Privacy Policy

Effective Date September 27, 2021

Our Commitment to Your Privacy

At KPBS, we recognize the importance of privacy to users of our websites and services (the “Sites and Services”). This Privacy Policy explains what types of information are collected from you when you use the Sites and Services and how that information may be used. Please note that this Privacy Policy is separate and distinct from the privacy policies of all third-party websites that may link to or from KPBS’ Sites and Services.

Before you use the Sites and Services, please review this Privacy Policy carefully. By using the Sites and Services, you consent to the collection, use, and disclosure of your information as outlined below.

Information We Collect About You

KPBS collects two types of information about you: information that you provide to us and information that we automatically receive and record from your computer or mobile device when you use the Sites and Services.

Information You Provide to Us

We collect information about visitors to the Sites and Services when they provide information to us. Examples of such information collection include when you sign up for our newsletters; register for certain features or services of the Sites and Services; make a donation or purchase; email or share a page of the KPBS websites; or post, upload, transmit, and/or otherwise submit a comment, message, story idea, essay, photo, image, or other content or material (“User Materials”) using the Sites and Services. The kinds of information we may collect include your name, email address, mailing address, telephone number, credit card information, and any other information you may choose to provide to us in connection with your use of the Sites and Services. Sometimes you may provide information to a trusted third party vendor, instead of directly to KPBS, but that vendor uses your information only for the purpose for which it was provided.

Information That is Passively or Automatically Collected

Like other web servers, KPBS automatically receives and records information from your computer or mobile device by creating log files for each visitor who accesses the KPBS Sites or Services. These “access logs” allow us to understand how people are using our site and how we could make our site more useful to our visitors. The access logs do NOT record a visitor’s name, address, email address, phone number, credit card numbers, or any other personally-identifying information. Rather, the types of information we collect may include: the Internet Protocol Address (IP Address) of the machine that accessed our website; the date and time of the visit; the pages you viewed on our website; the browser used; the files downloaded or viewed; the amount of time spent on particular web pages; and any errors encountered; and other similar information.

KPBS uses “cookies,” web beacons, and other similar technologies to collect this information. A cookie is a string of characters that is written to a file on the user’s local storage when the user visits a website. Only the website that set the cookie can read it, and it is used as a record keeping device to store user IDs and information that the site already has. It cannot be used to read other information from the user’s hard drive. A web beacon is an electronic image, also known as a single-pixel (1x1) or clear .gif, that is used to recognize certain information on your computer, such as cookies; the time and date a page is viewed; and description of where API content is placed. We use the term “cookie” in the broad sense to include cookies, web beacons and all similar technologies and techniques.

KPBS uses cookies to track users’ activity through the KPBS site in order to improve the site’s architecture, to offer the user interactive features that would not be possible without them, and to recall specific information to save the user time during subsequent visits to the site. For example, cookies allow KPBS to remember your registration information while you are logged in. In addition to cookies that are created by us, we may also allow our sponsorship service vendors and other third party companies to serve cookies. If you wish to prevent certain or all cookies from being set to your local storage you may disable them in your browser’s preferences. Keep in mind this may restrict use of certain functionalities on the KPBS websites.

How We Use Your Information

We may use the information we collect for the purposes for which it was provided, as well as for the following purposes:

to maintain, manage, and administer the Sites and Services;
to improve the Sites and Services;
to respond to user messages or to otherwise contact you;
to process a donation or to fulfill an order for a product or service;
to broadcast or publish User Materials (as discussed below);
for contest management;
for editorial purposes, such as contacting users for an online survey;
to send KPBS email newsletters and other communications, including marketing and promotional communications;
for internal KPBS purposes;
to comply with laws and regulations for our legitimate interests or the legitimate interests of others; and
for other purposes specified at the time the information is collected.

We may also aggregate or de-identify information we collect so that it is no longer linked to you or your computer or device. We may, in our sole discretion, use such aggregated and de-identified information for any purpose and may share such information with third parties.

When We May Disclose Your Information

If you send User Materials to KPBS, we may use, copy, distribute, sublicense, modify, transmit, publicly perform, display, create derivative works of, host, index, cache, tag, encode, and/or adapt your 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 KPBS websites, other third-party websites, over the air (on radio or television), and on mobile platforms. This includes linking your User Materials to your name and location (city, state, and/or country), if you provide that information to us.

Other than User Materials provided by a user to KPBS, which may become public as discussed above, we may disclose and/or share your information to or with third parties under the following circumstances:

Consent. We may disclose your information to third parties with your consent (including disclosing your name to a friend when you email a story to that friend).
Service Providers. We may provide access to or share your information with select third parties that perform services on our behalf. These providers use the information for the purpose it was shared. For example, we use a third party to process donations collected through our website.
Protection of KPBS and Others. KPBS may access, preserve, and disclose your information if required to do so by law or in a good faith belief that such access, preservation, or disclosure is permitted by this Privacy Policy or reasonably necessary or appropriate for any of the following reasons:
- To comply with legal process;
- To enforce this Privacy Policy, including investigation of potential violations thereof;
- To respond to your requests for customer services; and/or
- To protect the rights, property, or personal safety of KPBS, its agents and affiliates, its users, and the public. This includes exchanging information with other companies and organizations for fraud protection, spam or malware prevention, and similar purposes.
With Collaborators. We may share information with third parties with whom we may collaborate.
Aggregated Data. We may share aggregated and de-identified information.
Organizational Transfers. We may acquire, merge, or partner with other organizations. In such transactions (including in contemplation of such transactions, e.g., due diligence) user information may be among the transferred assets. If any of KPBS’ assets are sold or transferred to a third party, information collected through the Site and Services would likely be one of the transferred business assets.

