Privacy Policy

The North Coast Current provides this Privacy Policy to inform you, the reader, of the kinds of information that the Current may collect related to its website and other services, how that information and your choices are used, and how you can contact the Current if you have any questions about the policy.

What information does the North Coast Current collect?

The North Coast Current collects personal information — used to identify a specific individual — from the following:

Subscribers to the North Coast Current online and in print.
Persons who choose to participate in polls, surveys, panels, focus groups and other market research methods online, over the phone, through mail or in person.
Users of North Coast Current mobile applications and messaging services operated by or on behalf of the North Coast Current.
Customers and others who attend North Coast Current-sponsored events who provide sign-in and/or registration information.
Persons who enroll and/or participate in North Coast Current events, contests and other promotions or those by third parties.
The types of information that the North Coast Current may collect that can be considered personal information include:
Your contact information, such as name, email and postal address, and phone number.
Username and password for any accounts you may establish for the Current’s site and related services.
Demographic information.
Location information, such as city, state, country, geographic location of a device you use to access the Current’s site and related services or on which you install North Coast Current mobile applications, and the location of businesses and other places you visit.
Payment card information, including payment card number, security code, expiration date, cardholder name and billing address.
Material you contribute using the Current’s site and related services, such as comments, photos, recommendations, reviews or other items you submit.
Information you provide by connecting the Current’s site and related services to, or interacting with us through, social media applications, including but not limited to social media user name, pictures, shared articles, information contained in your posts, the identities of your social media contacts and profile information.
Online and offline shopping behavior and preferences, such as a record of the purchases you make on the Current’s website and while visiting third-party outlets.
Personal and/or household characteristics, behavior and preferences that might be provided through your voluntary participation in surveys, panels, focus groups or other market research.
Other details that you may submit to the North Coast Current or that may be included in the information provided to the Current by third parties.

What are cookies and beacons, and how are they used?

When you visit or use the North Coast Current’s site and related services, the Current or third parties (such as advertisers and vendors) may collect certain information about you by automated means, such as cookies and Web beacons. A cookie (include all about cookies link) is a text file that a website sends to a visitor’s computer or other Internet-connected device that uniquely identifies the visitor’s browser or stores information or settings in the browser. A Web beacon, also known as an Internet tag, is a transparent graphic image that is used to transmit information back to a Internet server. The Current may also use third-party website analytics tools (such as Google Analytics) that collect information about visitor traffic, browsing patterns and usage. A Flash cookie, also known as a local share object (LSO), is a collection of data that a website running Adobe Flash software can place on a computer’s hard drive. Flash cookies contain information about when you visit a website and may contain tracking and settings information.

The information the North Coast Current may collect by these means includes:

Information about the computers, mobile devices or other devices the Current’s visitors use to access the Internet and its site and related services, such as IP addresses; unique device identifiers; device, browser and operating system type; domain names; and browser language.
Websites that refer users to the Current’s website and related services, and websites that users visit from the Current’s sites and related services.
Search terms that visitors use to reach the Current’s website.
Dates and times of visits and uses of the Current’s website and related services.
A general geographic location, such as city, state and country, from which a visitor accesses the site and related services.
Usage and statistics related to the Current’s site and related services.
Information on visitor actions, such as landing pages, page views, clicks, exit pages, time spent on the site or pages, dates and times of actions taken on the site, and page and site navigation patterns.
The North Coast Current may also include Web beacons in email messages or newsletters to determine whether the message has been opened and for other analytics. As the Current adopts additional technologies, it may also gather additional information through other methods.

Most Internet browsers automatically accept cookies, but you can modify your browser settings to decline cookies. Please note that if you decline cookies, you may not be able to sign in, customize or use some of the interactive features of the North Coast Current’s website and related services. Also note that Flash cookies operate differently than browser cookies, and cookie management tools available in a Web browser will not remove Flash cookies.

How does the North Coast Current use visitor information?

The North Coast Current may collect certain personal information about you related to your visiting, enrollment in or use of the website and related services. The North Coast Current may also obtain information about you from its business partners and other third parties.

The North Coast Current may use the information it obtains about you to:

Enable you to communicate with the North Coast Current through its blogs, social networks and other interactive media, including third-party services.
Tailor and customize the North Coast Current’s site and related services, products and features to suit your personal interests and enhance your user experience.
Respond to your questions and comments and provide customer support.
Register you for membership in, or a subscription to, its website and related services and additional features, functions and activities related to its site and related services.
Communicate with you about North Coast Current products, services, transactions, offers, events and promotions or those of third parties, including targeted advertisements and offers.
Conduct market research of North Coast Current customers and users through methods such as surveys and polls.
Process, validate, record, confirm, verify, deliver and track purchases made with the North Coast Current.
Communicate with you about your account, subscription or use of the site and related services.
Assist with reported problems with the website and related services.
Analyze demographics, statistics and trends regarding visitors’ use of the site and related services, including the advertisements users click on and purchases made.
Enforce the Current’s Terms of Use and other agreements.
Help the Current comply with policies, industry standards and any legal requirements.
Guard against and investigate, monitor for and mitigate fraud, physical harm, property damage, criminal activity, financial loss, violations of law, breach of contract, unauthorized transactions, unauthorized use of the North Coast Current sites and related services, claims and other liabilities, and manage risk exposure, including the identification of potential hackers and other unauthorized users.

