Site changes, we will post the changes to the Site, and such changes will be effective immediately upon posting. If you do not agree to the changes, please do not continue to use the Site. Under certain circumstances, we may also elect to notify you of changes or updates to our Privacy Policy by additional means, such as posting a notice on the front page of our Site or sending you an e-mail if we have your e-mail address.

TERMS OF USE
Please also make sure to read GBH.org’s Terms of Use. to understand the additional terms and conditions which apply to your use of our Site.

1. WHAT INFORMATION DO WE COLLECT ABOUT YOU
We collect two types of information from you:

a) Personally identifiable information, which includes personal information (such as your name, address, e-mail address, telephone number, credit card information and/or other identifying information) you voluntarily supply upon request when you register for our site, make a donation, complete a survey, register for an online discussion, enter a contest or provide your e-mail address. In some limited circumstances we may also collect sensitive personal information, like race, ethnic origin, and sexual orientation, such as when you complete voluntary surveys that we use to promote diversity and inclusion; and

b) Information automatically collected when you use the Site, for example IP Addresses and "cookies," which includes cookies and other types of tracking information collected as you navigate through our site.

Uses of this information are discussed in Section 2 below.

A. Personally Identifiable Information
We will not collect personally identifiable information from you, other than what you supply to us on a voluntary basis upon request.

Registration for our Sites:
Anyone can view our site, however some pages of the Site may require a free registration which enables full access to the information and resources offered throughout the Sites. A unique email address (user name) and password must be supplied to register. By using the Site, you are agreeing to the conditions of our Terms of Use.

Paid Products and Services:
While the majority of our Site is free, we may now or in the future, charge fees for select products and services, such as purchases made through an online shop. To enable the purchase of these and other products we collect your telephone number, e-mail address, billing address and credit card information.

Support of GBH:
On certain pages within the Site we may now or in the future offer visitors the opportunity to make a donation in support of GBH or our programming. If a visitor chooses to make a donation, we will collect and store that visitor's telephone number, e-mail address, billing address and credit card information.

Forums, Feedback and Content Submissions:
On certain pages within the Site you can submit content to be published, make community postings, comments, suggestions, and vote. By submitting any such content, you grant GBH a perpetual, worldwide license to use any or all parts of the content for any purpose in all manner and media, whether presently known or developed in the future. We may collect your name, address, and e-mail addresses in connection with these activities. We will indicate which information is required and which is optional. We may contact users regarding their submissions in certain circumstances.

Your submission of others’ Personally Identifiable Information:
On certain pages within the Site you can submit information about other people. For example, you may submit a person’s name and email address to send an article. This information will only be used for your intended purpose and will not be retained by us.

Contests, Sweepstakes, Surveys, Questionnaires and Special Offers:
On occasion, we may collect personal information from users in connection with optional sweepstakes, surveys, contests or special offers. For example, you may provide us with demographic information pursuant to voluntary surveys we distribute for purposes of promoting diversity and inclusion. We will indicate which information is required and which is optional. Such information will be used as indicated at the time of collection.

E-Mail and E-mail Newsletters:
On occasion, we may collect personal information from users in connection with optional email and e-mail newsletters. We will indicate which information is required and which is optional. Such information will be used as indicated at the time of collection.

Marketing and Promotional Communications:
On occasion, we may collect personal information from users in connection with optional marketing and promotional communications from GBH, PBS, or a public broadcasting station. We will indicate which information is required and which is optional. Such information will be used as indicated at the time of collection.

B. Information That is Passively or Automatically Collected

In addition to information that you provide to us, we (again, this is GBH and third party vendors) may also collect and store certain non-personally identifiable information automatically when you use the Site. This information helps us improve the experience you and other visitors have with the Site.

For example, we may collect your IP address, the type of geolocation information, any Internet browser or mobile device you use, any website from which you have come to the Site, browser information and reference site domain, your operating system, and location data through an IP address that identifies the city and state where you logged into the our Site(s), or your precise geo-location if you have permitted your mobile device to provide that information to us, as well as related information such as the date on which you visit the Site. This information does not identify you personally and is only used in the aggregate.