How We Protect Your Information

KPBS has implemented administrative, technical, and physical security measures to protect against the loss, misuse, and/or alteration of your information. These safeguards vary based on the sensitivity of the information. However, we cannot and do not guarantee that these measures will prevent every unauthorized attempt to access, use, or disclose your information because, despite our efforts, no Internet and/or other electronic transmissions can be completely secure. For this reason, please be especially careful when you send information to us via email. The most secure method for donating to KPBS in electronic form is by using our online donation forms.

Legal Basis for Processing Personal Data

The laws in some jurisdictions require that website operators tell you about the legal grounds they rely on to use or disclose your information. To the extent those laws apply, our legal grounds for processing your information are as follows:

Where use of your information is necessary to perform our obligations to you;
Where use of your information is necessary for our legitimate interests or the legitimate interests of others (for example, to provide security for our Sites and Services; to provide the services we provide through our websites; to defend our legal rights; to analyze the use of our Sites and Services; to improve our services);
Where we have a reason to process the information in accordance with applicable law;
Where we have your consent to engage in a particular type of processing activity.

Online Analytics

We may use third-party web analytics services (such as those of Google Analytics or Chartbeat) in connection with our Sites and Services to collect and analyze the information discussed above, and to engage in auditing, research or reporting. The information (including your IP address) collected by various analytics technologies described in the “Information that Is Passively or Automatically Collected” section will be disclosed to or collected directly by these service providers, who use the information to evaluate your use of the Sites and Services, including by noting the third party website from which you arrive, analyzing usage trends, assisting with fraud prevention, and providing certain features to you. Information about how Google uses information collected from sites that use its services is located here. To prevent Google Analytics from using your information for analytics, you may install the Google Analytics Opt-out Browser Add-on by clicking here.

KPBS may analyze Google Analytics Demographic and Interest Reporting data that is provided via Google’s interest-based advertising to better understand our audience and what our users want from our Sites and Services, in order to provide a better site and service. ; personally identifiable information is never disclosed to our staff from this service. You may opt out of Google’s ad network by signing in to your Google account and going to https://adssettings.google.com/.

If you receive an email from us, we may use certain analytics tools, such as clear GIFs, to capture data such as when you open our message or click on any links or banners our email contains. This data allows us to assess the effectiveness of our communications and marketing campaigns to help us grow.

Transfer

Our computer systems are based in the United States, and your information will be processed in the United States, which may not offer the same level of protection as the privacy laws of your jurisdiction.

Children’s Privacy

Children should always get permission from their parents or legal guardians before sending any information about themselves (such as their names, email addresses, and phone numbers) via the web or mobile service, to KPBS or to anyone else. KPBS’ web services are not directed at children under the age of 13 and KPBS does not knowingly allow anyone under the age of 13 to provide any information to KPBS. If we become aware that we have collected information from children under the age of 13, we will take reasonable steps to delete it as soon as practicable.

Do Not Track

Do Not Track (“DNT”) is a privacy preference that users can set in certain web browsers. We do not currently recognize or respond to browser-initiated DNT signals.

Corrections to Data and Opting Out

Please contact us via email to correct or update any information you’ve provided to us, or to opt-out of future marketing communications from KPBS. Or, instead of sending an email, you can unsubscribe from marketing communications by clicking the unsubscribe link in the footer of any email from us.

Links to Other Sites

It is important to note that the KPBS websites contain links to other sites. KPBS is not responsible for the content or privacy practices of such other sites. When you visit other sites, the collection, use, and disclosure of your information will be subject to the privacy policies of those third party websites, not this Privacy Policy. For instance, clicking on a sponsorship notice on kpbs.org will take you to an entirely different site subject to its own privacy policy. We encourage our users to be aware when they leave our website and to read the privacy policies of every site they visit that collects their information.

Revisions to Privacy Policy

KPBS reserves the right to change this Privacy Policy at any time. The date at the top of this page indicates the last time changes were made. You should check this page periodically for updates. If we make material changes to this Privacy Policy, we will provide you with notice as required by law. Your continued use of the KPBS Sites and Services constitutes acceptance of the Privacy Policy then in effect.

Please make sure that you also read KPBS’ Terms of Use to understand additional terms and conditions that apply to the use of the KPBS Sites and Services.

Contact Us

If you have any questions or comments concerning our Privacy Policy, please contact us via email or send a letter to:

KPBS Audience and Member Services
KPBS
5200 Campanile Dr.
San Diego, CA 92182-5400