PRIVACY POLICY
Effective Date: January 1, 2020
Writing.Com (referred to in this policy as “Writing.Com”, “WdC”, “us”, “we”, or “our”) has adopted the following Privacy Policy to explain how we collect, use, and share information from and about you in connection with our products, services, and properties.
Your privacy and security are very important to us at Writing.Com. We’re committed to transparency when it comes to our privacy practices and how we safeguard your information. This Privacy Policy (“Policy”) outlines what kinds of information we may ask you for and gather from you as you visit or use WdC, how that information may be used, and under what circumstances certain information might be shared with others.
This Policy applies to the data you share when you use our “Services” which includes our website at Writing.Com and any affiliated web pages or forms we may create or host (“Site”), our mobile applications (“Apps”), or when you communicate with us. By using or accessing the Services in any manner, you acknowledge that you accept the practices and policies outlined in this Policy, and you hereby consent that we will collect, use, and share your information in the following ways:
This Policy is part of our Terms of Service which you can find
HERE 
. Any terms we use in this Policy without defining them have the definitions given to them in the Terms of Service.
You may print a copy of this Policy by clicking
HERE.
I. CATEGORIES OF PERSONAL INFORMATION WE COLLECT
The following subsections detail the categories of Personal Information that we collect and have collected over the past twelve (12) months. For each category of Personal Information, these sections also set out our commercial or business purpose for collecting that Personal Information and the categories of third parties with whom we share that Personal Information. Throughout this Policy, we will refer back to the categories of Personal Information listed below (for example, “Category A. Personal Identifiers”).
A. You, For Information You Make Available to Us
Some information collected when you access or use our Services is considered “Personal Information” (or PI). This is information that relates to or can be used to identify you personally and includes things like your full name, your mailing address, and your email address, and also includes information referred to as “personally identifiable information” or “personal information” under applicable data privacy laws, rules, or regulations. Other than as provided for in this Policy, we won’t share or disclose this kind of information unless we get your permission. Other information that we collect may not identify you personally. This kind of information may be shared or disclosed in an aggregate form, used to personalize your experience, and so on.
Visitors: When you use our Services as a Visitor, we may ask for information about your preferences and interests to personalize your experience and help you find what you need.
All Members: To use many aspects of our Services, you’re required to create a WdC account and become a Member. To become a Member, we require that you pick a unique username, and provide us with your email address so we can contact you. We also ask you to tell us your name so we know who you are.
Finally, we may ask you to share some information about your birthday, your geographic location, your t-shirt size, rating preferences, shipping preferences, and information about your interests to help us personalize your experience using our Services.
B. You, For Information Collected Automatically In Connection With Your Use of Our Services
When you use our Services as a Member or a Visitor, we receive and collect certain information from your browser and your device such as your Internet Protocol address (IP address), device information, operating system, browser type and version, and browser country location. This information helps us defend against fraudulent activity or attacks, maintain the security of our Services, and improve and personalize your experience.
We also log data related to how Members and Visitors use our Services, including Cookies (as defined below) that may uniquely identify your visit or account. This log data includes details such as what pages of our Site or App you visit and when, how users navigate through the Site, and visit referral URLs. This information allows us to better understand how our Services are being used, helps us make improvements, and enables us to personalize your experience with our Services. (Please refer to the Cookies section below for more information about how we use Cookies.)
From time to time, we may host and provide Members and Visitors the opportunity to participate in contests and surveys. If you choose to participate, you may be asked to provide Personal Information which may be used for purposes necessary to administer the contest or survey or for other marketing purposes.
C. Third Parties
We may collect information about you from third parties as permitted by law or through your interaction with third parties we may integrate with from time to time to offer new features and/or services to you (“Third Party Integrations”). We may also receive information about you in connection with our provision of certain services, as well as from some of our service providers who assist us with marketing or promotional services related to how you interact with our websites, applications, products, services, advertisements or communications.
D. Purchase Information.
When you make a purchase through our Services, you’ll need to provide billing and payment information to complete your order. We’ve carefully chosen Service Providers who use Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) compliant practices to process payments (“Payment Processors”). Whether you check out using a credit or debit card, PayPal account, or any other payment method we may support, your payment will be processed directly by our Payment Processor and we’ll never have access to or store your full payment details.