COOKIES AND OTHER ELECTRONIC TECHNOLOGIES
As is common practice among web sites, we use “cookies” and similar technologies such as web beacons and pixel tags. In general, cookies -- the informational files that your web browser places on your computer when you visit a website or access or use a mobile application -- are used on this Site to track and analyze how you and other visitors use our Site. Cookies are small pieces of information that are issued to your computer or mobile device when you visit a website, or access or use a mobile application. That information regarding your use of the Site is stored and sometimes tracked. Web beacons are transparent image files, which enable the Site to track website usage information. Unlike cookies, web beacons are not placed on your computers. Pixel tags are tiny graphic images with unique identifiers that track online movements of our users. Unlike cookies, pixel tags are embedded in web pages. We will refer to the cookies and other technologies identified here collectively as “Cookies” for purposes of this Policy.

We use these Cookies in order to improve the Site, to identify the source of visitors and what pages you use while on our site, to offer visitors interactive and/or personalized features that would not be possible without the cookies, to recall specific information to save visitors time when they return to the Site, to provide our sponsors targeted sponsorship opportunities, to provide visitors customized sponsorship messages or list of customized videos of interest, and to identify usage and statistical trends. By looking at this traffic we can better understand our community, which allows us to improve our Site and to provide you with an optimal experience and better service. Our sponsorship service vendors, which serve sponsorship messages onto our site, and third party vendors that measure and analyze the use of the Site for us, may also use their own cookies. At no time does the cookie reveal your name, address, or e-mail address (even if you have entered these in specific areas of the Site). The Site pages cannot extract any personally identifying information about you from what we receive via a cookie and your browser.

TYPES OF COOKIES WE USE
Cookies can be "Persistent" or "Session" Cookies.

Persistent Cookies remain on your personal computer or mobile device when you go offline, while Session Cookies are deleted as soon as you close your web browser.

We use both Session and persistent Cookies for the purposes set out below:

Necessary/ Essential Cookies
Type: Session Cookies
Administered by: The Site
Purpose: These Cookies are essential to provide you with services available through the Site and to enable you to use some of its features. They help to authenticate users and prevent fraudulent use of user accounts. Without these Cookies, the services that you have asked for cannot be provided, and we only use these Cookies to provide you with those services.

Functionality Cookies
Type: Persistent Cookies
Administered by: The Site
Purpose: These Cookies allow us to remember choices you make when you use the Site, such as remembering your login details. The purpose of these Cookies is to provide you with a more personal experience and to avoid having to re-enter your preferences every time you use the Site.

Tracking and Performance Cookies
Type: Persistent Cookies
Administered by: Third-Parties

Purpose: These Cookies are used to track information about traffic to the Site and how visitors use the Site. These Cookies provide statistical information to help us make decisions to improve your experience on the Site. The information gathered via these Cookies may directly or indirectly identify you as an individual visitor. This is because the information collected is typically linked to a pseudonymous identifier associated with the device you use to access the Site, for example whether a visit was from a mobile device or desktop computer. We may also use these Cookies to test new advertisements, pages, features or new functionality of the Site , or for placement of GBH promotional material on other sites you may visit to see how our visitors react to them.

Targeting and Advertising Cookies
Type: Persistent Cookies
Administered by: Third-Parties
Purpose: These Cookies track your browsing habits to enable us to show advertising which is more likely to be of interest to you. These Cookies use information about your browsing history to group you with other users who have similar interests. Based on that information, and with our permission, third party advertisers can place Cookies to enable them to show advertisements which we think will be relevant to your interests while you are on third party Sites.

Social Media Cookies
Type: Persistent Cookies
Administered by: Third-Parties, in this case Social Media Platforms

Purpose: In addition to our own Cookies, we may also use various Social Media Cookies to report usage statistics of the Site, and to deliver advertisements to you on Social Media sites based on your use of our Site. On our Site you will see social media sharing tools on most pages. To implement these buttons and connect you to the relevant social media Site, tracking is often used to ensure it works as expected. These Cookies may be used when you share information using a social media networking Site such as Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.

