Privacy Policy

Last modified on September 18, 2024.

1. INTRODUCTION.

Welcome to the Essex County Conservation Alliance (“Essex County Conservation Alliance” “we”, “us”, “our”) official website (the “website” or “site”). We understand that visitors to our website may have questions about how this website collects and uses information. Essex County Conservation Alliance. Essex County Conservation Alliance is committed to safeguarding the privacy of our supporters’ information. This Privacy Policy explains our privacy practices, including the information we collect from you when you use our website, apps, and other digital and online services (collectively, the “Services”) and how we and our affiliated committees may use that information; our rights to share and disclose such information to third parties; how you can review and modify information that you provide to us; and your preferences regarding our use and disclosure of such information. Please review our Terms of Service, which govern your use of the Services. Any capitalized terms that are not defined in this Privacy Policy shall have the meaning ascribed in the Terms of Service.

This Privacy Policy only applies to the information collected by Essex County Conservation Alliance and any third parties acting with our authorization or information otherwise provided to us by third parties about you, in each instance, in connection with your use of the Services. This Privacy Policy applies regardless of the computer, mobile phone, tablet, or other electronic device (“Device”) you use to access the Services and whether you are accessing the Services as a registered user or otherwise.

By using the Services, you agree that your use of the Services is governed by this Privacy Policy and our Terms of Service. From time to time, we may update this Privacy Policy. We encourage you to periodically check this Privacy Policy for updates. Your continued use of the Services affirms your agreement to any changes we make to this Privacy Policy.

2. INFORMATION WE COLLECT ABOUT YOU.

A. Registration Information. In order to access and use certain features, content, or functions of the Services (e.g., contributions, communication/networking features, promotions, etc.), you may be asked to provide certain information, including your name, username, password, e-mail, date of birth, gender, address, employment information, and other descriptive information.

B. Contributions and Payment Information. If you make any contribution (including any purchase) on or through the Services, your payment information (e.g., credit or debit card type, number, and expiration date) and related information (e.g., physical address) may be collected by us and/or our third-party payment processors.

To comply with State and Federal election law and the regulations of the Federal Election Commission, we are required to make our best efforts to collect and report the name, mailing address, occupation, and name of employer of individuals whose contributions aggregate in excess of $200 per election cycle. Generally, contributions are non-refundable. Should you choose to contribute, you will receive an email confirmation of your contribution.

C. Information You Choose to Provide to Us. We collect any information you provide to us on or through the Services or in any other way. For example, we collect any information you provide when you update your user account and profile (“User Account”); participate in contests, surveys, and other promotions; and sign up to receive newsletters and other communications.

In addition, the Services may include features that rely on the use of information stored on, or made available through, your mobile Device. We may also ask to collect or use the specific location of your mobile Device (e.g., by accessing your Device’s GPS). If you agree to allow access to your location, you agree that we and our service providers may collect such location-based information from your Device. We may also collect other information based on your location and your Device’s proximity to “beacons” and other similar proximity systems, including, for example, the strength of the signal between the beacon and your Device and the duration that your Device is near the beacon. The type of location data we collect depends on a number of factors, including the type of Device you are using (e.g., laptop, smartphone, tablet) and the type of connection enabled on your Device (e.g., wifi, Bluetooth, broadband cable). Any Essex County Conservation Alliance Apps or other features of the Services may rely on this location information in order to provide certain location-based services, such as Essex County Conservation Alliance promotional offers, merchandise offers, or event information or other Essex County Conservation Alliance-related content that may be of interest to you. We may also use location information to improve the functionality of the Essex County Conservation Alliance Apps and our other applications and services. If you do not wish to have this location information collected and used by Essex County Conservation Alliance, you may opt-out by disabling the location and Bluetooth features on your Device and/or in any Essex County Conservation Alliance Apps. As a general note, you may choose not to provide certain information, but you may not be able to access certain content or take advantage of certain features of the Services.

Depending on the Device you are using, we may use third-party services to provide mapping services. For example, Essex County Conservation Alliance may use Google Maps on certain Devices. You can learn more about the information that Google collects through its mapping services at https://policies.google.com/privacy?hl=en-US.

D. User Submissions. You may have the ability to use the Services to communicate with other users of the Services and post comments to or otherwise interact with certain aspects of the Services that are available to the public and/or other users. We may collect any information you submit, post, or provide in the course of such activities, and reserve the right to store any information about the people you contact via the Services.

