Last modified: December 2023
Introduction
International Journalism Defense, Inc. d/b/a Reporters Shield (the “Company”) and its subsidiary IJD Vermont I LLC (“LLC I”, and together with the Company, “We”) respect your privacy and are committed to protecting it through our compliance with this policy. We are a membership program that defends investigative reporting around the world from legal threats meant to silence critical voices. We help reduce the risk of lawsuits through providing various services, including training, resources, pre-publication review in high risk circumstances, and also funding legal assistance to fight lawsuits meant to intimidate and financially burden reporters, including, without limitation, Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation (“SLAPPs”, and all of the foregoing collectively, the “Services”).
This policy describes the types of information we may collect from you or that you may provide when you visit the website www.reporters-shield.org (our “Website”) and our practices for collecting, using, maintaining, protecting, and disclosing that information. We have created the Website for eligible organizations that report in the public interest to apply for membership in order to the receive the Services.
This policy applies to information we collect on this Website.
It does not apply to information collected by:
- Your filling out our membership application via third-party productivity and collaboration tools, such as Google Workspace and/or Salesforce (see the privacy policy accessible via our members portal);
- Us offline or through any other means, including on any other website operated by Company or any third party (including our affiliates and subsidiaries); or
- Any third party (including our affiliates and subsidiaries), including through any application or content (including advertising) that may link to or be accessible from or through the Website.
Please read this policy carefully to understand our policies and practices regarding your information and how we will treat it. If you do not agree with our policies and practices, your choice is not to use our Website. By accessing or using this Website, you agree to this privacy policy. This policy may change from time to time (see Changes to Our Privacy Policy). Your continued use of this Website after we make changes is deemed to be acceptance of those changes, so please check the policy periodically for updates.
Key Terms
Personal Data is information that can be used to identify or contact a specific individual, such as a name, address, telephone number, email address, etc., and also includes online identifiers and location data such as IP addresses and mobile device IDs.
A Visitor is a user of the Website who provides Personal Data in order to interact with our pages (for example by reading its content, joining email lists or newsletters, or submitting a contact form).
An Applicant or Member is a user of our separate members portal, whether an organization or any individuals connected with such organization, who provides Personal Data to access or apply to gain access to the Services.
Children Under the Age of 16
Our Website is not intended for children under 16 years of age. No one under age 16 may provide any personal information to or on the Website. We do not knowingly collect Personal Data from children under 16. If you are under 16, do not use or provide any information on this Website or through any of its features, register on the Website, make any purchases through the Website, use any of the interactive or public comment features of this Website, or provide any information about yourself to us, including your name, address, telephone number, email address, or any screen name or user name you may use. If we learn we have collected or received Personal Data from a child under 16 without verification of parental consent, we will delete that information. If you believe we might have any information from or about a child under 16, please contact us at info@reporters-shield.org.
California residents under 16 years of age may have additional rights regarding the collection and sale of their Personal Data.
Information We Collect About You and How We Collect It
For Applicants: We collect several types of information in connection with membership applications by users who wish to gain access to the Services. The terms governing our collection of data through membership applications are set out in the privacy policy accessible via our membership portal.
For Visitors: We collect several types of information from and about Visitors, including information by which you may be personally identified, such as name, postal address, email address, or telephone number.
We collect this information directly from you when you provide it to us.
Information You Provide to Us
The information we collect on or through our Website may include:
- Information that you provide by filling in forms on our Website.
- We may also ask you for information when you report a problem with our Website.
- Records and copies of your correspondence (including email addresses), if you contact us.
- Your responses to surveys that we might ask you to complete for research purposes.
- Your search queries on the Website.
You can reach out to us by emailing us at info@reporters-shield.org to ask us to change or remove information you provide to us.
Information We Collect Through Automatic Data Collection Technologies
As you navigate through and interact with our Website, we may use automatic data collection technologies to collect certain information about your browsing actions and patterns, including storing the current language of the Website as you browse.
The technologies we use for this automatic data collection may include:
- Cookies (or browser cookies). A cookie is a small file placed on the hard drive of your computer. You may refuse to accept browser cookies by activating the appropriate setting on your browser. However, if you select this setting you may be unable to access certain parts of our Website. Unless you have adjusted your browser setting so that it will refuse cookies, our system will issue cookies when you direct your browser to our Website.
Third-Party Use of Cookies and Other Tracking Technologies
Some content or applications on the Website are served by third-parties, including content providers, and application providers. These third parties may use cookies to collect information about you when you use our Website. The information they collect may be associated with your Personal Data or they may collect information, including Personal Data, about your online activities over time and across different websites and other online services. They may use this information to provide you with interest-based (behavioral) advertising or other targeted content.
We do not control these third parties’ tracking technologies or how they may be used. If you have any questions about third parties’ tracking technologies, you should contact the responsible provider directly. For information about how you can opt out of receiving targeted advertising from many providers, see Choices About How We Use and Disclose Your Information.
How We Use Your Information
For Applicants: With respect to information collected by you filling out our membership applications, in addition to the uses set forth above, we use information that we collect about you or that you provide to us, including any Personal Data, for other purposes according to the terms set out in the privacy policy accessible via our membership portal.
For Visitors: We use information that we collect about you or that you provide to us, including any Personal Data, generally where we have an agreement with you, where it is necessary for our legitimate interests, or with your consent, for the following purposes:
- To present our Website and its contents to you.
- To provide you with the information that you request from us.
- To fulfill any other purpose for which you provide it.
- To notify you about changes to our Website or any services we offer or provide though it.
- In any other way we may describe when you provide the information.
- For any other purpose with your consent.
For more information, see Choices About How We Use and Disclose Your Information.
