Privacy Policy

This Privacy Policy for Guideposts a Church Corporation and its brands and subsidiaries (“we”, “us”, or “our”) describes how and why we might collect, store, use and/or share (“process”) your information when you use our products and services (“Products”), such as when you:

Visit our websites, including Guideposts.org, www.Abide.com or any website of ours that links to this Privacy Policy.
Download and use our mobile applications (including Abide and Devoutly), or any other application of ours that links to this Privacy Policy.
Engage with us in other related ways, including any sales, marketing, donations, or events.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

WHAT INFORMATION DO WE COLLECT?
HOW DO WE PROCESS YOUR INFORMATION?
WHAT LEGAL BASES DO WE RELY ON TO PROCESS YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION?
WHEN AND WITH WHOM DO WE SHARE YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION?
DO WE USE COOKIES AND OTHER TRACKING TECHNOLOGIES?
HOW DO WE KEEP YOUR INFORMATION SAFE?
DO WE COLLECT INFORMATION FROM MINORS?
CONTROLS FOR DO NOT TRACK FEATURES
PRIVACY RIGHTS FOR THE EU, UK, SWITZERLAND, AND CANADA
PRIVACY RIGHTS FOR SPECIFIC U.S. STATES
DO WE MAKE UPDATES TO THIS NOTICE?
HOW CAN YOU REVIEW, UPDATE, OR DELETE THE DATA WE COLLECT FROM YOU OR OTHERWISE CONTACT US ABOUT THIS POLICY?

WHAT INFORMATION DO WE COLLECT?

Personal information you disclose to us.

In A Nutshell: We collect personal information that you provide to us.

We collect personal information that you voluntarily provide to us when you use or express interest in obtaining information about us or our Products, when you participate in activities in our Products, or otherwise when you contact us.

The personal information that we collect depends on the context of your interactions with us and the Products, the choices you make, and the Products and features you use. The personal information we collect may include the following: names, phone numbers, email addresses, mailing addresses, billing addresses, usernames, passwords, and contact preferences.

Payment Data: We use third parties to process your payments and any payment data is stored by them. These third parties, and links to their respective privacy notices, are listed below:

Stripe https://stripe.com/privacy

Paypal https://www.paypal.com/us/legalhub/privacy-full

Chase Paymentech https://merchantservices.chase.com/privacy-statement

Apple Pay https://www.apple.com/legal/applepayments/privacy-notice/

Google Payments https://payments.google.com/payments/apis-secure/get_legal_document?ldo=0&ldt=privacynotice

Application Data:

Geolocation Information. We may request access or permission to track location-based information from your mobile device, either continuously or while you are using our mobile application(s), to provide certain location-based If you wish to change our access or permissions, you may do so in your device’s settings.
- Mobile Device Data. We automatically collect device information (such as your mobile device ID, model, and manufacturer), operating system, version information and system configuration information, device and application identification numbers, browser type and version, hardware model internet service provider and/or mobile carrier, and Internet Protocol (IP) address (or proxy server). If you are using our application(s), we may also collect information about the phone network associated with your mobile device, your mobile device’s operating system or platform, the type of mobile device you use, your mobile device’s unique device ID, and information about the features of our application(s) you accessed.
- Push We may request to send you push notifications regarding your account or certain features of the application(s). If you wish to opt out from receiving these types of communications, you may turn them off in your device’s settings.

This information is primarily needed to maintain the security and operation of our applications, for troubleshooting, and for our internal analytics and reporting purposes.

Information automatically collected:

In A Nutshell: Some information, such as your Internet Protocol (IP) address and /or browser and device characteristics, is collected automatically when you visit our websites or use our mobile applications.

We automatically collect certain information when you visit, use, or navigate the Products. This information does not reveal your specific identity (like your name or contact information) but may include device and usage information, such as your IP address, browser and device characteristics, operating system, language preferences, referring URLs, device name, country, location, information about how and when you use our Products, and other technical information. This information is primarily needed to maintain the security and operation of our Products, and for our internal analytics and reporting purposes.

Like many businesses, we also collect information through cookies and similar technologies.

The information we collect includes:

Log and Usage Data. Log and usage data is se1vice-related, diagnostic, usage, and performance information our servers automatically collect you access or use our Products and which we record in log Depending on how you interact with us, this log data may include your IP address, device information, browser type, and settings and information about your activity in the Products (such as the date/time stamps associated with your usage, pages and files viewed, searches, and other actions you take such as which features you use), device event information (such as system activity, error reports (sometimes called “crash dumps”), and hardware settings).
Device We collect device data such as information about your computer, phone, tablet, or other device you use to access the Products. Depending on the device used, this device data may include information such as your IP address (or proxy server), device and application identification numbers, location, browser type, hardware model, Internet service provider and/or mobile carrier, operating system, and system configuration information.
Location Data. We collect location data such as information about your device’s location, which can be either precise or imprecise. How much information we collect depends on the type and settings of the device you use to access the For example, we may use GPS and other technologies collect geolocation data that tells us your current location (based on your IP address). You can opt out of allowing us to collect this information either by refusing access to the information or by disabling your Location setting on your device. However, if you choose to opt out, you may not be able to use certain aspects of the Products.

Information collected from other sources:

In A Nutshell: We may collect limited data from public databases, marketing partners, and other outside sources.

In order to enhance our ability to provide relevant marketing, offers, and services to you and update our records, we may obtain information about you from other sources, such as public databases, joint marketing partners, affiliate programs, data providers, and from other third parties. This information includes mailing addresses, email addresses, phone numbers, intent data (or other user behavior data), Internet Protocol (IP) addresses, social media profiles, social media URLs and custom profiles, for purposes of targeted advertising and event promotion.

