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Privacy Policy

Who we are?

This Privacy Policy (“Policy”) tells you about the privacy practices governing personal information we may collect when you visit our website at www.downtowncolumbus.com (the “Site”), and how we may use and share that information. Your prior activities on the Site may have been governed by an earlier version of this Policy.

The effective date of this Policy is August 26, 2019.  From time to time, we may use your information for new, unanticipated uses not previously disclosed in our Policy. If our information practices do change materially, we will post the changes to our Site and revise our Policy accordingly. In addition, if we have collected personally-identifying information from you, we will notify you and secure your consent before using your personal information in new ways.

What personal data we collect and why we collect it?

Personal Information

We collect personal information you choose to provide to us in connection with your activities on the Site, such as signing up for our email list or newsletter, setting up a password (or retrieving a lost password) to access protected portions of the Site, submitting event listings, submitting property listings, contacting us with general questions, and so on. This may include contact information such your first and last name, email address, phone number, business name and title, and the like, as well as any information you choose to share when you submit an email message through the Site.

If you choose to use Google Maps on the Site, your geolocation is also collected.

Comments

When visitors leave comments on the site we collect the data shown in the comments form, and also the visitor’s IP address and browser user agent string to help spam detection.

An anonymized string created from your email address (also called a hash) may be provided to the Gravatar service to see if you are using it. The Gravatar service privacy policy is available here: https://automattic.com/privacy/. After approval of your comment, your profile picture is visible to the public in the context of your comment.

Media

If you upload images to the website, you should avoid uploading images with embedded location data (EXIF GPS) included. Visitors to the website can download and extract any location data from images on the website.

Cookies

A cookie is a small text file that is stored in a user’s computer that recognizes your IP address for record-keeping purposes. We use cookies to make it easier for you to navigate our Site, to record session information, such as which web pages a user has visited, and to track user activity on the Site.  These cookies are deleted when you close your web browser. We do not associate cookies with your personal information. 

You can reject cookies through your browser. If you reject cookies, you may still use our Site, but your ability to use some of the areas of our Site will be limited. 

If you leave a comment on our site you may opt-in to saving your name, email address and website in cookies. These are for your convenience so that you do not have to fill in your details again when you leave another comment. These cookies will last for one year.

If you have an account and you log in to this site, we will set a temporary cookie to determine if your browser accepts cookies. This cookie contains no personal data and is discarded when you close your browser.

When you log in, we will also set up several cookies to save your login information and your screen display choices. Login cookies last for two days, and screen options cookies last for a year. If you select “Remember Me”, your login will persist for two weeks. If you log out of your account, the login cookies will be removed.

If you edit or publish an article, an additional cookie will be saved in your browser. This cookie includes no personal data and simply indicates the post ID of the article you just edited. It expires after 1 day.

Embedded content from other websites

Articles on this site may include embedded content (e.g. videos, images, articles, etc.). Embedded content from other websites behaves in the exact same way as if the visitor has visited the other website.

These websites may collect data about you, use cookies, embed additional third-party tracking, and monitor your interaction with that embedded content, including tracking your interaction with the embedded content if you have an account and are logged in to that website.

Analytics

To determine how many users visit our Site, how often they visit the Site, and to better understand the areas of greatest interest to our visitors, we use a tool called Google Analytics to compile this information for us. As a result of your visit to our Site, this company may collect information such as your domain type, your IP address, and clickstream information. We do not combine the information collected through the use of analytics tools with personally identifiable information.  We also use a tool called Google reCAPTCHA for validation that the Site visitor is a human and not a bot. For more information about Google’s ability to use and share information about your visits to this Site, see https://policies.google.com/privacy.  

“Do Not Track” Signals

We do not currently have the capability to recognize browser “Do Not Track” signals. We adhere to the standards set forth in this Policy.

Ad Networks

As you browse our Site, advertising cookies will be placed on your computer to help us understand what products and services you are interested in.  When you visit other sites, our display advertising partners let us show you retargeting advertising based on your interaction with our Site. In addition, we may show you ads of other companies on our Site, based on your activities on other sites.  Our ad partners do not collect personal information such as your name, email address, postal address, or telephone number.

How Do We Use and Share the Information We Collect?

We store and process your personal information to allow access to password-protected areas of the Site, to process and fulfill requests for information that come to us through the Site, and to address comments you submit to us.

We also use information we collect to analyze trends, to administer the Site, and to track users’ movements around the Site. We also use this information to improve the Site and to make it more useful to visitors.

It is possible that, at some time in the future, our company may be sold along with its assets, or may engage in business transactions in which customer information is one of the assets transferred. In such a case, the customer information which we have gathered may be one of the business assets we transfer.

We do not rent or sell email addresses or telephone contact information to unaffiliated third parties, except as described above.

How Long Do We Keep the Information We Collect?

We will retain your personal information and other information such as site analytics in accordance with our continuing need to services this relationship and/or to improve our Site.

Security

The security of your personal information is important to us. We follow generally accepted industry standards to protect the personal information submitted to us, and to guard that information against loss, misuse, or alteration.

Please note, however, that no method of transmission over the internet, or method of storage, is 100% secure. Therefore, while we use commercially reasonable means to protect your personal information, we cannot guarantee its absolute security.

Links to Third Party Sites

This Policy applies only to information collected by this Site. From time to time, the Site may link you to other websites (“Linked Sites”), some of which are not owned by us, even though they provide goods or services related to our company. We make no representations about the privacy policies or practices of the Linked Sites.

Be careful of disclosing any of your personally identifiable information when leaving our Site. We encourage you to be aware when you leave our Site and to read the privacy statements of every website that collects personally identifiable information.

California Privacy Rights

Pursuant to California Civil Code Section 1798.83, users who are California residents can request certain information about the sharing of their own personal information with third parties for direct marketing purposes during the past year. The information which you have a right to receive includes the categories of personal information disclosed by us for direct marketing purposes during the preceding calendar year and the names of the companies that received such information. You are entitled to receive a copy of this information in a standardized format, and the information will not be specific to you individually. 

California residents can request this disclosure by sending a request to us using the contact information provided below. Please provide sufficient information to allow us to identify you in our records.

Questions About Our Privacy Policy and Practices

If you have any questions about this Policy or our privacy practices, you may contact:

Columbus Commons
150 S. Front Street, Suite 210
Columbus, Ohio 43215

614-603-2560
info@downtowncolumbus.com