When you use a credit or debit card to pay for your purchases, you’ll be asked to add a credit or debit card payment source (“Payment Card”). When you submit your order, this information will be sent directly to and stored by our Payment Processor. After your payment is processed, the Payment Processor will send WdC some details about the transaction so that we can record your order in our database and provide access to the materials that you purchased.
If you choose to pay using PayPal, you’ll log in to your PayPal account to complete your order. When PayPal processes your payment, they’ll send us a confirmation with transaction details so we can record your order and provide access to the Resources or services you’ve purchased. We do not collect information about or have access to the specific payment or funding sources or any other financial account details associated with your PayPal account.
2. CATEGORIES OF THIRD PARTIES WITH WHOM WE SHARE PERSONAL INFORMATION
We disclose your Personal Information to the following categories of service providers and other parties:
A. Visitors, When You Open Your Portfolio to the Public
If you choose to become a member on WdC, you will have a portfolio and biography, where you can choose to provide additional details about yourself to visitors. The information you add to your portfolio and biography is information that visitors can see.
The following information is visible to others:
Your username. This will be the username you chose at registration. This username does not change unless you want to change it, which you can do from your account settings here.
Your handle (pen name). This will be the pen name you choose at any time while you have an account on Writing.Com. This handle can be changed as many times as you’d like from your account settings here.
Your items. The items you create in your portfolio will be visible to visitors depending on the level of privacy you choose for each item. These settings can be adjusted at any point from within your portfolio.
Your portfolio cover image. This image introduces your portfolio and can be seen by visitors. This image can be changed at any time from within your portfolio.
Your biography image. This image introduces your biography and can be seen by visitors. This image can be changed at any time from within the bio page.
Personal Biography/Other Information. You can choose to provide additional information about yourself, your location, your writing, and your writing experience. Any profile information you provide is visible to those who visit your biography and can be edited, updated, or removed by you at any time. Other than as described in this Policy, we won’t publicly display or disclose Personal Information about you, such as the personal offsite email address associated with your account, your street address, your location, your demographics, or your birthday, without your consent.
Other Content. Other content you create and submit in the form of comments, reviews, questions, or other public messages will be visible to visitors depending on the level of privacy chosen for the location where you submit. Such privacy settings can be adjusted by the individual that owns the content area. When you submit to content areas managed by other members, you may not be able to remove that content as other content may be built around it.
B. Purchasers, When You Place an Order
When you place an order, your full name, city, state, and zip code may be visible to Writing.Com whose materials you purchased. Additionally, if you purchase physical goods, WdC will see the shipping information you entered during checkout to enable us to ship your order. On occasion, members gift each other tangible Writing.Com items, but the address is kept hidden from others and only shown to WdC to enable us to ship the order. Members can not view nor are they shown each other’s addresses and personal information.
C. The Public or Other Members, When You Connect, Share, or Communicate With Them
There are features of our Services which allow you to:
Post Content (Writing you upload and items you create, and Communications you post such as comments, reviews, questions, or other public messages)
Connect, communicate, and share information about yourself with other Members
Join and post messages in forums, groups, or on newsfeed
Submit requests for reviews participate in our wish list system
Display a public portfolio and biography, and so on.
By using any of these features, you’re choosing to share information about yourself and your WdC account activity with Writing.Com, the public or with other Members. If you connect with another Member, for example by joining a group or posting in a forum, the Members you interact with may be able to view certain information and activity associated with your account and that interaction.
D. Service Providers
Writing.Com engages the services of third party companies (“Service Providers”) to support and help provide certain features of our Services such as payment processing, data storage and analysis, visitor tracking and user testing, email messaging, advertising, surveys, site security and fraud prevention, staff augmentation, hosting and other technology and communications, and other services. WdC shares data with these Service Providers so that they can perform their services which help deliver our Services more securely, efficiently, and effectively. Service Providers may have access to certain Personal Information in the course of providing their service. Service Providers’ access to your Personal Information is limited to the purpose of providing the services contracted for. Service Providers are not permitted to disclose information we share to other parties (other than their own service providers as necessary) or use your Personal Information for any other purpose.
Writing.Com may from time to time share aggregate user data with business partners, Service Providers, or other third parties to identify or share trends, usage statistics, and so on. Sharing data in an aggregate form means that no Personal Information, which would allow the recipient of the data to identify you personally, will be shared.