HOW DO WE PROCESS YOUR INFORMATION?

In A Nutshell: We process your information to provide, improve, and administer our Products, communicate with you, for security and fraud prevention, and to comply with law. We may also process your information for other purposes with your consent.

We process your personal information for a variety of reasons, depending on how you interact with our Products, including:

To facilitate account creation and authentication and otherwise manage user We may process your information so you can create and log in to your account, as well as keep your account in working order.
To deliver and facilitate delivery of services to the user. We may process your information lo provide you with the requested service.
To respond to user inquiries/offer support lo We may process your information to respond to your inquiries and solve any potential issues you might have with the requested service.
To send administrative information to We may process your information to send you details about our products and services, changes to our terms and policies, and other similar information.
To fulfill and manage your orders. We may process your information to fulfill and manage your orders, payments, returns, and exchanges made through the
To enable user-to-user communications, We may process your information if you choose to use any of our offerings that allow for communication with another user.
To request feedback. We may process your information when necessary to request feedback and lo contact you about your use of our Products.
To send you marketing and promotional We may process the personal information you send to us for our marketing purposes, ii this is in accordance with your marketing preferences. You can opt out of our marketing emails at any time. For more information, see “What are your rights?” below.
To deliver targeted advertising to you. We may process your information to develop and display personalized content and advertising tailored to your interests, location,
To protect our Products. We may process your information as part of our efforts to keep our Products safe and secure, including fraud monitoring and
To identify usage trends. We may process information about how you use our Products to better understand how they are being used so we can improve
To determine the effectiveness of our marketing and promotional We may process your information to better understand how to provide marketing and promotional campaigns that are most relevant to you.
To save or protect an individual’s vital interest. We may process your information when necessary to save or protect an individual’s vital interest, such as to prevent harm.
Statistical analysis to help us manage our business, g. in relation to our financial performance, customer base, or product range.
Updating and enhancing customer
For employees, ensuring safe working practices, staff administration and
Marketing our Products and those of selected third parties to: existing and former customers, third parties who have previously expressed an interest in our products, services, or mission, third parties with whom we have had no previous dealings.
Other processing necessary to comply with professional, legal and regulatory obligations that apply to our business.
In performance of our contractual obligations or to take steps at your request before entering into a contract.

WHAT LEGAL BASES DO WE RELY ON TO PROCESS YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION?

In A Nutshell: We only process your personal information when we believe it is necessary and we have a valid legal reason/basis to do so under applicable law.

If you are located in the EU or UK, this section applies to you:

The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and UK GDPR require us to explain the valid legal bases we rely on in order to process your personal information. As such, we may rely on the following legal bases to process your personal information.

We may process your personal information if you have given us permission to use it for a specific purpose. You can withdraw your consent at any time.
Performance of a Contract. We may process your personal information when we believe it is necessary to fulfill our contractual obligations to you, including providing our Products, or at your request prior to entering into a contract with you.
Legitimate Interests. We may process your information when we believe it is reasonably necessary to achieve our legitimate business interests and those interests do not outweigh your interests and fundamental rights and freedoms. For example, we may process your personal information for some of the purposes described in order to:
- Send users information about special offers and discounts on our Products.
- Develop and display personalized and relevant advertising content for our users.
- Analyze how our Products are used so we can improve them to engage and retain users.
- Support our marketing activities.
- Diagnose problems and/or prevent fraudulent activities.
- Understand how our users use our Products so we can improve user experience.
- Solicit donations to further our mission of spreading hope, faith and love.
- Legal Obligations. We may process your information where we believe it is necessary for compliance with our legal obligations, such as to cooperate with a law enforcement body or regulatory agency, exercise or defend our legal rights, or disclose your information as evidence in litigation in which we are involved.
- Vital Interests. We may process your information where we believe it is necessary to protect your vital interests or the vital interests of a third party, such as situations involving potential threats to the safety of any person.

If you are located in Canada, this section applies to you:

We may process your information if you have given us specific permission (i.e. express consent) to use your personal information for a specific purpose, or in situations where your permission can be inferred (i.e. implied consent). You can withdraw your consent at any time.

In some exceptional cases, we may be legally permitted under applicable law to process your information without your consent, including, for example,

If collection is clearly in the interests of an individual and consent cannot be obtained in a timely way
If collection is clearly in the interests of an individual and consent cannot be obtained in a timely way
For investigations and fraud detection and prevention
For business transactions provided certain conditions are met
If it is contained in a witness statement and the collect1on is necessary to assess, process, or settle an insurance claim
For identifying injured, ill, or deceased persons and communicating with next of kin
If we have reasonable grounds to believe an individual has been, is, or may be victim of financial abuse
If it is reasonable to expect collection and use with consent would compromise the availability or the accuracy of the information and the collection is reasonable for purposes related to investigating a breach of an agreement or a contravention of the laws of Canada or a province
If disclosure is required to comply with a subpoena, warrant court order, or rules of the court relating to the production of records
If it was produced by an individual in the course of their employment, business, or profession and the collection is consistent with the purposes for which the information was produced
If the collection is solely for journalistic, artistic, or literary purposes
If the information is publicly available and is specified by the regulations

WHEN AND WITH WHOM DO WE SHARE YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION?

In A Nutshell: We may share information in specific situations described in this section and/or with the following categories of third parties.

