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PRIVACY
STATEMENT
Welcome to the Ohio NIE website.
Because your online privacy is very important to us, we want you to
understand our practices with regard to collecting and using your
information and the steps we take to safeguard it. This statement
applies to personally identifiable information collected only online
within the United States on our website.
Collection, Use
and Disclosure of Personally Identifiable Information
You do not need to reveal any personally identifiable information to
browse and use our website. You can use our services and view our
content anonymously. However, you will be asked to register on our
website when you wish to view certain aspects of the site, such as the
answers to GED questions. Registration is free. When you register,
Ohio NIE website collects your name, address, city, county, state, zip
code, phone number and email address.
We collect your personally identifiable information so that we may share
it with the Ohio Department of Education Test Centers and our member
newspapers [http://www.ohionews.org/members.html]. We share it with no
other entities. The Ohio Department of Education may use the
information to contact you about upcoming tests, testing programs or
classes. They also may analyze the information in aggregate to
determine the effectiveness of their GED program. Our member newspapers
may use the personally identifiable information to contact you about
special offers, subscription notices, or other promotions or
advertisements.
If you do not wish us to share your personal information with these
entities, please do not register on our site.
Aggregate Information and Non-Personally
Identifiable Information
Our website
collects some non-personal information about you using technology, so it
may not be readily apparent to you that it is being collected. For
instance, when you come to our site, your IP address is collected. An
IP address is often associated with the place from which you enter the
Internet like your ISP (Internet Service Provider), your company, or
your university. This information is not personally identifiable. We
use information collected through this technology to make our sites more
interesting and useful to you. We also track the pages or documents
accessed within our site. This information is collected for systems
administration and for analyzing and improving the value of the material
available on our website. This aggregate non-personal information is
used to help our advertisers on our site design advertisements our users
might like. We do not combine this type of information with personally
identifiable information.
Cookies
We also use cookies on our website. What are cookies? Cookies are
pieces of information that a website sends to your computer while you
are viewing the website. Because we do not collect personally
identifiable information from you using our cookies. But, these
cookies, or pieces of information, allow the website to remember
important information that will make your use of that site more useful.
We, as well as other Internet companies, use cookies for a variety of
purposes. For instance, we use cookies to remember you and to improve
your navigation through our website features. You can choose to have
your computer warn you each time a cookie is being sent, or you can
choose to turn off all cookies. You do this through your browser (like
Netscape Navigator or Internet Explorer) settings. Each browser is a
little different, so look at your browser Help menu to learn the correct
way to modify your cookies.
Security of Information
We view security of confidential and private information
as a top priority. Unfortunately, no data transmission over the
Internet can be guaranteed to be absolutely secure and we do not ensure
or warrant the security of the transmission of information. We maintain access control procedures, including informing our employee of
the privacy and security policies. Except when we share it with the entities listed above, your information
is only accessible to those employees who have a legitimate need for the
information in order to perform their jobs.
Disclosure
Exceptions
Notwithstanding the above policies, we reserve the right to disclose
your personal information to appropriate third parties if we are
required to do so by law or we believe that such action is necessary:
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To comply with legal process such as a
search warrant, subpoena or court order;
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To protect the company's rights and
property or defend against legal claims;
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To investigate, prevent or take action
regarding illegal activities, suspected fraud, situations involving
harassment, abusive messages or potential threats to the physical
safety of any persons;
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To protect against misuse or
unauthorized use of our website; or
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During emergencies, such as when we
believe someone's physical safety is at risk; or
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In
the event that we and/or our units or subsidiaries are ever sold,
acquired, merged, liquidated, reorganized, or otherwise transferred,
we reserve the right to transfer our user databases, together with
any personally identifiable information contained therein, to a
third party acquiring the assets. In the event we do so, we will
place a prominent notice of the sale on the homepage of our site,
with links to information as to how you can change your privacy
preferences.
Links to Other Websites
We provide links to third-party websites and advertisers
as a convenience to its users. The inclusion of any link does not
imply an endorsement or recommendation of the third-party organization,
its website, or its products and services. We have not reviewed and are
not responsible for the privacy practices or content of such websites.
We urge you to consult those websites’ privacy policies.
Notification of Change
We reserve the right to change this Privacy Policy. The
most current Privacy Policy will be posted on our website so you are
always aware of what information we collect, how it is used, and under
what circumstances, if any, it is disclosed. We will occasionally
update this Privacy Policy in response to changing business
circumstances and legal developments. If there are material changes to
this Policy, or in how we use your personally identifiable information,
we will prominently post such changes prior to implementing the change.
We encourage you to periodically review this Policy to be informed of
how we are protecting your information.
Use Common Sense in All Your Online Activities
Even the best policy
can't protect your online privacy and security in all circumstances.
Unscrupulous advertisers, hackers, and scam artists are constantly
searching the Internet looking for new targets. Your best protection is
to understand the limits to privacy on the Internet and use common sense
in all of your on-line activities.
Be
aware that e-mail is an inherently insecure form of communication.
Remember that third parties are sometimes able to illegally intercept
your unencrypted messages.
Anytime
you visit a chat room or post a message to an on-line bulletin board,
your e-mail address can be accessed by advertisers looking to compile
lists for unsolicited commercial e-mail (also known as spam). Be sure
that you only disclose your e-mail address in circumstances in which it
is safe to do so.
Beware
of scams in which persons unknown to you request your screen name,
password, or credit card information. Make sure you verify the identity
of anyone asking for personal information.
Always
monitor your children's on-line activities and educate them as to the
rules for safe Internet use. For more information, click here for the
FTC’s webpage on Children’s Privacy.
Further Information about Our Privacy Practices
We hope that this
policy fully explains our privacy practices. To request further
information about our privacy practices, or if you have any questions,
you may send us an e-mail at fdeaner@ohionews.org, you can also write us at Ohio
Newspapers In Education, 1335 Dublin Rd. Suite 216-B, Columbus, OH 43215 or you may telephone us at (614) 486-6677.
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