For Applicants and Visitors: We will contact you through the channels you have provided to us. You can reach out to us by emailing us at info@reporters-shield.org to ask not to be contacted via any channel.
How We Share Your Personal Data
For Applicants: With respect to information collected by you filling out our membership applications, we may share the information that we collect about you or that you provide to us, including any Personal Data, in other ways and for other purposes according to the terms set out in the privacy policy accessible via our membership portal.
For Visitors:
- We will not share Personal Data with any other third parties without informing you beforehand, unless required by, or in connection with, law and/or regulatory requirements.
- We will not sell, trade or lease your Personal Data to others.
Transmission of Personal Data to Countries Outside of the USA
Visitors’ data we collect may be transferred to, stored and processed in any country or territory where we or one or more of our affiliates or service providers are based or have facilities. While other countries or territories may not have the same standards of data protection as those in your home country, we will continue to protect Personal Data that we transfer in line with this privacy policy.
Whenever we transfer your Personal Data to other jurisdictions, we only do so in accordance with applicable laws.
Disclosure of Your Information
We may disclose aggregated information about our Visitors, and information that does not identify any individual, without restriction.
For Applicants: With respect to information collected by you filling out our membership applications, we may disclose Personal Data that we collect or you provide as described in the privacy policy accessible via our membership portal.
For Visitors: We may disclose Personal Data that we collect or you provide as described in this privacy policy:
- To a buyer or other successor in the event of a merger, divestiture, restructuring, reorganization, dissolution, or other sale or transfer of some or all of the Company’s and/or LLC I assets, whether as a going concern or as part of bankruptcy, liquidation, or similar proceeding, in which Personal Data held by the Company and/or LLC I about our Visitors is among the assets transferred.
- To fulfill the purpose for which you provide it.
- For any other purpose disclosed by us when you provide the information.
- With your consent.
We may also disclose your Personal Data:
- To comply with any court order, law, or legal process, including to respond to any government or regulatory request.
- To enforce or apply our terms of use www.reporters-shield.org/terms-of-use/ and other agreements, including for billing and collection purposes.
- If we believe disclosure is necessary or appropriate to protect the rights, property, or safety of the Company or LLC I, our customers, or others.
Choices About How We Use and Disclose Your Information
We strive to provide you with choices regarding the Personal Data you provide to us. We have created mechanisms to provide you with the following control over your information:
Tracking Technologies. You can set your browser to refuse all or some browser cookies, or to alert you when cookies are being sent. If you disable or refuse cookies, please note that some parts of this Website may then be inaccessible or not function properly.
Residents of certain states may have additional Personal Data rights and choices. Please see Your State Privacy Rights for more information.
Retention Periods
We will not hold your Personal Data for any longer than is necessary for the uses outlined above unless we are required to keep your Personal Data longer to comply with the law and any regulatory requirements.
Accessing and Correcting Your Information
You can review and change your Personal Data by sending us an email at info@reporters-shield.org to request access to, correct or delete any Personal Data that you have provided to us. We may not accommodate a request to change information if we believe the change would violate any law or legal requirement or cause the information to be incorrect.
Residents of certain states may have additional personal information rights and choices.
Your State of Other Privacy Rights
State consumer privacy laws or other applicable data protection laws may provide individuals with additional rights regarding our use of their Personal Data.
Nevada provides its residents with a limited right to opt-out of certain Personal Data sales. Residents who wish to exercise this sale opt-out rights may submit a request to this designated address: info@reporters-shield.org. However, please know we do not currently sell data triggering that statute’s opt-out requirements.
You might have special rights under other applicable data protection legislation which can be exercised by emailing us at info@reporters-shield.org. This might include, depending on the circumstances and your location:
- the right to access the Personal Data that has been collected about you;
- the right to have your Personal Data corrected if incorrect or incomplete;
- the right to have your Personal Data deleted;
- the right to request a restriction on the processing of your Personal Data;
- the right to ask us not to process your Personal Data, e.g. for marketing;
- the right to lodge a complaint to a relevant data protection/supervisory authority;
- the right to ask us not to make automated decision-making; and
- where you have given your consent, to request that you withdraw your consent at any time.
Data Security
We have implemented measures designed to secure your Personal Data from accidental loss and from unauthorized access, use, alteration, and disclosure, including multi-factor authentication, data encryption using industry-standard encryption algorithms, and physically secured data centers with 24/7 monitoring and access control.
The safety and security of your information also depends on you. We urge you to be careful about giving out information in public areas of the Website like content forms. The information you share in public areas may be viewed by any user of the Website.
Unfortunately, the transmission of information via the internet is not completely secure. Although we do our best to protect your Personal Data, we cannot guarantee the security of your Personal Data transmitted to our Website. Any transmission of Personal Data is at your own risk. We are not responsible for circumvention of any privacy settings or security measures contained on the Website.
Changes to Our Privacy Policy
We reserve the right to periodically amend this privacy policy and change or revoke access to the Website at any time, with or without any prior notice. If we make material changes to this privacy policy or to how we treat our Visitors’ Personal Data in a disadvantageous manner, we will notify you by updating the date of this privacy policy and posting it on the Website or other appropriate means. Any modifications to this privacy policy will be effective upon our posting the modified version (or as otherwise indicated at the time of posting). In all cases, your use of the Website after the effective date of any modifications to the privacy policy indicates your acknowledging that the modified content of the privacy policy applies to your interactions with the Website and our business. The date the privacy policy was last revised is identified at the top of the page. You are responsible for periodically visiting our Website and this privacy policy to check for any changes.
Contact InformationTo ask questions or comment about this privacy policy and our privacy practices, contact us at info@reporters-shield.org.