Vendors, Consultants, and Other Third-Party Service Providers. We may share your data with third-party vendors, service providers, contractors, or agents (“third parties”) who perform services for us or on our behalf and require access to such information to do that work. We have contracts in place with our third parties, which are designed to help safeguard your personal information. This means that they cannot do anything with your personal information unless we have instructed them to do it. They will also not share your personal information with any organization apart from us. They also commit to protect the data they f1old on our behalf and to retain it for the period we instruct. The categories of third parties we may share personal information with are as follows:

Affiliate Marketing Programs
Data Analytics Services
Data Storage Service Providers
Finance & Accounting Tools
Cloud Computing Services
Communication & Collaboration Tools
Order Fulfillment Service Providers
Payment Processors
Performance Monitoring Tools
Retargeting Platforms
Sales & Marketing Tools
User Account Registration & Authentication Services
Website Hosting Service Providers
Ad Networks

We also may need to share your personal information in the following situations:

Business Transfers. We may share or transfer your information in connection with, or during negotiations of, any merger, sale of company assets, financing, or acquisition of all or a portion of our business to another company.
When we use Google Analytics. We may share your information with Google Analytics to track and analyze the use of the Products. The Google Analytics Advertising Features that we may use include: Remarketing with Google To opt out of being tracked by Google Analytics across the Services, visit https://tools.google.comidlpage/gaoptout. You can opt out of Google Analytics Advertising Features through and Ad Settings for mobile apps. Other opt out means include http://optout.networkadvertising.org/ and http://optout.networkadvertising.org/ and http:l/www.networkadvertising.org/mobile-choice. For more information on the privacy practices of Google, please visit the Google Privacy & Terms page.
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 any subsidiaries, joint venture partners, or other companies that we control or that are under common control with us.
Business Partners. We may share your information with our business partners to offer you certain products, services, or promotions.
Other Users. When you share personal information (for example, by posting comments, contributions, or other content to the Products) or otherwise interact with public areas of the Products, such personal information may be viewed by all users and may be publicly made available outside the Products in perpetuity. Similarly, other users will be able to view descriptions of your activity, and communicate with you within our Products/

DO WE USE COOKIES AND OTHER TRACKING TECHNOLOGIES?

In A Nutshell: We may use cookies and other tracking technologies to collect and store your information.

We may use cookies and similar tracking technologies (like web beacons and pixels) to access or store information.

HOW DO WE KEEP YOUR INFORMATION SAFE?

In A Nutshell: we aim to protect your personal information through a system of organizational and technical security measures.

We have implemented appropriate and reasonable technical and organizational security measures designed to protect the security of any personal information we process. However, despite our safeguards and efforts to secure your information, no electronic transmission over the internet or information storage technology can be guaranteed to be 100% secure, so we cannot promote or guarantee that hackers, cybercriminals, or other unauthorized third parties will not be able to defeat our security and improperly collect, access, steal, or modify your information. Although we will do our best to protect your personal information, transmission of personal information to and from our Products is at your own risk. You should only access the Products within a secure environment.

DO WE COLLECT INFORMATION FROM MINORS?

In A Nutshell: we do not knowingly solicit data from or market to children under 18 years of age.

By using the Products, you represent that you are at least 18 or that you are the parent or guardian of such a minor and consent to such minor dependent’s use of the Products. If we learn that personal information from users less than 18 years of age has been collected, we will deactivate the account and take reasonable measures to promptly delete such data from our records. If you become aware of any data we may have collected from children under 18, please contact us at (800) 431-2344 or GPSProd@cdsfulfillment.com.

CONTROLS FOR DO-NOT-TRACK FEATURES

Most web browsers and some mobile operating systems and mobile applications include a Do-Not-Track (“DNT”) feature or setting you can activate to signal your privacy preference not to have data about your online browsing activities monitored and collected. At this stage no uniform technology standard for recognizing and implementing DNT signals has been finalized. As such, we do not currently respond to DNT browser signals or any other mechanism that automatically communicates your choice not to be tracked online. If a standard for online tracking is adopted that we must follow in the future, we will inform you about that practice in a revised version of this Privacy Policy.

PRIVACY RIGHTS FOR THE EU, UK, SWITZERLAND, AND CANADA

In A Nutshell: in some regions, such as the European Economic Area (EEA). United Kingdon (UK), Switzerland, and Canada, you have rights that allow you greater access to and control over your personal information. You may review, change, or terminate your account at any time.

In some regions (like the EEA, UK, Switzerland, and Canada), you have certain rights under applicable data protection laws. These may include the right to (i) to request access and obtain a copy of your personal information, (ii) to request rectification or erasure; (iii) to restrict the processing of your personal information; (iv) if applicable, to data portability, and (v) not to be subject to automated decision-making. In certain circumstances, you may also have the right to object to the processing of your personal information. You can make such a request by contacting us by using the contact details provided in the section “How can you contact us about this notice?” below.

We will consider and act upon any request in accordance with applicable data protection laws.

If you are located in the EEA or UK and you believe we are unlawfully processing your personal information, you also have the right to complain to your Member State data protection authority or UK data protection authority.

If you are located in Switzerland, you may contact the Federal Data Protection and Information Commissioner.

Withdrawing your consent: If we are relying on your consent to process your personal information, which may be express and/or implies consent depending on the applicable law, you have the right to withdraw your consent at any time. You can withdraw your consent at any time by contacting us by using the contact details provided in the section “How can you contact us about this Policy?” below or updating your preferences.

However, please note that this will not affect the lawfulness of the processing before its withdrawal nor, when applicable law allows, will it affect the processing of your personal information conducted in reliance on lawful processing grounds other than consent.

Opting out of marketing and promotional communications. You can unsubscribe from our marketing and promotional communications at any time by clicking on the unsubscribe link in the emails that we send, texting “STOP” or by contacting us using the details provided in the section “How can you contact us about this notice?” below. You will then be removed from the marketing lists. However, we may still communicate with you – for example, to send you service-related messages that are necessary for the administration and use of your account, to respond to service requests, or for other non-marketing purposes.

