document: title: privacy policy
text: Reading Time:  17 minutes

## Effective May 25, 2018 

## View the prior version of our privacy policy (last updated April 21, 2015).

WhoWhatWhy takes data privacy seriously. This privacy policy explains who we are;, what information we collect;, why we collect certain personal information;, and also how we collect, share, and use Personal Information;, and how you can exercise your privacy rights.

Our servers and offices are located in the United States, so your information may be transferred to, stored, or processed in the United States. While the data protection, privacy, and other laws of the United States might not be as comprehensive as those in your country, we take many steps to protect your privacy.

We take appropriate and reasonable technical and organizational measures to protect Personal Information from loss, misuse, unauthorized access, disclosure, alteration, and destruction, taking into account the risks involved in the processing and the nature of the Personal Information. If you have any questions about the security of your Personal Information, you may contact us.

We recommend that you read this privacy policy in full to ensure you are fully informed.

If you have any questions or concerns about our use of your Personal Information, please ask.

This section applies to Personal Information that we collect and process through our website and in the usual course of our business, such as in connection with our recruitment, events, sales and marketing activities. In this section “you” and “your” refers to Visitors.

Information We Collect

Every time you visit our website your IP (Internet Protocol) address registers on our servers. Your IP address reveals no information other than the number assigned to you. We do not use this technology to get any personal data against your knowledge or free will (i.e., automatically recording email addresses of visitors). Nor do we use it for any purpose other than to help us monitor traffic on our website, or (in case of criminal activity or misuse of our information) to cooperate with law enforcement.

If you log in to access your account and/or make comments, we will register these visits with the information you provided when you registered and as given to us by the third party login providers as detailed in the registration process. We reserve the right to use this information to moderate comments and access to commenting, if needed. We will never sell your data. And you won’t get spam because you have registered with us.

If you have opted in to subscribe to our Daily Newsletter, you can opt out of receiving it any time by clicking the “unsubscribe” link on the Daily Newsletter.

Google Analytics

We have implemented Google Analytics features based on Display Advertising  (Google Analytics Demographics and Interest Reporting). You can opt-out of Google Analytics for Display Advertising and customize Google Display Network ads using the Ads Settings. In addition, you can use the Google Analytics Opt-Out Browser Add-on to disable tracking by Google Analytics. We will use the data provided by Google Analytics Demographics and Interest Reporting to develop the site and content around our users’ interests. For more information about Google Analytics and privacy, see https://privacy.google.com/businesses/resources/

We use Akismet for comment moderation and to stop spam comments on our site. Their privacy policy is here.

Use of Personal Information

We may disclose non-personally-identifiable aggregated user data, such as aggregated gender, age, height, weight, and usage data gathered from our tracker (without the inclusion of a user’s name or other identifying information) to other third party organizations (approved by us). Such disclosure is for research purposes, and is consistent with data protection.

Cookies and Tracking Technologies

We use a number of different cookies on our site. If you do not know what cookies are, or how to control or delete them, we recommend you visit http://www.aboutcookies.org for detailed guidance.

The list below describes the cookies we use on this site and what we use them for. Currently, we operate an “implied consent” policy, which means that we assume you are happy with this usage. If you are not happy, then you should either not use this site, or you should delete the cookies (having visited the site), or you should browse the site using your browser’s anonymous usage setting (called “Incognito” in Chrome, “InPrivate” for Internet Explorer, “Private Browsing” in Firefox and Safari, etc.).

### First Party Cookies

These are cookies that are set by this website directly.

Google Analytics: We use Google Analytics to collect information about visitor behavior on our website. Google Analytics stores information about what pages you visit, how long you are on the site, how you got here, and what you click on. This Analytics data is collected via a JavaScript tag in the pages of our site and is not tied to personally identifiable information.We therefore do not collect or store your personal information (e.g., your name or address) so this information cannot be used to identify who you are. We have turned on Google Analytics Demographics and Interest Reporting to get an idea of our demographics and users’ interests. Please see above for how we use this data.

WordPress: Our website runs the popular WordPress CMS and cookies are used to store basic data on your interactions with WordPress, and whether you have logged into WordPress. We use a session cookie to remember your log-in for you if you are a registered user and we deem these as being strictly necessary to the working of the website. If these are disabled, various functionality on the site will be broken.

