Privacy Policy
Updated May 3, 2006
At the Public Radio Satellite System, we recognize the importance of privacy to visitors to our Web site. This privacy policy explains what type of personally identifying information is collected from you when you visit our Web site and how that information may be used. The terms of this privacy policy apply to the World Wide Web site of the Public Radio Satellite System, currently located at the www.prss.org domain and subdomains, and any features of this site, including but not limited to the messaging system and the Web interface of the ContentDepot® distribution system (collectively the "Site"), unless different terms are specified in a form or contract provided to you online or offline.
The Public Radio Satellite System ("PRSS") and the Site are managed by National Public Radio, Inc. ("NPR").
Gathering of Information
NPR collects personally identifying information ("Personal Information"), such as, for example, your name, e-mail address(es), mailing address, telephone, cell phone, and/or pager number, and ContentDepot password as selected by you, from the Site only if you choose to provide that information to us.
Like all other Web servers, NPR's Web server automatically creates log files for each visitor who accesses our site. These "access logs" allow us to make our site more useful to our visitors. The access logs do not record a visitor's name, address, phone number, or any other Personal Information. Rather, they contain some or all of the following information:
- The Internet protocol address (IP address) of the machine that accessed our Web site.
- The date of the visit.
- The time of the visit.
- The path taken through our Web site.
- The browser being used.
- A list of files downloaded or viewed.
- Any errors encountered.
The information in NPR's access logs is not tied to your Personal Information unless you log into restricted areas of the Site, such as the ContentDepot or the Messaging System, using a user ID and password. In that case, NPR can identify the activities that you performed while logged in.
NPR asks users to provide certain Personal Information when they register to use the ContentDepot, request training modules, or fill out and submit a "feedback" form. NPR may also ask users to provide Personal Information in other circumstances specified at the time the information is gathered.
NPR also uses "cookies" to collect information. A cookie is a string of characters that can be written to a file on the user's hard drive when the user visits a Web site. Only the Web site that set the cookie can read it, and it can only be used as a record-keeping device to store information that the site already has. It cannot, for example, be used to read other information from the user's hard drive. NPR uses cookies on the Site only within the ContentDepot. These cookies track users' activity through the site in order to improve the site's architecture, to control access to restricted areas of the site, and to offer the user interactive features that would not be possible without them. If you wish to prevent cookies from being set to your hard drive you may disable them in your browser's preferences, although you will then be unable to use the ContentDepot.
Use and Disclosure of Personal Information
NPR's own use of Personal Information it collects through the Site is limited to the following: customer service; NPR marketing and promotional purposes, including the sending of marketing and promotional communications; fulfillment of newsletters, informational mailings and other communications; emergency communications; giving the user access to the ContentDepot at the authorized level; business analysis; responding to user e-mails; listing name and location (city, state and/or country) provided by users when publishing user e-mails or other submissions; editorial purposes such as contacting users for an online survey; other internal NPR purposes; and other purposes specified at the time the information is gathered. By providing this information, a visitor may receive e-mail, standard mail and/or telephone calls from NPR.
NPR makes available to third parties the Personal Information collected by NPR from users of the Site, including their activities while logged in, in a variety of ways, as described below.
NPR may distribute contact information, such as name, phone, postal mail, and/or e-mail, for individuals identified as public radio station program directors, or similar job titles, to third-party producers of public radio programming, who may use this information for marketing and promotional communications or other purposes. NPR may also give users' contact information to outside vendors whose products or services NPR deems to be of interest to some or all users of the ContentDepot, such as providers of equipment, for marketing, promotional, or other use.
Each separate entity, including individuals, that registers to use the ContentDepot must register a user administrator and may, if it wishes, register additional users as appropriate. Personal Information about all of an entity's users is disclosed to that entity's user administrator.
Any Personal Information submitted to NPR for display or other inclusion in the ContentDepot by individuals or entities registered to make content or other materials available through the ContentDepot ("Content Providers") becomes available to all individuals or entities registered to view or use the content and other materials included in the ContentDepot ("Content Users").