Account Information.

If you would like to review or change the information in your account or terminate your account, you can:

Email us at GPSProd@cdsfulfillment.com, call Guideposts customer service at (800) 932-2145 or write to us at Guideposts, P.O. Box 5815, Harlan, IA 51593-1315

Upon your request to terminate your account, we will deactivate or delete your account and information from our active databases. However, we may retain some information in our files to prevent fraud, troubleshoot problems, assist with any investigations, enforce our legal terms and/or comply with applicable legal requirements.

Cookies and similar technologies: Most Web browsers are set to accept cookies by default. If you prefer, you can usually choose to set your browser to remove cookies and to reject cookies. If you choose to remove cookies or reject cookies, this could affect certain features or services of our Products.

PRIVACY RIGHTS FOR SPECIFIC STATES

In A Nutshell: if you are a resident of Connecticut, Colorado, Utah, or Virginia, you are granted specific rights regarding access to your personal information.

What categories of personal information do we collect?

We have collected the following categories of personal information in the past twelve (12) months:

Category	Examples	Collected
Identifiers	Contact details, such as real names, alias, postal address, telephone or mobile number, unique personal identifier, online identifier, Internet Protocol address, email address, and account name	YES
Protected classification characteristics under state or federal law	Gender and date of birth
Commercial information	Transaction information, purchase history, financial details, and payment information	YES
Internet or other similar network activity	Browsing history, search history, online behavior, interest data, and interactions with our and other websites, applications, systems and advertisements	YES
Geolocation data	Device location	YES
Audio, electronic, visual, thermal, olfactory, or similar information	Images and audio, search history, online behavior, interest data, and interactions with our and other websites, applications, systems and advertisements	YES
Professional or employment related information	Business contact details in order to provide you our Products at a business level or job title, work history, and professional qualifications if you apply for a job with us	Yes, or current and prospective employees only.
Inferences drown from collected personal information	Inferences drawn from any of the collected personal information listed above to create a profile or summary about, for example, an individual’s preferences and characteristics.	YES

We may also collect other personal information outside of these categories through instances where you interact with us in person, online, or by phone or mail in the context of:

Receiving help through our customer support channels
Participation in customer surveys or contests
Facilitation in the delivery of our Products and to respond to your inquiries

We collect and share your information through:

Targeting cookies/marketing cookies

Social media cookies

Beacons/pixels/tags

We may disclose your personal information with our service providers pursuant to a written contract between us and each service provider.

We have disclosed the following categories of personal information to third parties for a business or commercial purpose in the preceding twelve (12) months:

Commercial information
Inferences drawn from collected personal information

We have sold or shared the following categories of personal information to third parties in the preceding twelve (12) months

Identifiers
Commercial information

The categories of third parties to whom we sold personal information are:

Ad networks
Affiliate marketing programs
Data analytics services

Colorado Residents

This section applies only to Colorado residents. Under the Colorado Privacy Act (CPA), you have the rights listed below. However, these rights are not absolute, and in certain cases, we may decline your request as permitted by law.

Right to be informed whether or not we are processing your personal data

Right to access your personal data

Right to request deletion of your personal data

Right to obtain a copy of the personal data you previously shared with us

Right to opt out of the processing of your personal data if it is used for targeted advertising, the sale of personal data, or profiling in furtherance of decisions that produce legal or similarly significant effects (“profiling”).

We sell personal data to third parties or process personal data for targeted advertising. You can opt out from the selling of your personal data, targeted advertising, or profiling by disabling cookies in Cookie Preference Settings. To submit a request to exercise any of the other rights described above, please email GPSProd@cdsfulfillment.com

If we decline to take action regarding your request and you wish to appeal our decision, please email us at GPSProd@cdsfulfillment.com. Within forty-five (45) days of receipt of an appeal, we will inform you in writing of any action taken or not taken in response to the appeal, including a written explanation of the reasons for the decisions.

Connecticut Residents

This section applies only to Connecticut residents. Under the Connecticut Data Privacy Act (CTDPA), you have the rights listed below. However, these rights are not absolute, and in certain cases, we may decline your request as permitted by law.

Right to be informed whether or not we are processing your personal data
Right to access your personal data
Right to correct inaccuracies in your personal data
Right to request deletion of your personal data
Right to obtain a copy of the personal data you previously shared with us
Right to opt out of the processing of your personal data if it is used for targeted advertising, the sale of personal data, or profiling in furtherance of decisions that produce legal or similarly significant effects (“profiling”)

If we decline to take action regarding your request and you wish to appeal our decision, please email us at GPSProd@cdsfulfillment.com. Within sixty (60) days of receipt of an appeal, we will inform you in writing of any action taken or not taken in response to the appeal, including a written explanation of the reasons for the decisions.

Utah Residents

This section applies only to Utah residents. Under the Utah Consumer Privacy Act (UCPA), you have the rights listed below. However, these rights are not absolute, and in certain cases, we may decline your request as permitted by law.

Right to be informed whether or not we are processing your personal data
Right to access your personal data
Right to request deletion of your personal data
Right to obtain a copy of the personal data you previously share with us
Right to opt out of the processing of your personal data if it is used for targeted advertising or the sale of personal data

We sell personal data to third parties or process personal data for targeted advertising. You can opt out from the selling of your personal data or targeted advertising by disabling cookies in Cookie Preference Settings. To submit a request to exercise any of the other rights described above, please email GPSProd@cdsfulfillment.com.

Virginia Residents

Under the Virginia Consumer Data Protection Act (VCDPA).