For more information on session cookies and what they are used for, you can visit http://www.allaboutcookies.org/cookies/session-cookies-used-for.html

### Third Party Cookies

These are cookies set on your machine by external websites whose services are used on this site. Cookies of this type are the sharing buttons across the site that allow visitors to share content to social networks. Cookies are currently set by Chartbeat. In order to implement these buttons, and connect them to the relevant social networks and external sites, there are scripts from domains outside of our website. You should be aware that these sites are likely to be collecting information about what you are doing all around the internet, including on this website.

Social Media Platforms and Third-Party Websites

  * Social media platforms and widgets. Our website includes links to WhoWhyWhy social media platforms including Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, and LinkedIn, and features on those platforms. Those features may collect information about your IP address and which page you are visiting on our website, and they may set a cookie to make sure the feature functions properly.




Social media features and widgets are either hosted by a third party or hosted directly on our website. We also maintain presences on social media platforms, including Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Reddit. Any information, communications, or materials you submit to us via a social media platform is done at your own risk without any expectation of privacy. We cannot control the actions of other users of these platforms or the actions of the platforms themselves. Your interactions with those features and platforms are governed by the privacy policies of the companies that provide them.

Our website include links to other websites, whose privacy practices may be different from ours. If you submit Personal Information to any of those sites, your information is governed by their privacy policies. We encourage you to carefully read the privacy policy of any website you visit.

Other Data Protection Rights

You have the following data protection rights:

  * To access, correct, update, or request deletion of your Personal Information. WhoWhatWhy takes reasonable steps to ensure that the data we collect is reliable for its intended use, accurate, complete, and up to date. You may contact us directly at any time about accessing, correcting, updating, or deleting your Personal Information, or altering your data or marketing preferences by emailing us at info@whowhatwhy.org. We will consider your request in accordance with applicable laws.

  * In addition, if you are a resident of the EEA, you can object to processing of your Personal Information, ask us to restrict processing of your Personal Information, or request portability of your Personal Information. Again, you can exercise these rights by emailing us at info@whowhatwhy.org.

  * Similarly, if we have collected and processed your Personal Information with your consent, then you can withdraw your consent at any time. Withdrawing your consent will not affect the lawfulness of any processing we conducted prior to your withdrawal, nor will it affect processing of your Personal Information conducted in reliance on lawful processing grounds other than consent.

  * You have the right to complain to a data protection authority about our collection and use of your Personal Information. For more information, please contact your local data protection authority. Contact details for data protection authorities in the EEA are available here.




We respond to all requests we receive from individuals wishing to exercise their data protection rights in accordance with applicable data protection laws. We may ask you to verify your identity in order to help us respond efficiently to your request.

Legal Basis for Processing Personal Information (EEA Persons Only)

If you are from the European Economic Area, our legal basis for collecting and using the Personal Information described above will depend on the Personal Information concerned and the specific context in which we collect it.

However, we will normally collect and use Personal Information from you where the processing is in our legitimate interests and not overridden by your data-protection interests or fundamental rights and freedoms. Typically, our legitimate interests include improving, maintaining, providing, and enhancing our technology, products, and services; ensuring the security of the Services and our website; and for our marketing activities.

In some limited cases, we may also have a legal obligation to collect Personal Information from you.

If we ask you to provide Personal Information to comply with a legal requirement or to perform a contact with you, we will make this clear at the relevant time and advise you whether the provision of your Personal Information is mandatory or not, as well as of the possible consequences if you do not provide your Personal Information.

Where required by law, we will collect Personal Information only where we have your consent to do so.

If you have questions about or need further information concerning the legal basis on which we collect and use your Personal Information, please contact us at info@whowhatwhy.org.

Retention of Data

We retain Personal Information where we have an ongoing legitimate business or legal need to do so. Our retention periods will vary depending on the type of data involved, but, generally, we’ll refer to these criteria in order to determine retention period:

  * Whether we have a legal or contractual need to retain the data.

  * Whether the data is necessary to provide our Services.

