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Privacy Policy And Terms

North American Lutheran Church

 

Respecting users’ privacy is important to North American Lutheran Church. Therefore, we have created this Privacy Policy so that you know how we use and disclose your information when you make it available. The Privacy Policy below discloses our practices regarding our terms of use, information collection and usage of the website located at www.thenalc.org, the related mobile website, and any future portion of North American Lutheran Church sites, mobile applications, communities, etc. (collectively, the “Websites”) and the resources provided thereon (the “Resources”).

By using or accessing the Websites and the Resources, you signify your agreement to be bound by this Privacy Policy and the Terms of Use as stated by North American Lutheran Church. IF YOU DO NOT AGREE TO THIS PRIVACY POLICY AND TERMS OF USE YOU MAY NOT ACCESS OR OTHERWISE USE OUR WEBSITES, RESOURCES OR PARTICIPATE IN OUR COMMUNITY.

Key aspects of our privacy practices described in this Privacy Policy include the following explanations:

  • The information we collect and why we collect it;
  • How we use that information;
  • How we share information; and
  • The choices we offer.

LINKS AND APIs TO THIRD-PARTY WEBSITES AND SERVICES

Our service may contain links to other websites, affiliate links, sponsor links and software. We also collect some information automatically, like your IP address, when you utilize the websites or resources and various software applications we use make requests to APIs (“Application Programming Interfaces”). We use this to perform various function on the websites or resources and to understand who is using our services and how, and to detect, prevent and investigate fraud, abuse, or security incidents. We are not responsible for the privacy practices or the content of these websites, affiliate/sponsor sites or software. Please visit the privacy policies of these third party sites in order to understand their privacy and information collection practices.

DISCLOSURES REQUIRED BY LAW

We reserve the right to disclose your personally identifiable information when we believe in good faith that an applicable law, regulation, or legal process requires it, or when we believe disclosure is necessary to protect or enforce our rights or the rights of another user.

PERSONALLY IDENTIFIABLE INFORMATION THAT WE COLLECT:

We may ask you for, or you may voluntarily submit, personally identifiable information when you are using the Resource. The personally identifiable information which you may provide to us could include, but is not limited to:

  • Your name
  • Your contact information (including, without limitation, address and email address);
  • Your IP address; and
  • Other personal information.

NON-PERSONAL OR AGGREGATE INFORMATION THAT WE COLLECT:

When you access our Resource, we may automatically collect non-personally identifiable information from you, such as IP host address, web pages viewed, browser type, operating system, referring service, search information, device type, page views, usage and browsing habits on the Resource and similar data. We may also aggregate demographic information collected from our users (such as the number of users in a particular geographical location) in a manner which does not identify any one individual. We may also aggregate information collected offline in connection with the Resource, obtain non-personally identifiable information from third party sources and develop aggregate information by anonymizing previously collected personally identifiable information.

It is possible at times when collecting non-personally identifiable information through automatic means that we may unintentionally collect or receive personally identifiable information that is mixed in with the non-personally identifiable information. While we will make reasonable efforts to prevent such incidental data collection, the possibility still exists. If you believe that we have inadvertently collected your personal information, please notify us at [email protected].

INFORMATION USAGE:

We will only use your personally identifiable information as described below, unless you have specifically consented to another type of use, either at the time the personally identifiable information is collected from you or through some other form of consent from you or notification to you:

  • We may share your personally identifiable information collected in connection with providing the Resource.
  • We may use your personally identifiable information to respond to your inquires or requests.
  • We may use your personally identifiable information to send you emails from time to time about our resources, but we will not provide your personally identifiable information to third parties for them to contact you directly unless otherwise permitted by this Privacy Policy or you provide your consent.
  • We may share your personally identifiable information with third parties (collectively, the “Third Party Vendors”) to further the purpose for which you provided such information to us. For example, we may share your information with DonorPerfect and Constant Contact, for the purpose of sending emails. We urge you to read the privacy practices of all of our Third Party Vendors before submitting any personally identifiable information through the Resource.
  • We may disclose personally identifiable information as required by law or legal process.
  • We may disclose personally identifiable information to investigate suspected fraud, harassment or other violations of any law, rule or regulation, or the terms or policies for our resources or our sponsors.
  • We may share your personally identifiable information with a mission district or ministry within the North American Lutheran Church.

