Last Updated on November 1, 2023
1. Overview
U.S. Military Publishing LLCs web site (“USMP”, “we”, or “us”) is a military community site containing curated, original and user-generated information (collectively, the “Services”). We at USMP recognize that your privacy is important to you. We have created this privacy policy (“Privacy Policy”) to explain our privacy practices so you will understand when and how personally identifiable information is collected, used, disclosed and protected with respect to our Site. BY ACCESSING OUR SITE, YOU CONSENT TO OUR PRIVACY POLICY AS DESCRIBED HEREIN.
2. What kind of information does USMP collect about you?
We collect two basic types of information from our Site. Personally identifiable information is information that is directly associated with a specific person or entity such as a user’s name, e-mail address, branch of service, rank, or other information that is directly linked to that person.
Our definition of personally identifiable information does not include “aggregate” information. Aggregate information is data we collect about a group or category of services or user from which individual user identities have been removed. Aggregate data may include anonymous demographic information such as country of origin, citizenship, ZIP code, age, gender, preferences and survey information. In other words, how you use our Site and Mobile Application may be collected and combined with information about how others use the Site and Mobile Application, but no personally identifiable information will be included in the resulting data. Aggregate data helps us understand trends and our user’s needs so that we can better consider new features or otherwise tailor our Site.
The choice of how much personally identifiable information you disclose to us is completely at your discretion. Some areas of our Site are accessible without providing personally identifiable information of any kind, and you can browse those areas. Other areas of our Site and mobile application require the submission of personally identifiable information in order for you to participate in the services offered. It is not mandatory for you to provide personally identifiable information to us, but please realize that in order for us to serve you better or provide particular features, you will need to provide certain information to access some areas of our Site and mobile application. We collect information you give us when you provide personally identifiable information and use our Site and mobile application. Specific examples of the information we collect include the following:
A. Submissions and Customer Service. From time-to-time we may post surveys, contests or sweepstakes on our site, which may request personally identifiable information, demographic information and/or customer feedback. Contests may require contact information or other demographic or personally identifiable information in order to determine eligibility. We may also collect information that identifies you personally when you send us comments, questions, suggestions, or subscribe to our print or digital editions. Participation in these requests is completely voluntary and with each request you will have the choice of whether or not to participate and disclose information. We may use information collected from surveys and contests to notify and contact winners of those contest or and send participants other information which USMP may deem relevant.
B. Postings and Reviews. Please note that information and content that you post on our Site and Mobile Application by using our services including, but not limited to, comments, photos and other such information can be viewed by the general public, and also may be stored on our systems indefinitely. You should not post any personally identifiable information that you do not wish to make publicly available.
C. Cookies and Passive Data Collection. We automatically receive certain types of information whenever you interact with our Site and Mobile Application. For example, when you visit the Site, our systems automatically collect standard user information and clickstream data for all users, including a user’s IP address, operating system, and page views. Information may be automatically collected through the use of “cookies” which are discussed in more detail below. Cookies are small text files placed on your hard drive by a web site when you visit. These files identify your computer and record your preferences and other data about your visit so that when you return to the site, the site knows who you are and can personalize your visit. In general, we may use cookies to collect information so that we can determine how to improve our site by seeing which areas and features are most popular, to personalize the site and improve the site experience. Cookies are not tied to your personally identifiable information. Most browsers automatically accept cookies as the default setting. You can modify the setting to reject cookies or to prompt you before accepting a cookie from the sites you visit by editing browser options. If you decide not to accept our cookies, you will still be able to access those parts of our site available to the general public but you may not be able to use some of the site’s features or services and you may have a less satisfactory experience.
D. Clear Gifs. We and the companies that serve advertisements on our Site use a pixel technology called clear gifs that helps inform us and them about what content is active. Clear gifs are tiny graphics with a unique identifier, similar in function to cookies, and are used to track the online movements of Web user. Clear gifs are not tied to your personally identifiable information. Clear gifs are invisible on the page and very small, about the size of the period at the end of this sentence. Clear Gifs can “work with” existing cookies on a computer if they are both from the same website or advertising company. That means, for example, that if a person visited “www.companyX.com”, which uses an advertising company’s clear gif, the website would read the clear gif’s identifier and the advertising company’s cookie ID number, to show the past online behavior for that computer. The information would then go back to the advertising company.
