Privacy Policy

Post Date:  February 23, 2023 

This Privacy Notice explains what information we collect and how we store, use, and share your personal information on or though BlueStateBluesNews.  By accessing and using our Website, you expressly accept, without limitation or qualification, the collection, storage, use, and sharing of your Personal Information set out in this Privacy Notice.  If you disagree with any portion of this Notice, please do not use our Website.  

Information We Collect.  We collect the following categories of information about you when you visit and use our Website: 

Personal Information.  Is information that can be used to identify you or any other individual to whom the information may relate.  This is information which you may be prompted to provide.  Such information may include your name, address, telephone number(s), mobile numbers, and email address, employment status or self-employment, political party, or other unique information about you which you provide to us during the registration process, through our surveys or through the course of communicating with us.

Demographic Information.  This refers to selected population characteristics and may not be personal to you.  This information may include, but is not limited to, zip code, mobile phone carrier, age, gender, salary range, education, marital status, occupation, military service, industry of employment, political party affiliation, personal and online interests.  When we can identify you personally, through the use of this information, it becomes Personal Information.

Behavioral Information.  Is information which is automatically collected when you use our Website.  This information includes the areas of our Website that you visit, what services you access or ordered, information about your computer hardware and software, including your IP address, geographic location, browser preference, operating system type, domain names, times that you access the internet, and other websites you have visited.  When we can identify you personally, through the use of this information, it becomes Personal Information.  

Third-Party Information.  Is information about you that we acquire from a third-party which may include personal, demographic, behavioral and indirect information.  It may also include, but not limited to, first party cookies, third-party cookies, anonymous cookies, persistent identifiers, email opt-in records and search engine keywords.  We may also receive information third-parties derive from government entities which publicly post your information, such as your DMV records.  We have no access or control over these cookies and other tracking devices used by third-parties including advertisers and networks, internet service providers, data analytics providers or social networks and platforms.  We have no responsibility or liability for the policies and practices of these parties.  When we can identify you personally, through the use of this information, it becomes Personal Information. 

Web Technology Information.  This includes internet protocol (“IP”) addresses, browser type, internet service provider (“ISP”), referring/exit pages, operating system, date/time stamp, and/or clickstream data.  This information is collected from the use of cookies, Web beacons or JavaScript.  

No Information Collected from Children.  We will never knowingly collect any Personal Information from children under the age of 16.  If we obtain actual knowledge that we have collected Personal Information about a child under the age of 16, that information will be immediately deleted from its database.  Because we do not collect such information, we have no such information to use or to disclose to third-parties. 

No Sensitive Health Information is Collected.  We do not collect information about past, present, or potential future medical conditions or treatments or biometric information.

No Credit Card Information and Bank Account Information.  We do not collect credit card or bank information. 

Collection Through Cookies, Web Beacons, and JavaScript.  We, Service Providers and third-party vendors, networks, ISP(s) and supporting advertisers use technologies such as cookies, web beacons, and java scripts (collectively “Technologies”).  These technologies collect internet protocol (“IP”) addresses, browser type, internet service provider (“ISP”), referring/exit pages, operating system, date/time stamp, and/or clickstream data.  We use this information to analyze trends, administer our Website, track users’ movements through our Website and gather demographic information about our user base, as a whole.  We may receive reports based on these technologies on an individual or aggregated basis.  California residents have the right to know if we respond to do not track signals or cookies.  We do not respond to such signals or cookies. 

Cookies.  “Cookies” are a feature in your browser software.  If enabled, cookies store small amounts of data on your computer about actions you take on the pages of our Website.  We may use cookies to keep track of the number of return visits, accumulate and aggregate statistical information generally pertaining to our Website, and deliver specific content to you based on your past viewing history.  You can disable cookies, although our Website may not function properly for you.  Your browser preferences can be modified to accept or reject all cookies or request a notification when a cookie is set.  You may read more about cookies at http://cookiecentral.com/faq/.

Third-Party Cookies.  We allow third-party vendors and advertisers to set their own cookies on and through our Website.  We have no control over the practices of those third-parties and are not responsible for their technology or tracking.  We encourage you to review the policies of such persons or entities on their websites.  We use various ad services provided by Google that connects the activity on our Website with their advertising network and they may use cookies that collects information regarding certain patterns in your browsing history.  To opt-out of this tracking, please see https://support.google.com/ads/answer/2662922?hl=en. Google uses cookies to track activity performed by their subsidiaries.  To opt-out please see https://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout/.  We also use Google Analytics to provide analytics services.  You may opt-out of the Google Analytics service using Google’s Browser Add-on here https://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout/. 

