Privacy Policy

Updated September 8, 2020

This Privacy Policy discloses the privacy practices for The Ambassadors Circle, LLC (also referred to as “The Ambassadors Circle”, “us” or “we”) and explains how we use information received in connection with your use of TheAmbassadorsCircle.com or/or votewithlove.org website (the “Sites”) and our mobile sites and applications, other downloads, and/or current or future features such as an RSS feed or an API, and any services provided by The Ambassadors Circle in connection with them (collectively, the “Services”).

The Sites may contain links to other websites for your convenience and information. We are not responsible for the privacy practices or the content of those sites.  Where capitalized terms are used in this Privacy Policy but not expressly defined, they have the meanings provided in our Terms of Service.

This Privacy Policy, covers the following:

  • Information we gather about you

  • What we do with the information we gather about you

  • Sharing of the information we gather

  • The Ambassadors Circle’s email policy

  • Changing or updating your personal information

  • Email opt-out policy

  • Other information, including our compliance with legal process and your California privacy rights

INFORMATION WE GATHER ABOUT YOU

The Ambassadors Circle receives information in connection with your use of the Services, including personal information you supply when you subscribe, order, complete a survey, register for any Services, enter a contest, or provide your e-mail address and other contact information, as well as additional collected through technology, including tracking information collected when you utilize the Services. Categories of information that we receive include the following:

Registration Information and Other Information You Submit to Us. Registration for certain aspects of the Services may require that you supply certain personal information, including a unique e-mail address and demographic information (e.g., zip code, age, gender) to register – when you submit registration information to us, we treat it in accordance with this Privacy Policy.

We also may collect Personal Information that you post, upload, store, display, transmit, or submit through the Services in any other manner. We may also provide means to submit additional personal information (such as contact information) through functionality provided in the Services, including webforms, surveys, or other related submission features. When you provide information through these features, you agree to our use of that information consistent with this Privacy Policy and our Terms of Use, including our use of the information to market events, activities, or other aspects of our Services to you.

Billing and Credit Card Information. If and when you use the Services to make payments of any kind, you may provide our third party payment processors additional Personal Information including financial information (such as your credit/debit card information, address, date of birth, or other information). We endeavor to store very little, if any, financial information from you and instead, such financial information is typically stored by our third party payment processors. We encourage you to review their privacy policies and to contact them directly if you have questions relating to your data, including Personal Information, as it relates to such payments.

User Generated Content. We may offer you opportunities to post content and engage in public activities through the Services. “Public activities” are any actions you take through the Services that are designed to be visible to other users, including comments, recommendations, ratings or any other items that you submit. Any information you disclose through your Public Activities, along with your screen name or ID, or any image or photo, becomes public and may be used by The Ambassadors Circle for online and offline promotional or commercial uses in any and all media.

If you choose to engage in Public Activities, you should be aware that any personal information you submit there can be read, collected, or used by other Service users, and could be used to send you unsolicited messages. We are not responsible for the personally identifiable information you choose to submit in these forums, and The Ambassadors Circle has no responsibility to publish, take down, remove or edit any of your public activities or any of your submissions that are a result of your Public Activities.

When you share or recommend any of The Ambassadors Circle content to any social media profile, that action is governed by the privacy policy of the applicable social media platform, and The Ambassadors Circle is not responsible for the use or treatment of such content by any such social media platform or any third party.

If you have registered for an account with The Ambassadors Circle (“Ambassadors Circle Account”), we may track and aggregate information generated by your Public Activities on the Services. By choosing to participate in Public Activities, you are electing to share and display such public activities via the Services. Also, Public Activities may be included in RSS feeds, APIs, and made available to other websites via other formats. As a result, your Public Activities may appear on other websites, blogs, or feeds. Keep in mind that we are not responsible for any personal information you choose to make public via your Public Activities, and you agree that such sharing will be deemed to have been done by you, not The Ambassadors Circle.

Contests, Sweepstakes and Special Offers. The Ambassadors Circle may collect personal information from you in connection with optional sweepstakes, contests or special offers. If this information is also being collected by a third party other than The Ambassadors Circle, we may notify you at the same time. If you do not want any personal information shared, you may always decline to participate in the sweepstakes, contest or special offer.

Reader Surveys, Reader Panels and Market Research. The Ambassadors Circle may collect personal information from you in connection with voluntary surveys. Data may be collected through the Services, on the phone or through the mail. The information you provide in response to optional survey questions may be shared, but only in the aggregate, with advertisers and partners unless we notify you otherwise at the time of collection.

Special Events and Promotions. We often receive information regarding readers who may attend The Ambassadors Circle, LLC conferences, events and promotions from sign-in and registration lists. Unless we indicate otherwise at the time we collect the information, we may use such information in accordance with our Privacy Policy.