How are online advertising networks used?

The North Coast Current participates in the following online advertising networks: Google Adsense, CJ Affiliate, ShareASale and Media Bids. The Current reserves advertising space on its website and related services from these networks, which are responsible for cultivating the ads.

Some of these advertising networks allow the Current and other advertisers to target ads to users through demographic, behavioral and other elements. These networks track a visitor’s online activities by collecting information through automated means when they visit the Current’s website and related services and third-party sites, applications and services, including through the use of cookies, Web beacons, Web server logs and other methods.

Some of these networks may place a persistent cookie on your computer. Doing this allows the network to recognize your computer each time it sends you an online advertisement. The North Coast Current does not have access or control over the cookies that may be placed by these third parties on your computer, and has no control over these networks’ and advertisers’ privacy policies or information collection practices.

The information that the Current’s advertising network vendors collect includes information about your use of mobile applications and visits to websites that participate in the advertising networks. The networks use the information to target specific advertisements to you on the Current’s website and related services, and on third-party sites, applications and services, that they consider of interest to you.

Google offers information and actions to opt out of its services at tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout/.

How is social media used?

When you choose to participate in a third-party application, social media site, feature or service offered through the North Coast Current’s website and related services, such as Facebook and Twitter, you may be opting to link or share your activity on those sites and services, which may then collect information about you and publish that activity. Example: When you choose to “share” or “like” content on the Current’s site and related services through social media outlets, that information may be publicly displayed and a third party may have access to information about you and your use of the Current’s site and related services. To disable such tracking, visit the application directly and adjust your privacy and sharing settings.

What information does the North Coast Current share?

The North Coast Current may share and disclose personal information collected with its affiliates and subsidiary companies, business partners, ad network partners and their participants, and other third parties for the purposes described in this Privacy Policy, including to communicate with you about products and services, offers, events and promotions that we find may be of interest to you. We may also share and disclose information as follows:

The Current may use third parties to perform certain services on its behalf, such as hosting or analyzing certain data, performing administrative services, credit card billing and processing, delivery and shipping of products and services, email distribution, list processing and analytics, and survey and promotions management.
The Current may disclose information about you, at its discretion, if it is required to do so by legal process, such as a court order or subpoena; in response to a request or investigation by law enforcement; to protect or defend its rights, business or property or protect the safety of any individual; to protect against, investigate or mitigate the misuse or unauthorized use of the the Current’s site and related services.
The Current may disclose your personal information to third parties that provide and manage events, contests and other such promotions.
By contributing material on the North Coast Current’s website and related services — including but not limited to submissions to its discussion boards, comment sections, blogs and other features — you elect to share and publicly display such material. When you contribute such material, information about you may be displayed and disclosed to others, such as name, profile photo, username, email and other personal information. Such material you contribute is considered public information and can be read, collected or used by others, including for the purposes of sending you unsolicited messages. The North Coast Current has no responsibility to publish, remove or edit any of this material, although the Current reserves the right to monitor, edit or delete such material at its discretion. The Current may make this material available to other persons and sites using services such as RSS feeds.

How can a North Coast Current site user opt out?

North Coast Current website and service users can opt out of the following:

North Coast Current site and service users can unsubscribe from news and marketing emails sent by the Current. You can choose not to receive news and marketing email communications from the Current by clicking on the “Unsubscribe” link in the emails themselves or by adjusting your email application preferences (such as spam filters). If neither of those options work, you may email the North Coast Current at info[at]northcoastcurrent.com and request to unsubscribe. All requests to unsubscribe will be honored.
When you use the North Coast Current website and related services on a mobile device, you may choose not to share your geo-location details with the Current by adjusting your device’s location services settings. Contact your mobile service provider or device maker for instructions on how to do this.
If you wish to disable cookies in your Internet browser, consult your browser’s settings or “Help” menu to do so.

When is the Privacy Policy updated?

The North Coast Current’s Privacy Policy is subject to revision at any time without notice. The Privacy Policy will note an Effective Date when revised.

Thank you for reading the North Coast Current

If you have questions or comments about the North Coast Current’s Privacy Policy, contact the Current by email at info[at]northcoastcurrent.com or Postal Service mail at: North Coast Current, P.O. Box 231849, Encinitas, CA 92023-1849.

Privacy Policy revision effective July 11, 2019