Social Media Cookies.  Third-party social media features may collect your IP address, which page you are visiting on our Website, and may set a cookie to enable the feature to function properly.  Social media features are hosted by a third-party.  Your interactions with these features are governed by the Privacy Notice of the social media company providing it.

Web Beacons.  We use electronic images known as Web Beacons (sometimes called single-pixel gifs, clear gifs, or action tags) to collect information about your visit to our Website, measure and improve the effectiveness of advertisements and track delivery of advertising.  Web Beacons collect only a limited set of information including a cookie number, time, and date of page view, as well as a description of the page on which the Web Beacon resides.  We may also use Web beacons in email messages sent to you.  This allows us to determine if you opened or acted upon the email message.  Because Web beacons are the same as any other content request, you cannot opt-out or refuse them.  However, they can be rendered ineffective by either opting-out of cookies or changing the cookie setup in your browser.

JavaScript.  We may also use JavaScript.  JavaScript is a computer language that enhances the functionality of websites, particularly with respect to pictures.  We use it to analyze and improve our Website’s functions.  You may deactivate JavaScript through your browser settings or activate it the same way.  If you disable JavaScript, you will not be able to use some of the functions of our Website.

How We Use Information Collected. 

Providing Services and Products.  We use the information we gather on our Website to provide you with the services and or products you have requested.  This may include passing your information on to a third-party to provide such services or products.  We do not control the privacy practices of third-parties.  If you have any questions or wish to remove your information from the third-party databases, you will need to contact that party directly.  

Improving Our Website.  We use the information we gather to respond to any inquiries you make, operate, and improve the functionality of our Website, and deliver the products and services advertised on our Website.  We use the same for testing, research, analysis and product or target marketing development.  Our services include the display of personalized products, content, and advertising, relating to your experience and interests.  In addition, we may use the information for maintaining and improving the safety, security and integrity of our Website, databases, and technology assets.  We may use demographic and preference information to allow advertising on the Site to be targeted to the users for whom they are most pertinent.  This means, users may see advertising that is most likely to interest them, and many advertisers send their messages to people who are most likely to be receptive, improving both the viewer’s experience and the effectiveness of the advertising.

Promotions and Communications with You.  We also use the information we have gathered to respond to your inquiries, concerns, or requests.  If your request is made through a third-party, we may use the information to respond to their requests.  The information, including the personal information, you provide to us may be used for any purpose we deem appropriate and may be given or disclosed to our affiliates, partners, vendors, advertisers, licensees, and third-parties.  You acknowledge that you understand when you disclose personal information (e.g., name, email address, zip code) on or in connection with your use of our services, such information can be monitored, collected and used by us or others and may result in unsolicited messages from other users or third-parties.

Disclosure and Sharing of Information to Others.

Product and Service Delivery.  We share all categories of information set out in this policy with third-parties who help us in the delivery of the products and services you have requested.  

Website Functionality.  We share all categories of information set out in this policy with third-party Service Providers we employ to perform technical or analytical functions on our behalf.  Examples include third-parties who host our Website, analyze our data, provide marketing assistance, process credit card payments, and provide customer service.  

Third-Party Products and Services.  We share all categories of information set out in this policy with third-parties including affiliated entities, service providers, and data aggregators with your information with third-parties who will provide you with their opportunities, products, or services.  

Anonymized information.  We share aggregated anonymous information about you, combined with Service Providers and other third-party vendors and clients for their analysis, promotion, and marketing.  This includes demographic information and behavioral information.

Legal Process.  We disclose your information if legally required to do so, or at our discretion, pursuant to a request from a governmental entity, or if we believe in good faith that such action is necessary to: (i) conform to legal requirements or comply with legal process; (ii) protect our rights or property, or our affiliated companies; (iii) prevent a crime or protect national security; or (iv) protect the personal safety of users or the public. 

Business Acquisition or Merger.  We may disclose and transfer your information to a third-party who acquires any or all of our business, whether such acquisition is by way of merger, consolidation or purchase of all or a substantial portion of our assets.  In the event we become the subject of an insolvency proceeding, whether voluntary or involuntary, we or our liquidator, administrator, receiver, or administrative receiver may sell, license, or otherwise dispose of, such information in a transaction approved by the court. 

