This Privacy Policy, along with our Terms of Service, applies to all users of KQED Inc.’s, and its subsidiaries including Snap Studios, LLC, (“KQED”) digital platforms, including this website (the “Site”), embeddable content that we may make available for use on other people’s websites or digital platforms, and our apps (collectively, the “KQED Platform”), other than third party content, as discussed in Links to Third Party Sites and Services, below.

• • We collect information that personally identifies you when you voluntarily provide it on the KQED Platform.

• We will honor your browser’s Do Not Track setting.
• We use cookies on our website to collect aggregated website usage data and to improve our services and your user experience.
• This Privacy Policy also includes specific disclosures for residents of the European Economic Area and Switzerland.
• For more detailed information about our privacy practices, please read our complete privacy policy below.

Our Commitment to Your Privacy

We take your privacy seriously and want you to understand how we do and don’t use information about you. Below you’ll find information about our commitment to ensuring the privacy of your personally identifiable information (such as your full name, address, email address, telephone number, and/or other identifying information) and preserving the integrity of the medium. If you have any questions or concerns, please send us an email at faq@kqed.org.

How We Collect Information

A. Information You Provide to Us Voluntarily

You may voluntarily give us information like:

• Your login information;
• Your email address (e.g. when you sign up for an email newsletter);
• Your name and/or address (e.g. when you register for a contest or sweepstakes);
• Your phone number (e.g. if you text us);
• Donation / payment information;
• Your Content submissions (e.g. in response to a call for nature photos for our Quest TV show)

B. Information We Collect Automatically from Users

When you use the KQED Platform, we may automatically recognize certain information like your IP address, date of your visit, operating system, what type of device you are using, geo-targeting information (what geographic area you’re in), and your user behavior (e.g. how long you stay on a page, or amount of time spent listening to audio files).

• KQED Cookies

KQED uses cookies, other similar small files sent to your computer which store information through your browser and web beacons (tiny graphics, aka “pixel tags”) as part of our digital functionality (e.g. to store your preferences or password and understand your user behavior), and to offer responsive elements based on users’ actions. This information helps us improve the experience you and other visitors have with the KQED Platform.

You can manage cookies, including blocking them, through your browser’s settings. Below are links to cookie instructions for the most popular browsers.

Apple Safari
Google Chrome
Mozilla Firefox
Microsoft Edge
Microsoft Internet Explorer

In addition, KQED uses third party vendors that provide services (e.g., analytics) for the KQED Platform which may each use their own cookies and web beacons as part of the KQED Platform. At no time do these cookies reveal your name, address, or e-mail address (even if you have entered these in specific areas of the Site).

Cookies KQED use fall into the following categories:

• • Strictly Necessary Cookies

KQED uses both session and persistent cookies to help our website/apps recognize users and ensure a smooth user experience (e.g., maintaining a user’s logged in state as they navigate from page to page within a website so they do not have to log in multiple times). The KQED website and app will not function correctly without these cookies. If you do not wish to have these cookies used on your end, you can choose to not use the KQED website or app. Note that if you block these cookies in your browser settings, the KQED website/app will not function properly.

• • Third Party Analytics/Operations Cookies

KQED uses cookies provided by third parties that provide analytics on website/app usage and/or monitor the performance of our website/apps. If you do not wish to have these cookies used on your end, you can block cookies in your browser settings and/or contact the third party (listed below) to opt out.

• • Third Party Advertising/Marketing Cookies

KQED uses cookies provided by third parties that help advertisers and non-KQED websites show you relevant advertising. If you do not wish to have these cookies used on your end, you can block cookies in your browser settings and/or contact the third party (listed below) to opt out.

Here is a list of Third Party partners with links to more information about their use of your data and how to exercise your options regarding such use:

Third Party Partner Privacy Policy Opt Out Links/Categories
Last updated: July 28, 2020

Advertising/Marketing

AdsWizz (Advertising)
Bing (Personalized Advertising and Remarketing)
Facebook (Personalized Advertising and Remarketing)
Google Ads, Floodlight (Personalized Advertising and Remarketing)

Website Analytics and Operations

Amplitude (Website Analytics)
Chartbeat (Website Analytics)
Google Analytics, Ads, and Tag Manager (Website Analytics)
Google Tag Manager (Site Operations)
New Relic (Website Performance Analytics)
Quantcast (Website Analytics, Audience Demographics)
Urban Airship (Push Notifications, Analytics)

How We Use Information

Personally Identifiable Information

KQED may ask for your personally identifiable information (like your name, address, email address, phone number or credit card information) but we will never willfully disclose any of this information to a non-affiliated third party without first receiving your permission (unless required by law). This means, e.g., we may email you to join a new newsletter list or ask you to renew your membership when it expires, and we may share your information with third party vendor service providers, but only for the purpose of helping us do these sorts of things and never for their own use . These third party service providers maintain customer databases with email addresses obtained via the KQED Platform and other collection methods (events, phone calls, etc.) and visitors who have provided them to us by registering at our site, signing up for a newsletter or email, emailing questions to us about the services, donors who submit online contributions or online buyers who make a purchase. We may also share personally identifiable information and data that KQED members provide to us with other organizations, as well as third-party cooperative databases, for the purpose of generating acquisition leads and reacquiring former members. For more information regarding KQED’s policies on the collection and use of member information, as well as information about how KQED members can opt out of having their information shared, please see KQED’s Member Information Policy. These third party vendors are required to maintain the privacy of all such information in their possession or control and can only use the information on our behalf for the purpose that we have contracted them. They are not authorized to use your information for any other purpose.

