Help a Reporter Out Privacy Policy

1. Company

HelpAReporter.com is owned and run by Cision US Inc. (a Cision Company) (“HelpAReporter.com”, “HelpAReporter”, “HARO”, “us”).

To contact us with questions about this privacy policy, write to:
Cision, 12051 Indian Creek Ct., Beltsville, MD 20705

2. Scope

Cision has adopted this Privacy Policy to inform its customers and others about how it protects personally identifiable information and other information that may be collected when users visit the HelpaReporter.com web site.
This Privacy Policy covers HARO’s treatment of personal or personally identifiable information (“Personal Information”) that may be collected when you are on the HelpaReporter.com website, and when you use the services of HelpaReporter.com. The privacy of your nonpublic information is important to us. This includes, but is not limited to, your name, email address and any other personally identifiable information. We use safeguards to protect your privacy and confidentiality. This Policy Statement discusses information we collect and the manner in which it is used.

3. Information Collection

Our primary goal in collecting personal information is to provide you with a smooth, efficient, and customized experience.

HelpaReporter.com is sensitive to the protection of customer identifiable information which an individual or another customer reasonably expects to be kept private. Customer identifiable information means information which can be associated with a specific entity or individual, including, by way of example, a customer’s name, e-mail address, and information about on-line activities which can be directly linked to him or her.
If you become a HARO Source member, we will create an account for you, at HelpaReporter.com, which will contain your name, e-mail, and other identifying information. This account will be used to send out the periodic emails. If you respond to an anonymous posting, we will retain that response (and even if you are not a Source member, we will retain that email information).

If you become a HARO Journalist member, we will create an account for you, at HelpaReporter.com, which will contain your name, e-mail, and other identifying information. This information will be displayed on our emails we send out to the Source Members listing your request for information. If you post a request for information anonymously, we will create a Google filter for incoming emails which will then forward those emails which properly comply with the instructions to you. We will receive copies of those emails as well as any responses which did not properly comply with the instructions. HARO may also collect Personal Information from your usage of the HelpaReporter.com website. If you do nothing during your visit but browse through the website and read the information contained on the Web pages, we may gather certain information about your visit automatically, such as your IP address, the date and time you access a given page, and the pages you visit. We use cookies to identify return users, so that they need not log in each time they arrive.

We use data collection devices such as “cookies” on certain pages of our websites. “Cookies” are small files placed on your hard drive that assist us in providing customized services. We also offer certain features that are only available through the use of a cookie. Cookies can also help us provide information which is targeted to your interests. We use this information to determine our members’ demographics, interest, and behavior to better understand and serve you and our community.

Please note that your personally identifiable information will be stored and processed on our computers in the United States. The laws regarding the handling of personal data in the United States may differ from the laws of other countries but, as we explain below, Cision. will hold and transmit your information in a safe, confidential and secure environment.

Under some circumstances we may require certain additional information, including, but not limited to your credit card and/or bank account billing information. We use this financial information, including your name, address, and other information to bill you for use of our Services such as enrolling as a member of a HARO or engaging in any other kind of activity or transaction that uses financial information on the website, you consent to our providing of your financial information to our service providers and to such third parties as we determine necessary to support and process your activities and transactions, as well as to your credit card issuer and/or bank for their purposes. These third parties may include the credit card companies and banking institutions used to process and support your transaction or activity.

4. Our Use of Your Information

We use information in the files we maintain about you, and the other information we obtain from your current and past activities on the websites to resolve disputes, troubleshoot problems and enforce our Terms of Service. At times, we may review the data of multiple members to identify problems or resolve disputes. You agree that we may use personally identifiable information about you to analyze website usage, improve our content and service offerings, and customize our website’s content, layout, and service. These uses improve our websites and may better tailor them to meet your needs. You agree that we may use your information to contact you and to deliver information to you such as administrative notices, service offerings, and communications relevant to your use of the website. By accepting this Privacy Policy, you expressly agree to receive this information.

If you are a Source Member, we use your email address to send you our email listing of requests for information and may also let you know of information relating to HARO, Cision, or Cision’s subsidiaries or affiliates. If you are a Journalist Member and post a request anonymously, we will use your email address to forward responses to your request.