Third-Party Collection and Use of Information.  Third-parties collect and use information about you on or through our Website in the following way:

Advertisers.  Advertising agencies, advertising networks, and other companies who place ads on our Website, may use their own cookies, Web beacons, and other technology, to collect information about you.  We do not control the use of such technology and have no responsibility for the use of such technology to gather information about you. 

Hyperlinks.  Our Website and email messages sometimes contain hypertext links to websites owned by third-parties.  We are not responsible for the privacy practices or the content of such other websites.  These links are provided for your convenience and reference only.  We do not operate or control any information, software, products, or services, available on these third-party websites.  The inclusion of a link on our Website does not imply any endorsement of the services, products or website, or its sponsoring organization. 

Analytics.  As described above, we use Service Providers to monitor, analyze and report on the traffic to, from and within our Website and email messages. 

Security of Information.  We have industry accepted security measures in place to protect against the loss, misuse, and alteration of personal information under our control.  Please be advised that, although we take commercially reasonable technological precautions to protect your data, no data transmission over the Internet can be guaranteed to be 100% secure; therefore, we cannot and do not warrant that your information will be absolutely secure.  Any transmission of data at or through our Website is at your own risk.

Changes to Privacy Notice.  We reserve the right to make material changes to the substance of this Privacy Notice.  We will post those changes through a prominent notice on the website, so that you will always know what information we gather, how we might use that information, and to whom we will disclose it.

Opting Out.  If, at any time, you prefer not to receive email marketing information or newsletters from us, simply follow the unsubscribe options at the bottom of each email or send us an email at [email protected].

CALIFORNIA SUPPLEMENTAL NOTICE

Shine the Light:  One time a year California resident can ask us to disclose what information we received or shared about them and from what category of third-parties this was done for marketing purposes. California residents also have the right to know we do not respond to do not track signals or cookies.  Please make this request by sending us an email at [email protected].

California Consumer Privacy Act of 2018 and California Privacy Rights Act of 2020: 

This portion of our Privacy Policy is for California Residents Only and supplements the information contained in the posted Privacy Policy. This notice is intended to comply with the California Consumer Privacy Act of 2018 (“CCPA”) and the California Privacy Rights Act of 2020 (“CPRA”). Any terms defined in the CCPA have the same meaning when used in this notice. The Purpose of this Notice is to provide you with a description of our practices regarding the collection, use, disclosure, and Sale of your Personal Information and how to review, correct, or delete your information.

California Resident Privacy Rights.

    • Right to Know About Personal Information Collected, Disclosed, or Sold.

You have the right to request that we advise you what Personal Information we collect, use, disclose, and sell that belongs to you. Submit a verifiable consumer request using this link to get the specific Personal Information we have collected about you or email us at [email protected]. We are required to verify that you are the same consumer with whom we have the information in our systems. To verify your identity, we will require that you fill out a form in its entirety which includes your name, address, email address, and other Personal Information we have collected. We may have collected several types of information about you when you visit and use our Website; examples include Personal Information, demographic information, behavioral information, and indirect information. Sometimes we collect combinations of these types of information. Categories of Sources from which we collected Personal Information:

  • Information collected directly and indirectly from you.
  • Information you provide us when you enter promotions or sweepstakes offered by us or our clients including networks and advertisers.
  • Information you provide us through telephone and web-based surveys, customer service correspondence, and general feedback.
  • Information we received directly or indirectly from our clients.
  • Analytics companies who provide demographic information such as gender, zip code, or any information that is not tied to your Personal Information.  In addition, we may receive information about you from other online or offline sources, including third parties from whom we validate consumer self-reported information, and verify information we already have about you.  This helps us to update, expand and analyze our records and provide products and services that may be of interest to you.
  • We also collect information provided by Service Providers and other third parties as set out in our main Privacy Policy, our advertisers, ad networks and third-party technology companies.

We have disclosed, shared and/or received compensation for our disclosure of Personal Information for the following commercial purposes in the preceding 12 months:

  • To obtain payment for our services or products.
  • To allow a third-party to market their products or services to you.
  • To provide you with information, products or services or resolve your questions or request to opt-out of marketing.
  • To provide you with marketing about our clients’ services that may be of interest to you.
  • To carry out our obligations and enforce our rights arising from any contracts entered into.
  • To improve our products and services, and present its contents to you including testing, research, analysis, and product development.
  • To personalize your experience and to deliver content and product and service offerings relevant to your interests, including targeted offers and ads via email or text message (with your consent, where required by law).
  • To maintain the safety, security, and integrity of our platforms as well as products and services, databases and other technology assets, and business.
  • To respond to government or law enforcement requests and as required by applicable law, court order, or governmental regulations.
  • To evaluate or conduct a merger, restructuring, reorganization, dissolution, or other sale or transfer of some or all of our business or assets.
  • As described to you when collecting your Personal Information or as otherwise set forth in the CCPA.

We have disclosed Personal Information to the following categories of third-parties:

  • Our affiliated entities.
  • Our Service Providers.
  • Data aggregators.
  • Advertisers and Ad Networks.
  • Third parties to whom you or your agents authorize us to disclose your Personal Information in connection with products or services we and/or third parties provide to you.

We do not collect, distribute, share, or sell the Personal Information of anyone under the age of 16.

    • Right to Request Deletion of Personal Information.

You have a right to request the deletion of your Personal Information if we have collected or maintained it in the past 12 months by submitting a verifiable consumer request to delete your information by clicking here and fully fill out the form or contact us by email at [email protected]. Once we receive and confirm your verifiable consumer request, we will disclose to you the categories of Personal Information we collected about you; the categories of sources for the Personal Information we collected about you; Our business or commercial purpose for collecting or selling that Personal Information; the categories of third parties with whom we shared that Personal Information.

    • Right to Opt-Out of the Sale of Personal Information.

You have the right to opt-out of any sale of your personal information.  If you information was submitted for the purchase of a sale or service, and we are required to process that purchase, we will share you information only with the parties necessary to complete the sale.  

Out Preference Signal (Global Privacy Control). You may use an Opt-Out Preference Signal, such as the Global Privacy Control (GPC), to opt-out of the sale/sharing of your personal information. However, this technology and our use of it is not fully developed by the market. Our database containing your information may not be linked to your browser identification and because your request to opt-out of sale/sharing will be linked to your browser identifier only and not linked to any account or database information as the connection between your browser and our database is not known to us, we may not be able to fulfill this request.

If you would like us to make the connection between your browser and your account within our database, or wish to opt out of the sale of your personal information, please email us [email protected] or submit the requested form through our website portal here.

(D) Right to Non-Discrimination.

You have a right not to be discriminated for the exercise of these privacy rights conferred by the CCPA. We will not deny you goods or services, charge you different prices or rates for goods or services, or deny you discounts or other benefits; nor will we provide you a different level or quality of goods or services or recommend a different level or quality of goods or services.

(E) Authorized Agent.

Only you or a person registered with the California Secretary of State that you authorize to act on your behalf, may make a verifiable consumer request related to your Personal Information.

(F) Limitations on Requests.

You may only make a verifiable consumer request for access twice within a twelve (12) month period and you must provide sufficient information that allows us to reasonably verify you are the person about whom we collected Personal Information or your authorized agent; provide sufficient detail that allows us to properly understand, evaluate, and respond to you. We cannot respond to your request or provide you with Personal Information if we cannot verify your identity or authority to make the request and confirm the Personal Information relates to you. Making a verifiable consumer request does not require you to create an account with us. We will only use Personal Information provided in a verifiable consumer request to verify the requestor’s identity or authority to make the request.

(G) Response Time and Response Format.

We make every effort to respond to a verifiable consumer request within forty-five (45) days of its receipt. If we require more time (up to 90 days), we will inform you of the reason and extension period in writing. We will deliver our written response by mail or electronically, at your option. We provide only the twelve (12) month period preceding the verifiable consumer request’s receipt. The response we provide will also explain the reasons why we cannot comply with a request, if applicable. We will provide our response in a manner that is readily usable that you can give the information from one entity to another entity without hindrance.

Changes to California Resident Privacy Notice. We reserve the right to amend this privacy notice at our discretion and at any time. When we make changes to this privacy notice, we will enforce the terms of the new policy going forward. You will receive no other notice than an updated posting on this page. Please check back each time you enter our Website.

Contact Information. If you have any questions or comments about this Privacy Statement, please do not hesitate to contact us at:

Email: [email protected]

Postal Address:
Go Time Communications
4006 Victory Blvd Suite J #245
Portsmouth, VA 23701