Privacy Policy

(Effective Date: September 10, 2008)

Audit Bureau of Circulations
Privacy Policy

This Privacy Policy (“Privacy Policy”) applies only to http://www.accessabc.com, including the interactive features that are accessible or downloadable though this website (collectively, the "Site") (however the Site is accessed or used by you, whether via personal computer, mobile device or otherwise). Audit Bureau of Circulations (“ABC,” “we,” or “us”) owns and controls the Site. We have adopted this Privacy Policy to explain what information may be collected on our Site, how we use this information and under what circumstances we may disclose the information to third parties.

This Privacy Policy, as posted on the Site, is the sole statement of our privacy policy with respect to the Site, and no summary, modification, restatement or other version thereof, or other privacy statement or policy, in any form, is valid unless we post a new or revised policy to the Site. This Privacy Policy only covers information collected at or via the Site and does not cover any information collected at any other website or offline by ABC (unless specifically stated). This Privacy Policy addresses how ABC collects information at or via the Site, what information it collects, how it may use this information and other related issues. Please review this Privacy Policy carefully. In addition, please review the Site’s Terms of Use, which govern your use of the Site.

Table of Contents

1. Who is Audit Bureau of Circulations?
2. What Information Does ABC Collects Through the Site?

(a) Collection of Personal Information Through the Site
(b) Third Parties Provide Us Information About You

3. How Does ABC Collect Information Through Your Access and Use of the Site?
4. How Does ABC Use Personal Information?
5. What are ABC's Information Sharing Practices?
6. Links to Third Party Websites
7. Data Security
8. Updating Your Personal Information and Subscriptions
9. Consent to Transfer Outside United States
10. Changes to this Privacy Policy
11. Note to Parents
12. Contact Us


1. Who is Audit Bureau of Circulations?

ABC is a membership organization comprised of the world's leading magazine and newspaper publishers, advertisers and advertising agencies. Through the Site, you have the opportunity to obtain registration information to become a Member (“Member"). You may apply to become a Member in the following membership categories: (a) Advertising Agencies, (b) Advertisers, (c) Associates, (d) Business Publications, (e) Consumer Magazines, (f) Farm Publications, (g) Newspapers and (h) such other categories that may be established from time to time (collectively "Membership"). Information about the different types of ABC Memberships and the costs of such Memberships can be found under the ABC Membership located throughout the Site.

2. What Information Does ABC Collect Through the Site?
(a) Collection of Personal Information Through the Site. The Site collects personal information that you provide through the Site. "Personal Information” is any information that can be used to identify a specific individual. The types of Personal Information we collect through the Site will vary depending on the activity involved, but may include: first and last name, address, e-mail address, credit card number and phone number. We do not require that you become a Member or provide Personal Information to obtain access to public parts of the Site, however, some areas of the Site require you to become a Member or submit Personal Information in order for you to benefit from specific features or to participate in a particular activity. For example, we may collect Personal Information when you:
  • register on the Site;
  • subscribe to receive updates or other communications, whether by e-mail or other method;
  • send questions or comments to us;
  • participate in sweepstakes, contests events or other promotional events (collectively, "Promotions") offered through the Site;
  • notify you about content or features available at the Site;
  • complete a transaction, provide you with a refund or authorize a purchase that you have requested;
  • verify the accuracy of information you submit to the Site;
  • monitor, administer or improve the Site or develop future websites or for other internal business purposes;
  • contact you about the Site, your Personal Information, to provide customer service or give important notices or to respond to inquiries you make through the Site; or
  • comply with and monitor compliance with the website's Terms of Use and other applicable agreements and polices.

You can always choose not to provide us with your Personal Information but you may not be able to participate with the Site features that are conditioned upon collecting Personal Information. Additionally, we may combine information that you provide in your offline Membership application with the Personal Information we collected from you online and we will treat that information as Personal Information pursuant to this Privacy Policy.

If you send a friend a communication from the Site, we will use the information you provide on a one-time basis to facilitate the communication and will not use it for any other marketing purpose, unless we obtain additional consent.
(b) Third Parties Provide Us Information About You. From time-to-time, we may also combine the information we collect from you with information obtained from third parties. We may do this to provide you with services, tailor our content to you or present you with a chance to purchase products or services that may be of interest to you. For example, our partners may provide us Personal Information about users that choose to participate in a promotional opportunity (collectively, "Third Party Information"). We may use such Third Party Information in combination with Personal Information that we have collected from you on the Site, in which case we will apply this Privacy Policy to the Third Party Information, unless we tell you otherwise. However, because the Third Party Information is not collected on this Site, we are not responsible for the accuracy of this data or how such third parties collect and use such data.