Non-personally identifiable or aggregate information may be used by us for any purposes permitted by law and may be shared with any number of parties, provided that such information shall not specifically identify you.

COOKIES AND SIMILAR TECHNOLOGIES:

“Cookies” are pieces of information that may be placed on your computer by a resource for the purpose of facilitating and enhancing your communication and interaction with that resource. Many resources use cookies for these purposes. We may use cookies (and similar items such as clear gifs, web beacons, tags, etc.) on our Resource to customize your visit and for other purposes to make your visit more convenient or to enable us to enhance our Resource. We may also use and place cookies (and similar items) on your computer from our third party service providers in connection with the Resource, such as an analytics provider that helps us manage and analyze Resource usage, as described more fully below. In addition, our advertisers and partners may set cookies and similar items on your computer when you use our Resource. You may stop or restrict the placement of cookies on your computer or flush them from your browser by adjusting your web browser preferences, in which case you may still use our Resource, but it may interfere with some of its functionality. Cookies and similar items are not used by us to automatically retrieve personally identifiable information from your computer without your knowledge.

If you delete your cookies, change browsers or use a different cookie, our cookie (or an opt-out cookie) may no longer work and you will have to re-input (or opt-out) again.

ANALYTICS AND CONVERSION TRACKING:

We may use analytics services that use cookies, javascript and similar technologies to help us analyze how users use the Resource. The information generated by these resources about your use of the Resource (including your IP address or a truncated version of your IP address) is transmitted to and stored by analytics service providers on their servers. Those resource providers will use this information for the purpose of evaluating your, and other users’, use of the Resource, compiling reports for us on website activity and providing other resources relating to website activity and Internet usage.

We may collect information about your computer, including your IP address, operating system and browser type, for system administration and in order to create reports. This is statistical data about our users’ browsing actions and patterns, and does not identify any individual.

For example, we use cookies on our site for Google Analytics (the “Analytics Service”). The Analytics Service is a web-based analytics tool that helps website owners understand how visitors engage with their website. The Analytics Service customers can view a variety of reports about how visitors interact with their website so that they can improve it.

Like many services, the Analytics Service uses first-party cookies to track visitor interactions as in our case, where they are used to collect information about how visitors use our site. We then use the information to compile reports and to help us improve our site.

Cookies contain information that is transferred to your computer’s hard drive. These cookies are used to store information, such as the time that the current visit occurred, whether the visitor has been to the site before and what site referred the visitor to the web page. The Analytics Service collects information anonymously. They report website trends without identifying individual visitors. You can opt out of the Analytics Service without affecting how you visit our site. For more information on opting out of being tracked by Google Analytics across all websites you use, visit https://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout.

We may also use Google conversion tracking and/or similar services to help us understand your and other users’ use of the Resource.

AUTOMATICALLY COLLECTED INFORMATION:

When you access the Resource or open one of our HTML emails, we may automatically record certain information from your system by using cookies and other types of tracking technologies. This “automatically collected” information may include Internet Protocol address (“IP Address”), a unique user ID, device type, device identifiers, browser types and language, referring and exit pages, platform type, version of software installed, system type, the content and pages that you access on the Resource, the number of clicks, the amount of time spent on pages, the dates and times that you visit the Resource, and other similar information. Depending on the law of your country of residence, your IP address may legally be considered personally identifiable information.

