Privacy Policy

INTRODUCTION

When you use https://www.kirkusreviews.com (the “Website”) or purchase or use the Services described in the Terms of Use, you are providing Kirkus Media, LLC (“us”, “we”, “ our ”) with your data and we have a responsibility to respect your privacy. By accessing the Website, you agree to the terms of this privacy policy (this “Policy”). From time to time, we may update this Policy as described below. Your continued use of the Website after we make changes to the Policy is deemed to be acceptance of such changes; please check the Policy periodically for updates.

This Policy describes the types of information that may be collected by the Website and our practices for collecting, using, maintaining, protecting, and disclosing that information.  It does not apply to information collected by us offline or through any other means, including on any other website operated by us or any third-party or by any third-party that may link to or be accessible from or on the Website. If you choose to interact with features from third parties that operate independently from us, such as social media widgets and links to third-party websites, we have no control over, and are not responsible for, the privacy practices of such third parties, and we recommend that you familiarize yourself with the privacy practices of those third parties.

Please read this Policy carefully to understand our policies and practices regarding your information and how we will treat it. If you do not agree with our policies and practices, do not use the Website.

INFORMATION WE COLLECT

When you use our services, we collect information that identifies, relates to, describes, references, is reasonably capable of being associated with, or could reasonably be linked, directly or indirectly, with a particular consumer, household, or device (“personal information”). However, personal information does not include:

• Publicly available information from government records;
• Deidentified or aggregated consumer information;
• Information excluded from the scope of the California Consumer Privacy Act of 2018 (“CCPA”), like:

• health or medical information covered by the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) and the California Confidentiality of Medical Information Act (CMIA) or clinical trial data; and
• personal information covered by certain sector-specific privacy laws, including the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act (GLBA) or California Financial Information Privacy Act (FIPA), and the Driver's Privacy Protection Act of 1994.

In particular, we have collected the following categories of personal information from our customers within the last twelve (12) months:

 

Category	Common Examples
Identifiers.	A real name, alias, postal address, unique personal identifier, online identifier, Internet Protocol address, email address, phone number, account name, or other similar identifiers.
Personal information categories listed in the California Customer Records statute (Cal. Civ. Code § 1798.80(e)).	A name, address, telephone number, credit card number, debit card number, or any other financial information. Some personal information included in this category may overlap with other categories.
Protected classification characteristics under California or federal law.	Age (40 years or older)
Commercial information.	Products or services purchased, obtained, or considered, or other purchasing or consuming histories or tendencies.
Biometric information.	Behavioral patterns.
Internet or other similar network activity.	Browsing history, search history, information on a consumer’s interaction with a website, application, or advertisement.
Geolocation data.	Physical location.
Professional or employment-related information.	Current or past job history.
Inferences drawn from other personal information.	Profile reflecting a person’s preferences and behavior.

 

We collect this information:

• Automatically as you navigate through the Website which information may include usage details, IP addresses, and other information collected through cookies, web beacons, and other tracking technologies described in the Section titled “Information We Collect Through Automatic Data Collection Technologies” below;
• When you participate in any interactive features of the Website (including online subscription materials);
• When you sign up for e-mails or other marketing methods;
• When you sign up for a loyalty program;
• When you enter a contest or sweepstakes, accept a promotional offer, or respond to a survey;
• When you provide us with comments, suggestions, or other input;
• When you purchase subscriptions, products, or services through the Website; and
• Directly from you when you otherwise provide it to us.

Information We Collect Through Automatic Data Collection Technologies  

As you navigate through and interact with the Website, we may use automatic data collection technologies to collect certain information about your equipment, browsing actions, and patterns, including:

• Details of your visits to the Website, such as traffic data, location data, logs, and other communication data and the resources that you access and use; and
• Information about your computer and internet connection, including your IP address, operating system, and browser type.

We also may use these technologies to collect information about your online activities over time and across third-party websites or other online services (e.g., behavioral tracking).

The information we collect automatically is only statistical data. It helps us to improve the Website and to deliver a better and more personalized service, including by enabling us to:

• Estimate our audience size and usage patterns;
• Store information about your preferences;
• Speed up your searches; and
• Recognize you when you return to or otherwise use our Website.