“Consumer” means a natural person who is a resident of the Commonwealth acting only in an individual or household context. It does not include a natural person acting in a commercial or employment context.

“Personal Data” means any information that is linked or reasonably linkable to an identified or identifiable natural person. “Personal Data” does not include de-identified data or publicly available information.

“Sale of personal data” means the exchange of personal data for monetary consideration.

If this definition of “consumer” applies to you, we must adhere to certain rights and obligations regarding your personal data.

Rights with regard to personal data:

Right to be informed whether or not we are processing your personal data
Right to access your personal data
Right to correct inaccuracies in your personal data
Right to request deletion of your personal data
Right to obtain a copy of the personal data you previously shared with us
Right to opt out of the processing of your personal data if it is used for targeted advertising, the sale of personal data, or profiling in furtherance of decisions that product legal or similarly significant effects (“profiling”).

We sell personal data to third parties or process personal data for targeted advertising. Please see the following section to find out about how you can opt out from further selling or sharing your personal data for targeted advertising or profiling purposes.

Exercise of your rights provided under the Virginia COPA

You can opt out from the selling of your personal data, targeted advertising, or profiling by disabling cookies in Cookie Preference Settings. You may contact us by email at GPSProd@cdsfulfillment.com.

If you are using an authorized agent to exercise your rights, we may deny a request if the authorized agent does not submit proof that they have been validly authorized to act on your behalf.

Verification Process

We may request that you provide additional information reasonably necessary to verify you and your consumer’s request. If you submit the request we will respond without undue delay, but in all cases, within forty-five (45) days of receipt. The response period may be extended once by forty-five (45) additional days when reasonably necessary. We will inform you of any such extension within the initial 45-day response period, together with the reason for the extension.

Right to Appeal

If we decline to take action regarding your request, we will inform you of our decision and reasoning behind it. If you wish to appeal our decision, please email us at GPSProd@cdsfulfillment.com. Within sixty (60) days of receipt of an appeal, we will inform you in writing of any action taken or not taken in response to the appeal. Including a written explanation of the reasons for the decisions. If your appeal is denied, you may contact the Attorney General to submit a complaint.

DO WE MAKE UPDATES TO THIS NOTICE?

In A Nutshell: Yes, we update this Privacy Policy as necessary to stay compliant with relevant laws.

We may update this Policy from time to time. The updated version will be indicated by and updated “Revised” date and the updated version will be effective as soon as it is accessible. If we make material changes to the Privacy Policy, we may notify you either by prominently posting a notice of such changes or by directly sending you a notification. We encourage you to review this notice frequently to be informed of how we are protecting your information.

HOW CAN YOU REVIEW, UPDATE, OR DELETE THE DATA WE COLLECT FROM YOU OR OTHERWISE CONTACT US ABOUT THIS POLICY?

Based on the applicable laws in your jurisdiction, you may have the right to request access to the personal information we collect from you, change that information, or delete it. For questions, or to request review, update, or delete your personal information, please contact us at:

Guideposts a Church Corporation
100 Reserve Road
Suite E200
Danbury, CT 06810
Or via email at: GPSProd@cdsfulfillment.com

Guideposts Privacy Policy

/ Uncategorized / By Madonna O'Sullivan

Privacy Policy

Introduction What Personal Information About You Do We Collect? For Younger Visitors And Their Parents Other Information We Collect How We Use And Disclose The Information We Collect / Your California Privacy Rights How To Access Or Correct Information Or Modify Your Choices Ad Serving Digital Millennium Copyright Act Of 1998/Copyright Agent Third Party Content Data Security Consent to Transfer Acceptance

INTRODUCTION

This Privacy Policy explains what information Guideposts (“Guideposts” or “we,” “us”, or “our”) collects on our family of websites (the “Websites”), how we use your information and the choices you have about the way your information is collected and used. Please read this Privacy Policy carefully. Your use of this Website indicates to us that you have read and accepted our privacy practices, as outlined in this Privacy Policy. In addition, please review our Terms of Use that governs your use of this Website. Should you have any questions or concerns about the information we collect at any of the Guideposts websites, please feel free to contact us by e-mail at AtYourService@guideposts.org or call Guideposts Customer Service at (800) 932-2145 Monday through Friday between 8 a.m. and 6 p.m. EST.

Guideposts is committed to protecting the privacy of your personal information. We also want to provide you with a rewarding Internet experience by making the products, literature, inspirational experience and advertising content you see on our Guideposts websites relevant to you. Your loyalty as a visitor or a “Member” (i.e., an individual who signs up for access to exclusive areas of the Guideposts sites) is important to us, and we hope that your use of the Guideposts websites is a productive and positive experience. This Privacy Policy applies to all Guideposts websites (Click here for a list of Guideposts websites covered by this Privacy Policy) unless a different policy is provided on a particular Guideposts website, in which case such different policy shall control. This Privacy Policy covers information collected on our websites and any information collected offline by Guideposts.

WHAT PERSONAL INFORMATION ABOUT YOU DO WE COLLECT?

Personally identifiable information (“PII”) is information that identifies you or could reasonably be used to identify you personally (such as your real name, address, phone number, or e-mail address). Generally, you may browse our Website without providing any PII. However, we may ask you to provide PII at various times and places on this Website, such as when you subscribe to our newsletter, register for a prayer request, send a DaySpring E-card, or participate in message groups or chat areas. We may also ask you to provide us with demographic information or information regarding your interests, hobbies or similar information. In some cases, if you choose not to provide us with the information requested, you may not be able to access all areas of this Website or participate in all of its features. We may combine the information we collect with information available from other sources, including information received from promotional partners or other third parties. We may also provide you with the opportunity to e-mail an article, electronic greeting card or other special feature from our Website to another individual (e.g., “send to a friend” or “tell a friend” features). The recipient’s PII that you provide will be used to send the material to the recipient but will not be retained for other purposes. We encourage you to send such items only to recipients who are your friends or family or persons with whom you have a relationship so that it doesn’t seem like Guideposts is “spamming” them.