E. Third Parties, In Connection With a Merger, Acquisition, or Other Change of Control
As part of a merger acquisition, bankruptcy or other transaction in which a third party assumes control of our business (in whole or in part), we may transfer the data we have collected, including Personal Information, to the third party. In such an event, we’ll notify you of that change. In addition, any purchasing company would have to adhere by the terms of this Policy including notifying you before making material changes and giving you the opportunity to opt out.
F. Third Parties, For Information Requests and Legal Obligations
To the extent you make purchases through the Services using a third-party entity’s credit or debit card, PayPal account, or any other payment method, and that third party requests such information or information related thereto and WdC, in its sole discretion, determines such request is reasonable, we may choose to provide such information or information related thereto to that third party.
Finally, we respect and comply with legal obligations and may release information (including Personal Information and information about your account activities) in cooperation with a law enforcement investigation, in response to a valid legal request such as a court order, legal subpoena, or government inquiry or audit, as part of the process outlined by the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), or to defend, protect, or exercise our legal rights.
G. Other Parties, At Your Direction
From time to time, we may partner with other companies or organizations (“Partners’) to offer additional products and services (“Partner Content”). When you buy or use Partner Content, we may share information with our Partners about your order and your account for the purposes of facilitating your use of Partner Content and ensuring delivery of Partner Content to you. We may also share your Personal Information with other parties authorized by you.
3. CATEGORIES OF PERSONAL INFORMATION WE MAY COLLECT
A. Personal Identifiers
PERSONAL INFORMATION WE COLLECT
Real first and last name
Email address
Postal mailing address
Birthdate
Username and handle
T-Shirt Size
Device ID
Shipping preference
SOURCES OF THIS PERSONAL INFORMATION
You
Third parties (e.g. our Service Providers)
COMMERCIAL OR BUSINESS PURPOSE for collecting this category of Personal Information
Account creation and administration
Communications with you for customer support, account-related communication, or marketing
To process payments and facilitate purchases
To meet our legal obligations
Website operations, security, and monitoring
Analytics and marketing
To identify you in connection with your account activity (In some cases, this information may be shared or displayed publicly or only to certain other Members in a full or modified form as described in sections I(2)(A)-(C) above.)
To ensure the proper operation and security of our Services
CATEGORIES OF THIRD PARTIES with whom we share this Personal Information
Service Providers (e.g., payment processors; security and fraud prevention services; hosting and other technology and communications providers; analytics providers; staff augmentation and contract personnel)
Acquirers or other parties that might receive Personal Information through a change of control
Other parties at users’ direction
B. Customer Records Identified By State Law
(Including the California Customer Records Statute (Cal. Civ. Code 1798.80(e))
PERSONAL INFORMATION WE COLLECT
Real first and last name
Postal mailing address
SOURCES OF THIS PERSONAL INFORMATION
You
Third parties (e.g. our Service Providers)
COMMERCIAL OR BUSINESS PURPOSE for collecting this category of Personal Information
Account creation and administration
Communications with you for customer support, account-related communication, or marketing
To process payments and facilitate purchases
To meet our legal obligations to issue tax documents
Website operations, security, and monitoring
Analytics and marketing
To identify you in connection with your account activity (In some cases, this information may be shared or displayed publicly or only to certain other Members in a full or modified form as described in sections I(2)(A)-(C) above.)