KQED may use your personally identifiable information only for conducting activities such as those stated above, or for internal marketing and promotional purposes, KQED Teach platform evaluation, and to improve the Platform experience through personalization features.

In the instance when certain personal information is required for a particular activity it will be explicitly stated and explained at the time of submission. If you do not want this information to be collected or used for these purposes, you can simply “opt-out” by choosing not to participate in the activity, such as a sweepstakes entry. Our visitors need to recognize, however, that under certain circumstances, if they select to “opt-out” they may not be eligible for certain activities for which the personally identifiable information is needed.

Payment Information

When you provide us payment information in order to process a donation or purchase an item, this information is encrypted, using reasonable, industry-standard security measures, and is used (generally by our third party vendors) only to fulfill your transaction.

Non Personally Identifiable Information

We use other information for things like improving your user experience (e.g. your user history on our digital platforms may be used to provide recommendations to you and other users of the same device), selecting third-party vendors who best meet our needs, and notifying our users about our programs and events. In doing this, we do share non-personally identifying information and payment information with third parties.

Please note that if you share personal information through a public feature that it may become public (e.g. if you include your email address in a comment, other users will see it, or if you include your name in a content submission, it may be read on the air or posted online to attribute the content).

Lastly, if we are required by law to share your information (including personal and payment information), we will share to the extent necessary to comply with the request.

KQED.org Account and Account Deletion

You can permanently delete your KQED.org account via the Privacy Tab of your My Account page. When you delete your account, any information associated with your account will also be deleted, including any content you have saved. Your account will be deactivated and data will be inaccessible within 24 hours, and your data will be deleted and unrecoverable within 14 days, but please note that we may be required (by law or otherwise) to retain information and not delete it (or to keep this information for a certain time, in which case we will comply with your deletion request only after we have fulfilled such requirements).

Do Not Track

If you enable the Do Not Track setting in your browser, we won’t record your visit to our website and the third party cookies on our pages will be disabled. Find more information on Do Not Track

Links to Third Party Sites and Services

The KQED Platform contains links to services maintained by third parties that do not follow the same privacy practices as KQED. In some cases, we may also include certain embedded tools provided and controlled by third parties, or that permit you to submit information to these third parties. These services and tools are governed by the terms and policies of those third parties. The KQED Platform also includes widgets from third party services, e.g. a button that allows you to “like” an article on Facebook. Please review these services’ own privacy policies for more information.

Children
Children should always get permission from their parents before sending any information about themselves (such as their names, email addresses, and phone numbers) via the web or mobile device, to KQED or to anyone else. Except for the classroom-facing KQED Learn platform which is COPPA compliant, the KQED services are not directed at children under the age of 13 and KQED does not knowingly allow anyone under the age of 13 to provide any personally-identifying information to KQED. If you are under 13, please do not attempt to register for any KQED Services without teacher consent or provide any information about yourself.

Users in California

California residents have additional rights under the California Consumer Privacy Act (“CCPA”). The CCPA provides rules that for-profit companies must follow; as a non-profit, KQED is not explicitly subject to CCPA rules. KQED does, however, voluntarily follow the following CCPA rules:

Opt-out of sale of personal information: KQED does not sell your personal information. However, we may rent or share your personal contact information with like-minded organizations as disclosed in our Member Information Policy. You may opt-out of the “sale” (in our case, sharing of) of your personal information at any time by emailing privacy@kqed.org with the subject line “CA resident – do not sell request”. Note that opting out of the sale/rental/sharing of your personal information does not mean you will no longer see ads on our sites and apps.

Deletion of personal information: You may request deletion of your personal information at any time by emailing privacy@kqed.org with the subject line “CA resident – delete personal information”.

Do not track settings: If your browser or device has a “do not track” setting enabled, we will honor the setting. Note that KQED cannot set do not track settings for you; you must do this yourself in your web browser.

Cookies: If you do not wish to have cookies used on your end, you must block cookies in your browser settings. Note that KQED cannot change your browser settings for you; you must do this yourself in your web browser.

Users in the EEA and Switzerland
If you are a resident of the EEA or Switzerland, the following information applies with respect to personal data collected through your use of our Services.

Purposes of processing and legal basis for processing: We process personal data consistent with our disclosures in this Privacy Policy. We process personal data on the following legal bases: (1) with your consent; (2) as necessary to perform our agreement to provide Services; and (3) as necessary for our legitimate interests in providing the Services where those interests do not override your fundamental rights and freedoms related to data privacy.

Transfers: Personal data we collect may be transferred to, and stored and processed in, the United States or any other country in which we or our affiliates or processors maintain facilities. We will ensure that transfers of personal data to a third country or an international organization are subject to appropriate safeguards.

Your Rights: You are entitled to the rights under Chapter III of the EU General Data Protection Regulation or Section 2 of the Swiss Federal Act on Data Protection with respect to the processing of your personal data, which include the right to access and rectify and to request erasure of personal data. To make a request or otherwise exercise your rights, contact us at privacy@kqed.org. In order to respond to your request, we will need to verify your identity and residency and may require you to provide us with supporting information.

Acceptance of This Policy

By using this site, you signify your agreement to the terms and conditions of this Privacy Policy. If you do not agree to these terms and conditions, please do not use the KQED Platform. We reserve the right, at our sole discretion, to change, modify, add, or remove portions of this policy at any time. Please check this page periodically for any changes. Your continued use of the KQED Platform following the posting of any changes to these terms shall mean that you have accepted those changes. If you have any questions or concerns, please email us at faq@kqed.org.

Terms of Use

Please also make sure to read the KQED Public Media Website’s Terms of Service to understand the additional terms and conditions which apply to your use of the KQED Platform.

Effective: December 17, 2024