FOR YOUNGER VISITORS AND THEIR PARENTS

Protecting children’s privacy is important to us. For that reason, we do not collect or maintain information at our Website from those individuals we actually know are under the age of 13 with the exception of our two websites created for children, GuidepostsSweet16mag.com and gp4children.com. We request that visitors to all of our Websites who are under the age of 13 not disclose or provide any PII without prior verifiable parental consent. If we discover that a child under 13 has provided us with PII without his or her parent’s consent, we will delete the child’s PII from our records.

OTHER INFORMATION WE COLLECT

Log Data: When you visit this Website, our web servers automatically collect anonymous information that describes how our visitors use and navigate our Website, which includes the number and frequency of visitors to each web page and the length of their stays, as well as the anonymous information automatically sent to us by your web browser, such as browser type, referrer data that identifies the web page visited prior and subsequent to your visit to our Website, and IP addresses. We also may determine what technology is available through your browser in order to serve you the most appropriate version of a web page. For example, we may determine that you have installed a version of Flash, and we will then send you the appropriate Flash version of the web page rather than an HTML page.

IP Addresses: An IP address is a number that is assigned to your computer or network when you are on the Internet. It is usually associated with the place from which you enter the Internet, like your Internet Service Provider, your company or your university. When visitors request pages from our Website, our servers log the visitor’s IP address. We may collect IP addresses for a variety of internal purposes, such as system administration, to report aggregate information to our advertisers, and to audit the number of visits to different pages on our Website.

Cookies: Cookies are information files that our Website may place on your computer to provide extended functionality. We may use cookies for a number of purposes, such as tracking usage patterns on the Website, measuring the effectiveness of advertising, controlling the display of ads, limiting multiple responses and recording registrations. Advertisers or other third parties that are serving content on some of our pages may set and access their own cookies on your computer. We don’t have control over cookies placed by third parties. Such third parties’ use of cookies is subject to their own privacy policies, which may differ from this one. Such third parties do not have access to our cookies.

You can, of course, disable cookies on your computer by indicating this in the preferences or options menus in your browser. However, it is possible that some parts of our Website will not operate correctly if you disable cookies. You should consult with your browser’s provider/manufacturer if you have any questions regarding disabling cookies.

Web Beacons: While you are on our Website, or while you are otherwise viewing our content, you may encounter Web beacons, which may come from Guideposts or from third parties, such as advertisers or content providers. A Web beacon, which is sometimes also called a Web bug or “clear gif,” is a small graphic image in a Web page, a Web-based document or an e-mail message, which generally allows the party that set the Web beacon to monitor certain information about the viewer of the Web page, Web-based document or e-mail message, and may allow access to certain cookies. Web beacons are usually invisible to the user, because they are very small (generally 1-by-1 pixel). However, in general, any electronic image viewed as part of a Web page, including an advertisement, can act as a Web beacon. Web beacons typically collect the URL of the page the Web beacon comes from, the type of browser requesting the Web beacon, the IP address of the computer that the Web beacon is sent to and the time the Web beacon was viewed. Guideposts does not have control over Web beacons used by third parties and does not have access to whatever information they may collect. Guideposts may use Web beacons to count visitors to our Web pages and we may include Web beacons in HTML-formatted e-mail newsletters in order to count how many of our electronic newsletters (or particular articles, links, etc.) were actually opened. We aggregate all information we collect through Web beacons and we do not use Web beacons to track any individuals’ use of the Website. Web beacons can also be linked to PII.

Guideposts does NOT use or authorize the use of so-called “spyware” (i.e. we do not embed pop-up, pop-under or other advertising [adware] in any of our downloadable features such as screen savers or wallpaper).

HOW WE USE AND DISCLOSE THE INFORMATION WE COLLECT / YOUR CALIFORNIA PRIVACY RIGHTS

We use the PII you provide about yourself to deliver the information or content you have requested, to contact you about our programs, products, features or services or for other purposes disclosed at the time of collection. For instance, we may provide you with your request for a prayer, send an email newsletter to you or send information about new services to you. If, at any point, you do not wish to receive information about our programs, products, features or services, you may update your preferences by returning to the registration area of the Website or websites for which you registered. Alternatively, you can remove yourself from the mailing list for newsletters and promotional materials by clicking on the opt-out link provided at the bottom of many of the commercial electronic mail messages we send to you.

As set forth with more particularity below, Guideposts may also share your personal information with our advertising and promotional partners and other third parties. You can opt-out of having Guideposts share your personal information with third parties for marketing purposes. You can exercise your opt-out choices: (a) during the registration process on our Websites, by clicking on the opt-out box provided; (b) after registration, by sending an e-mail message to AtYourService@guideposts.org or by mailing your request to us at the following address: Guideposts, 39 Seminary Hill Rd, Carmel, NY 10512; and (c) as indicated on subscription forms or other order documents when providing personal information offline. If you do not opt-out, Guideposts may share your personal information with third parties for marketing purposes. Thus, if you want to opt out of having your personal information shared with third parties for marketing purposes, you must consistently opt-out at each of our Websites where you register and whenever you provide personal information to us.