  * When we have no ongoing legitimate business need to process your Personal Information, we will either delete or anonymize it or, if this is not possible (for example, because your Personal Information has been stored in backup archives), then we will securely store your Personal Information and isolate it from any further processing until deletion is possible.




California Privacy

Under California Law, California residents have the right to request in writing from businesses with whom they have an established business relationship, (a) a list of the categories of Personal Information, such as name, email, and mailing address, and the type of services provided to the customer that a business has disclosed to third parties (including affiliates that are separate legal entities) during the immediately preceding calendar year for the third-parties’ direct marketing purposes; and (b) the names and addresses of all such third parties. To request the above information, please contact us at info@whowhatwhy.org.

Changes to This Policy

We may change this privacy policy at any time and from time to time. The most recent version of the privacy policy is reflected by the version date located at the top of this privacy policy. All updates and amendments are effective immediately upon notice, which we may give by any means, including, but not limited to, by posting a revised version of this privacy policy or other notice on the website. We encourage you to review this privacy policy often to stay informed of changes that may affect you. Our electronically or otherwise properly stored copies of this privacy policy are each deemed to be the true, complete, valid, authentic, and enforceable copy of the version of this privacy policy that was in effect on each respective date you visited the website.

If you have any questions about cookies on the site or our privacy policy, please drop us a line!

## Terms of Use Agreement

Last Updated: May 25, 2018

This Terms of Use Agreement (the “Agreement”) constitute a binding agreement between Real News Project, Inc. d/b/a WhoWhatWhy, LLC (“WhoWhatWhy,” “we,” or “us”) and you concerning your use of WhoWhatWhy.org (the “Site”). By visiting the Site, you accept this Agreement. If you do not wish to be bound by this Agreement, do not use the Site.

1\. License to Use the Site

WhoWhatWhy grants you a limited, non-exclusive license to access and view content on the Site for your own personal, non-commercial purposes. This license is personal to you and may not be assigned or sublicensed to anyone else. Except as expressly permitted by WhoWhatWhy in writing, you will not reproduce, redistribute, sell, create derivative works from, decompile, reverse engineer, or disassemble the Site. Nor will you take any measures to interfere with or damage the Site. All rights not expressly granted by WhoWhatWhy are reserved.

2\. Privacy

Your privacy rights are set forth in WhoWhatWhy’s Privacy Policy which forms a part of this Agreement. Please review the Privacy Policy to learn about what information we may collect about you, how we use it, and with whom we share it.

3\. Submission of Content/Acquisition Policy

Content Generally

In order to to avoid misunderstandings about ownership and use of intellectual property, and for other reasons, You agree that:

  * WhoWhatWhy will consider the Unsolicited Submissions to be non-proprietary (unless we have agreed with you otherwise and confirmed any such agreement in writing).

  * WhoWhatWhy shall have no obligations concerning the Unsolicited Submissions, including but not limited to, no obligation to return any materials or acknowledge receipt of any Submissions.

  * WhoWhatWhy may dispose of any such Unsolicited Submissions without further notice or otherwise, and disclose at its sole discretion any such Submissions to its legal counsel.

  * In no event shall you or any third party be entitled to any compensation from WhoWhatWhy for your Unsolicited Submissions unless WhoWhatWhy, by written agreement authorized by its Editor-In-Chief has agreed.




Acquisition Policy

Please review the information on the Site to learn about the news stories WhoWhatWhy publishes, the types of stories that WhoWhatWhy is interested in possibly pursuing, and the manner in which WhoWhatWhy may be contacted.