SECURITY:

The security of your personally identifiable information is very important to us. When we collect your personally identifiable information online, we use reasonable efforts to protect it from unauthorized access. However, due to the inherent open nature of the Internet, we cannot guarantee that your personally identifiable information will be completely free from unauthorized access by third parties such as hackers and your use of our Resource demonstrates your assumption of this risk. We have put in place reasonable physical, electronic, and managerial procedures to safeguard the information we collect. Only those employees who need access to your information in order to perform their duties are authorized to have access to your personally identifiable information. For more information on protecting your privacy, please visit www.ftc.gov/privacy.

YOUR DISCLOSURES IN BLOGS AND OTHER SOCIAL MEDIA:

You should be aware that personally identifiable information which you voluntarily include and transmit online on the Resource or in a publicly accessible blog, chat room, social media platform or otherwise online, or that you share in an open forum such as an in-person panel or survey, may be viewed and used by others without any restrictions. We are unable to control such uses of your personally identifiable information, and by using the Resource or any other online resources you assume the risk that the personally identifiable information provided by you may be viewed and used by third parties for any number of purposes.

If you login to the Websites and/or Resource through your Facebook account, connect to a third party service such as Facebook or Twitter through an icon or link on the Resource or otherwise link your church or user account with a third party service, we may share the contents of your post and associated information (such as your user name, the fact that your connection originated from the Resource, and other relevant usage and diagnostic information) with such third party. With your one-time consent, we may also send information about the content you watch and your activities on the Resource to such third parties. Once such information is shared, the use of your information will be subject to that resource’s privacy policy and this Privacy Policy will not apply.

PROTECTION FOR CHILDREN:

We generally do not collect personally identifiable information from children under the age of 13. If at any time in the future we plan to collect personally identifiable information from children under 13, such collection and use, to the extent applicable, shall, when required, be done in compliance with the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (“COPPA”) and appropriate consent from the child’s parent or guardian will be sought where required by COPPA. When we become aware that personally identifiable information from a child under 13 has been collected without such child’s parent or guardian’s consent, we will use all reasonable efforts to delete such information from our database.

OTHER RESOURCES:

As a convenience to you, we may provide links to third-party Resources from within our Resource. We are not responsible for the privacy practices or content of these third-party sites. When you link away from our Resource, you do so at your own risk.

CHANGES TO THIS PRIVACY POLICY:

We reserve the right, at our discretion, to change, modify, add, or remove portions from this Privacy Policy at any time. However, if at any time in the future we plan to use personally identifiable information in a way that materially differs from this Privacy Policy, including sharing such information with more third parties, we will post such changes here and provide you the opportunity to opt-out of such differing uses. Your continued use of the Resource and our resources following the posting of any changes to this Privacy Policy means you accept such changes.

OPT-OUT PROCESS:

All unsubscribe or opt-out requests may be made by clicking the “unsubscribe” link at the bottom of the relevant email. We will process your request within a reasonable time after receipt. However, we are not responsible for, and in some cases we are incapable of, removing your personally identifiable information from the lists of any third party who has previously been provided your information in accordance with this Privacy Policy or your consent. You should contact such third parties directly. If you would like to update or correct any personally identifiable information that you have provided to us, please email us at [email protected] and once we confirm your information, we will update such information within a reasonable amount of time.

COMMUNICATIONS WITH NORTH AMERICAN LUTHERAN CHURCH:

By providing your contact information to us (including, without limitation, your email address, physical address, and phone number) (collectively the “Channels”) to us, you expressly consent to receive communications from us. We may use the Channels to communicate with you, to send information that you have requested or to send information about other resources developed or provided by us or our partners, provided that, we will not give your contact information to another party to promote their resources directly to you without your consent or as set forth in this Privacy Policy.

By using the Resource, you expressly consent to receive in-product communications from us (including, without limitation, push notifications).

Any communication or material you transmit to us by email or otherwise, including any data, questions, comments, suggestions, or the like is, and will be treated as, non-confidential and nonproprietary. Except to the extent expressly covered by this Privacy Policy, anything you transmit or post may be used by us for any purpose, including but not limited to, reproduction, disclosure, transmission, publication, broadcast and posting. Furthermore, you expressly agree that we are free to use any ideas, concepts, know-how, or techniques contained in any communication you send to us, as well as any data developed using the content of such communication, without compensation and for any purpose whatsoever, including but not limited to, developing, manufacturing and marketing resources using such information.