Any information, communications, or material of any type or nature that you submit to our Services (including, but not limited to any of our pages contained on a social media platform or website such as Facebook or Twitter) by email, posting, messaging, uploading, downloading, or otherwise (collectively, a “Submission”), is done at your own risk and without any expectation of privacy. We cannot control the actions of other users of any social media platform or website and we are therefore not responsible for any content or Submissions contained on such sites and platforms. By visiting any of our pages or websites contained on a social media platform or website, you are representing and warranting to us that you have reviewed the applicable privacy policy and terms of use of that platform or website and that you will abide by all such provisions contained therein.

Additionally, in the event that we offer a message board or any other interactive or social-type feature on a website administered directly by us, please be aware that these areas may allow you to publicly post, and share with other users, certain messages, content, or other information (e.g., stories, pictures, etc.). Although we may take certain precautions to protect those who use these areas of one of our websites, we encourage you to be wary of giving out any personal information in such public forums. The information you post can be collected and used by people you do not know. We cannot guarantee the privacy and safety of these areas and are therefore not responsible for any information you choose to post. Your use of these features is fully at your own risk.

E. Usage Data and Technical Information. The Services include features that automatically collect certain information, which may include the unique Device identifier assigned to your Device, Third Party Platform anonymous identifiers, and other information regarding your use of the Services to, among other things, assist us in authenticating your usage and/or Device, keeping track of your preferences, creating a more tailored user experience, and better serving your particular interests and needs. The Services and/or third parties may use "cookies" (which are small data files containing information about you that is stored on your hard drive), "embedded scripts," "pixel tags," and other similar tracking technologies (collectively, "Tracking Technologies") to collect information automatically as you interact with the Services. Such information may include "clickstream" data, the domain name of the service providing you with Internet access, your Device type and attributes, Internet protocol (IP) address, network connection type (e.g., WiFi, 3G, LTE), browser type and version, operating system and platform, the average time spent on the Services, pages viewed, content searched for, access times and other relevant statistics, and your interactions with playlists, audiovisual content, other users of the Services, advertising, and products and services which are offered, linked to or made available on or through the Services. Such information may be collected by us and/or our third-party service providers and partners. Certain Tracking Technologies enable us to customize your experience on the Services and provide tailored recommendations, promotions, advertisements and other content relating to your specific interests. Other Tracking Technologies are used to make login to the Services easier (such as by remembering your user ID) and allow us to collect non-specific location information. You can learn more about the use of cookies and other Tracking Technologies on the Services in Section 4.D below.

F. Third-Party Platform Information. If you access the Services via your Third Party Platform account (e.g., by logging in to the Services using your Third Party Platform account credentials) and/or integrate your Essex County Conservation Alliance account with your Third Party Platform account, we may collect certain information from the Third Party Platform, such as your username and other information you provided to the Third Party Platform in connection with your account (e.g., name, country, date of birth, gender and e-mail address). You can learn more about adjusting your settings and preferences with respect to Third Party Platforms in Section 4.A below.

3. HOW WE USE INFORMATION THAT WE COLLECT.

A. Except as prohibited by the terms and conditions of any applicable Third Party Platform (e.g., Facebook, Twitter, etc.) and subject to Section 4, we may use information we collect for, among other things, the following purposes:

Sending you Essex County Conservation Alliance and affiliated committees’ marketing, promotional, e-mails, messages, and other correspondence and notifications regarding the Services;

To notify you about new features and offerings of the Services, including, but not limited to, promotions, events, discounts, news about products and services, and/or special offers;

Delivery of features, content, services, and products available to you through the Services based on your location;

Allowing affiliates, service providers, contractors, agents, sponsors, and other third parties to assist us in providing and managing the Services;

Contacting you regarding the administration of any features or functions of the Services you have registered to use;

Sending you information about your relationship or transactions with us;

Marketing and promoting the Services, including, without limitation, promotions and other initiatives and activities;

Where you order goods or services, performing credit checking or other authentication;

For the prevention and detection of fraud or infringement of our or any third party’s rights;

Responding to your questions or other requests;

Subject to applicable contractual or legal restrictions, in connection with a sale of all or substantially all of the assets of Essex County Conservation Alliance;

Subject to applicable contractual or legal restrictions, in connection with the sale or exchange of Service user information and related data to a broker, political committee, or other non-profit or for-profit entity;

Tailoring your experience on the Services and/or otherwise customizing what you see when you visit and use the Services;

Saving your User Account, registration and profile data or other information (so you do not have to re-enter it each time you visit or use the Services);

Tracking your return visits to and use of the Services;

For other purposes disclosed at the time you provide us with the information or which are reasonably necessary to provide the Services or other related product and/or service requested;

For research purposes, for marketing/promotional purposes and/or to provide anonymous reporting for Third Party Platforms, etc.;

Accumulating and reporting aggregate, statistical information in connection with the Services and user activity;

Determining which features and services users like best to help us operate the Services, enhance and improve our services and the Services and display advertising and marketing information; and

Saving certain information for your ongoing use of the Services.