4\. Ownership of Intellectual Property

All Site software, design, text, images, photographs, illustrations, audio clips, video clips, artwork, graphic material, and other copyrighpolicy_texts or otherwise legally protecpolicy_texts elements of the Site, and the selection, sequence, “look and feel” and arrangements thereof, and trademarks, service marks, and trade names (individually and collectively, the “Material”) are the property of WhoWhatWhy and/or its subsidiaries, affiliates, assigns, licensors, or other respective owners and are protected, without limitation, pursuant to U.S. and foreign copyright and trademark laws. Except as otherwise specifically noted on this Site or in connection with any particular Material, WhoWhatWhy hereby grants you a personal, non-exclusive, non-assignable, and non-transferable license to use and display, for your noncommercial and personal use only, one copy of any Material and/or software that you may print or download from this Site, including, without limitation, any files, codes, audio or images incorporated in or generated by the software, provided that you maintain (without alteration) all copyright and other notices contained in such Material and software. You further agree that where specifically noted on this Site or in connection with any Material or software, you will use such Material or software, as the case may be, in accordance with such specific terms and instructions. You acknowledge and agree that you may not sublicense, sell, assign, lease, or otherwise transfer this license or any Material and that no title to the Material has been or will be transferred to you from WhoWhatWhy or anyone else. You agree not to reproduce, modify, create derivative works from, display, frame, perform, publish, distribute, disseminate, transmit, broadcast, or circulate any Material to any third party (including, without limitation, the display and distribution of the Material via a third party website) without the express prior written consent of WhoWhatWhy. Use of WhoWhatWhy’s and/or its licensors’ Material is only permitted with their express written permission. You further agree that you will not disassemble, decompile, reverse engineer, or otherwise modify the Material. Use of spiders, robots, and similar data-gathering and extraction tools is expressly prohibited. All rights not expressly granted herein are reserved. Any unauthorized or prohibited use may subject the offender to civil liability and criminal prosecution under applicable federal and state laws. We require users to respect our copyrights and other intellectual property rights and to respect other individuals’ and entities copyrights and their intellectual property rights.

5\. Comments, Message Boards, and Other Postings

To the extent that portions of this Site provide users an opportunity to submit, post, and/or exchange information, ideas, opinions, photographs, images, video, creative works, or any other material (the “Postings”), and/or their online user names (the “User Names”), please be advised that Postings do not necessarily reflect the views of WhoWhatWhy. In no event shall WhoWhatWhy assume or have any responsibility or liability for any Postings or User Names or for any claims, damages, or losses resulting from their use and/or appearance on this Site. You hereby represent and warrant that you have all necessary rights in and to all Postings and User Names you provide and all information they contain and that such Postings and User Names shall not infringe any proprietary or other rights of third parties or contain any libelous, tortious, or otherwise unlawful information. If your Posting incorporates the name, voice, likeness, and/or image of any individual, you represent and warrant that you have the right to grant WhoWhatWhy permission to use such name, voice, likeness, and/or image of such individual appearing in the Posting in all media throughout the world in perpetuity.

By submitting a Posting, you hereby authorize WhoWhatWhy to use, and authorize others to use, your Postings and User Names in whole or in part, on a royalty-free basis, throughout the universe in perpetuity in any and all media, now known or hereafter devised, alone, or together or as part of other material of any kind or nature, including without limitation commercial use on and advertising and promotion of the Site. Without limiting the foregoing, WhoWhatWhy will have the right to use and change the Postings in any manner, either with or without the User Name, that VMN may determine. Notwithstanding the foregoing, WhoWhatWhy will have no obligation to use the Postings or the User Names. Please be advised that in no event shall WhoWhatWhy assume or have any responsibility or liability for the manner in which the Posting is exploited or for any claim, damages or losses resulting from their use and/or appearance on WhoWhatWhy, affiliated television program services or elsewhere. WhoWhatWhy does not allow Postings which contain:

  * private or personal information which might identify a user;

  * profanity or obscenities;

  * personal attacks on other individuals;

  * slanderous, defamatory, obscene, pornographic, threatening, and harassing comments; and/or

  * other information that WhoWhatWhy deems in its sole discretion to be inappropriate as consistent with applicable law.




The comments, activities and message boards may be used for noncommercial purposes only. Users may not post any information intended to promote and/or generate revenue for any third party business activity. Although WhoWhatWhy periodically monitors the content posted on this Site, we cannot be responsible for the views or opinions expressed by third parties. Nonetheless, WhoWhatWhy will make every effort to ensure that the comments, activities, and message boards best serve the interests of all users and, therefore, WhoWhatWhy reserves the right to refuse to post, edit, or delete comments or messages that violate the above-referenced rules, as well as revoke the privileges of users who do not comply with such rules.

