Privacy Policy

Our Collection and Use of Information About You

Passively Collected Data

Like most websites, we may automatically receive and record information in our server logs from your browser when you visit pardonsnowden.org. The information that we collect with these automated methods may include your IP address, cookie information, browser type, system type, and the referring URL.

We use this type of information to measure and improve the performance of our site. On occasion we also access this type of information to investigate or maintain the stability and security of our site.

Voluntarily Submitted Data

Certain pages on the Pardon Snowden website invite you to share personally identifying information, such as your name, address, email address, or telephone number. Sharing that information will allow you to make a donation, join our email list, sign a letter, or participate in other similar online activities.

We may use that voluntarily submitted data to:

• Contact you about other Pardon Snowden activities or news, or about opportunities to support the ACLU.
• In the case of letters, display your first name, last initial, city, and state on petition forms that you sign.

When We May Share Your Information With Other Organizations

When we give you an opportunity to voluntarily submit information about yourself, we may give you the option of indicating that you permit us to share that data with other parties such as coalition partners or specific legislators. We will not share your data with such parties unless you have indicated that you permit us to do so.

Our Email List

If you sign up for our email list, we may collect data by using an embedded image to track whether you open our email and by using a URL that enables us to identify that you have taken an action, such as clicking a link in an email or signing an online petition.

This allows us to build a more effective advocacy program, to inform you about updates relevant to the Pardon Snowden campaign, and to make it simpler for you to sign petitions and fill out surveys.

How We Work With Third-Party Vendors

We work with a variety of vendors who help us process data or otherwise facilitate the operation of the Pardon Snowden website. For example, outside vendors may help us analyze traffic on our site or facilitate activities such as the collection and delivery of letters. To the extent that any vendor has access to personally identifiable data about you, by virtue of the fact that it participates in the operation of the Pardon Snowden website, we require that vendor to promise that it will keep that data confidential and use it only for the purpose of carrying out the functions we have engaged it to perform. That is true both as to passively collected data and as to voluntarily submitted data.

SurveyMonkey

This campaign uses SurveyMonkey to administer surveys. We've set up our surveys so that they collect respondent IP addresses and email addresses. All survey questions can be skipped, and we encourage respondents who feel uncomfortable answering individual questions to do so. Aggregate survey data and individual responses will be shared inside the campaign, but not externally, except in cases where we've gotten specific permission. Within three months of survey completion we will permanently delete the survey data from our SurveyMonkey account.

SurveyMonkey says it will then be fully purged from its system within 90 days. For more information, see SurveyMonkey's privacy policy and security statement.

Our Use of Cookies

We use cookies to improve website performance, to remember user preferences and settings, and to collect analytic data. By "cookies" we mean small text files placed on to your computer by websites you visit. "Cookies" may also refer to local storage, which is a mechanism similar to cookies where the information is stored within your web browser. In some instances we place these cookies ourselves. In other instances we allow outside service providers to place these cookies, but only if those providers agree to the terms described above under "How We Work with Third-Party Vendors." We use cookies as follows:

Website Performance

Website performance cookies allow the Pardon Snowden campaign to improve visitor experience by making the website easier to use.

Analytics

We use analytics tools that place cookies, in order to give us a better understanding of how people engage with our website. That in turn allows us to gauge the current performance of website features. Analytics cookies provide us with information like:

• How many individual visitors we have
• How many visitors are new or returning
• How often visitors come to the website
• What content they've visited
• How visitors interact with particular pages or content

In addition, if you click on a link in an email we send to you — for example, to send a letter — a cookie may be generated that enables us to identify that you have sent the letter.

How Certain Content Hosts May Place Cookies and Gather Information About You

Our site is connected in a variety of ways to content residing on other platforms. We provide links to content on social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter, and to content on other sites, such as articles posted on the sites of news organizations. Our site also features embedded media, such as videos, that are hosted on other platforms (such as YouTube) but viewable directly through the buttons we provide. When you click on links or buttons for any of these types of external content, the providers of that content may place their own cookies on your computer, access existing cookies that were set when you previously visited other websites, or otherwise gather information about you as you access their content.

To learn about how those content hosts treat the data they collect through cookies and otherwise, see their respective online privacy policies and other posted guidance.

To learn how you can minimize the information about you collected by these types of content hosts, please see our Easy Steps Everyone Can Take to Protect Their Digital Privacy.

Security Measures and Data Transmission

We have taken physical, electronic, and managerial measures to safeguard the information we collect. We work to ensure data accuracy and protect against unauthorized access to, and improper use of, information we collect online.

Information that can be readily linked to you personally, such as your name and address, is stored on secure servers and is not publicly accessible (unless, as discussed above, you have chosen to have us disclose information about you when you have signed a petition or submitted a blog comment). Additionally, all data transmitted to and from our website, including credit card numbers, are encrypted using industry standard measures to provide an additional level of security.

Procedure When We Update This Statement

Our privacy statement may change from time to time. We will post privacy statement changes on this page and, if the changes are significant, we will provide a more prominent notice on our website.

Procedure for Updating Your Personal Information or Preferences

If you wish to withdraw or change personal information you shared with us previously or adjust personal preferences — such as your preferences regarding email lists — you may contact us.