Please bear in mind that this opt-out choice for “third parties” will not apply to Guideposts licensees and co-branding participants, as set forth below. Please also keep in mind that any opt-out choices you make will not apply in situations where (a) you either have made, simultaneously make, or later make a specific request for information from us, or (b) Guideposts uses your personal information for either operational purposes (e.g. to complete transactions requested by you [such as your purchase of a product or service], or to send you administrative communications either about your account with us or about features of our Websites, including any future changes to this Privacy Policy) or fulfillment purposes (e.g. sharing with companies that facilitate communications and transactions with you),

Finally, if you do not exercise your opt-out choices upon registration or otherwise at the time the personal information is provided, it may take up to forty five (45) days for your opt-out choices to be fully effective. Our systems require time to update, and promotional mailings using personal information shared before your opt-out may already be in process. Thus, your personal information might continue to be shared with third parties for promotional purposes for up to forty five (45) days after you make your request, For similar reasons, your personal information is shared with a third party, Guideposts largely or completely loses control over how that information is used. Thus, even after you have opted out of allowing us to share your personal information, you might continue to receive promotional materials from third parties unless and until you duly register your opt-out request with each third party in question.

Beginning January 1, 2005 under California’s “Shine the Light” law, California residents are entitled once a year to request and obtain certain information regarding our disclosure, if any, of personal information (whether collected online or offline) to third parties for their direct marketing purposes during the immediately prior calendar year (e.g. requests made in 2005 will receive information about 2004 sharing activities). To make such a disclosure request, please send an e-mail to AtYourService@guideposts.org or write us at:

Guideposts
39 Seminary Hill Rd
Carmel, NY 10512

Please be aware that not all information sharing is covered by the “Shine the Light” disclosure requirements and only the required information will be included in our response. For companies such as Guideposts that have historically offered guests and customers an opt-in or opt-out choice regarding the use of their personal information, the Shine the Light law permits us to respond to disclosure requests by providing you with (a) notice of the right to prevent disclosure of personal information to third party for marketing purposes and (b) a cost-free means by which you can exercise that right. That is exactly what this section of this Privacy Policy provides.

E-Cards

Guideposts may offer visitors the opportunity to send an electronic greeting card or “e-card” through a type of “send to a friend” or “tell a friend” functionality or otherwise. You will be required to provide your email address when sending an e-card, and at that point, the choice to receive Guideposts’ newsletters and promotions may be pre-selected. If you do not wish to receive such updates and communications, you must “opt-out” by removing the check from the box indicating whether you are interested in receiving newsletters and promotions. You can also opt out by updating your preferences to indicate your choice to deselect this option at any time.

Prayer Request

If you send a prayer request from any of our Websites, Guideposts will collect your e-mail address and any other PII contained in your request. Your e-mail address is maintained for the purpose of contacting you, should we have any questions relating to your request. If you select your prayer to be made public, it will be made available to the general public when it is posted on the Guideposts discussion board. When sending a prayer request, you can choose to “opt-in” to receive newsletters and other promotional materials from Guideposts.

Transactional Information

If you subscribe to our magazines or purchase items offline or through the Guideposts Books and Gifts web store, we collect and store the necessary PII to complete the transaction (e.g., credit card number, shipping address, full name). We also capture your e-mail address to communicate with you regarding your order. Guideposts will share this information with third parties to the extent necessary to fulfill or complete your transaction. We may also share this information with our advertising and promotional partners and other third parties.

Currently, if you purchase a Guideposts product through our web store, you are automatically registered to receive newsletters and Guideposts promotional materials at your provided e-mail address. You can “opt-out” of receiving this information by following the directions in the initial confirmation e-mail that you will receive from Guideposts. We also collect your physical shipping address and data about your purchasing history (e.g., the types of products purchased) when you make a purchase from the Guideposts web store or offline. Guideposts may share this information with third parties who may send you promotional materials to you.

IP Numbers, Cookies and Site Metrics

Guideposts collects users’ IP (internet protocol) number upon entry to any of the Guideposts sites. Your IP number is a unique numeric code that corresponds to every host or machine that accesses the Internet. In addition, we drop a “cookie” on your PC, which is a small file that helps track aggregate information about site visitors and trends about site use. This information is used to provide you with better services and to improve the design and content of the Guideposts sites. We may provide aggregate non-identifying information about general trends and website use to potential advertisers or other trusted third parties. However, we do not provide this information to third parties or other organizations for their individual commercial use at the present time.

Discussion Forums

Discussion forums are available for use by Members on certain Guideposts sites. While messages can only be posted by Members, the posted messages can be viewed by any site visitor, whether or not he is a Member of the site. Guideposts is not responsible for any PII that you post on its hosted discussion forums or other public areas of the websites, or for the activities of any third parties who collect voluntarily disclosed PII in the discussion forums. From time to time, Guideposts may monitor the discussion boards for offensive or derogatory content, and reserves the right to delete your user account if you post any such content.

Additional Uses of Information

We use non-identifying information collected on our Website in the aggregate to better understand your use of the Website and to enhance your enjoyment and experience. For example, we may use the information to improve the design and content of our Website or to analyze the programs and services we offer. We may also share non-identifying aggregate information with third parties. For example, we may tell potential or future advertisers how many individuals visit certain areas of our Website, or how many men or women receive our newsletter. However, other than as set forth in this Privacy Policy, we will not share your PII with outside parties unless you give us permission to do so.

We may employ other companies and individuals to perform functions on our behalf. For instance, we may use third parties to host message boards or other user forums, to develop software applications and databases or to send communications on our behalf. Our employees, agents and contractors who perform functions on our behalf and who have access to PII are required to protect the information in a manner that is consistent with this Privacy Policy.

We may share your personal information with companies that offer products and/or services under the Guideposts brand name. These companies are called “licensees.” For example, a company that publishes and sells books under the “Guideposts” brand would be such a licensee. Guideposts may also share your information with companies that offer products and/or services that are co-branded using Guideposts brand names. These companies are called “co-branding participants.”

