Evanston Now is committed to protecting consumer privacy online.
We believe that greater protection of personal privacy on the web will not only protect consumers, but also increase consumer confidence and ultimately their participation in online activities. At Evanston Now, we intend to give you as much control as possible over your personal information.
The purpose of our policy is to inform you about the types of information we gather about you when you visit our site(s), how we may use that information, whether we disclose it to anyone, and the choices you have regarding our use of, and your ability to correct, the information.
Our Site may contain links to other websites, including websites directed to children. We have no control over the privacy practices or the content of any of our business partners, advertisers, sponsors or other sites to which we provide links from our site. You should check the applicable privacy policy of the website sponsor when linking to other websites.
Evanston Now 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 and other information) subject to the terms of this privacy policy. Please note this policy applies only to information collected by Evanston Now online and does not impact information collected or used by Evanston Now 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) or make a purchase. You may also provide information when you participate in sweepstakes and contests, voting and polling activities, photo galleries, message boards and other interactive areas of our site.
Like most websites, Evanston Now 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 inhibit site functionality.
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.
We may use personally identifiable information collected on Evanston Now to communicate with you regarding something you have posted, our terms of service and privacy policy, products and services offered by Evanston Now and our 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 our affiliates and partners. This policy does not apply to any affiliate or partner’s use of such information.
Personally identifiable information collected by Evanston Now 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.
Affiliated sites, linked sites and advertisements
Evanston Now 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 Evanston Now page, certain content that is actually created or hosted by a third party. Also, through Evanston Now you may be introduced to, or be able to access, information, websites, advertisements, features, contests or sweepstakes offered by other parties. Evanston Now 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 may be 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. Evanston Now 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.
We use third-party advertising companies to serve ads when you visit our Web site. These companies may use aggregated information (not including your name, address, email address or telephone number) about your visits to this and other Web sites in order to provide advertisements about goods and services of interest to you. 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.
Please be careful and responsible whenever you are online. Should you choose to voluntarily disclose personally identifiable information in public areas on our site, such as in message boards, chat areas 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 Evanston Now and this policy.
Children
Evanston Now does not knowingly collect or solicit personally identifiable information from or about children under the age of 13 except as permitted by law. If we discover we have received any information from a child under the age of 13 in violation of this policy, we will delete that information immediately.
If you believe Evanston Now has any information from or about anyone under the age of 13, please contact us using the contact form.
Children under the age of 13 are specifically prohibited from registering as Members of Evanston Now.