West Virginia Explorer provides a variety of online web services, mobile applications, and services for location-enabled and other types of devices (collectively, the "Services"), from news and weather to interactive entertainment and electronic commerce via our relationship with Go Daddy Group Inc., d/b/a Go Daddy ("Go Daddy"). Go Daddy is the host of the Services. Because the success of the Services is dependent on building and maintaining goodwill with our customers, we and Go Daddy (hereinafter collectively referred to as "we" or "us" or "our") are committed to implementing measures designed to protect the privacy of those using our services. Moreover, we see it as our responsibility to set examples and help establish the standards for privacy on the Internet.
Although we respect the privacy of all those who use our Services, we do collect information from members and visitors. This Privacy Policy governs your interaction with the Services, and your registration for and use of this site's Services. Except as set forth within this Privacy Policy and the Terms of Service and/or other published guidelines, we do not release personally identifiable information about the Services' members and visitors without their permission.
Please note that we review these privacy practices from time to time, and that these practices are therefore subject to change. We ask that you periodically review this page to ensure continuing familiarity with the most current version of this Privacy Policy. To contact us about privacy issues, to report a violation of this Privacy Policy, or to raise any other issue regarding the Services, please contact us at www.WVExplorer.com. Please include the URL of the site's website or the name of the mobile application or other Service offered by the site in your email.
About the information we gather at West Virginia Explorer
We gather two types of information about the users of our Services:
(1) Non-personally identifiable information: When you use our Services, we may collect and aggregate information indicating, among other things, which pages were visited, the order in which they were visited, and which hyperlinks were "clicked." Collecting such information involves the logging of IP addresses, operating system and browser software used by each user. Although such information is not personally identifiable, we can determine from the IP address a visitor's Service Provider and the geographic location of his or her point of connectivity.
The non-personally identifiable information we collect helps us diagnose problems with our server, administer the Services, identify the most popular areas or features of the Services, and determine the effectiveness of our promotional activities. In addition, we may disclose some of this information to advertisers to inform them of the number of people who have seen and/or clicked through their advertisements.
For the same purposes, we use "cookies"--that is, small text files placed on your computer's hard drive--to help us determine the type of content and sites to which you link, the length of time you spend at any particular area or feature of the Services, and your usage of our Services. Cookies also tell us which advertising you have seen on the Services. At certain times, we may use outside advertising companies to display advertisements on the Services that may contain cookies ("banner ads"). These banner ads collect information stored by the advertising company and we do not have access to this information.
Essentially, cookies are your identification cards for our computers, or servers, that placed them there. Cookies are only read by the server that placed them, and are unable to execute any code or virus. Cookies allow us to serve you better and more efficiently, and to personalize your experience on the Services. Nevertheless, you are able to control how and whether cookies will be accepted by your web browser or device. For more information on how to do so, please refer to the documentation accompanying your browser or device.
(2) Personally identifiable information: Certain features of the Services, such as surveys and contests, may require that you provide personally identifiable information (including, for example, zip code, age, income, and e-mail address, and when applicable, credit card information). GoDaddy.com, as host of the Services, has access to this information. In addition, when registering to set up an account to use certain Services such as e-mail, chat rooms, and forums, or to receive certain newsletters or specifically targeted information, we do require that you provide a valid email address.
We do not knowingly collect personally identifiable information from children younger than 13 years of age. Before registering for an account to use the Services, we ask that all minors 13 and older have their parents read this Privacy Policy.
We do not control the acts of users of the Services. All users should be aware that, when they disclose personally identifiable information in a bulletin board, chat room, guestbook, or other forum, the information may be collected and used by others to send that person unsolicited e-mail from other parties outside of the Services or GoDaddy.com. In the event that you encounter any user of the Services who is improperly collecting or using information about you or other users, please contact us at www.WVExplorer.com.
How we use the information we gather
Please take some time to familiarize yourself with the different ways we use the information that we gather. We cannot and do not assume any responsibility for any actions or omissions of third parties, including the manner in which they use information received either from us or independently. Nevertheless, in the event you encounter any third party associated with, or who claims association with us who you feel is improperly collecting or using information about you, please contact us at www.WVExplorer.com; we will be happy to forward your message to the third party.
(1) We use non-personally identifiable information in aggregate form to build higher quality, more useful Services by performing statistical analyses of the collective characteristics and behavior of the users and visitors of the Services, and by measuring demographics and interests regarding specific features or areas of the Services. We provide statistical information based on this data to advertisers, affiliates, and other current and potential business partners. We also use the aggregate data to inform these third parties as to the number of people who have seen and clicked on links to their websites or services.