4. OPTING-OUT OF CERTAIN USES OF YOUR INFORMATION.

A. User Account Privacy Settings. You may be able to adjust certain privacy, permission and User Account settings by responding to request alerts or notifications that may be presented to you on your Device prior to or following the collection of the relevant information or by navigating to the settings, account or privacy section (as the case may be) of your Device or the applicable Third Party Platform and limiting certain Service functionality (e.g., location services, etc.). Please be aware that if you limit the collection of certain information, you may not be able to use all of the features and functionality of the Services.

B. Marketing and Promotional Communications. At times, you may be presented with the option of whether to subscribe to receive or be automatically entered to receive, certain marketing and promotional communications, including by text message, from us and/or Essex County Conservation Alliance’s affiliated committees that we think will be of interest to you. Recipients of such communications can unsubscribe by either following the specific instructions included in such communications or you may “opt-out” of receiving marketing and promotional e-mails from us at any time by or by sending an email to us at info@essexcca.com detailing your privacy request. Recipients of text messages may “opt-out” of our mobile messaging program by replying “STOP” (or “QUIT”, “END”, “CANCEL”, “UNSUBSCRIBE”, or “STOP ALL”) to any mobile message you receive from Us, or by contacting Us via the means provided above and clearly communicating your intent to unsubscribe from our mobile messaging program. Other privacy requests can be emailed to info@essexcca.com. Please note that “opt-out” and “unsubscribe” requests may not take effect immediately and may take a reasonable amount of time to receive, process, and apply, during which time your information shall remain subject to the prior privacy settings.

Additionally, you should be aware that any information provided to third parties prior to your election to opt-out or unsubscribe cannot be retrieved or rescinded by us unless required by applicable law, and you cannot retroactively opt-out or unsubscribe with respect to such third parties.

Please note that in order to keep you informed about the operation of our Services and related services, we may always send you emails and announcements that are needed for the proper functioning and administration of our Services, including for the purposes described in Section 3 above, in connection with your use of such Services. We may also have features that allow you to submit information, questions, or feedback to us. In those instances, we may retain your emails and other information you submit to us for our internal purposes, and to help us to serve you better.

C. Privacy Preferences. You may also change certain privacy preferences (e.g., choose to cease receiving certain communications or ask us not to share your personal information with a particular third party) by sending an email to us at info@essexcca.com detailing your privacy request. If you ask Essex County Conservation Alliance to stop using your personal information, we will honor that request, provided that we may retain a record of such information as necessary to comply with applicable law and we may continue to use your contact information to contact you about your Services-related transactions and to respond to your requests, as well as your IP address to determine the country in which you are accessing the Services. Other privacy preferences (e.g., deactivating your User Account, etc.) may be made by modifying your User Account settings on the Services, your Device and/or the applicable Third Party Platform. You always have the right to access, review, and correct the personal information you have provided and generally, you may review, update, or delete certain information collected by the Services at any time by accessing your User Account as described herein or by contacting us as described in Section 14.

D. Opting-Out of Use of Certain Information That May be Collected by Tracking Technologies.

Tracking Technologies: Most browsers are initially set to accept cookies (other than Flash cookies) and allow local storage, but you should be able to change your settings to notify you when a cookie is being set or updated, local storage is being used, and/or to block cookies and/or the use of local storage altogether. Please consult the "Help" section of your browser for more information. Please note that by blocking any or all cookies you may not have access to certain features, content and/or other personalization available through the Services.

Flash Cookies: Users can manage the use of Flash technologies, with the Flash management tools available at Adobe’s website, see http://www.adobe.com/products/....

Do-Not-Track Signals: Certain browsers transmit "do-not-track" signals to the websites with which such browsers communicate; however, this feature, and how it is used and activated, varies from browser to browser. Therefore, it is not clear whether the signals are intentionally transmitted by a user, or whether a user is even aware of this. Despite current efforts, there is still disagreement amongst leading Internet standards organizations, industry groups, technology companies, and regulators, concerning what, if anything, websites should do when they receive such signals and no standard has been adopted to date. Essex County Conservation Alliance takes privacy and security very seriously. With respect to “do not track signals,” we currently do not take action in response to these signals, but if a standard is established and accepted, we may reassess how to respond to these signals.