WhoWhatWhy does not represent or endorse the accuracy or reliability of any advice, opinion, statement, suggestion, or other information offered by third parties that is displayed or distributed throughout our website. Users acknowledge that any reliance upon any such advice, opinion, statement, suggestion, or information shall be at your sole risk.

If you believe that any content on the Site (including, without limitation, Postings) violates any of the terms of this Agreement (except for any notices covered by our Infringe Notice policy, please notify us at info@whowhatwhy.org about it (please refer to Paragraph 8 of this Agreement for our Infringement policy and notice). We cannot guarantee that we will respond to your message and we reserve the right to take, or refrain from taking, any or all steps available to us once we receive any such message.

Users of this Site who are California residents and are under 18 years of age may request and obtain removal of Postings on this Site that they themselves post by emailing us at info@whowhatwhy.org. All requests must be labeled “California Removal Request” on the email subject line. All requests must provide a description of the content or information in your Posting that you want removed and information reasonably sufficient to permit us to locate the material and include the name and URL (if applicable) of the website, application, or other interactive service. We shall not accept requests via postal mail, telephone, or facsimile. We are not responsible for notices that are not labeled or sent properly. We may not be able to respond if you do not provide complete information.

Please also note that any requests for removal do not ensure complete or comprehensive removal of the content or information from this Site. For example, content that you have posted may be republished or reposted by another user or third party. Please see our Privacy Policy regarding how you may delete certain information.

6\. Your Responsibilities

You may use this Site only for lawful, non-commercial purposes. You may not submit or transmit through this Site (whether via message boards, comments, or otherwise) any material, or otherwise engage in any conduct, that:

  * Violates or infringes the rights of others, including without limitation patent, trademark, trade secret, copyright, publicity, or other proprietary rights;

  * Involves uploading, posting, emailing, transmitting, or otherwise making available any Postings that you do not have a right to make available under any law or under contractual or fiduciary relationships (such as inside information, proprietary and confidential information learned or disclosed as part of employment relationships or under nondisclosure agreements);

  * Is unlawful, threatening, abusive, hateful, defamatory, slanderous, libelous, deceptive, fraudulent, invasive of another’s privacy, tortious, pornographic, vulgar, profane, obscene, or transmits any information or data that WhoWhatWhy deems in its sole discretion to be inappropriate for this Site;

  * Victimizes, harasses, “stalks,” degrades, attacks or intimidates an individual or group of individuals on any basis, including but not limited to religion, gender, sexual orientation, race, ethnicity, age, or disability;

  * Contains any personally identifiable information, or other information which might be used to identify or locate a user;

  * Harms minors in any way;

  * Impersonates any person, business or entity, including WhoWhatWhy or its staff, officers, directors, contractors, volunteers, agents or legal or financial representatives, or in any way falsely states or misrepresents your affiliation with a person or entity;

  * Involves forging headers or otherwise manipulating identifiers in order to disguise the origin of any Postings transmitted through this Site;

  * Contains viruses or any other computer code, files, or programs that interrupt, destroy, or limit the functionality of any computer software or hardware or telecommunications equipment, or otherwise permit the unauthorized use of a computer or computer network;

  * Disrupts the normal flow of dialogue, causes a screen to “scroll” faster than other users of the Site are able to type, or otherwise act in a manner that negatively affects other users’ ability to engage in real-time exchanges;

  * Encourages conduct that would constitute a criminal offense or that gives rise to civil liability;

  * Instigates or encourages others to commit illegal activities or cause injury or property damage to any person;

  * Is intended to promote and/or generate revenue for any third party business activity;

  * Violates these Terms of Use or any guidelines or policies posted on this Site; or

  * Otherwise interferes with the use or enjoyment of this Site by others.




7\. Representations and Warranties; Indemnification

You represent and warrant that you have the right and authority to enter into this Agreement and that by doing so, you will not violate any law or breach any obligation to any third party. You will indemnify, defend, and hold harmless WhoWhatWhy and its affiliates, managers, members, officers, employees, representatives and agents, from and against all third party actions that: (a) arise from your activities on the Site; and (b) assert a violation by you of any term of this Agreement.