To ensure the proper operation and security of our Services
CATEGORIES OF THIRD PARTIES with whom we share this Personal Information
Service Providers (e.g., payment processors; security and fraud prevention services; hosting and other technology and communications providers; analytics providers; staff augmentation and contract personnel)
Acquirers or other parties that might receive Personal Information through a change of control
Other parties at users’ direction
C. Commercial Information
PERSONAL INFORMATION WE COLLECT
Records of the items you add to a cart or wishlist
Your demographics
Purchases made
Search history on our Site
Page views on our Site
Referral data (the URL from which you arrived on our Site)
Ratings or reviews on items
WdC Gift Points earned or used
Other information you post
SOURCES OF THIS PERSONAL INFORMATION
You
Third parties (e.g. our Service Providers)
COMMERCIAL OR BUSINESS PURPOSE for collecting this category of Personal Information
Account administration (e.g., to enable you to access your purchases or Gift Points)
Order processing
Analytics and marketing
To ensure the proper operation and security of our Services
CATEGORIES OF THIRD PARTIES with whom we share this Personal Information
Account administration (e.g., to enable you to access your purchases or Gift Points)
Order processing
Analytics and marketing
To ensure the proper operation and security of our Services
D. Internet Or Other Similar Network Activity Information
PERSONAL INFORMATION WE COLLECT
Records of the products you add to a cart or wishlist
Your demographics
Purchases made
Search history on our Site
Page views on our Site
Referral data (the URL from which you arrived on our Site)
Ratings or reviews on items
WdC Gift Points earned or used
Other information you post
SOURCES OF THIS PERSONAL INFORMATION
You
Third parties (e.g. our Service Providers)
COMMERCIAL OR BUSINESS PURPOSE for collecting this category of Personal Information
Account administration (e.g., to enable you to access your purchases or Gift Points)
Order processing
Analytics and marketing
To ensure the proper operation and security of our Services
CATEGORIES OF THIRD PARTIES with whom we share this Personal Information
Service Providers (e.g., payment processors; security and fraud prevention services; hosting and other technology and communications providers; analytics providers; staff augmentation and contract personnel)
Acquirers or other parties that might receive Personal Information through a change of control
Other parties at users’ direction
E. Age Or Date Of Birth
PERSONAL INFORMATION WE COLLECT
Birth date
SOURCES OF THIS PERSONAL INFORMATION
You
COMMERCIAL OR BUSINESS PURPOSE for collecting this category of Personal Information
Account administration
CATEGORIES OF THIRD PARTIES with whom we share this Personal Information
Service Providers (e.g., payment processors; security and fraud prevention services; hosting and other technology and communications providers; analytics providers; staff augmentation and contract personnel)
Acquirers or other parties that might receive Personal Information through a change of control
Other parties at users’ direction
II. COOKIES, INTEREST-BASED ADVERTISEMENTS, AND GOOGLE ANALYTICS
COOKIES
We use cookies and similar technologies such as pixel tags and web beacons (collectively, “Cookies”) to enable our servers to recognize your web browser and tell us how and when you visit and use our Services, to analyze trends, learn about our user base and operate and improve our Services. Cookies are small pieces of data — usually text files — that are placed on your computer, tablet, phone, or similar device when you use that device to visit our Services. When you visit websites like ours, some information about your visit is stored in Cookies which are used to tailor your experience, surface relevant information, products, and advertisements, and to allow you to pick up where you left off the next time you visit. We may also supplement the information we collect from you with information received from third parties, including third parties that have placed their own Cookies on your device(s).
By using our Services as a Visitor or Member, you agree to our use of Cookies in the following ways, as well as other similar purposes:
Analytics
Marketing
Preserving your preferences
Personalizing your experience
Understanding where our website traffic is coming from
To ensure the security and availability of our Site and our Services
You have the right to decide whether a website can store Cookies on your computer. Depending on the internet browser you use, you may be able to view, manage, delete, and disable Cookies through your browser preferences. If you choose to delete Cookies or to not allow us to use Cookies, some features may not work properly and you may have to manually adjust some preferences every time you visit a site. To learn more about how to do this, check out instructions from these browsers:
To find out more information about Cookies, including information about how to manage and delete Cookies, please visit
https://www.allaboutcookies.org/.
The following types of Cookies are used in connection with our Services:
Essential Cookies: Essential Cookies are required for providing you with features or services that you have requested. For example, certain Cookies enable you to log into secure areas of our Services. Disabling these Cookies may make certain features and services unavailable.
Functional Cookies: Functional Cookies are used to record your choices and settings regarding our Services, maintain your preferences over time and recognize you when you return to our Services. These cookies help us to personalize our content for you, greet you by name, and remember your preferences (for example, your choice of language or region).
Performance/Analytical Cookies: Performance/Analytical Cookies allow us to understand how visitors use our Services such as by collecting information about the number of visitors to the Services, what pages visitors view on Services and how long visitors are viewing pages on the Services.
Performance/Analytical Cookies also help us measure the performance of our advertising campaigns in order to help us improve our campaigns and the Services’ content for those who engage with our advertising. To support, enhance and monitor the security of the Services, we use third-party analytics services, including those provided by Google Inc. (“Google”). Google uses cookies in connection with its Google Analytics services. Google’s ability to use and share information collected by Google Analytics about your visits to the Services is subject to the Google Analytics Terms of Use and the Google Privacy Policy. You have the option to opt-out of Google’s use of cookies by visiting the Google advertising opt-out page at
https://www.google.com/privacy_ads.html or the Google Analytics Opt-out browser Add-on at
https://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout/.
2. INFORMATION ABOUT INTEREST-BASED ADVERTISEMENTS
In some cases, you may see advertisements about our Services on other websites or services which may be targeted to users who have visited our Site or used our Services who fit certain general profile categories or display certain preferences or behaviors (“Interest-Based Ads”). With respect to these Interest-Based Ads, we comply with the Digital Advertising Alliance (“DAA”) Self-Regulatory Principles for Online Behavioral Advertising. Through the DAA and Network Advertising Initiative (“NAI”), several media and marketing associations have developed an industry self-regulatory program to give consumers a better understanding of, and greater control over, ads that are customized based on a consumer’s online behavior across different websites and properties. To make choices about Interest-Based Ads from participating third parties, including to opt-out of receiving behaviorally targeted advertisements from participating organizations, please visit the DAA’s or NAI’s consumer opt-out pages, which are located at
https://www.networkadvertising.org/choices/ or
https://www.aboutads.info/choices.
3. GOOGLE ANALYTICS
We use Google Analytics to understand and analyze browsing activity, and for advertising through their AdWords and Remarketing Lists features. Google Analytics may store cookies on your device when you use or access our Services and may use those cookies to display advertisements for our products or Services when you visit other websites. You can find out more about this by reading the information Google provides in this explanation: How Google uses data when you use our partners’ sites or apps. If you don’t want Google Analytics to use cookies when you browse, you can install the Google Analytics Opt-Out Browser Add-On to prevent Google Analytics from placing cookies on your browser. You can find out more about this option and how to install the Add-On here.
III. HOW WE SHARE YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION
Your privacy is very important to us. Other than as provided for in this Policy, we don’t share your Personal Information with third parties without your consent.
1. BUSINESS PURPOSES FOR DISCLOSURES OF PERSONAL INFORMATION
We disclose your Personal Information to Service Providers and other parties for the following business purposes:
To perform auditing related to a current interaction and concurrent transactions
To detect security incidents, to protect against malicious, deceptive, fraudulent, or illegal activity, and to prosecute those responsible for that activity
To debug to identify and repair errors that impair existing intended functionality
To make short-term, transient use of Personal Information that is not used by another party to build a consumer profile or otherwise alter your consumer experience outside the current interaction
To perform services on our behalf, including maintaining or servicing accounts, providing customer service, processing or fulfilling order and transactions, verifying customer information, processing payments, providing financing, providing advertising or marketing services, providing analytic services, or providing similar services on behalf of the business or service provider
To undertake internal research for technological development and demonstration
To undertake activities to verify or maintain the quality and safety of a service or device that we own, manufacture, have manufactured for us, or control.
Over the past twelve months, we may have disclosed the following categories of your Personal Information (which related to the corresponding information in the tables in section I.3 (A-F) above) to Service Providers or other parties for the business purposes listed above:
A. Personal identifiers
B. Customer records identified by state law
C. Commercial information
D. Internet or other similar network activity information
E. Age or date of birth
2. SALES OF PERSONAL INFORMATION
We will not sell your Personal Information and have not done so over the past twelve months.
IV. DATA SECURITY AND RETENTION
1. DATA SECURITY
We seek to protect your Personal Information from unauthorized access, use and disclosure using appropriate physical, technical, organizational and administrative security measures based on the type of Personal Information and how we are processing that data. You should also help protect your data by appropriately selecting and protecting your password and/or other sign-on mechanism; limiting access to your computer or device and browser; and signing off after you have finished accessing your account. Although we work to protect the security of your account and other data that we hold in our records, please be aware that no method of transmitting data over the internet or storing data is completely secure. We cannot guarantee the complete security of any data you share with us, and except as expressly required by law, we are not responsible for the theft, destruction, loss, or inadvertent disclosure of your information or content.
2. ACCOUNT SECURITY
Access to your WdC account is secured by the password you choose. For your security, we store only a one-way hashed version of your password. This means that we don’t know your password and your password isn’t visible to us when members of our team view your account.
To prevent unauthorized access to your account, choose a password that is unique to your WdC account, can’t be easily guessed and don’t share your password with anyone else. Whenever you use a shared computer or other shared device to access your WdC account (for example, a library or school computer), be sure to log out of your account completely before you leave your workstation, and select “no” if the web browser prompts you to save your login credentials. You’re responsible for keeping your password confidential, and for all activity that occurs under your account, whether or not authorized by you.
You can change or update your password anytime by visiting your My Account page. If you forget your password, you can request a reset password link through the Forgotten Password form.
3. DATA RETENTION
WdC will use your information for the reasons detailed in this Policy in order to deliver our Services to you while your account is active. If you no longer wish to be a Member of our Services, you can close your account with us at any time. If you close your account, your account is placed in an inactive state. We retain a record of your account information and only use your account information as needed, for example to retain sales data, prevent fraud, to comply with a valid legal request or resolve a dispute, or to meet any legal requirements or obligations. We may also continue to include your data as part of ongoing data and usage analysis. We’ll no longer send you marketing or other communications about your account or our Services.
V. OUR COMMITMENT TO CHILDREN’S PRIVACY
At WdC, we take children’s privacy very seriously. WdC’s Services are directed at and intended for use by adults only. We do not knowingly collect Personal Information from children under the age of 13. If you are under 13, you should not use or attempt to use our Services or send any information about yourself to WdC. If we discover that we have collected information from a child under the age of 13, we will take the appropriate measures to promptly remove that information from our Services.
If you believe that WdC may have collected Personal Information about a child under 13, please contact us at support@writing.com to let us know. We’ll work with you to make sure that information is removed from our Site.
VI. YOUR RIGHTS AND OPTIONS
At WdC, it’s important to us that you have the ability to make choices about your personal information, so we provide you with options for managing your account and the information you give us.
1. ACCOUNT INFORMATION
You can view, update, and correct the information you’ve provided about yourself by visiting your My Account page. You can also remove any of the optional information you’ve provided. Information that is required will be indicated as such and can be updated but cannot be removed.
If you don’t want to have an account with us anymore, you can close your account at any time. You can find instructions on how to “Close an Account” at the bottom of most pages on WdC, or you can contact us for assistance.
2. EMAIL PREFERENCES
WdC uses your contact information to communicate with you about our services and to provide notifications related to your account or activity. Certain communications related to your account or your activity are required and you can’t opt out of receiving them. These include, but aren’t limited to, purchase-related notifications, notifications related to changes that have been made to your login credentials or account details, and legal notifications. Other communications may not be required such as announcements about our Services, newsletters and messages with information you might be interested in, and other marketing and promotional messages (“Optional Communications”).
3. OTHER
If you choose to create a public biography, or post on our newsfeed, any information you post will be visible by other members and the public. You can edit and update your newsfeed posts you’ve posted and information provided in your public biography. You can update or delete your biography at any time.
VII. CALIFORNIA RESIDENT RIGHTS
If you are a California resident, you have the rights outlined in this section. Please see the “Exercising Your Rights” section below for instructions regarding how to exercise these rights. If there are any conflicts between this section and any other provision of this Policy and you are a California resident, the portion that is more protective of Personal Information shall control to the extent of such conflict. If you have any questions about this section or whether any of the following applies to you, please contact us at support@writing.com.
1. ACCESS
You have the right to request certain information about our collection and use of your Personal Information over the past twelve months. We will provide you with the following information:
The categories of Personal Information that we have collected about you
The categories of sources from which that Personal Information was collected
The business or commercial purpose for collecting or selling your Personal Information
The categories of third parties with whom we have shared your Personal Information
The specific pieces of Personal Information that we have collected about you
If we have disclosed your Personal Information for a business purpose over the past twelve months, we will identify the categories of Personal Information shared with each category of third party recipient.
2. DELETION
You have the right to request that we delete the Personal Information that we have collected from you. Under the CCPA, the right is subject to certain exceptions: for example, we may need to retain your Personal Information to provide you with the Services or complete a transaction or other action you have requested, or to comply with our legal obligations. If your deletion request is subject to one of these exceptions, we may deny your deletion request.
3. EXERCISING YOUR RIGHTS
To exercise the rights described above, you must send us a request that (1) provides sufficient information to allow us to verify that you are the person about whom we have collected Personal Information, and (2) describes your request in sufficient detail to allow us to understand, evaluate and respond to it. Each request that meets both of these criteria will be considered a “Valid Request.” We may not respond to requests that do not meet these criteria. We will only use Personal Information provided in a Valid Request to verify you and complete your request. You do not need an account to submit a Valid Request.