The Services may contain links to other Internet websites or services, including co-branded or other affiliated sites or services that may or may not be owned or operated by us. Unless otherwise explicitly stated, we are not responsible for the privacy practices or the content of such sites or services, including their use of any information (such as IP number, browser type, or operating system) collected when users or visitors to our Services click through links to those sites or services. Even though such information might not identify you personally, we strongly encourage you to become familiar with the privacy practices of those sites and services.
(2) This Privacy Policy serves as notice that personally identifiable information is collected from registrants during the registration process. You may choose to "opt in" to receiving promotional materials from us and/or our affiliates, advertisers, or other business partners. If you "opt in" to receiving such promotional materials, we reserve the right to release any personally identifiable registration information regarding you to third parties who provide goods or services that we believe may be of interest to you. We will not release your credit card information to third parties unless necessary to complete a transaction between you and such a third party. If you decide that you would like to discontinue receiving promotional information from such third parties, please contact those third parties directly, or contact us at www.WVExplorer.com.
We limit our own e-mail contact and solicitations to those customers who have "opted in" to receiving such communications. The solicitations are limited in that they, among other things, will clearly indicate the originator of the e-mail and provide the customer with a method of "opting out" of receiving future communications of a similar nature.
In addition, as our businesses change, we may buy or sell various assets. In such cases, personally identifiable information about our users of our Services may be disclosed to the other party(ies) of the transaction.
In addition, we sometimes use demographic data to decide which advertisements and sponsor messages to show to which members. As an example, if Sponsor A wishes to display their advertising only to female members of the Services, we may employ user registration data to ensure that Sponsor A's ads are displayed only to female members.
Finally, we may use individual users' data to "pre-populate" forms, which are displayed for the purpose of collecting individual data by us and/or our sponsors. In no case does pre-populating a form transfer any data to any advertiser or third party. Only if the user voluntarily requests that such data be transferred will any transfer take place--for example, if/when a user clicks a "submit form" button or other button.
We reserve the right to release any and all information contained within our access logs concerning any visitor or member when that visitor or member is in violation of our Terms of Service or other published guidelines, or partakes (or is reasonably suspected of partaking) in any illegal activity, even without a subpoena, warrant, or other court order, and to release such information in response to discovery requests, or in response to any circumstance which we, in our sole discretion, deem an emergency. We cooperate with law enforcement agencies in identifying those who may be using our servers or Services for illegal activities. We reserve the right to report any suspected illegal activity to law enforcement for investigation or prosecution. We also reserve the right to comply with subpoenas, warrants, and other court orders requesting information obtained or any information obtained or stored via our site.
If and when we sponsor promotions or sweepstakes, or third parties sponsor promotions or sweepstakes in conjunction with us, either we or the third party may post relevant privacy information in the official rules and/or registration area for the promotion or sweepstakes. That privacy information, to the extent it conflicts with this Privacy Policy, will govern that particular promotion or sweepstakes.
Security
No security system is impenetrable, and, accordingly, we cannot guarantee the security of any database that stores personally identifiable information in connection with this Website, nor can we guarantee that information you supply will not be intercepted while being transmitted over the Internet. Questions regarding this Privacy Policy should be directed to us via the contact link at www.WVExplorer.com. Please include the URL of the website or the name of the mobile application or other Service offered by the site in your email.
Changing/deleting personal information
If you would like to have your personally identifiable information changed or removed from our database, please contact us at www.WVExplorer.com, and we will use reasonable efforts to comply with your request. Please include the URL of the site's website or the name of the mobile application or other Service offered by the site in your email. Keep in mind, however, that there will be residual information that will remain within our databases, access logs, and other records, which may or may not contain such personally identifiable information. The residual information will not be used for commercial purposes; however, we reserve the right to contact former customers or users of this Website.
Third-Party Ad Serving
We may use third-party advertising companies to serve ads when you use the Services. These companies may use information (not including your name, address or telephone number) about your use of the Services and other services in order to provide advertisements about goods and services of interest to you. If you would like more information about this practice and to know you choices about not having this information used by these companies, please contact us at www.WVExplorer.com.
Questions?
Questions regarding this Privacy Policy should be directed to us via the contact link at www.WVExplorer.com. Please include the URL of the website or the name of the mobile application or other Service offered by the site in your email.
Effective date: October 5, 2013
