Privacy Policy

Effective Date: February 3, 2010

Introduction
This Privacy Policy applies to the web sites www.czs.org and www.brookfieldzoo.org, which are owned or operated by the Chicago Zoological Society ("CZS" "we," "our" or "us"). This Privacy Policy applies whether you access or use the Site via personal computer, mobile device or otherwise and to interactive features or downloads that are owned or operated by CZS and that are available through the web sites or that interact with the web sites and post this Privacy Policy (collectively, the "Site"). This Privacy Policy applies only to information collected through the Site and does not cover any information collected at any other web site or offline by CZS (unless specifically stated). Please review this Privacy Policy carefully. In addition, please review the Site’s Terms of Use, which governs your use of the Site.

PLEASE NOTE: Generally, the Site is a general audience web site. However, the Site may have a special section for children. The separate web pages that are intended for children will follow our Children's Privacy Policy.

Table of Contents

1. Information We Collect

(a)  Information You Submit To Us
We may ask you to provide us with "Personal Information" (which is information that could reasonably be used to identify you personally, such as first and last name, e-mail address, telephone number, home address, or credit card number and expiration date) while you are on the Site, and we may require you to provide Personal Information if you choose to participate in certain of the Site's features. For example, we may collect Personal Information when you register on the Site; make a credit card purchase or donation; send questions or comments to us; or otherwise communicate or interact with us. We may also collect certain demographic information (such as gender or age) and information about your interests and preferences. If we combine demographic information or information about your preferences together with Personal Information, then such combined information will be treated as Personal Information in those circumstances. There may also be times when you submit information about someone else, such as when you wish to send a gift to someone or when you wish to forward them an e-card or other content from the Site. You are responsible for maintaining the accuracy of the information you submit to us, such as your contact information provided as part of registration.

(b)  Information We Collect As You Access And Use The Site
In addition to any Personal Information or other information that you choose to submit to the Site, we and our third-party service providers may use a variety of technologies that automatically or passively collect certain information whenever you visit or interact with the Site ("Usage Information"). This Usage Information may include your browser type, operating system, the page served, the time of day, and the preceding page view, among other information. We may use Usage Information for a variety of purposes, including to enhance or otherwise improve the Site. In addition, we may collect your IP address or some other unique identifier for the particular device you use to access the Internet (collectively referred to as a "Device Identifier"), as applicable. A Device Identifier is a number that is automatically assigned to your computer, your cell phone, or other device used to access the Internet, and our computers identify your device by its Device Identifier. Usage Information may be non-identifying or may be associated with you. Whenever we associate Usage Information or a Device Identifier with you, we will treat it as Personal Information. The methods that may be used to collect Usage Information include the following:

Cookies. A cookie is a data file placed on a computer when it is used to visit the Site. Cookies may be used for many purposes, including, without limitation, tracking user preferences and web pages visited while using the Site. You may disable cookies using your browser's preferences, but some features of the Site will not function properly or may operate slowly if you disable the cookies.

Web Beacons. Web beacons are small graphic images or other web programming code (also known as “1x1 GIFs” or “clear GIFs"). We may include web beacons in our web pages and e-mail messages. Web beacons may be invisible to you, but any electronic image or other web programming code inserted into a web page or e-mail can act as a web beacon. Web beacons or similar technologies may be used for a number of purposes, including, without limitation, to count visitors to the Site, to monitor how users navigate the Site, to count how many e-mails that were sent were actually opened or to count how many particular articles or links were actually viewed.
 
Embedded Scripts. An embedded script is programming code that is designed to collect information about your interactions with the Site, such as the links on which you click. The code is temporarily downloaded onto your computer or mobile device from our web server or a third party service provider, is active only while you are connected to the Site, and is deactivated or deleted thereafter.

(c)  Information from other sources
We may, from time to time, supplement the information we collect about you online with outside records from third parties. For example, we may receive information from a marketing partner in connection with a co-branded promotion. We may combine the information we receive from those sources with information we collect through the Site. In those cases, we will apply this Privacy Policy to any Personal Information received, unless we have disclosed otherwise.