3. How Does ABC Collect Information Through Your Access and Use of the Site? We may passively collect certain non-personal information about you on our Site, such as how you use the Site, how you arrived at the Site or which pages you view (collectively, "Usage Information") which may include a visitor’s "IP Address" (discussed below) or another unique identifier for a device used to access the Internet, operating system, browser type, referring website URL. We may utilize such Usage Information for many purposes, including to customize the Site based on your preferences, compile and analyze statistics and trends including the number of Site visitors, diagnose problems with the Site's server and otherwise administer, operate and improve the Site. When we associate Usage Information with your Personal Information, we will treat that information as Personal Information. We may utilize various technologies that may collect Usage Information, including those described as follows:

(a) Cookies. Cookies are small files that a website transfers to your computer for many purposes such as facilitating your web page display preferences and website login features. While most browsers are set up to accept cookies, you can configure your browser to refuse cookies. However, if you decline to accept the Site's cookies, you may not be able to take advantage of or participate in certain features of this Site. We do not save Personal Information in cookies but we may link cookies to any Personal Information or other information we collect.

(b) IP Addresses. An IP address is a number automatically assigned to your computer or mobile device when you are using the Internet. When you view pages on this Site, our servers may record your IP address. We may use IP address records for a number of purposes, such as system administration, to report aggregate information to our business partners or to audit the use of the Site. We may associate your IP address with the Personal Information you provide in which case we will treat it as Personal Information.

(c) Web Beacons. Small graphic images or other web programming code called web beacons (also known as “1x1 GIFs” or “clear GIFs") may be included in our web pages and e-mail messages. Web beacons may be invisible to you, but any electronic image or other web programming code inserted into a web page or e-mail can act as a web beacon. Web beacons or similar technologies may be used for a number of purposes, including, without limitation, to count visitors to the Site, to monitor how users navigate the Site, to count how many e-mails that were sent were actually opened or to count how many particular articles or links were actually viewed.

4. How does ABC Use Personal Information?

(a) We do not share your Personal Information with third parties for those third parties’ marketing purposes unless you opt-in to or opt-out of such sharing at the time you provide your Personal Information (for example, you may be provided with an opt-out choice on a Promotion registration form). We may share non-personally identifiable information, including aggregated statistics and Usage Information that is not associated with Personal Information, with third parties. ABC may retain and use your Personal Information for many purposes, including:
  • to send e-mail updates and other communications for which you have subscribed or otherwise agreed to receive;
  • provide you with services or fulfill transactions that you have requested;
  • send you offers or promotional materials on behalf of ABC or third parties;
  • communicate with you regarding information, features or offers that we believe will be of interest to you;
  • contact you regarding a Promotion in which you have participated;
  • respond to your questions or other requests;
  • contact you with regard to your use of the Site, including, without limitation, changes to the Site's Privacy Policy, Terms of Use or other Site policies;
  • to improve or customize the Site and its content, features and services;
  • allow you to access specific sections of Site for which you have registered;
  • for other business purposes or for other purposes disclosed at the time you provide your Personal Information;
  • send you e-mail communications or otherwise contact you regarding your job search; and
  • facilitate your job search and prepare governmental and internal statistics reports.


(b) As part of our routine record keeping practices, we may delete certain records that contain Personal Information you have submitted through the Site. We have no obligation to store such Personal Information and disclaim any liability arising out of, or related to, the destruction of such Personal Information. You should also be aware that it is not always possible to completely remove or delete all of your information from our databases without some residual data because of backups and other reasons.

5. What are ABC's Information Sharing Practices?

ABC may share non-personally identifiable information, including aggregated statistics, Member numbers and Usage Information that is not associated with Personal Information, with third parties. ABC may share Personal Information and Usage Information (collectively, "Information") with third parties or nonaffiliated companies as follows:

(i) Service Providers. We may share Information with outside parties who work on our behalf to support our business needs or to provide a product or service for you on our behalf. Such parties may host our Site, send e-mail newsletters and/or other communications, clear and process credit card payments or perform other administrative services.

(ii) Marketing Purposes. From time to time, we may ask you if you would like us to share Personal Information with a third party for that party's marketing purposes. We will share your Personal Information with a third party for marketing purposes where you have consented to such sharing. Please note that when you do agree that we may share your Personal Information with the third party for marketing purposes, your Personal Information will be treated under that third party's privacy policy. Therefore, if you later decide that you do not want that third party to use your Personal Information, you will need to contact that third party directly.

