Privacy Policy
This statement describes the online information practices of The Harvard Crimson. It covers our privacy practices in connection with The Crimson newspaper and The Harvard Crimson's digital properties (including www.thecrimson.com). By accessing this website, you agree to let us collect and use your information, including personal information, as described below. If you do not agree with the terms of our privacy policy, please do not access this website.
This policy was last updated on February 8, 2016. It is subject to change, and changes will be posted to this page. If any of those changes are significant and deal with our use of personal information, we will post those changes at least 30 days before they take effect.
Collection & Use of Information
The information we collect falls into two categories: personal information, which you voluntarily provide to us, and non-personal information, which is automatically collected when you use our website.
Personal Information
Personal information is information that identifies you. You may choose to provide us with personal information such as your name, email address, mailing address, telephone number, credit card information, demographic information such as your age and gender, and other information about yourself when you subscribe to The Harvard Crimson, sign up to receive our email newsletters or special offers, post a comment, place a classified advertisement, contact us via email or by letter, participate in the Flyby Matchmaker or in one of our promotions, complete a survey, or register for one of our journalism programs.
You may also decide to provide us with personal information on behalf of others. For example, you will need to submit a person’s name and email address to purchase a gift subscription for that person through our website. If you want to send a gift subscription directly to that person, you will also need to submit his or her address and telephone number.
Non-personal Information
Non-personal information is information that we collect in aggregate, without identifying you. We automatically collect non-personal information from you when you visit The Harvard Crimson’s website. For example, we may collect information about the type of browser you use when accessing the site, the language of your browser, and the name and version of the operating system you use. We may also collect information about your Internet Protocol address (the numerical address assigned to your computer by your internet service provider), which can sometimes be used to determine your general geographic area. We may collect information about the website you visited before and after visiting The Harvard Crimson’s website, and the ads and links on which you click while browsing the website. If we send you an email, we may collect information about whether you open or forward that message, and whether you click on the links contained in the message.
One of the ways in which we collect non-personal information is by issuing a "cookie," which is a small text file placed on your hard drive. Cookies help to prevent you from repeatedly seeing the same advertisements, being asked to register or to re-enter your password every time you visit The Harvard Crimson’s website. Cookies are also used to authenticate your identity. Cookie delivered by The Harvard Crimson’s website should not interfere with the operation of your computer. You can disable cookies through your browser, but doing so may disable certain functionalities of The Harvard Crimson’s website.
The Harvard Crimson may use non-personal information for systems administration and troubleshooting purposes. We may use IP address logs to track your participation in our readership polls in order to ensure accurate results. We may also gather general demographic information automatically available about website visitors for statistical purposes.
Sharing Information
The Harvard Crimson shares aggregate, non-personal information with advertisers, partners, and service providers. We may also provide personal or non-personal information if we have a good faith belief that disclosure is necessary to comply with the law or with legal process, such as to comply with a subpoena, protect and defend our rights and property, to protect against misuse or unauthorized use of our websites, or to protect the personal safety or property of our users or the public.
Data Security
We use commercially reasonable controls to protect our readers’ personal information. We cannot, however, guarantee that the information will remain permanently secure. It’s possible that technical problems could cause your information to be lost, or that the information could be stolen from our databases. We are not responsible for any such loss, theft, or other security breach.
Although The Harvard Crimson makes concerted efforts to protect its servers and databases from unauthorized access, we are unable to accept liability for information accessed illegally via our servers, clients, or network. Your personal information is protected by the most advanced security systems available to us. However, no system is entirely secure and, as such, The Crimson makes no legal guarantees regarding the protection of any data that may reside on our servers.
Third Party Sites
We collaborate with third parties that might gather information from you through processes we don’t control and subject to their own privacy policies. The Harvard Crimson is not responsible for the content or the privacy practices of websites to which we link.
We use third-party advertising companies to serve ads when you visit The Harvard Crimson’s website. These companies may use aggregate non-personal information about your visits to this and other sites in order to provide advertisements about goods and services of interest to you. If you would like more information about this practice and to know your choices about not having this information used by these companies, click here.
Children Under 13
If you are under age 13, do NOT send us your name, phone number, address, email address, or other personal information about yourself. We do not knowingly collect or store personally identifiable information from children under 13. In the event that we learn that we have collected any personal information from a child under the age of 13, we will delete that information from our database.
California Privacy Rights
If you are a California resident, you have the right, under California Civil Code Section 1798.83, to request and obtain from us, once a year and free of charge, a list of the third parties to whom we have disclosed personal information for their direct marketing purposes in the prior calendar year. Please email requests for such information to president@thecrimson.com.
Please note that we do not honor Do Not Track requests.
Unsubscribe Requests
You can unsubscribe from any of our newsletters or email lists at any time by following the unsubscribe link at the bottom of each message. If you would like to update the personal information that you have provided to us, send an email to president@thecrimson.com.
We will retain your information for as long as we provide you with services. We will also retain and use your information as necessary to comply with our legal obligations, resolve disputes, and enforce our agreements. If you wish to cancel your account or request that we no longer use your information to provide you services, contact president@thecrimson.com.