8\. Infringement Notice

WhoWhatWhy respects the intellectual property rights and others and requests that you do the same. Notifications of claimed copyright infringement and any and all other claims arising from this Agreement should be sent to WhoWhatWhy’s Designated Agent for copyright and all other claims: Contact claims@WhoWhatWhy.org

Please note that, to be effective, a notification of claimed infringement must be a written communication provided to claims@WhoWhatWhy.org that includes substantially the following:

  * A physical or electronic signature of a person authorized to act on behalf of the owner of an exclusive right that is allegedly infringed.

  * Identification of the copyrighted work claimed to have been infringed, or, if multiple copyrighted works at a single online site are covered by a single notification, a representative list of such works at that site.

  * Identification of the material that is claimed to be infringing or to be the subject of infringing activity and that is to be removed or access to which is to be disabled, and information reasonably sufficient to permit the service provider to locate the material.

  * Information reasonably sufficient to permit the service provider to contact the complaining party, such as an address, telephone number, and, if available, an electronic mail address at which the complaining party may be contacted.

  * A statement that the complaining party has a good faith belief that use of the material in the manner complained of is not authorized by the copyright owner, its agent, or the law.

  * A statement that the information in the notification is accurate, and under penalty of perjury, that the complaining party is authorized to act on behalf of the owner of an exclusive right that is allegedly infringed.




9\. Disclaimers and Limitations on Liability

WhoWhatWhy reserves the right to modify the Site. You are responsible for providing your own access to the Site. WhoWhatWhy provides the Site on an “as is” and “as available” basis. You therefore use the Site at your own risk. WhoWhatWhy expressly disclaims any and all representations or warranties of any kind, whether express or implied, including but not limited to the implied warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, and non-infringement.

To the fullest extent permitted by law, WhoWhatwhy shall not be liable, with respect to any claim arising out of or relating to the Site or this Agreement, for (i) any direct, indirect, incidental, special, consequential, or exemplary damages, including but not limited to damages for loss of profits, goodwill, use, data, or other intangible losses; and (ii) an amount exceeding USD $50.

To the extent any disclaimer or limitation of liability does not apply, all applicable express, implied, and statutory warranties will be limited in duration to a period of thirty (30) days after the date on which you first used the Site, and no warranties shall apply after such period.

10\. Persons under 13

WhoWhatWhy does not knowingly collect any personally identifiable information from children under 13. You may not send communications that identify yourself if you are under 13 years of age.

11\. General Provisions

GOVERNING LAW: This Agreement shall be governed by the laws of the State of New York, without regard to principles of conflicts of law and with regard to agreements entered into and performed in New York.

DISPUTES: Any action arising out of or relating to this Agreement or your use of the Site must be commenced in the state or federal courts located in New York County, New York (and you consent to the jurisdiction of those courts). In any such action, WhoWhatWhy and you irrevocably waive any right to a trial by jury.

INTERPRETATION; SEVERABILITY; WAIVER; REMEDIES: Headings are for convenience only and shall not be used to construe the terms of this Agreement. If any term of this Agreement is found invalid or unenforceable by any court of competent jurisdiction, that term will be severed from this Agreement. No failure or delay by WhoWhatWhy in exercising any right hereunder will waive any further exercise of that right. WhoWhatWhy’s rights and remedies hereunder are cumulative and not exclusive.

SUCCESSORS; ASSIGNMENT; NO THIRD PARTY BENEFICIARIES: This Agreement is binding upon and shall inure to the benefit of both parties and their respective successors, heirs, executors, administrators, personal representatives, and permitted assigns. You may not assign this Agreement without WhoWhatWhy’s prior written consent. No third party shall have any rights hereunder.

MODIFICATION: This Agreement may not be modified except by a revised Terms of Service posted by WhoWhatWhy on the Site or a written amendment signed by an authorized representative of WhoWhatWhy. A revised Terms of Service will be effective as of the date it is posted on the Site.

ENTIRE AGREEMENT: This Agreement constitutes the entire understanding between WhoWhatWhy and you concerning the subject matter hereof and supersedes all prior agreements and understandings regarding the same.

QUESTIONS: You may submit questions about this Agreement to the following address: info@whowhatwhy.org