Information Collected by Us Using Technology. We use various Internet technologies to manage the Services and track use of the Services. Non-personal information that we collect using these technologies may be combined with other information about you, including information about your activities on our Sites.

Device Information. We may collect non-personal information about the computer, mobile device or other device you use to access the Services, such as IP address, geolocation information, unique device identifiers, browser type, browser language and other transactional information.

Cookies, Beacons, Local Storage and Other Similar Technologies. In providing the Services, we may use “cookies,” Web beacons, HTML5 local storage and other similar technologies to manage access to and use of the Services, recognize you and provide personalization, as well as to help us understand where our visitors are going and how much time they spend there. You can usually configure your browser to accept all cookies, reject all cookies, or notify you when cookie is set.  You are always free to decline our cookies if your browser permits, although you may not be able to access certain aspects of the Services, including portions of the Sites, if your computer does not accept cookies from us.

Analytics Technologies. The Ambassadors Circle may hire third parties to provide us information, reports and analysis about the usage, browsing patterns of The Ambassadors Circle users. Google Analytics tracks and analyzes non-personally identifiable usage and volume statistical information from our visitors and customers on the Sites. For more information about how Google Analytics collects data, please read their privacy policy at http://www.google.com/intl/en/policies/privacy/

IP Addresses. The Ambassadors Circle may log Internet Protocol (IP) addresses, or the location of your computer on the Internet, for systems administration and troubleshooting purposes. We use this information in an aggregate fashion to track access to our websites and mobile applications.

Log Files and Your Reading History. The Ambassadors Circle may automatically log certain usage information about your use of the Services, including a reading history of the pages you view on the Sites. The software enabling the Sites and other aspects of the Services have associated log and temporary files that are stored on our, or on servers operated for us by third parties.  These files store your account information, preference settings, system notifications, as well as other data necessary to enable you to utilize the Services.  Your information may also exist within regularly performed server backups.

We may use this information in order to provide you with customized recommendations on the Sites based on your viewing history. We also use log files in the aggregate to analyze usage of our websites and mobile applications.

Information Collected by Third Parties Using Technology. Some of the services and advertisements included in the Services, including on the Sites, are delivered or served by third-party companies that may place or recognize cookies, Web beacons or other technology to track certain non-personal information about our website users. For example, in the course of serving certain advertisements, some advertisers may place or recognize a unique cookie on your browser in order to collect certain information about your use of the Services. In many cases, this information could be used to show you ads based on your interests on other websites.

We do not have access to, nor control over, advertisers’ or service providers’ use of cookies or other tracking technologies or how they may be used. Your access to our Sites or to the Services should not be affected if you do not accept cookies served by third parties.

Joint Promotions.  We also may join with third parties to promote informational campaigns or to market other opportunities offered by these third parties (“Promotional Partners”) by linking or otherwise providing access to these promotion(s) or opportunity(ies) via our Site.  We will indicate on our Site when a linked promotion is being conducted jointly with a Promotional Partner, and by providing any information to such Promotional Partner or us in connection with the applicable Joint Promotion, you acknowledge that such information is being provided both to TAC and to the applicable Promotional Partner, and you consent to the sharing of personal information you provide among TAC and the applicable Promotional Partner, and will be subject to the Promotional Partner’s privacy policies with respect to their treatment of the information, and subject to TAC’s policies with respect our treatment of it.


WHAT WE DO WITH THE INFORMATION WE GATHER ABOUT YOU

Providing the Services You Request. We use the information we gather about you to enable your use of the Services, fulfill your requests for certain products and services, such as sending out electronic newsletters and enabling you to participate in and renew paid services, polls, contests, and message boards.

Statistical Analysis. We perform statistical, demographic and marketing analyses of users of the Services, and their subscribing and purchasing patterns, for product development purposes and to generally inform advertisers about the nature of our subscriber base. We use this information for analysis purposes, including analysis to improve customer relationships.

Customizing Your Experience. We may use the information that we collect to allow advertising to be targeted to the users for whom such advertising is most pertinent. We may also use this information to customize certain features of The Ambassadors Circle to provide you with an enhanced experienced based on the type of device you are using to access The Ambassadors Circle, and in certain cases, provide you with requested services. 

Relevant Advertising. We may use demographic and preference information to allow advertising on The Ambassadors Circle’s Services to be targeted to the users for whom they are most pertinent. This means users see advertising that is most likely to interest them, and advertisers send their messages to people who are most likely to be receptive, improving both the viewer’s experience and the effectiveness of the ads. Except as otherwise specified in this Privacy Policy, we disclose information to third parties only in aggregate or de-identified form.