2. How We May Use the Information Collected

CZS may use may use information collected through the Site, including your Personal Information, in order to: (1) provide you with information or services or process transactions that you have requested or agreed to receive (or that someone has asked us to provide to you); (2) provide you with special offers or promotional materials on behalf of us or third parties that we believe will interest you; (3) enable you to participate in a variety of the Site's features, including public areas of the Site or to respond to your questions or other requests; (4) process your registration with the Site, including verifying your e-mail address is active and valid; (5) facilitate your job search via the Site and prepare related governmental and internal statistics reports; (6) improve the Site or for other internal business purposes; (7) contact you with regard to your use of the Site and, in our discretion, changes to the Site and/or Site's policies; and (8) for purposes disclosed at the time you provide your information or as otherwise set forth in this Privacy Policy.

Please note that information submitted to the Site via a "contact us” or other similar function may not receive a response.

3. How and When We May Disclose Information to Third Parties

CZS may share non-personally identifiable information, such as aggregated user statistics, with third parties.

We may share the information we have collected about you, including Personal Information, as disclosed at the time you provide your information and as described below or otherwise in this Privacy Policy:
 

(a)  Select Chicago Cultural Institutions. We may share your Personal Information with certain other Chicago area cultural institutions who have a relationship with CZS and who may have offers of interest to you and your family. If you do not want your Personal Information shared with other cultural institutions, please let us know by contacting the membership office at (708) 688-8341.

b)  When You Agree To Receive Information From Third Parties. You may be presented with an opportunity to receive information and/or marketing offers directly from third parties. If you do agree (or do not decline) to have your Personal Information shared, your Personal Information will be disclosed to such third parties and all information you disclose will be subject to the privacy policy and practices of such third parties. We are not responsible for the privacy policies and practices of such third parties and, therefore, you should review the privacy policies and practices of such third parties prior to agreeing to receive such information from third parties. If you later decide that you no longer want to receive communication from a third party, you will need to contact that third party directly.

c)  Third Parties Providing Services On Our Behalf. We may use third party vendors to perform certain services on behalf of the Site, such as hosting the Site, designing and/or operating the Site's features, processing credit card transactions; tracking Site analytics, fraud scoring detection and prevention services, enabling you to purchase tickets to events, operating games and enabling CZS to send you e-mail alerts or performing other administrative services. We may provide these companies with access to user information, including Personal Information, to carry out the services they are performing for you or for CZS.

(d)  Sweepstakes, Contests and Promotions. We may offer sweepstakes, contests, and other promotions (any, a "Promotion") through the Site that may require registration. By participating in a Promotion, you are agreeing to the terms, conditions or official rules that govern that Promotion, which may contain specific requirements of you, including, except where prohibited by law, allowing the sponsor(s) of the Promotion to use your name, voice and/or likeness in advertising or marketing associated with the Promotion. If you choose to enter a Promotion, Personal Information may be disclosed to third parties or the public in connection with the administration of such Promotion or as required by law, such as in connection with winner selection or prize fulfillment or in accordance with the Promotion's official rules.

e)  Administrative and Legal Reasons. We may transfer and disclose your information, including Personal Information, to third parties: (i) in the event we are required to respond to subpoenas or other legal process or if in our good faith opinion such disclosure is required by law; (ii) at the request of governmental authorities conducting an investigation; (iii) to protect and/or defend the Site's Terms of Use or other policies applicable to the Site; or (iv) to protect the personal safety, rights, property or security of any individual. We may also use IP addresses or other Device Identifiers to identify users, and may do so in cooperation with copyright owners, Internet service providers, wireless service providers or law enforcement agencies, in our discretion. Such disclosures may be carried out without notice to you.

(f)  Employment; EEOC. If you apply for a job with us via the Site, we may ask you to provide us with self-identifying information (such as veteran status, gender and ethnicity) in connection with laws and regulations enforced by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission ("EEOC"), the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs ("OFCCP") and similar state and local regulatory agencies. Providing such self-identifying information is voluntary, but if you do provide us with such information, we may submit that information to the EEOC, the OFCCP and similar state and local regulatory agencies for business-related purposes, including, but not limited to responding to information requests, fulfilling regulatory reporting requirements and defending against employment related complaints.