Information You Provide to Us 

If you contact us on or through the Website or otherwise order or access subscriptions, products, or services on or through the Website, the information we collect may include personal information such as name, e-mail address, telephone number, credit card or debit card number and expiration date, billing address, shipping address, and any other information you provide to us, including records and copies of your correspondence. This information allows us to process and fulfill your order, if any, placed through the Website, and to notify you of your order status and provide you with access to your purchased Services.

HOW WE USE YOUR INFORMATION

We use information that we collect about you or that you provide to us, including any personal information, to:

• Fulfill or meet the reason you provided the information. For example, if you share your credit card number and billing/shipping address to purchase a subscription on the Website, we will use that personal information to properly bill, place, and ship such order.
• Fulfill and manage requests for information;
• Provide, support, personalize, and develop the Website, and the services that we provide thereby;
• Carrying out our legal and contractual obligations and enforcing our rights, including tax preparation, billing and payment processing;
• Send marketing communications and other information regarding products, services, sweepstakes and promotions;
• Provide you with targeted advertisements based on your apparent interests;
• Improve the effectiveness of the Website, and our marketing efforts;
• Conduct research and analysis, including focus groups and surveys;
• Training and quality assurance;
• Respond to law enforcement requests and as required by applicable law, court order, or governmental regulations; and
• For any other purpose with your consent.

DISCLOSURE OF YOUR INFORMATION

We may disclose aggregated information about you and our other visitors to our Website, and information that does not identify any individual, without restriction.

We may disclose personal information that we collect, or you provide, as described in this Policy:

• To our affiliates and other entities within our group of companies, business or distribution partners, and service providers;
• To a buyer or other successor in the event of a merger, divestiture, restructuring, reorganization, dissolution, or other sale or transfer of some or all of our assets, whether as a going concern or as part of bankruptcy, liquidation, or similar proceeding, in which the Website, including personal information held by us used in or relating to the Website, is among the assets transferred;
• With certain third-party business partners or other service providers, contractors, and agents who perform functions and business operations on our behalf, such as credit/debit card or other payment processing, data analytics, and IT infrastructure and support;
• To advisors, consultants, auditors or similar professionals to assess our business, financial, and legal obligations or operations;
• To fulfill the purpose for which you provide it;
• For any other purpose disclosed by us when you provide personal information; and
• With your consent.

In addition, we may also disclose your personal information:

• To comply with any court order, law, or legal process, including to respond to any government or regulatory request;
• To enforce or apply our terms of use agreement and other agreements; and
• If we believe disclosure is necessary or appropriate to protect the rights, property, or safety of us, our customers, or others.

OUR USE OF TRACKING TECHNOLOGIES

The technologies we use for this automatic data collection may include:

• Cookies (or browser cookies). A cookie is a small file placed on the hard drive of your computer. You may refuse to accept browser cookies by activating the appropriate setting on your browser. However, if you select this setting, you may be unable to access certain parts of the Website. Unless you have adjusted your browser setting so that it will refuse cookies, our system will issue cookies when you direct your browser to any website used as part of the Website.
• Flash Cookies. Certain features of the Website may use local stored objects (or Flash cookies) to collect and store information about your preferences and navigation to, from, and on the Website. Flash cookies are not managed by the same browser settings as are used for browser cookies. For information about managing your privacy and security settings for Flash cookies, see “Your Privacy Rights” below.
• Web Beacons. Pages of the Website may contain small electronic files known as web beacons (also referred to as clear gifs, pixel tags, and single-pixel gifs) that permit us, for example, to count users who have visited those pages and for other related website statistics (for example, recording the popularity of certain website content and verifying system and server integrity).

When you use the Website, we may place one or more cookies in your browser. These are required to enable to hold session information as you navigate from page to page within the Website. In addition, we use cookies through the Website to understand visitor and user preferences, improve their experience, and track and analyze usage, navigational, and other statistical information.

Most web browsers are set to accept cookies by default. If you prefer, you can usually choose to set your browser to remove cookies and to reject cookies. If you choose to remove cookies or reject cookies, this could affect certain features of our Website.