We allow third parties to place Cookies throughout our Sites to collect information about your visit to our Site and other non-GBH websites in order to offer you more relevant advertising across the Internet. This practice is known as online behavioral advertising. These Cookies (placed by our third-party vendors) contain no personally identifiable information, but they may contain demographic or interest-based information in de-identified form. This information may also be linked to Personally Identifiable Information (in hashed or encrypted form) that you have voluntarily submitted to us, such as your email address. If you would like to opt out of the placement of these third-party cookies, please visit www.aboutads.info/choices. If you would like to opt out of third-party use of your mobile device identifier for behavioral advertising, please see www.aboutads.info/appchoices. Please note that if you delete, block, or otherwise restrict cookies, or if you use a different computer, mobile device, or Internet browser, you may need to renew your opt-out choice. GBH does not host any form of advertising from our websites or email communications.

Your Choices Regarding Cookies
If you prefer to avoid the use of Cookies on the Site, first you must disable the use of Cookies in your browser and then delete the Cookies saved in your browser associated with this Site. You may use this option for preventing the use of Cookies at any time. If you do not accept Our Cookies, you may experience some inconvenience in your use of the Site and some features may not function properly.

If you'd like to delete Cookies or instruct your web browser to delete or refuse Cookies, please visit the help pages of your web browser.

Third Party Advertising:
We use third-party advertising companies to serve ads when users visit our Site(s). These companies may use information (not including name, address, email address or telephone number) about visitors to the Site(s) in order to provide advertisements about goods and services of interest to such visitors. If you would like more information about this practice and to know your choices about not having this information used by these companies, click here .

You can set your browser preferences to refuse cookies or to alert you when cookies are being sent. However, some parts of the Site will not function properly if you do so.

2. HOW DO WE USE INFORMATION GATHERED ON THE SITE
Neither GBH, nor our third-party vendors acting on our behalf to help deliver the services and operate the Site, will willfully disclose any personally identifiable information about our online users to any non-affiliated third party without first receiving the user's permission, unless required by law. GBH’s affiliates include our local and national productions (such as NOVA, and Forum Network), PBS, and other public broadcasting stations or programming.

In terms of our own use of information, we may use your personally identifiable information for the activities described in the previous sections, for the activities described when you submitted the information, or for internal and marketing promotional purposes as further described in this policy.

We will typically explain the extent of use at the time you are asked to provide personal information. If you do not want this information to be collected or used by us for these purposes, you can simply “opt out.” Under certain circumstances, opting out may prevent your participation in activities for which personal information is needed, as in contests.

As mentioned, in certain cases, we contract with other companies to provide services on our behalf. These service providers maintain customer databases with e-mail addresses of Site visitors who have provided them to us by registering at our site, signing up for a newsletter or email, e-mailing us questions about the service, donors who submit online contributions, or online buyers who make a purchase. We (which includes our service providers) will use these addresses to respond to the general purposes for which we collected the information, to provide services and to operate the Site, including to respond to inquiries; to process credit card payments, billing, and shipping; to process e-mail distribution; for list processing and analysis; for promotions management; to send information about GBH’s programs, services, or your local public broadcasting station’s membership/fundraising; or to correspond about a purchase or product offers. Our service providers have access to your personally identifiable information as necessary to provide certain services on our behalf. They are required to maintain the privacy of all such information in their possession or control and can only use the information on our behalf for the purpose that we have contracted them, for example sending you a newsletter. They are not authorized to use your information for any other purpose.

Similarly, personally identifiable information provided in connection with a donation will be shared with third parties who perform services to process the donation.

Like many nonprofits, we occasionally exchange some of our donors' names and postal addresses with carefully selected nonprofit educational, cultural, health, and social service organizations. When you make an online contribution, your name and postal address will be included as eligible for an exchange. Our exchange program provides other nonprofits with only your name and postal address.

If at any time you would like to check or update our record of your information, please let us know by using the gbh.org Contact Us page, calling the GBH Member Hotline (617-300-3300, Monday-Friday, 9am-5pm EST), or writing to us (WGBH, Box 200, Boston, MA 02135).

We will not sell, exchange, or lend e-mail addresses to any non-affiliated third party, without your permission. However, we or our service providers may release personally identifiable information if we believe in good faith that the law or legal process requires it, we have received a valid administrative request from a law enforcement agency, or such release is necessary to protect anyone’s rights, property or safety.