4. Information You Disclose Publicly

The Site may permit you to submit ideas, photographs, writings, video, audio recordings, computer graphics, pictures, data, questions, comments, suggestions or other content, including Personal Information (collectively, "Submissions"). Your Submissions may be published online or offline in any media or format (currently existing or hereafter developed). In addition, we may publish your name, voice, likeness and other Personal Information in connection with publishing your Submissions or a portion of your Submissions, and we may use your Submissions and any excerpt from your Submissions in connection with our advertising, marketing, publicity and promotional activities. Please also see the "User Submissions Rules" section of our Terms of Use, which governs any content you submit through the Site or to CZS.

We may also publish your name, voice, likeness and other Personal Information with your Submissions (or any portion of the content), and CZS may use the content, or any portion of the content, for advertising, marketing, publicity and promotional activities. For full terms and conditions regarding our Submissions policy, please review our Terms of Use.

Please think carefully before deciding what information you share, including Personal Information, in connection with your Submissions. Please note that we do not control who will have access to the information that you choose to make public, and cannot ensure that parties who have access to such publicly available information will respect your privacy or keep it secure. This Privacy Policy does not apply to any information that you disclose publicly, share with others or otherwise upload onto the Site. We are not responsible for the accuracy, use or misuse of any content or information that you disclose or receive through the Site.

5. Third Party Content And Analytics; Links to Third Party Sites

The Site may contain content that is supplied by a third party, and those third parties may collect Usage Information and your Device Identifier when web pages are served to your browser. We may use third party traffic measurement services or other companies to provide us with information regarding traffic on the Site and how our visitors use the Site, and those third parties may also have access to or collect their own Usage Information, including Device Identifiers.

In addition, when you are on the Site you may be directed to other web sites that are operated and controlled by third parties that we do not control. These third parties may collect their own Usage Information or solicit and collect Personal Information; CZS is not responsible for their practices or the content of their web sites.

6. Your Choices

The Site may contain web pages through which you can correct or update some of the Personal Information you have provided to us through registration with the Site or through which you can unsubscribe or modify the email newsletters or similar communications we send to you.] CZS will make good faith efforts to make requested changes in our then active databases as soon as reasonably practicable. Also, users who receive a newsletter or other similar e-mails from us and who wish to remove themselves from the mailing list can do so by following the link provided in an e-mail received. However, please note that we reserve the right to send you certain communications relating to your use of our Site, service announcements, notices of changes to this Privacy Policy or our Terms of Use or similar administrative or transactional messages, and these transactional account messages may be unaffected if you choose to opt-out from marketing communications.

Users who do not want their Personal Information shared with other Chicago area cultural institutions that have a relationship with CZS and who may have offers of interest may opt-out by contacting the membership office at (708) 688-8341.

7. Consent to Transfer Information to the United States

The Site is operated in the United States and intended for users located in the United States. If you are located in the European Union, Canada or elsewhere outside of the United States, please be aware that information we collect will be transferred to, and processed and stored in the United States, a jurisdiction in which the privacy laws may not be as comprehensive as those in the country where you reside or are a citizen. By using the Site or providing us with information, you fully understand and unambiguously consent to this Privacy Policy and to the collection, transfer storage, and processing of such information in the United States.

8. Security

We incorporate commercially reasonable safeguards to help protect and secure your Personal Information. However, no data transmission over the Internet, wireless transmission or electronic storage of information can be guaranteed to be 100% secure. Please note that we cannot ensure or warrant the security of any information you transmit to us, and you use the Site and provide us with your information at your own risk.

When you enter your personal credit card information on our website, we use Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) technology to protect your information as it is transmitted to us. To make sure you are accessing our secure server before you submit personal financial information, look at the lower left-hand corner of your browser. If you see an unbroken key or a closed lock (depending upon your browser), then SSL is active. To double-check for security, look at the URL or Location line of your browser. If you have accessed a secure server, the first characters of the address in that line should change from "http" to "https". If for any reason you cannot access the secure server, or if you're not quite comfortable shopping online at our website, please feel free to place your order with us by telephone at the number listed in the shopping cart.

