Privacy Policy
This Privacy Policy is an integral part of the agreement between Townsquare Media, LLC ("Townsquare" or "we" or "us") and each visitor or registered user, as the case may be (each, a "user" or "you") concerning the use of the websites, including this website, owned, controlled, operated or hosted (whether now or in the future) by Townsquare and/or its corporate affiliates, including but not limited to TASTEOFCOUNTRYSTORE.COM (collectively the "Websites"). The other integral part of this agreement is the Townsquare Terms of Use. All capitalized terms used herein that are not otherwise defined in this Privacy Policy shall be defined in the Terms of Use. If you have any questions concerning this Privacy Policy, please email us at staff@tasteofcountry.com.
Information Collection and Use by the Websites
The Websites gather identifying information about individuals only when individuals provide that information on a voluntary basis pursuant to the voluntary registration process for the Websites. Such information includes, but is not limited to, name, age, gender, email address, cell phone number, personal interests, and physical address. We use this voluntary profile data to, (a) authenticate users, (b) send notifications to users relating to the Websites, (c) assist users in communicating with each other, and (d) make offers to users that we believe may be of interest to them based on their personal profile data. With the exception of email address, physical address and cell phone number, registered users' voluntary personal profile information, including pictures, are displayed to other registered users in order to facilitate user interaction. Registered users' user names are displayed to all users, although each verified user has the option of having his or her full name displayed to all users instead of his or her user name. Under no circumstances are email addresses, physical addresses and cell phone numbers directly revealed to other users or disclosed to third parties other than as set forth below in the "Sharing and Disclosure of Information" section.
We also log non-personally identifiable information about use of the Websites, including, but not limited to, IP address, profile information, pages visited, and browser type, from users of the Websites. This data is used for, among other things, to provide customized content to users, provide targeted offers to users, manage the site, track usage and improve the site services. This non-personally identifiable information may be shared with third-parties to provide more relevant services and advertisements to users. User IP addresses are recorded for security and monitoring purposes.
Users must provide us, at a minimum, with a valid email address in order to complete the voluntary registration process. Email addresses are used to send notifications related to the Websites and to communicate offers. Registered users may communicate with each other through the Websites without disclosing their email addresses.
Cell phone numbers are used to send SMS (short Message Service), text and voice message notifications related to the Websites and to communicate offers. Registered users may choose not to receive text messages from us by not providing their cell phone number to us at registration. Registered users who have provided their cell phone number to us may remove it from within their personal profile settings. Please note that standard message rates and data charges from your cellular service provider apply to sending and/or receiving text messages. You are solely responsible for such message rates and data charges.
We do not sell or make available any individual user information to unrelated third parties, except to third parties that are providing services to the Websites or as provided in the "Sharing and Disclosure of Information" section below. We may aggregate user information for the purpose of user analyses and inform advertisers of the results of such analyses. In all such instances, we will refer only to general, aggregate usage data from these analyses and will never provide specific identifying information. We may also aggregate user information for the purpose of making offers to users that we believe may be of interest to them.
From time to time, Townsquare or a partner, may sponsor a promotion, sweepstakes or contest on the Websites. Users may be asked to provide personal information including name, email address or home address or to answer question in order to participate. We may transfer personal information to certain ad partners that you have explicitly required to receive information from. It will be clear at the point of collection who is collecting the personal information and whose privacy statement will apply.
Third parties can read information voluntarily posted by registered users on the Websites. That information can be used by those third parties to send you unsolicited messages. We have no control over such unsolicited messages.
By using any of the Websites, you affirmatively consent to this Privacy Policy and agree to have your personal information (to the extent disclosed by you to the Websites) collected by the Websites (or its agents or contractors).
User Content
Any information that you disclose when participating on the Websites (including creating a profile or submitting a comment to a story, a video or in a discussion thread), such as your full name and any nickname, is likely to become public. This information may be posted on the Websites. In addition, Townsquare, its affiliates and their licensees, may use, copy, sublicense, modify, transmit, publicly perform, display, create derivative works of, host, index, cache, tag, encode, and/or adapt any user Content, and any information contained therein, in any and all media formats or channels, whether now known or thereafter devised, including, but not limited to, the Websites, other Townsquare services, over the air and on mobile platforms. Further, other users of the Websites may embed a widget or feed that allows your user Content to appear on their personal, noncommercial website or page, blog or other application, subject to conditions set forth in the Terms of Use.