Marketing, E-Mail Newsletters and Related Promotions. The Ambassadors Circle may periodically send you e-mail newsletters or promotional e-mail about services offered by The Ambassadors Circle and its advertisers. In addition, when you submit contact information or other information to us via the Services, we may use that information to market certain aspects of the Services and/or other events and opportunities to you. As described below, we provide you with the opportunity to opt out of receiving further promotional communications from us at the time you respond to our surveys or submit an indication of interest. If you would like to opt out of receiving promotional communications from us, you may use the “unsubscribe” option at the bottom of the applicable communication, or you can contact us at 411@acircle.org.


SHARING OF THE INFORMATION WE GATHER

The Ambassadors Circle. We will not sell, rent, swap or authorize any third party to use your e-mail address or any information that personally identifies you without your permission, unless otherwise specified in this Privacy Policy.

We also share information about our audience in aggregate or de-identified form. Nothing in this Privacy Policy is intended to restrict The Ambassadors Circle’s use of aggregated or de-identified information in any way.

In the future, we may sell, buy, merge or partner our business with other companies or businesses. In such transactions, we may include your information among the transferred assets.  You acknowledge that such transfers may occur, and that any acquirer of The Ambassadors Circle or its assets may continue to use your information as set forth in this Privacy Policy.

Service Providers. We may contract with other companies to provide services on our behalf, including credit-card and billing processing, shipping, e-mail distribution, list processing and analytics or promotions management, and other vendors who support our platform or otherwise enable us to provide the Services. We provide these companies only with the information they need to perform their services. These service providers are restricted from using this data in any way other than to provide services for The Ambassadors Circle and the Services, and they may not share, resell or use the data for their own direct marketing purposes.

We reserve the right to disclose your opt-out decisions to third parties so they can suppress your name from future solicitations, in accordance with applicable laws.

Affiliates. We may share your information with our affiliates, in which case we will require those affiliates to honor this Privacy Policy. Affiliates include our parent company and/or any subsidiaries (if any), companies with an ownership interest in The Ambassadors Circle, joint venture partners, or other companies that we control or that are under common control with us.

Legal Compliance; Safety and Security. We may occasionally release personal information as required by law, for example, to comply with a court order or subpoena. (For more information, see the “Compliance with legal process” section of this policy.). We also may disclose data to protect your safety and security; to protect the safety, security and property of our users; and to protect the safety, security, and property of The Ambassadors Circle and our employees, agents, representatives, and contractors.

With your Consent. We may disclose your data, including personal information, to third parties any time that we have your express consent to do so.

E-MAIL POLICY; OPT-OUTS

Account and Service-Related E-Mail. The Ambassadors Circle reserves the right to send you e-mail relating to your account status. This includes order confirmations, renewal/expiration notices, notices of credit-card problems, other transactional e-mails and notifications about major changes to the Services and/or to our Privacy Policy. If you have registered for online discussions or other services, you may receive e-mail specific to your participation in those activities.

E-Mail Newsletters. The Ambassadors Circle offers monthly e-mail newsletters and may offer more in the future. If you no longer wish to receive a specific newsletter, follow the “unsubscribe” instructions located near the bottom of each newsletter. 

Survey E-Mail. We may send you an e-mail inviting you to participate in user surveys, asking for feedback on The Ambassadors Circle.com and existing or prospective products and services, as well as information to better understand our users. User surveys greatly help us to improve The Ambassadors Circle Services, and any information we obtain in such surveys will not be shared with third parties, except in aggregate form.

HTML E-Mail. When you sign up to receive e-mail from us, you will receive an HTML (with images) format. As such, we may place a one-pixel gif to determine whether or not readers viewed the e-mail. This process does not leave any information on your computer, nor does it collect information from your computer. The Ambassadors Circle may share this data with others in aggregate only.

E-Mails From You. If you send us e-mails, you should be aware that information disclosed in e-mails may not be secure or encrypted and thus may be available to others. We suggest that you exercise caution when deciding to disclose any personal or confidential information in e-mails. We may use your e-mail address to respond directly to your questions or comments.

Content Sharing Features. The Ambassadors Circle may provide features in the Services that allow you to e-mail links to articles (or other Content) or post Content to social media platforms, such as Facebook. The e-mail addresses or other information that you supply in connection with such features are saved for your convenience for future Content you may wish to share; these addresses are not used for any other purpose, and will not be shared with any third parties.

Promotional Partners.  We may share your information with Promotional Partners when it has been provided to us in connection with a Joint Promotion as described above in the paragraph entitled “Joint Promotions.”

E-Mail Promotions. If, at any time, you prefer not to receive e-mail marketing information from us, simply follow the unsubscribe options at the bottom of each e-mail, or contact us at 411@acircle.org.