We may provide access to your PII when legally required to do so, such as in response to a legal subpoena, to cooperate with police investigations or other legal proceedings, to protect against misuse or unauthorized use of our Website, to limit our legal liability and protect our rights or the rights, property or safety of visitors of this Website or the public. In those instances, the information is provided only for that purpose.

Guideposts may also sell, transfer or otherwise disclose user information, including PII, if Guideposts combines or merges with, is sold to or is otherwise acquired by another company, such as through a corporate merger, consolidation, the sale of all or substantially all assets, or other fundamental corporate change.

HOW TO ACCESS OR CORRECT INFORMATION OR MODIFY YOUR CHOICES

If you are a registered Member of our Website and volunteer PII, you may visit the registration area of the Website where you will have the opportunity to access certain of your PII, to correct errors in such information, and to update your preferences regarding what information you want to receive from us. You will be required to enter your user name and password before you will have access to your information. We will process your changes as quickly as we can. You should be aware, however, that it is not always possible to completely remove or modify information in our databases. In addition, please be aware that if you opt out from receiving marketing and promotional material we may still contact you regarding your use of our Website or changes to our Privacy Policy, Terms of Use, or other policy or terms that affect you or your use of our Website.

AD SERVING

From time to time, we or our advertisers may use third-party advertising servers to deliver ads when you visit our Website. These companies may use information about your visits to our Website and other websites in order to deliver advertisements about goods and services they believe will be of interest to you. We share website usage information about visitors to our Website with these companies for the purpose of managing and targeting advertisements and for market research analysis. For these purposes, we or our third-party advertising server may note some of the pages you visit on our Website through the use of Web beacons.

If you are under the good faith belief that any content appearing on the Website has been copied in a way that constitutes copyright infringement under US Copyright law, the Digital Millennium Copyright Act of 1998 (the “DMCA”) provides recourse. You may forward the following information to Guideposts Copyright Agent GuidepostsOnline@Guideposts.org (i) information reasonably sufficient to permit the service provider to contact you as the complaining party, such as your name, address, telephone number, and email address at which you may be contacted; (ii) identification and description of the copyrighted work that you claim has been infringed, or if multiple copyrighted works at the Website are covered by a single notification, a representative list of such works; (iii) the exact URL or identification of the material that is claimed to be infringing; (iv) a statement by you that you have a good faith belief that the disputed use is not authorized by the copyright owner, its agent, or the law; (v) an electronic or physical signature of the person authorized to act on behalf of the owner of the copyright interest; and (vi) a statement by you, made under penalty of perjury, that the above information in your notice is accurate and that you are the copyright owner or authorized to act on the copyright owner’s behalf. By this filing, Guideposts does not necessarily stipulate that it is a service provider as defined in 17 USC section 512c or elsewhere in the law, but merely seeks to preserve any and all exemptions from liability that may be available under the copyright law. If you believe in good faith that a notice of copyright infringement has been wrongly filed against you, the DMCA permits you to send Guideposts a counter-notice pursuant to the statutory requirements imposed by the DMCA, including, without limitation, a statement that the information in the notification is accurate, and under penalty of perjury, that the complaining party is authorized to act on behalf of the owner of an exclusive right that is allegedly infringed. If we receive a proper notification (or if we believe in our sole and absolute discretion) that any materials submitted or posted by you allegedly violate another person’s or entity’s rights, we reserve the right to withdraw and remove the affected material from our Website, at any time in our absolute discretion with or without notice. You can find more information about the DMCA on the U.S. Copyright Office website, currently located at http://www.loc.gov/copyright/. You are advised to consult a legal advisor before filing a notice or counter-notice. Please be forewarned that there can be penalties for false claims.

THIRD PARTY CONTENT

While on our Websites, you may encounter links to other websites or online materials. Those other websites and any online advertising servers delivering ads to our Website may set their own cookies, collect data, and/or have their own privacy policies that differ from this Privacy Policy. This Privacy Policy only covers information collected by Guideposts, and we encourage you to review the privacy policy of any other website you visit.

This Privacy Policy does not apply to any PII you may disclose publicly in user forums (such as chat rooms, message boards, or similar web pages). When you voluntarily disclose PII on message boards, chat areas or other user forums, that information can be collected and used by other people to send unsolicited messages and marketing materials. Guideposts assumes no responsibility for any action or policies of any third parties who collect any information that users disclose in user forums or other public areas of our websites.

DATA SECURITY

We take physical, electronic and managerial steps to maintain the security and accuracy of the PII we collect, including limiting the number of people who have physical access to our database servers, as well as electronic security systems and password protections that guard against unauthorized access. However, no data transmission over the Internet can be guaranteed to be 100% secure. Accordingly, we cannot ensure or warrant the security of any information you transmit to us, and you do so at your own risk.

CONSENT TO TRANSFER

This Website is operated in the United States. If you are located in the European Union or elsewhere outside of the United States, please be aware that any information you provide to us is either being collected in the United States or will be transferred to the United States. By using our Website, participating in any of our services and/or providing us with your information, you consent to this transfer.

ACCEPTANCE

By using this Website, you accept the policies set forth in this Privacy Policy. This Privacy Policy, like the online medium itself, is subject to change, so visitors are encouraged to review this Privacy Policy from time to time. We will also notify Members by e-mail if we make changes to this Privacy Policy in a way that alters the types of information that we collect or the way that we use that information. We may change, add or remove portions of this Privacy Policy at any time, and any changes will become effective immediately upon being posted unless we tell you otherwise.

This Privacy Policy was last updated and became effective on January 1, 2005.

Privacy Policy

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