On certain pages, we may now or in the future, offer visitors the opportunity to provide comments, messages or other user-generated text, content or materials (collectively “User Materials”). Any information that you disclose when posting a message to these areas, such as your name, screen name or ID used, becomes public. In addition, the information that you disclose in these areas may be used by us for promotional and marketing purposes. We are not responsible for any personally identifiable information that you choose to disclose in these public areas. Further, WGBH, its production units, public broadcasting station affiliates and their licensees, may use, copy, sublicense, modify, transmit, publicly perform, display, create derivative works of, host, index, cache, tag, encode, and/or adapt any User Materials, and any information contained therein, in any and all media formats or channels, whether now known or hereafter devised, including, but not limited to, the Site, public broadcasting station web sites, other third party web sites, over the air (on radio or television), and on mobile platforms.

We reserve the right to send you e-mail relating to your account status. This includes order confirmations, renewal/expiration notices, notices of credit-card problems, other transactional e-mails and notifications about major changes to our Site and/or to our Privacy Policy. If you have registered for online discussions or other services, you may receive e-mail specific to your participation in those activities.

We offer several e-mail newsletters and emails. We will always provide a clear and convenient method of unsubscribing to our e-mailings. If you no longer wish to receive a specific newsletter, follow the "unsubscribe" instructions located in each newsletter or email, or by going to the Site's Contact Us page and send us a message. We will update our records as soon as possible.

GBH, with the assistance from time to time of its third party service vendors, uses non-identifying aggregate information to analyze use of and better design the Site and to share with third parties in aggregate form only as appropriate. For example, we may tell a third party that a certain number of users accessed a particular video on our Site. However, we will not disclose any information that could be used to identify those users.

3. SECURITY OF INFORMATION
GBH has in place what we believe to be appropriate physical, electronic, and managerial procedures to safeguard and secure the information we collect online. Credit card information provided on the Site is protected against unauthorized use by Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) security features. The SSL protocol is the industry standard method for creating an encrypted, secure connection between your web browser and a web server, such as the Site’s server. You should, however, keep in mind that no Internet or e-mail transmission is ever fully secure or error free. Because most e-mail is not encrypted, you should take special care in deciding what information you send to us via e-mail.

4. CHILDREN’S GUIDELINES
GBH.org is a general audience site and does not knowingly collect or store personally identifiable information about children under the age of 13.

Any portions of our Site that are directed to children under the age of 13 (e.g., the kids section under the Kids and Family section) comply with COPPA (Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act) standards, which are in addition to wgbh.org policies. For complete guidelines on children’s information collection, please visit the GBH KIDS PRIVACY POLICY which is linked to the kids section of the Site.

5. CORRECTIONS TO PERSONAL DATA; OPTING OUT
Please Contact Us to a) correct or update any personal information in the GBH database that you state is erroneous, b) opt-out of future communications from GBH, or c) request GBH to make reasonable efforts to remove your personal information from the GBH online database, thereby canceling your profile, newsletter registration and other GBH registrations. This will not necessarily remove previous public comments and other User Materials submitted for public display on the Site. You should understand that it may be impossible to delete personal information entirely because of backups and records of deletions.

6. ACCEPTANCE OF THIS PRIVACY POLICY FOR GBH.ORG
By using this Site, you signify your agreement to the terms and conditions of this Privacy Policy for GBH.org. If you do not agree to these terms and conditions, please do not use this Site. We reserve the right, at our sole discretion, to change, modify, add, or remove portions of this policy at any time. Please check this page periodically for any changes. Your continued use of GBH.org following the posting of any changes to these terms shall mean that you have accepted those changes. If you have any questions or concerns, please contact us.

7. CHANGES TO THIS PRIVACY POLICY
Whenever this Privacy Policy for our Site changes, we will post the changes to the Site, and such changes will be effective immediately upon posting. If you do not agree to the changes, please do not continue to use the Site. Under certain circumstances, we may also elect to notify you of changes or updates to our Privacy Policy by additional means, such as posting a notice on the front page of our Site or sending you an e-mail if we have your e-mail address.

8. TERMS OF USE
Please also make sure to read GBH.org’s Terms of Use to understand the additional terms and conditions which apply to your use of our Site.

Additional Privacy Policies: