The Voice's Philosophical Framework
The philosophical framework of the project is vitally important to understanding what distinguishes the project’s content from other Harvard media. The core philosophy of The Voice is to stimulate, foster and express -- with utmost journalistic integrity -- thoughts and discourse among its contributors and readership in a way that is currently unrealized in Har- vard media. There is no idea, perspective, opinion or discussion that is too controversial or off-limits. This does not mean, however, that we sanction provocation for the sake of provo- cation; we reserve the right to moderate or not publish content for reasons that are explained in section (v) submissions editorial policy. We will strive, to the utmost, to report issues as we see them, and tell the truth as it is. This is our guiding principle, and will remain so through- out the project’s existence.
:: top of page
EU Safe Harbor Privacy Participation
We participate in the EU Safe Harbor Privacy Framework as set forth by the United States Department of Commerce. As part of our participation in the safe harbor, we have agreed to TRUSTe dispute resolution for disputes relating to our compliance with the Safe Harbor Privacy Framework. If you have any complaints regarding our compliance with the Safe Harbor you should first contact us at info@theharvardvoice.com. If contacting us does not resolve your complaint, you may raise your complaint with TRUSTe at http://www.truste.org/users/users_watchdog_intro.html.
:: top of page
When you visit The Voice website you provide us with two types of information: personal information and content that you knowingly choose to disclose, which is collected by us and website use information collected by us as you interact with our website.
When you register with The Voice website, you provide us with certain personal information, such as your name, your e-mail address, your telephone number, schools attended and any other personal or preference information that you provide to us.
When you enter The Voice website, we collect your browser type and IP address. This information is gathered for all The Voice website visitors. In addition, we store certain information from your browser using "cookies." A cookie is a piece of data stored on the user's computer tied to information about the user.
We use session ID cookies to confirm that users are logged in. These cookies terminate once the user closes the browser. By default, we use a persistent cookie that stores your login ID (but not your password) to make it easier for you to login when you come back to The Voice website. You can remove or block this cookie using the settings in your browser if you want to disable this convenience feature.
When you use The Voice website, you may set up your personal profile, start a blog, submit an article, post content, rate content, and look through our pictures, in addition to other functions of the website. We collect this information so that we can provide you the service and offer personalized features. In most cases, we retain it so that, for instance, you can return to view prior comments you made or easily new articles posted. When you update information, we usually keep a backup copy of the prior version for a reasonable period of time to enable reversion to the prior version of that information.
You post User Content (as defined in the The Voice website Terms of Use) on the Site at your own risk. Although we allow you to set privacy options that limit access to your pages, please be aware that no security measures are perfect or impenetrable. We cannot control the actions of other Users with whom you may choose to share information and the content that you submit. Therefore, we cannot and do not guarantee that User Content you post on the Site will not be viewed by unauthorized persons. We are not responsible for circumvention of any privacy settings or security measures contained on the Site. You understand and acknowledge that, even after removal, copies of User Content may remain viewable in cached and archived pages or if other Users have copied or stored your User Content.
Any improper collection or misuse of information provided on The Voice website is a violation of the The Voice website Terms of Service and should be reported to privacy@theharvardvoice.com.
The Voice website may also collect information about you from other sources, such as newspapers, blogs, instant messaging services, and other users of the Voice service through the operation of the service (e.g., content rating) in order to provide you with more useful information and a more personalized experience.
By using The Voice website, you are consenting to have your personal data transferred to and processed in the United States.
:: top of page
The Voice website does not knowingly collect or solicit personal information from anyone under the age of 13 or knowingly allow such persons to register. If you are under 13, please do not attempt to register for The Voice website or send any information about yourself to us, including your name, address, telephone number, or email address. No one under age 13 may provide any personal information to or on The Voice website.
In the event that we learn that we have collected personal information from a child under age 13 without verification of parental consent, we will delete that information as quickly as possible. If you believe that we might have any information from or about a child under 13, please contact us at info@theharvardvoice.com.
:: top of page
Children Between the Ages of 13 and 18
We recommend that minors over the age of 13 ask their parents for permission before sending any information about themselves to anyone over the Internet.
:: top of page
Use of Information Obtained by The Voice website
When you register with The Voice website, you create your own profile and submit content that you produce. Your profile information, as well as your name and photo, are displayed to users of The Voice website. We may occasionally use your name and email address to send you notifications regarding new services offered by The Voice website that we think you may find valuable.
Blog entries and article submissions are used by The Voice website primarily to be presented back to and edited by you when you access the service and to be presented to others . In some cases where your posting settings permit it (e.g., commenting on your blogs, articles or comments), other The Voice website users may be able to supplement your content submission.
Profile information you submit to The Voice website will be available to users of The Voice website . Your name and profile picture thumbnail will be available in search results across the Voice website and those limited pieces of information may be made available to third party search engines.