NO RIGHTS OF THIRD PARTIES:

This Privacy Policy does not create rights enforceable by third parties, nor does it require disclosure of any personal information relating to users of the Resource.

SITE TERMS OF USE:

Your use, or access, of the Resource constitutes your agreement to be bound by these provisions. IF YOU DO NOT AGREE TO THIS PRIVACY POLICY YOU MAY NOT ACCESS OR OTHERWISE USE THE RESOURCE.

By accessing the North American Lutheran Church website (“Site”) or using the resources offered by North American Lutheran Church (“Resources”) you agree and acknowledge to be bound by these Terms of Service (“Terms”). If you do not agree to these Terms or to our Privacy Policy, please do not access the Site or use the Resources. North American Lutheran Church reserves the right to change these Terms at any time. We recommend that you periodically check this Site for changes.

Prohibited Uses

You may not use the North American Lutheran Church site and or its resources and or its communities to transmit any content which:

  1. harasses, threatens, embarrasses or causes distress, unwanted attention or discomfort upon any other person,
  2. includes sexually explicit images or other content which is offensive or harmful to minors,
  3. includes any unlawful, harmful, threatening, abusive, harassing, defamatory, vulgar, obscene, or hateful material, including but not limited to material based on a person’s race, national origin, ethnicity, religion, gender, sexual orientation, disablement or other such affiliation,
  4. impersonates any person or the appearance or voice of any person,
  5. utilizes a false name or identity or a name or identity that you are not entitled or authorized to use,
  6. contains any unsolicited advertising, promotional materials, or other forms of solicitation,
  7. contravenes any application law or government regulation,
  8. violates any operating rule, regulation, procedure, policy or guideline of North American Lutheran Church as published on the North American Lutheran Church website,
  9. scraping the North American Lutheran Church website or accessing it in any other way than a web browser (eg. Chrome, Safari, Firefox),
  10. may infringe the intellectual property rights or other rights of third parties, including trademark, copyright, trade secret, patent, publicity right, or privacy right,
  11. distributes software or other Content in violation of any license agreement or copyright.

No Warranty and Limitation of Liability

North American Lutheran Church PROVIDES THE SITE AND RESOURCES “AS IS” AND WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY OR CONDITION, EXPRESS, IMPLIED OR STATUTORY. North American Lutheran Church SPECIFICALLY DISCLAIMS ANY IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, NON-INFRINGEMENT, INFORMATION ACCURACY, INTEGRATION, INTEROPERABILITY OR QUIET ENJOYMENT. Some states do not allow the disclaimer of implied warranties, so the foregoing disclaimer may not apply to you.

You understand and agree that you use the Site and Resources at your own discretion and risk and that you will be solely responsible for any damages that arise from such use. UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES SHALL North American Lutheran Church BE LIABLE FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, SPECIAL, INCIDENTAL, CONSEQUENTIAL OR PUNITIVE DAMAGES OF ANY KIND, OR ANY OTHER DAMAGES WHATSOEVER (HOWEVER ARISING, INCLUDING BY NEGLIGENCE), INCLUDING WITHOUT LIMITATION, DAMAGES RELATED TO USE, MISUSE, RELIANCE ON, INABILITY TO USE AND INTERRUPTION, SUSPENSION, OR TERMINATION OF THE SITE OR RESOURCES, DAMAGES INCURRED THROUGH ANY LINKS PROVIDED ON THE SITE AND THE NONPERFORMANCE THEREOF AND DAMAGES RESULTING FROM LOSS OF USE, SALES, DATA, GOODWILL OR PROFITS, WHETHER OR NOT North American Lutheran Church HAS BEEN ADVISED OF SUCH POSSIBILITY. YOUR ONLY RIGHT WITH RESPECT TO ANY DISSATISFACTION WITH THIS SITE OR RESOURCES OR WITH North American Lutheran Church SHALL BE TO TERMINATE USE OF THIS SITE AND RESOURCES. Some states do not allow the exclusion of liability for incidental or consequential damages, so the above exclusions may not apply to you.