5. Sharing and Disclosure of Personal Information

HARO will not sell or rent your Personal Information to any individual, business, or government entity.

HARO will share your Personal Information with other entities if HARO is required to respond to court orders, subpoenas, or other legal process. HARO may also use customer identifiable information to investigate and help prevent potentially unlawful activity or activity that threatens HelpaReporter.com’s users or otherwise violates the Terms of Service agreement.

HelpaReporter.com’s servers automatically gather information about which pages are visited within the HelpAReporter.com site. HARO does not use that information except in the aggregate. This information helps us identify the type of website content or features our customers value most. We may use suppliers to assist us in collecting, using, or otherwise processing for our benefit the non- personal information obtained through the site.

We share much of our data, including personally identifiable information about you, with our parent, affiliates and/or subsidiaries that are committed to serving your online needs and related services, throughout the world. To the extent that these entities have access to your information, they will treat it at least as protectively as they treat information they obtain from their other members. Our parent, affiliates and/or subsidiaries will follow privacy practices no less protective of all members than our practices described in this document, to the extent alleged by applicable law. It is possible that Cision its affiliates, and/or its subsidiaries, or any combination of such, could merge with or be acquired by another business entity. Should such a combination occur, you should expect that Cision would share some or all of your information in order to continue to provide the Service. You will receive notice of such event (to the extent it occurs) and we will require that the new combined entity follow the practices disclosed in this Privacy Policy, as it may be amended from time to time.

6. Your Use of Journalist Members’ Information

Our services to our Source members include postings of Requests for Information. Some are posted anonymously; some contain our Journalist member’s contact information. By accepting this Privacy Policy, you agree that, with respect to other members’ personally identifiable information that you obtain through the services, Cision hereby grants to you a license to use such information only for: (a) HARO’s related communications that are not unsolicited commercial messages, that is, responses to the specific Request for Information and (b) any other purpose to which such member expressly agrees. In addition, under no circumstances, except as defined in this Privacy Policy, may you disclose personally identifiable information or confidential information about another member (including Journalist Members) to any third party without our consent and the consent of such other member. Cision and our HARO members do not tolerate spam. Therefore, without limiting the foregoing, you are not licensed to add a HARO member to your mail list (email or physical mail) without their express consent after adequate disclosure. Further, you may only send a relevant response to a specific request for information and not use such information for any other purpose. To report spam from other HARO members, please Contact Us.

7. Security

Cision uses industry standard practices to safeguard the confidentiality of your personal identifiable information. Cision treats data as an asset that must be protected against loss and unauthorized access. We employ many different security techniques to protect such data from unauthorized access by others inside and outside the company. However, perfect security does not exist on the internet.

8. Access

We restrict access to nonpublic information to people on the HARO team who need to access that information in order to provide HelpaReporter.com service to you.

9. Lawful Use of Site

HelpaReporter.com website services may only be used for lawful purposes. Transmission of any material in violation of any US or state or local law, rule or regulation is strictly prohibited. This includes, but is not limited to: copyrighted or trademarked material; material that is threatening or obscene; material protected by trade secret; or material which violates a legally protected privacy right of an individual. Persons under the age of 18 may not access HelpaReporter.com.

HelpaReporter.com will cooperate with local, state and federal courts and law enforcement agencies in the investigation and prosecution of claims of illegal activities when legally obligated to do so. HelpaReporter.com will comply with all legally enforceable subpoenas, search warrants, court orders and other forms of legal process. Under HelpaReporter.com’s Terms of Service, the customer agrees to indemnify and hold HelpaReporter.com and HelpaReporter, its employees, officers, directors and agents, harmless from any claims, liabilities and expenses, including reasonable attorney’s fees, resulting from the customer’s use or misuse of the service which damages HARO, HelpaReporter.com, its officers, directors, employees and agents, as well as any user, or another party.

10. Amendments

HARO will keep this policy current and reserves the right to change this policy at any time by amending the content of this Statement. HARO will post a notice of changes on the HelpaReporter.com website, when and if the policy is amended. This Statement and the policies expressed herein are not intended to and do not create any contractual or other legal rights in or on behalf of any customer, user, or other third party.

11. Ownership

HelpaReporter.com, HelpaReporter, Help a Reporter Out and HARO are the exclusive trade names and marks of Cision.