OUR RETENTION OF YOUR INFORMATION

We will only keep your personal information for as long as it is necessary for the purposes set out in this Policy or as needed to provide our services to you, unless a longer retention period is required or permitted by law (such as tax, accounting, or other legal requirements). When we have no ongoing legitimate business need to process your personal information, we will either delete or anonymize it, or, if this is not possible (for example, because your personal information has been stored in backup archives), then we will securely store your personal information and isolate it from any further processing until deletion is possible.

PAYMENT TRANSACTIONS

You acknowledge and agree that credit and debit card transactions conducted through the Website will be processed using a third party and, in connection with such payment transactions, your personal information including personal information relating to your credit or debit card account will be transmitted to such third party. By submitting your credit or debit card information in connection with a payment transaction, you authorize such third party to charge your credit card for the amount and frequency indicated and agreed upon.  We require that any third-party vendor processing payments is compliant with FERPA and the GLB Act.  

OUR PROTECTION OF YOUR INFORMATION

We take steps to secure personal information you provide to us through implementing appropriate administrative, technical and organizational security measures designed to protect personal information against the risk of accidental, unlawful or unauthorized destruction, loss, alteration, access, disclosure or use. However, please remember that we cannot guarantee that the internet itself is 100% secure. Although, while we will attempt to protect your personal information, transmission of personal information to and from the Website is at your own risk. You should only access the Website within a secure environment.

CHILDREN

Parents should always supervise their children while online. The Website is not designed nor intended to collect personal information from children under the age of thirteen (13). So that we may comply with the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act, we ask that children under the age of thirteen (13) not provide any personal information through the Website, through purchases or otherwise. If a child under the age of thirteen (13) has provided us with personal information, we ask that a parent or guardian contact us at the email address in the Contact Us portion of this Policy.

MANAGING YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION

You may manage your personal information by making certain choices. If you believe that your personal information is out-of-date or inaccurate, you may review and correct such information if it is within your online account by contacting us. You may also have additional rights detailed below depending on where you live.

DO NOT TRACK FEATURES

Most web browsers and some mobile operating systems and mobile applications include a Do­Not­Track (“ DNT ”) feature or setting you can activate to signal your privacy preference not to have data about your online browsing activities monitored and collected. No uniform technology standard for recognizing and implementing DNT signals has been finalized. As such, we do not currently respond to DNT browser signals or any other mechanism that automatically communicates your choice not to be tracked online. If a standard for online tracking is adopted that we must follow in the future, we will inform you about that practice in a revised version of this Policy.

If you use Google you can opt-out of Google Marketing Platform's use of cookies by visiting the Google Marketing Platform opt-out page  or the Network Advertising Initiative opt-out page .

NOTICE OF FINANCIAL INCENTIVE

We offer programs, benefits, and other offerings to consumers related to the collection, retention, or sale of personal information that may be deemed a “Financial Incentive” or “price or service difference” under the CCPA. These offerings may involve collecting the following categories of personal information from customers who participate: identifiers; customer records; protected class and demographic information; commercial information and preferences; internet or other electronic network activity information and device information; audio, electronic, visual, or other sensory information; and inferences. We are providing you with this information so that you may make an informed decision on whether to participate in our programs. Examples of the programs we offer include:

• Loyalty Programs or Memberships:  From time to time, we may offer one or more reward/loyalty programs or memberships where customers may be able to earn rewards, accumulate points on purchases, access exclusive promos, and be the first to know about new products and limited releases. Such members or participants may also receive promotional offers, such as free products, discounts, coupons, and opportunities to participate in other promotions. As part of such programs or memberships, we may collect personal information, such as your name, email address, phone number, and date of birth. We will post the material terms of the program for your review which will be linked in any sign-up pages on the Website for your review. You may cancel your membership or participation at any time by contacting us at customercare@kirkusreviews.com . Our good-faith estimate of the value of your personal information is the value of the benefit we offer to you. We have calculated such value by using the expense related to the benefit.