Protection of Your Information.  To prevent unauthorized access, maintain data accuracy and ensure the appropriate use of information, we have put in place commercially reasonable physical, technical and administrative controls to protect the information. Please note that no method of transmission over the Internet, or method of electronic storage, is 100% secure.  Specifically, we do not encrypt in any manner any information you choose to share or distribute through use of the Services.  With respect to on-line payments, if any, we may employ other companies and individuals to perform functions on our behalf, such as processing credit card and on-line payments and providing customer service in connection with them. 

SECURITY MEASURES

We maintain physical, technical, and administrative procedures to protect the data we collect and to secure it from improper of unauthorized use, including by selecting third party service providers we believe provide reasonable security measures. We work hard to protect data in our custody and control from loss, misuse, and unauthorized access, use, disclosure, modification, or destruction, and to use industry-standard security measures in order to ensure an appropriate level of security in light of reasonably available methods in relation to the risks and nature of the information we collect.  

Please remember:

  • You provide information to us, including your personal information, at your own risk.

  • No data transmission over the Internet is guaranteed to be 100% secure, and we cannot guarantee that unauthorized access, hacking, data losses, or other breaches will never occur.

  • You are responsible for protecting your account information related to the Services, including any applicable credentials, log-ins, passwords, etc. and for ensuring that they are not used by others to access the Services.

INTERNATIONAL DATA TRANSFERS

We primarily process and store data in connection with the Services in the United States. However, it is possible that data may be processed in other countries by our third party service providers. We will take measures to ensure that your personal information remains protected to the standards described in this Privacy Policy and any such transfers comply with applicable data protection laws. In certain circumstances, courts, law enforcement agencies, regulatory agencies or security authorities in those other countries may be entitled to access your personal information.

JURISDICTION-SPECIFIC NOTICES

California Residents

We do not disclose your personal information to third parties’ for any third parties’ direct marketing purposes. If you reside in California, you can prevent future disclosures for direct marketing purposes of your personal information, at no charge, by indicating to us your intent to opt out of such disclosures in a message addressed to the email address or physical mailing address provided under the “Contact Us” heading below.

Nevada Residents

Nevada residents may have the right under applicable law to opt out of the sale of their personal information that we have collected or will in the future collect. If you are a Nevada resident and wish to make such a request, please contact us at the contact information provided below in this Privacy Policy.

EU Residents

Although we do not direct our website specifically toward residents of the European Union (“EU”), some EU residents’ data may be collected through marketing channels or by virtue of our users’ use of our Services. Collection and storage of any EU resident’s data by us is minimal and incidental.

Notwithstanding the foregoing, if you are an EU resident and would like to request that your data be securely removed from our systems, however collected, please send an email with proof of EU residency to 411@acircle.org. We will endeavor to remove all relevant data, so long as that removal is technically feasible, does not impact the legitimate accounting or business practices of our customers, and does not violate other regulatory or legal standards with which we must comply. We will also cooperate with our customers in good faith to address any requests they receive or that may impact them directly.

OTHER INFORMATION

Compliance With Legal Process. We may disclose personal information if we are required to do so by law or we have a good faith belief that such action is necessary to (1) comply with the law or with legal process; (2) protect and defend our rights and property; (3) protect against misuse or unauthorized use of the Services; or (4) protect the personal safety or property of our users or the public (among other things, this means that if you provide false information or attempt to pose as someone else, information about you may be disclosed as part of any investigation into your actions).

Children’s Guidelines and COPPA Compliance. The Ambassadors Circle, LLC does not knowingly collect or store any personal information about children under the age of 13. If you are the parent of guardian of a child under the age of 13, and you believe that The Ambassadors Circle, LLC may have inadvertently collected personal information about your child, please contact The Ambassadors Circle immediately at 411@acircle.org.

Your Right to Opt Out.  We do not currently share personal information with third parties for their direct marketing purposes, but you may choose, at no charge, to opt out of the future sharing of your personal information by us with third parties for marketing purposes at any time by submitting a request in writing to 981 Mission Street, San Francisco, CA 94103 or by e-mailing us at 411@acircle.org. You should note that this opt-out does not prohibit disclosures made for non-marketing purposes. 

Because The Ambassadors Circle, LLC provides its California users with the ability to exercise “opt out” rights as described above, pursuant to Section 1798.83 (c)(2) of the California Civil Code, The Ambassadors Circle, LLC is in compliance with the California “Shine the Light” law and is not obligated to provide California users with the names and addresses of all the third parties that received personal information from The Ambassadors Circle for the third parties’ direct marketing purposes during the preceding calendar year.

Changes to This Policy. This Privacy Policy may be amended from time to time. Any such changes will be posted on this page. If we make what is in our discretion a significant or material change in the way we use your personal information, the change will be posted on this page thirty (30) days prior to taking effect and registered users will be notified via the e-mail address associated with the user’s Ambassadors Circle Account.

CONTACT US

If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy, you may contact us at 411@acircle.org.