9. Changes to the Privacy Policy

We reserve the right to change this Privacy Policy at any time without notice to you. Any changes will be effective immediately upon the posting of the revised Privacy Policy. However, unless you consent, we will not use your Personal Information in a manner materially different than what was stated at the time it was collected.

Children's Privacy Policy

The Site is a general audience web site that does not knowingly collect information from children younger than age 13 ("Children", and each, a "Child"). However, the Site operates a Kids section that is intended for Children ("Children's Pages"). Therefore, CZS provides this Children's Privacy Policy to explain the information it collects from Children on its Children's Pages, how that information is used, and additional information for parents and legal guardians (collectively, "Parents") with regard to information collected by CZS on the Children's Pages.

COLLECTION OF INFORMATION

The Children's Pages do not generally collect personal or individually identifying information from Children (for example, first and last name, mailing address or telephone number). However, on occasion, CZS may collect first name and online contact information (typically, an e-mail address) of a Child for one-time use of that information, such as to respond directly to a Child's specific request (for example, answering a Child's question submitted through the Site). After the Child's online contact information is used to fulfill the specific one-time purpose, we will delete the online contact information from our records and will not use it to re-contact the Child. Please note that we do not condition a Child's participation in an activity on the Site on the Child's disclosing more than is reasonably necessary to participate in such activity.

In addition, CZS may collect a Child's name and online contact information for the sole purpose of the following: to protect the security or integrity of the Site; to take precautions against liability; to respond to judicial process; and, to the extent permitted under other provisions of law, to provide information to law enforcement agencies or for an investigation on a matter related to public safety.

In addition, as with other areas of the Site, the Children's Pages automatically collect information about all individuals' use of the Site whenever someone visits or interacts with the Site ("Usage Information"). Usage Information may be collected using technologies such as cookies or web beacons. Usage Information may include your browser type, operating system, the page served, the time, and the preceding page view, among other information. We may use Usage Information for a variety of purposes, including enhancing or otherwise improving the Site. In addition, the IP address or some other unique identifier for the particular device you use to access the Site, as applicable (any, a "Device Identifier"), may be collected. A Device Identifier is a number that is automatically assigned to your computer, your cell phone, or other device used to access the Site, and our computers identify your Device by its Device Identifier. For additional information, see Information We Collect As You Access And Use The Site .

DISCLOSURE OF CHILDREN'S PERSONAL INFORMATION

We do not disclose Children's personal information to third parties, except to service providers who provide support for the internal operations of the Site and who do not disclose or use the personal information for any other purpose. These service providers may provide support services such as hosting the Site, designing and/or operating the Site's features, tracking Site analytics or performing other administrative services. We may provide these companies with access to Children's online contact information in order for them to carry out the services they are performing for the Child on our behalf. These service providers have agreed to maintain the confidentiality, security and integrity of this personal information they obtain from us.

PARENT'S RIGHTS

Parents have the right to review and request that the Site delete any personal information that we have collected and retained about their Child. This Site does not typically retain personal information collected through the Children's Pages, but rather, deletes the online contact information after using the information once for the purpose it was collected. However, if you would like to request that we delete any personal information we may have about your Child (for example, prior to our one-time use) or if you would like us to no longer collect your Child's e-mail address or other online contact information (i.e., cause the Site to refuse to accept your Child's e-mail address when submitted via a Site form), please contact us as described in the following section.

CONTACT US

The Chicago Zoological Society is the operator of this Site and questions regarding this Privacy Policy and use of Children's personal information should be directed to us via any of the following methods:

Mailing address 3300 Golf Road, Brookfield, IL 60513, ATTN: Webmaster;
Telephone number: (708) 688-8400
E-mail address: webmaster@czs.org

CHANGES TO THE PRIVACY POLICY

CZS reserves the right to change this Privacy Policy at any time without prior notice. Any changes will be effective immediately upon the posting of the revised Privacy Policy. However, we will use any Children's personal information in accordance with the Privacy Policy posted at the time of collection, and will obtain parental consent prior to using or disclosing such information in a manner materially different from the Privacy Policy posted at the time of collection.



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