• Surveys: We may also offer our customers opportunities to participate in surveys. In exchange for participation, you may be offered financial incentive, such as discount or coupon. As part of these surveys, we may collect personal information, such as your name, preferences, experiences, beliefs, opinions, and other responses to the survey questions.  Participation in surveys is governed by the applicable terms and conditions for the survey, which will also describe any financial incentives associated with that survey and how to participate. You can terminate participation at any time as will be explained in the survey terms. Our good-faith estimate of the value of your personal information is the value of the benefit we offer to you. We have calculated such value by using the expense related to the benefit.

• Limited-Time Promotions or Sweepstakes: From time to time, we may offer incentives limited to a specific time period, such as limited-time sweepstakes, contests, and other promotions. In exchange for your participation in these promotions, you may be offered a financial incentive, such as a prize. As part of these limited-time promotions or sweepstakes, we may collect your personal information, such as your name, email address, and phone number. Participation in a limited-time offer or promotion is governed by the applicable terms and conditions for the program (e.g., Sweepstakes Rules and Prize Acceptance Agreements), which will also describe any financial incentives associated with the program and how to participate. You can terminate participation at any time as will be explained in the program terms. The value of your personal information will be disclosed in the promotions terms.

• One-Time Promotions: In addition to the programs identified above, we may also offer you a one-time percentage off coupons, discounts, or other promotions from time to time, such as when you provide us your email address and agree to receive marketing emails in exchange for a one-time coupon. Such offers may not be available at all times. The amount and terms of such offers will be presented to you at the time of the offer. You can terminate participation at any time by contacting us at customercare@kirkusreviews.com . Our good-faith estimate of the value of your Personal Information is the value of the benefit we offer to you. We have calculated such value by using the expense related to the benefit.

By participating in any of the above promotional programs, you agree that the benefits are reasonably related to the value of the personal information collected and retained.

Participation in our promotional programs is always optional, and you can terminate program participation at any time as explained in the applicable program terms. You can also contact us at customercare@kirkusreviews.com to unsubscribe or cancel your participation in any program.

NOTICES FOR CALIFORNIA RESIDENTS

This section applies to applies to all visitors, users, and others who reside in the State of California and is adopted to comply with laws governing residents of the State of California, including the CCPA. This Section does not apply to employment-related personal information collected from California-based employees, job applicants, contractors, or similar individuals.

The CCPA provides consumers (California residents) with specific rights regarding their personal information. This section describes the rights of California residents and explains how to exercise those rights.

Access to Specific Information and Data Portability Rights

You have the right to request that we disclose certain information to you about our collection and use of your personal information over the past twelve (12) months. Once we receive and confirm your verifiable consumer request (see Exercising Access, Data Portability, and Deletion Rights below), 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 share that personal information;

•    The specific pieces of personal information we collected about you (also called a data portability request);

•    If we sold or disclosed your personal information for a business purpose, two separate lists disclosing:

o    sales, identifying the personal information categories that each category of recipient purchased; and

o    disclosures for a business purpose, identifying the personal information categories that each category of recipient obtained.

Deletion Request Rights

You have the right to request that we delete any of your personal information that we collected from you and retained, subject to certain exceptions. Once we receive and confirm your verifiable consumer request (see Exercising Access, Data Portability, and Deletion Rights below), we will delete (and direct our service providers to delete) your personal information from our records, unless an exception applies.

We may deny your deletion request if retaining the information is necessary for us or our service provider(s) to:

• Detect security incidents, protect against malicious, deceptive, fraudulent, or illegal activity, or prosecute those responsible for such activities;
• Comply with the California Electronic Communications Privacy Act (Cal. Penal Code § 1546 seq.);
• Debug our Website or to identify and repair errors that impair its existing intended functionality;
• Exercise free speech, ensure the right of another consumer to exercise their free speech rights, or exercise another right provided for by law;
• Enable solely internal uses that are reasonably aligned with consumer expectations based on your relationship with us;
• Comply with a legal obligation; or
• Make other internal and lawful uses of that information that are compatible with the context in which you provided it.

Exercising Access, Data Portability, and Deletion Rights

To exercise the access, data portability, and deletion rights described above, please submit a verifiable consumer request to us by sending us an email at the address provided below.