Use of Cookies
The Websites uses cookies to store users' preferences, account status, traffic origination and to record session information. We do not link the information we store in cookies to any personally identifiable information you submit while on our Websites. You may be able to configure your browser to accept or reject all or some cookies, or notify you when a cookie is set. Each browser is different, so check the "Help" menu of your browser to learn how to change your cookie preferences. However, you must enable cookies from the specific website you wish to access in order to use most functions on such website. Third party advertisers on the Websites may have the ability to set and access their cookies on your computer. Advertisers' use of cookies are subject to their own privacy policies and are not subject to this Privacy Policy.
Alternative Tracking Devices
We may use other industry standard technologies like pixel tags and web beacons to track your use of our Websites and promotions, or we may allow our third party service providers to use those devices on our behalf. Pixel tags and web beacons are tiny graphic images placed on certain pages on our Websites, or in our emails that allow us to determine whether you have performed a specific action. When you access these pages or open or click an email, pixel tags and web beacons generate a non-personally identifiable notice of that action. Pixel tags allow us to measure and improve our understanding of visitor traffic and behavior on our Websites, as well as give us a way to measure our promotions and performance. We may also utilize pixel tags and web beacons provided by our affiliates or third party service providers for the same purposes.
The Websites contain links to other websites, applications and services maintained by third parties that may not follow the same privacy policies as the Websites. For instance, clicking on a third party logo or advertisement will take you to an entirely different site, application or service. These sites, applications and services may use cookies, collect data and use the data in ways that Townsquare would not. Townsquare is not responsible for the privacy policies and/or practices on other sites. When linking to another site a user should read the privacy policy stated on that site. Our Privacy Policy only governs information collected on the Websites. Furthermore, we bear no responsibility for any offensive material or violations of law on any site linked from the Websites.
The Websites may include a tool that allows you to sign in or comment using information from your account with a third party service, such as Facebook, Twitter, Google or Yahoo. Please be aware that those third party services are unrelated to the Websites and that your use of the third party services is subject to the terms and policies of those services.
Correcting/Updating Information and Terminating Registration
Registered users may modify any of their personal information at any time by logging into their account and accessing their personal profile. Registered users may terminate their registration at any time, for any reason, by contacting staff@tasteofcountry.com. Terminating your registration will not necessarily remove previous public comments and other user Content on public display on the Websites. The user understands that it may be impossible to delete personal information entirely because of backups and records of deletions.
Third Party Advertising
Ads appearing on the Websites may be delivered to users by Townsquare or one of our advertising partners. Our advertising partners may set cookies. These cookies allow the ad server to recognize your computer each time they send you an online advertisement. In this way, ad servers may compile information about where you, or others who are using your computer, saw their advertisements and determine which ads are clicked on. This information allows an ad network to deliver targeted advertisements that they believe will be of most interest to you. This privacy statement covers the use of cookies by Townsquare and does not cover the use of cookies by any advertisers.
Agents
We use a third party company to prepare and ship products ordered on our Websites. Our fulfillment company has access to your full name and shipping address to complete this transaction but does not retain, share, store or use personally identifiable information for any other purposes.
Service Providers
We may use third party providers to process payments. When you checkout of our store, you will be asked to enter your first and last name, credit card information, billing and shipping address as necessary to complete your transaction. We do not store any of our users credit card information in our database.
Opt-out
Registered users may choose to no longer receive updates or notifications by managing their email and text message preferences in their personal profile settings.
Security
We have in place what we believe to be appropriate physical, electronic and managerial procedures to safeguard and secure the information we collect online. Credit card information provided to the Websites is protected against unauthorized use by 128-bit encryption and Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) security features, which scramble your personal information so that only your browser and the Websites can decipher it. However, no internet, email or mobile transmission is ever fully secure or error free. Because most email and mobile transmissions are not encrypted, you should take special care in deciding what information you send to us via email, text message, SMS or other mobile transmission.