E. Third Party Links and Ad Servers. We provide links to third party websites, which may, or may not, use cookies, pixel tags and web tags. We also allow other companies, called third-party ad servers, to display advertisements on ameriforce.net. Ad servers may also use these tools to compile information about where users saw particular advertisements, and to determine which ads were clicked on. We are not responsible for, or have any control over, the privacy policies of those third party websites and ad servers, and encourage all users to read the privacy policies of each and every website visited when linking directly from USMP.
3. How will the information that USMP collects be used?
In general, we use personally identifiable information to serve our users, enable them to take maximum advantage of our services and to improve the products and services we provide to you. For example, we may use personal information to contact our users relating to their comments on our site, to anticipate and resolve problems with our Site, to respond to customer support inquiries, and to send other administrative and systems-related messages. We reserve the right to send such communications to our users without offering the opportunity to opt-out of receiving them.
4. With whom does USMP share the personal information it collects about you?
We do not rent, sell, or share your personally identifiable information with third parties or nonaffiliated companies, except as described in this section or with your express permission.
We reserve the right to share trend and aggregate information with our partners for business purposes and with other third parties for marketing purposes. We might disclose, for example, that a certain percentage of our users list their military branch as “U.S, Navy.” However, will not link aggregated data to individuals or their devices or accounts.
We disclose information when required by law or judicial authority.
We disclose information as required to safeguard USMP’s rights or property.
We reserve the right to share personally identifiable information with third parties, that have run a specific marketing campaign with USMP, for marketing purposes.
If USMP is ever merged with another company, or if USMP buys, sells or reorganizes some or all part(s) of its business, parties involved in such a transaction would gain access to the information that USMP has collected over time. Such third parties would be required, however, to adhere to the provisions of this Privacy Policy until such time as it was amended in accordance with the process for modification set forth herein.
5. What are the opt-out choices USMP provides regarding the collection, use, and distribution of personally identifiable information?
We reserve the right to send you advertisements, newsletters, and any other commercial solicitations to our users. You can opt-out from receiving this kind of communication.
Third parties may independently collect information about users when users choose to view links or ads displayed on USMP. Users should contact those third parties directly if they do not wish to receive communications from them, or do not want those third parties to collect information about them.
We are opposed to spam and our Terms of Service expressly prohibit users from uploading, posting, emailing, transmitting or otherwise making available junk mail, commercial advertisements, or other form of commercial solicitation on the USMP’s website or through USMP’s services. Any violation of our policies, by sending unsolicited email advertisements to or through USMP’s computer systems, will result in the sender being blocked from use of the Site and Mobile Application and may subject the sender and his or her agents to civil and criminal penalties.
6. What security procedures does USMP use to protect against the loss, misuse, or alteration of information collected by the company?
USMP uses industry standard security measures to protect the loss, misuse, and alteration of the information under our control. Although we make good faith efforts to store the information collected by the USMP website in a secure operating environment that is not available to the public, we cannot guarantee complete security. Further, while we make reasonable efforts to ensure the integrity and security of our network and systems, we cannot guarantee that our security measures will prevent third-party “hackers” from illegally obtaining this information.
7. Notification of Changes
From time to time, we may need to update our Privacy Policy because of changes in the law, in technology, in our business, or in our attempts to better serve your needs. If we make any material changes to our Privacy Policy, we will post a notification on our Site and update the effective date above. All amended terms shall automatically be effective 30 days after they are initially posted on the Site. Therefore, we encourage you to check the date of our privacy policy whenever you visit this Site to see if it has been updated since your last visit.
If you have any questions, comments, or concerns about this Privacy Policy or personally identifiable information you have provided to us, please email us at publisher@usmilitarypublishing.com or contact us by mail at:
U.S. Military Publishing, LLC
P.O. Box 1615
Woodstock, IL 60098
Attention: Publisher