Only you, or someone legally authorized to act on your behalf, may make a verifiable consumer request related to your personal information. You may also make a verifiable consumer request on behalf of your minor child. To designate an authorized agent please e-mail us at the email address provided below and provide your name and phone number as well as the authorized agents’ name and contact information (phone number or email address) and let us know what the scope of the authorized agents’ rights are to act on your behalf. If your authorized agent requests sensitive information about you then we may ask you to provide us with a sworn declaration to further verify your identity.

You may only make a verifiable consumer request for access or data portability twice within a 12-month period. The verifiable consumer request must:

•  Provide sufficient information that allows us to reasonably verify you are the person about whom we collected personal information or an authorized representative, which may include your full name, email address, phone number and zip code.

•  Describe your request with sufficient detail that allows us to properly understand, evaluate, and respond to it.

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.

Response Timing and Format

We attempt to respond to a verifiable consumer request within forty-five (45) days of its receipt. If we require more than ninety (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.

Any disclosures we provide will only cover the twelve (12)-month period preceding the verifiable consumer request's receipt. The response we provide will also explain the reasons we cannot comply with a request, if applicable.

We do not charge a fee to process or respond to your verifiable consumer request unless it is excessive, repetitive, or unreasonable. If we determine that the request warrants a fee, we will tell you why we made that decision and provide you with a cost estimate before completing your request.

Personal Information Sales Opt-Out Rights

If you are sixteen (16) years of age or older, you have the right to direct us to not sell your personal information at any time (the “right to opt-out”). We do not sell the personal information of consumers we actually know are less than sixteen (16) years of age, unless we receive affirmative authorization (the “right to opt-in”) from either the consumer who is between thirteen (13) and sixteen (16) years of age, or the parent or guardian of a consumer less than thirteen (13) years of age. Consumers who opt-in to personal information sales may opt-out of future sales at any time.

To exercise the right to opt-out, you (or your authorized representative) may submit a request to us by sending an email to customercare@kirkusreviews.com with the title “Do Not Sell My Personal Information”.

Once you make an opt-out request, we will wait at least twelve (12) months before asking you to reauthorize personal information sales. However, you may change your mind and opt back into personal information sales at any time by contacting us at customercare@kirkusreviews.com .

You do not need to create an account with us to exercise your opt-out rights. We will only use personal information provided in an opt-out request to review and comply with the request.

Non-Discrimination

We will not discriminate against you for exercising any of your CCPA rights. Unless permitted by the CCPA, we will not:

•  Deny you goods or services.

•  Charge you different prices or rates for goods or services, including through granting discounts or other benefits, or imposing penalties.

•  Provide you a different level or quality of goods or services.

•  Suggest that you may receive a different price or rate for goods or services or a different level or quality of goods or services.

“Shine the Light” Law

California Civil Code Section 1798.83, also known as the “Shine The Light” law, permits users who are California residents to request and obtain from us, once a year and free of charge, information about categories of personal information (if any) we disclosed to third parties for direct marketing purposes and the names and addresses of all third parties with which we shared personal information in the immediately preceding calendar year. If you are a California resident and would like to make such a request, please submit your request in writing to us using the contact information provided below.

ADDITIONAL NOTICE TO CERTAIN OTHER U.S. RESIDENTS

If you are a resident of certain U.S. States, you may have some or all of the following rights. Specifically, these states include Nevada, Virginia, Colorado, Connecticut, Utah and Iowa. These rights are based on verifiable residency status, and we reserve the right to honor your request to exercise these rights based on your residency. You may have the right to request the following: (i) that we disclose and provide a copy of what personal information we collect, use, disclose and sell; (ii) that we delete your personal information, subject to certain exceptions; (iii) that we correct inaccurate or incomplete personal information; (iv) opt-out of the sale of personal information; (v) opt-out of targeted advertising; (vi) opt out of profiling in furtherance of decisions that produce legal or other similarly significant effects about you; and (vii) not receive discriminatory treatment by us for exercising these rights.

To make such a request, please submit a verifiable consumer request to us by sending us an email at customercare@kirkusreviews.com .