Other

North American Lutheran Church, in its sole discretion, may terminate your usage and remove and discard any information associated with the usage without notice if North American Lutheran Church believes that you have violated or acted inconsistently with the Terms. North American Lutheran Church will not be liable to you for termination of your usage of our Community and/or Website and/or Resource.

North American Lutheran Church, in its sole discretion, may delete any of the images posted to the Site and remove and discard any information associated with the image without notice if North American Lutheran Church believes that you have violated or acted inconsistently with the Terms. North American Lutheran Church will not be liable for deletion of the images.

North American Lutheran Church reserves the right at any time and from time to time to modify or discontinue, temporarily or permanently, the Resource (or any part thereof) with or without notice. You agree that North American Lutheran Church shall not be liable to you or to any third party for any modification, suspension or discontinuance of the Resource.

North American Lutheran Church reserves the right at any time to block or disable access to any IP or domain that is mis-using or scraping data from the North American Lutheran Church website.

North American Lutheran Church Terms of Service as noted above may be updated by us from time to time without notice to you. In addition, when using particular North American Lutheran Church owned or operated resources, you and North American Lutheran Church shall be subject to any posted guidelines or rules applicable to such resources, which may be posted from time to time.

Images Submitted and Published on the North American Lutheran Church Site

North American Lutheran Church aggregates and publishes inspiration from all over the world to better our community and celebrate excellence in church media. When you submit an image, tag an image or otherwise share an image on the North American Lutheran Church Site, Community, or any other North American Lutheran Church resource, you agree that you took the picture yourself or have rights to the picture.  By doing so – you also agree that North American Lutheran Church has the right to use the image on the website http://www.thenalc.org and all of their social channels without compensation or credit given to you in any way.  North American Lutheran Church may also crop or alter the image in a way that makes the image more appealing or to fit the space on the North American Lutheran Church page more appropriately.

Copyright

To file a copyright infringement notification with North American Lutheran Church, please send an email to [email protected] with the following requirements:

  • a) Identify the material on North American Lutheran Church that you claim is infringing, with enough detail so that we may locate it on the website;
  • b) A statement by you that you have a good faith belief that the disputed use is not authorized by the copyright owner, its agent, or the law;
  • c) A statement by you declaring under penalty of perjury that (1) the above information in your Notice is accurate, and (2) that you are the owner of the copyright interest involved or that you are authorized to act on behalf of that owner;
  • d) Your address, telephone number, and email address; and
  • e) Your physical or electronic signature.

North American Lutheran Church will remove the infringing posting(s), subject to the procedures outlined in the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA). If you do not receive a response from North American Lutheran Church within 10 days of submitting a complaint, please email [email protected] com to confirm that your original complaint was received. Removed Material may be restored by North American Lutheran Church under the DMCA counternotification procedures. We reserve the right to suspend or delete the account of any user who repeatedly violates our copyright policies.

SERVERS:

Our servers are maintained in the United States of America (United States). By using the Resource, you freely and specifically give us your consent to export your personally identifiable information to the United States and to store and use it in the United States as specified in this Privacy Policy. You understand that data stored in the United States may be subject to lawful requests by the courts or law enforcement authorities in the United States.

GOVERNING LAW:

This Privacy Policy and our legal obligations hereunder are subject to the laws of the United States of America regardless of your location. You hereby consent to the exclusive jurisdiction of and venue in the courts located in the State Kansas in The United States of America in all disputes arising out of or relating to the Resources.

CONTACT:

For questions or concerns relating to privacy, we can be contacted at [email protected].

EFFECTIVE DATE:

This Privacy Policy was last updated on May 28, 2019.