(iii) Legal and Safety Obligations. We may disclose your Information: (i) at the request of governmental authorities; (ii) if we are required to respond to subpoenas, court orders, legal process or other valid law enforcement measures; (iii) when we believe in good faith that the law requires disclosure; (iv) to verify or enforce compliance with the Site's Terms of Use or other policies governing the Site; (v) whenever we believe disclosure is necessary to limit our legal liability or to protect or enforce the rights, interests, or safety of the Site, visitors to the Site or other third parties; or (vi) to respond to an emergency.

(iv) Business Transfers. We reserve the right to disclose and transfer Information about you and you consent to such disclosure and transfer of Information: (i) to a subsequent owner, co-owner or operator of the Site, including any applicable databases; and/or (ii) in connection with a corporate merger, consolidation, restructuring, reorganization, issuance of securities, the sale of substantially all of ABC's stock and/or assets or other corporate change, including, without limitation, during the course of any due diligence process.

(v) Promotions. When you sign-up for a Promotion offered on the Site, we may disclose your Personal Information to third parties in connection with the administration of such Promotion, including, without limitation, in connection with winner selection, prize fulfillment, and as required by law, such as on a winners' list. When you enter a Promotion, you must agree to the official rules that govern that Promotion, which may contain specific requirements of you, including, without limitation, except where prohibited by law, allowing the sponsor(s) of the Promotion to use your name, voice and/or likeness in advertising or marketing associated with the Promotion.

(vi) EEOC/Affirmative Action Reporting. When applying for employment on a Site, we may ask you to provide us with self-identifying information (such as veteran status, gender and ethnicity) in conjunction with laws and regulations enforced by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (“EEOC”), the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (“OFCCP”) and similar state and local regulatory agencies. Providing such self-identifying information is voluntary, but if you do provide us with such information, we may submit that information, to the EEOC, the OFCCP and similar state and local regulatory agencies for business-related purposes, including, but not limited to, responding to information requests, fulfilling regulatory reporting requirements and defending against employment related complaints.

6. Links to Third Party Websites. The Site may link to or contain links to third party websites ("Third Party Sites") that we do not control or maintain. For example, you may encounter links from sponsors or partners, which may include ABC's logo or other identifying marks as part of a co-branding arrangement. We are not responsible for the privacy practices employed by any Third Party Site. We encourage you to note when you leave our Site and to read the privacy statements of all Third Party Sites before submitting any Personal Information.

7. Data Security. While we have taken steps to protect the Personal Information we collect from you on the Site, you should keep in mind that no Internet, wireless or mobile phone transmission is ever completely secure. In particular, unencrypted e-mail and web traffic are subject to potential interception by unauthorized third parties. Likewise, we cannot guarantee the security of any information that you disclose to us, or that which we process or store. Accordingly, you disclose your Personal Information at your own risk. Please consider this when you choose the information, if any, you wish to transmit to the Site.

8. Updating Your Personal Information and Subscriptions. You are responsible for maintaining the accuracy of the information you submit to us, such as your contact information provided as part of Member registration. The Site may allow you to correct or update Personal Information you have provided to us through a Site registration form or otherwise. We will make good faith efforts to make requested changes in our then active databases as soon as reasonably practicable. You may cancel or modify your subscriptions to e-mails from the Site by following the instructions contained within an e-mail you receive from the Site. However, even if you opt-out from receiving our newsletters or other marketing/promotional communications, we reserve the right to send you certain communications relating to our Site, such as service announcements or notices of changes to this Privacy Policy or our Terms of Use, without offering you the opportunity to opt-out of receiving such information.

9. Consent to Transfer Outside United States. The Site is operated in the United States and intended for residents of the United States and Canada. If you are located outside of the United States or Canada, be aware that Information we collect will be transferred to the United States. By using the Site, accessing the Site or providing your Information to the Site or ABC, you consent to this transfer.

10. Changes to this Privacy Policy. We generally keep this Privacy Policy posted on the Site and you should review it frequently, as it may change from time-to-time. We reserve the right to update or otherwise change this Privacy Policy at any time and will post any changes here. Such changes will become effective immediately upon being posted unless we inform you otherwise. We will use your Information in a manner consistent with the Privacy Policy in effect at the time you submitted the information unless we receive your consent to the revised Privacy Policy.

11. Note to Parents. The Site is a general audience website. We do not knowingly collect any Personal Information from children younger than thirteen (13) years of age ("Child") on the Site. If you are a Child younger than thirteen (13) years of age, please do not send any information about yourself to us. If we become aware that a Child has submitted Personal Information to the Site, we will delete that Child's Personal Information.

12. Contact Us. If you have any questions, comments, requests, or concerns about this Privacy Policy, please Please note that your e-mails may not receive a response.