The Voice may use information in your profile without identifying you as an individual to third parties. We do this for purposes such as aggregating how many people are interested in certain things, with the hope of personalizing advertisements and promotions so that we can provide you The Voice .
We believe this benefits you. You can know more about the world around you and, where there are advertisements, they're more likely to be interesting to you. For example, if you put a favorite movie in one of your submissions, we might serve you an advertisement highlighting a screening of a similar one near you. But we don't tell the movie company who you are.
:: top of page
Sharing Your Information with Third Parties
The Voice is about sharing thoughts, ideas and opnions with others — i.e., users of the website — while providing you with the privacy that restricts other users from accessing your personal information that you give us.
We do not provide contact information to third party marketers without your permission. We share your information with third parties only in limited circumstances where we believe such sharing is 1) reasonably necessary to offer the service, 2) legally required or, 3) permitted by you.
We may provide information to service providers to help us bring you the services we offer. Specifically, we may use third parties to facilitate our business, such as to host the service at a co-location facility for servers, to send out email updates about The Voice , to remove repetitive information from our user lists, to process payments for products or services, to offer an online job application process, or to provide search results or links (including sponsored links).
In connection with these offerings and business operations, our service providers may have access to your personal information for use for a limited time in connection with these business activities. Where we utilize third parties for the processing of any personal information, we implement reasonable contractual and technical protections limiting the use of that information to the Voice-specified purposes.
You can report any suspected misuse of information through The Voice and we will investigate any such claim and take appropriate action against the user up to and including terminating their participation in the Voice website and/or other formal legal action.
We may be required to disclose user information pursuant to lawful requests, such as subpoenas or court orders, or in compliance with applicable laws. We do not reveal information until we have a good faith belief that an information request by law enforcement or private litigants meets applicable legal standards.
Additionally, we may share account or other information when we believe it is necessary to comply with law, to protect our interests or property, to prevent fraud or other illegal activity perpetrated through the Voice service or using the Voice name, or to prevent imminent bodily harm. This may include sharing information with other companies, lawyers, agents or government agencies.
We let you choose to share information with marketers or electronic commerce providers through sponsored groups or other on-site offers.
We may offer stores or provide services jointly with other companies on The Voice. You can tell when another company is involved in any store or service provided on The Voice, and we may share customer information with that company in connection with your use of that store or service. Like many other websites that interact with third party sites, we may receive some information even if you are logged out from The Voice, or that pertains to non-Voice users, from those sites in conjunction with the technical operation of the system. In cases where The Voice receives information on users that are not logged in, or on non-Voice users, we do not attempt to associate it with individual Voice accounts and will discard it.
When you use The Voice, certain information you post or share with third parties (e.g., other users on the website), such as personal information, blogs, articles, photos, videos, comments or other information, may be shared with other users. All such sharing of information is done at your own risk. Please keep in mind that if you disclose personal information in your profile or when posting comments, blog entries, articles, photos or videos, this information may become publicly available.
:: top of page
The Voice may contain links to other websites. We are of course not responsible for the privacy practices of other websites. We encourage our users to be aware when they leave our site to read the privacy statements of each and every website that collects personally identifiable information. This Privacy Policy applies solely to information collected by The Voice.
:: top of page
Changing or Removing Information
Access and control over most personal information on The Voice is readily available through the profile editing tools. The Voice users may modify or delete any of their profile information at any time by logging into their account. Information will be updated immediately. Individuals who wish to deactivate their Voice account by contact account@theharvardvoice.com. Removed information may persist in backup copies for a reasonable period of time but will not be generally available to members of The Voice.
Where you make use of the communication features of the service to share information with other individuals on The Voice, however, (e.g., posting a comment on a blog entry) you generally cannot remove such communications.
:: top of page
The Voice takes appropriate precautions to protect our users' information. Your account information is located on a secured server behind a firewall. When you enter sensitive information (such as credit card number or your password), we encrypt that information using secure socket layer technology (SSL). (To learn more about SSL, go to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Secure_Sockets_Layer).
If you have any questions about the security of The Voice website, please contact us at privacy@theharvardvoice.com.
:: top of page
Terms of Use, Notices and Revisions
Your use of The Voice website, and any disputes arising from it, is subject to this Privacy Policy as well as our Terms of Use and all of its dispute resolution provisions including arbitration, limitation on damages and choice of law. We reserve the right to change our Privacy Policy and our Terms of Use at any time. Non-material changes and clarifications will take effect immediately, and material changes will take effect within 30 days of their posting on this site. If we make changes, we will post them and will indicate at the top of this page the policy's new effective date. If we make material changes to this policy, we will notify you here, by email, or through notice on our home page. We encourage you to refer to this policy on an ongoing basis so that you understand our current privacy policy. Unless stated otherwise, our current privacy policy applies to all information that we have about you and your account.
:: top of page
If you have any questions about this privacy policy, please contact us at privacy@theharvardvoice.com. You may also contact us by mail at Apt. 2, 59 Church Street; Cambridge, MA 02138.
:: top of page