ADDITIONAL NOTICE TO CANADA RESIDENTS

We may use service providers located outside of Canada, including, without limitation, in the United States of America, to process personal information, and may transfer your personal information to such service providers for this purpose. When your personal information is processed outside of Canada, it will be subject to the laws of the countries where the information is processed and may be accessible to law enforcement and national security authorities of those countries in accordance with their laws.

You may contact us by sending us an email at customercare@kirkusreviews.com to obtain information about our policies and practices regarding the use of service providers located outside of Canada.

If you live in Canada, in addition to the other rights you may have hereunder, you may have the right to (i) request access to, review and to correct inaccuracies or omissions in your personal information; (ii) to withdraw consent for collection, use or disclosure of, or to request deletion of, your personal information (provided that, if you do so, we may no longer be able to provide services to you that rely on such personal information); (iii) to ask questions about our policies and practices, and to lodge complaints about our compliance with them with us or with regulatory authorities; and (iv) for Quebec residents, to request an electronic copy of the personal information you have provided to us in a structured and commonly used technological format.

To make such a request, please submit a verifiable consumer request to us by sending us an email at customercare@kirkusreviews.com .

ADDITIONAL NOTICE TO EUROPEAN ECONOMIC AREA AND UNITED KINGDOM RESIDENTS

Where we need to collect personal information by law or under the terms of a contract we have with you and you fail to provide that information when requested, we may not be able to perform the contract we have or are trying to enter into with you. In this case, we may have to cancel a product or service you have with us, provided that we notify you first.

We rely on the following lawful bases to process your personal information for these non-exhaustive purposes:

Consent

We may obtain your consent to process your personal information in certain circumstances, which may include when we send you relevant marketing, when you elect to receive information from us, or when you contact us to register an interest in our Services or the company. We may also rely upon our legitimate interest in developing our business as a basis for sending you marketing information and information about our Services (see below).

Performance of a Contract

We rely on this lawful processing ground when we process your personal information to perform a contract which we have with you, or when we take steps in anticipation of entering into a contract with you, for example in connection with the provision of our Services to you and the management of our relationships with third parties.

Compliance with a Legal Obligation

We rely on this lawful processing ground when we process your personal information to meet legal and regulatory obligations which apply to us.

Legitimate Interests

We rely on this lawful processing ground when we process your personal information to provide our Services, to respond to specific requests, to manage our business operations, to manage our relationships with you and with third parties in connection with our business, and when we provide you with marketing information or other information in relation to our Services which we believe may interest you.

If you wish to have more information regarding the legitimate interests assessments we have conducted in order to reach these conclusions, please contact us.

For information about how users based in the EEA and United Kingdom can object to our automated decision-making, see “Managing Your Personal Information” above. For more information, please contact us.

If you live in the EEA or United Kingdom, we may transfer your personal information to countries for which adequacy decisions have been issued and use contractual protections for the transfer of personal information to third parties, such as an intra-company agreement or the European Commission’s Standard Contractual Clauses or their equivalent under applicable law.

You may contact us to obtain a copy of the safeguards we use to transfer personal information outside of the EEA or United Kingdom.

If you live in the EEA or United Kingdom, you may have the right to (i) request access to, rectification, or erasure of your personal information or restrict the processing of your personal information; (ii) object to processing such personal information; (iii) data portability (receive and transfer your personal information; (iv) lodge a complaint with a supervisory authority; and (v) where processing of your personal information is based on consent, withdraw your consent at any time without affecting the lawfulness of the processing of personal information that occurred before you withdraw consent.

To make such a request, please submit a verifiable consumer request to us by sending us an email at customercare@kirkusreviews.com . 

UPDATES TO THIS POLICY

We may update this Policy from time to time to reflect changes in our privacy practices or for any other reason. We will identify the date the Policy was updated by revising the “last updated” date shown at the bottom of this Policy. Any updated version of this Policy will be effective as soon as it is accessible on the Website. We encourage you to review this Policy frequently to be informed of how we are protecting your information.

CONTACT INFORMATION

We have appointed a Data Protection Officer to investigate and respond to privacy issues and to be accountable for our compliance with this Policy. If you have questions regarding this Policy or wish to obtain additional information, please send an e-mail to our Data Protection Officer at customercare@kirkusreviews.com .