NPR may give each Content Provider information on the identities of Content Users and on the transactions or other activities involving the Content Provider's content engaged in by Content Users while logged in to the ContentDepot. Although NPR discloses this information in an aggregated form -- by entity rather than by individual user within an entity -- the aggregated information will be attributable to an identifiable individual in the case of entities that are sole proprietorships, individuals, or otherwise have only one individual registered as a user.
Content Providers and Content Users should refer to the specific terms applicable to the ContentDepot (currently contained in the Agreement for Use of the ContentDepot Distribution System) for additional information governing NPR's use of content and business information. Those terms and conditions take precedence over this privacy policy.
Third parties providing services to NPR in connection with the ContentDepot, such as those performing system support or ongoing maintenance, may have access to Personal Information collected from the Site in the course of fulfilling their service obligations to NPR; these third parties, however, have no right to retain, share, store, or use Personal Information for any purposes other than to provide to NPR the services it contracted for.
NPR reserves the right to provide Personal Information collected from the Site to any other entity that takes over responsibility for managing the PRSS. NPR may also disclose Personal Information if required to do so by law or if it believes that such action is necessary to (a) comply with the law or with legal process, (b) protect against misuse or unauthorized use of the Site, or (c) protect the personal safety or property of Site users, the public, or NPR and its employees.
Any information that you disclose when participating in the Messaging System becomes public. Moreover, by participating in the Messaging System, the e-mail address you provide for that purpose becomes available to any third parties viewing the Messaging System, and as a result you might receive unsolicited e-mail from such third parties.
Other than as described above, Personal Information collected from the Site by NPR is not distributed to outside parties.
If you do not want your Personal Information to be collected or used for any of these purposes, you can "opt out" according to the process described below.
Security
NPR has in place what we believe to be appropriate physical, electronic, and managerial procedures to safeguard and secure the information we collect online. Log-in information for the ContentDepot portion of the Site is protected against unauthorized use by industry-standard encryption technology (currently Secure Sockets Layer software, which encrypts the information before it is sent). Information stored in the ContentDepot is protected by a firewall to prevent unauthorized access to our systems. Although NPR exercises reasonable care in providing secure transmission of information between your computer and our servers, NPR cannot ensure or warrant the security of any information transmitted to us over the Internet and accepts no liability for any unintentional disclosure.
Underage Users
If you are under 13 years of age, do not send us any information about yourself, including your name, address, telephone number, or e-mail address. If we discover that we have collected any Personal Information from a child under the age of 13, we will remove that information from our records as soon as possible.
Corrections to Personal Data; Opting Out
Please write to prssplanning@npr.org to (a) correct or update any Personal Information in the PRSS database that you state is erroneous, (b) opt out of future promotional communications from the PRSS, or (c) request NPR to make reasonable efforts to remove your Personal Information from the PRSS database, thereby canceling your registration for the ContentDepot. You understand that it will be impossible to delete Personal Information entirely because of backups and records of deletions, and that any Personal Information you have submitted to current or previous versions of the Messaging System will remain publicly available in the Messaging System for at least sixty days, and will remain available to NPR permanently.
Acceptance of Privacy Policy Terms
Your use of the Site, including any dispute concerning privacy, is subject to this privacy policy and the Terms of Use for the Site. Please make sure that you read the Terms of Use to understand additional terms and conditions that apply to the use of the Site. NPR reserves the right to modify, add, or delete portions of this privacy policy at any time without notice to you. Any changes to this policy will be posted to this page as soon as reasonably possible, so please check this page periodically. Use of the Site constitutes consent to any policy then in effect.
If you have any questions or comments concerning our privacy policy, please contact us via e-mail at prssplanning@npr.org, by phone at 202.513.2600, or by mail at:
NPR Distribution
635 Massachusetts Avenue, N.W.
Washington, DC 20001-3753
Links to Other Sites
It is important to note that the Site contains links to other sites that might not follow the same privacy policies as the Site. For instance, these other sites might use cookies, collect data, and use the data in ways that the Site does not. NPR is not responsible for the privacy practices or any information or materials on these other sites. Please visit these sites if you wish to review their privacy policies.
ContentDepot® is a registered trademark of National Public Radio, Inc.