We will work to respond to your Valid Request within 45 days of receipt. We will not charge you a fee for making a Valid Request unless your Valid Request(s) is excessive, repetitive, or manifestly unfounded. If we determine that your Valid Request warrants a fee, we will notify you of the fee and explain that decision before completing your request.
You may submit a Valid Request by emailing us at: support@writing.com or mailing us via postal mail at: Writing.Com, PO Box 22131, Lehigh Valley, PA 18002.
You may also authorize an agent (an “Authorized Agent”) to exercise your rights on your behalf. To do this, you must provide your Authorized Agent with written permission to do so, and we may request a copy of this written permission from your Authorized Agent when they make a request to exercise your rights on your behalf.
4. WE WILL NOT DISCRIMINATE AGAINST YOU FOR EXERCISING YOUR RIGHTS UNDER THE CCPA
We will not discriminate against you for exercising your rights under the CCPA. We will not deny you our goods or services, charge you different prices or rates, or provide you a lower quality of goods and services if you exercise your rights under the CCPA. However, we may offer different tiers of our Services as allowed by applicable data privacy laws (including the CCPA) with varying prices, rates, or levels of quality of the goods or services you receive related to the value of Personal Information that we receive from you.
5. OTHER PRIVACY RIGHTS
Your browser may offer you a “Do Not Track” option, which allows you to signal to operators of websites and web applications and services that you do not wish such operators to track certain of your online activities over time and across different websites. Our Services do not support Do Not Track requests at this time. To find out more about “Do Not Track,” you can visit www.allaboutdnt.com.
VIII. OTHER STATE LAW PRIVACY RIGHTS
1. NEVADA RESIDENT RIGHTS
If you are a resident of Nevada, you have the right to opt out of the sale of certain Personal Information to third parties who intend to license or sell that Personal Information. Please note that we do not currently sell your Personal Information as sales are defined in Nevada Revised Statutes Chapter 603A. You can indicate your preferences with respect to this right by contacting us at support@writing.com with the subject line “Nevada Do Not Sell Request” and providing us with your name and the email address associated with your account.
IX. ADS AND LINKS TO THIRD PARTY WEBSITES
There are places throughout our Services, such as advertisements and other links, where you can access websites owned and operated by third parties. The terms of this Policy apply only to our Services and websites and do not apply to any third party websites that may be linked to or accessible from our Services. We can’t guarantee the privacy and security standards of other websites, so if you choose to access these third party links, you’ll want to familiarize yourself with the privacy policies and other terms applicable to those sites.
X. HOSTED CONTENT
The Content uploaded or posted to our Services is made available at the direction of our Members. We are not responsible for the Content, including any disclosures of Personal Information by our Members. If you believe that any Content posted on our Services violates your personal privacy rights, please notify us at support@writing.com.
XI. DATA BREACH
A privacy breach occurs when there is unauthorized access to or collection, use, disclosure or disposal of personal information. You will be notified about data breaches when WdC believes you are likely to be at risk of serious harm. In the event that WdC becomes aware of a security breach which has resulted or may result in unauthorized access, use or disclosure of personal information, WdC will promptly investigate the matter and notify the applicable Supervisory Authority not later than 72 hours after having become aware of it, unless the personal data breach is unlikely to result in a risk to the rights and freedoms of natural persons.
XII. CHANGES TO THIS POLICY
From time to time, we’ll update this Policy in accordance with the process and rules in our Terms of Service. We will alert you to changes by placing a notice on the Site, by sending you an email, and/or by some other means. Please note that if you haven’t provided us with your correct email address, those legal notices will still govern your use of the Services, and you are still responsible for reading and understanding them. If you use the Services after any changes to the Policy have been posted, that means you agree to all of the changes. Use of information we collect is subject to the Policy in effect at the time such information is collected.
XIII. HOW TO CONTACT US
For any questions you have about this Policy, the ways in which we collect and use your Personal Information, or your choices and rights regarding such use, or if you need assistance with your account, you can reach us anytime using the following methods:
Email us at support@writing.com.
Write to us at Writing.Com, PO Box 22131, Lehigh Valley, PA 18002
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