Registered user accounts are secured by user-created passwords. Townsquare uses reasonable measures to protect registered user information that is stored within our database. Please note that we cannot guarantee the security of registered user account information. Unauthorized entry or use, hardware or software failure, and other factors may compromise the security of registered user information at any time. We will endeavor to notify users in the event that the security of their personal information is breached or compromised. By submitting personal information on any of the Websites, you expressly consent to receiving our notification regarding any breach or compromise, or suspected breach or compromise, of the security of your personal information, by email or postal mail, as we deem appropriate, and as required by law. For any additional information about the security measures we use on the Websites, please contact us at staff@tasteofcountry.com.
We urge you to keep your username, password and other account access information in a safe place and not to divulge it to anyone. Also, remember to sign off your account and close your browser window when you have finished your visit. This is to ensure that others cannot access your account, especially if you are sharing a computer with someone else or are using a computer in public place such as a library or an internet café.
Sharing and Disclosure of Information
Except as otherwise described in this Privacy Policy, we will not disclose personal information to any third party unless we believe that disclosure is necessary: (a) to conform to legal requirements or to respond to a subpoena, search warrant or other legal process received by us; (b) to enforce our Terms of Use Agreement or to protect our rights; (c) to protect the safety of members of the public and users of the Websites or d) the user requests to be contacted with additional information, materials or special offers from third parties. If a registered user elects to opt-in to receive information, materials or special offers from these third parties, the user gives Townsquare permission to transfer personal information to our partners to fulfill such a request. The Websites will only share secure user information with those advertisers or category of advertisers you specifically opt-in to. Third party partners have separate privacy and data collection practices; Townsquare has no responsibility or liability for these independent policies. If you do not want your personal information shared with advertisers, please select the option to not participate in our opt-in program. Our Site also provides users the opportunity to opt-out of receiving communications from us and our advertisers at the point where we request information about the visitor. We give users the option to remove their information from our database, to not receive future communications, or to no longer receive our service, by submitting your request to staff@tasteofcountry.com. Townsquare reserves the right to transfer, disclose or sell personal information as part of a business divestiture, sale, merger, or acquisition of one or more of its Websites, Townsquare or substantially all of its assets. For more information see the "Changes in Our Privacy Policy" section below.
Children's Privacy
Under 13: You must be at least 13 years old in order to register for email newsletters or other features of the Websites. If you are under 13 years of age, please do not send any information about yourself, including your name, address or email address. If we discover that we have collected any personally identifiable information from a child under the age of 13, we will remove that information from our database as soon as possible.
Ages 13-18: You must be at least 18 years old in order to submit any Content on our Websites, create a profile, participate in any online contests, or place an order on our Websites. Visitors between the ages of 13 and 18 must obtain permission from their parents or guardians before registering for email newsletters or other features of the Websites or otherwise sending any personally identifiable information.
International User Notice
For international users, please note that it may be necessary to transfer your information internationally and, in particular, your information may be transferred to and processed in the United States. For residents of the European Union: the data protection and other laws of other countries outside of the European Union may not be as comprehensive as those of the European Union. Please be assured that we take steps to ensure that your privacy is protected as described in this Privacy Policy. By using the Websites, you agree to have your information used and transferred to the United States as set forth in this policy.
Changes in Our Privacy Policy
From time to time we may make changes to our Privacy Policy. If we make changes, we will post them on the Websites to make users aware of what the changes are so users will always be aware of what information we collect, how we use it, and when we may disclose it. A user is bound by any changes to the policy when she or he uses the Websites after those changes have been posted. If, however, we intend to disclose users' personally identifiable information in a manner different from that stated at the time of collection, we will post a notice of such intent on the Websites 30 days prior to such action.
Contacting Us
If you have any questions about this privacy statement, the practices of the Websites, or your dealings with the Websites, please contact us.
Effective Date
This Privacy Policy is effective as of November 1, 2010. It was last updated on February 7, 2011