Last Updated on June 19, 2024

At The World Journal Company, We want you to understand how we handle your personal information. We also want you to know your rights and choices.
This policy describes how we handle your personal information when you use the following “Services”:
Our websites, like worldjournal.com
Anywhere we gather information from you and refer you to this Privacy Policy
How we handle information about you depends on which Services you use and how you use them.
Be aware that certain Services work differently. Some have additional terms that supplement this policy (e.g., Reader Submissions). Others, like events and wjc88.com, refer to a different privacy policy altogether, so this one does not apply in those cases.
If you have questions, please don’t hesitate to contact us at [email protected]. You can also review our Privacy F.A.Q.

1. What Information Do We Gather About You?

The information we gather about you depends on the context. By and large, it’s information about you that can personally identify you — either on its own or when combined with other information.

The following describes the information we collect and how we obtain it.

1. (A) Information Collected through Services.

i. Information You Voluntarily Give Us

For Billing:

To process payments or donations, we collect and use your payment information. This can include your name, your address, your telephone number, your email address, your credit or debit card information and any other relevant information.

For User-Generated Content:

We offer you the ability to post content that other users can read (e.g., comments ). Anyone can read, collect and use any personal information that accompanies your posts.

We do not have to publish any of your content. If the law requires us to take down, remove or edit your content, we will comply.

Personal Contacts Data:

We never scan your device for your contacts or upload that data.
With your consent, we do comply with your requests to collect data about your friends, family or acquaintances (e.g., Refer-a-Friend campaigns). This functionality is only meant for U.S. residents. By using it, you acknowledge and agree that both you and your contacts are based in the United States — and that you have everyone’s consent for us to use their contact information.

ii. Information Collected Automatically

When you use Services, we collect some information automatically. The technologies we use to assist with this data collection include cookies, web beacons, tags and scripts and software development kits (or SDKs). We may also use newer technologies, as many browsers begin to deprecate third party cookies. We use these technologies on our digital properties, including our websites and apps, as well as in our email communications and newsletters.

The categories of personal information we collect automatically include:

Identifiers and Device Information:

When you access our Services digitally, including our websites, apps, email communications and newsletters, our servers automatically log information about the device you are using, including unique identifiers. If your browser doesn’t accept our cookies or similar technologies, you can’t access certain parts of our websites (e.g., your account on worldjournal.com). The items we log include:

Your IP address

Cookie identifiers
Your operating system and browser (e.g., type, version, and configuration)
Your browser language

Device identifiers (such as MAC address)

Advertising identifiers

We combine this data with other information we collect about you.

Geolocation Information:

Where applicable, we use location information such as your city, state, zip code, to personalize content provided to you, including, but not limited to, more relevant articles, newsletters, and weather updates. We also use location information such as zip code to show you prices and promotions, as explained in the discussion of Personalization below.

Some of our apps can provide content based on your GPS location if you enable this feature. Your GPS location is your precise geolocation, which is considered a type of sensitive personal information.

You choose whether to enable GPS features when you first install the app. You can edit that setting on your device at any time. If you enable these features, your GPS location can be found by satellite, cell phone tower or Wi-Fi and used by the app. If you save a location-based search in your history, that data moves to our service provider’s servers — see below for the definition of service provider.

If you do not enable GPS location-based services, or if a specific app does not have location-based features, we don’t collect your precise GPS location. We do collect your IP address, which can establish your approximate location. Ads on our sites and apps may be targeted based on this approximate location but are never targeted based on your GPS location.

Other Usage Data:

We collect certain internet and network activity on our Services, including our websites and apps, such as the URLs of any pages you visit on our sites and apps, the URL of the website from which you came to our sites, how long you spent on a page, access times and other details about your use of and actions on our Services.

iii. A Note about Sensitive Personal Information

We generally don’t want to gather sensitive personal information about you. This includes: Government-issued IDs (such as your driver’s license, passport or social security number)

Your racial or ethnic origin

Your political opinions

Your religion or other beliefs

Your health, biometric or genetic characteristics

Any trade union membership

Your sexuality (information about your sex life or sexual orientation)

Any criminal background

The content of your private communications (other than messages you may send to us)

However, as discussed above, we sometimes collect precise geolocation information (which may be considered a sensitive data type) to provide GPS-based location services you choose to enable. Also, some laws define account access information, such as a username and password, as sensitive personal information, but we collect that information only for the accounts you create directly with us and not for any other account you may have with a third party.

Finally, there are situations when we request certain of the above information (e.g., a reader survey asks about your political leanings or ethnicity) but you can decline to answer. Outside these situations we would prefer you never share sensitive personal information with us.

1. (B) Information We Create or Generate.

We infer new information from other data we collect, including using automated means such as machine learning, which may include third party machine learning services, to generate information about your likely preferences or other characteristics (“inferences”).

1. (C) Information Collected from Other Sources.

i. Privately Owned Databases:

Marketing, data analytic and social media-owned databases give us access to a range of information — like public data, survey data and more. This data sometimes includes your mailing address, your gender, your age, your household income and other demographic data.

ii. Social Media Platforms and Other Third-Party Services:

(Social media platforms include services like Instagram, Facebook, X, TikTok, Snap and other platforms. Third-party services include services like Google.)

You can link your social media or other third-party account to a Times Service. By linking the services, you authorize us to collect, store and use any information they may give us (e.g., your email address). You can disconnect your worldjournal.com registration from third-party accounts at any time.

We also receive information from you when you interact with our pages, groups, accounts or posts on social media platforms. This includes aggregate data on our followers (e.g., age, gender and location), engagement data (e.g., “likes,” comments, shares, reposts and clicks), awareness data (e.g., number of impressions and reach) and individual users’ public profiles.

2. What Do We Do with the Information We Collect about You?

We use each of the categories of personal information described above for the following business and commercial purposes. The activities below can involve outside companies, agents or contractors (“service providers”) to whom we disclose your personal information for these purposes (discussed further below in Section 3 of this Privacy Policy).

2. (A) We Provide the Services.

We use your information to help you use and navigate Services, such as: Making a Times Service available to you
Arranging access to your account
Providing customer service
Responding to your inquiries, requests, suggestions or complaints
Completing your payments and transactions
Sending service-related transactional messages (e.g., a change in our terms and conditions)
Saving your reading list, recipes or searches
Letting you take part in paid services, polls, promotions, surveys, panels, research and comments.


2. (B) We Personalize Your Experience.

We track your interests and reading habits (e.g., the articles you read) to personalize your experience using technology like algorithmic recommendations and machine learning, which may include third party machine learning services. This is how we highlight articles you might be interested in and de-emphasize articles you’ve already read. We also show you prices, promotions, products or services we believe you’ll find interesting, based on demographic and usage data, including but not limited to location data such as IP address and zip code.

2. (C) We Allow You to Share User-Generated Content.

Any information you disclose in your content becomes public — along with your chosen screen name and uploaded photo.

2. (D) We Develop Products and Services, and Do Analysis.

We analyze data on our users’ subscriptions, purchases, registered account activity and other usage behaviors. This helps us make business and marketing decisions. For example, our analysis, which includes the use of technology like machine learning (proprietary or third party), lets us predict preferences and price points for our products and services. It helps us determine whether our marketing is successful. It also shows us characteristics about our readers, which we sometimes share in aggregate with advertisers. Google Analytics is one of the analytics providers we use on certain Services. You can find out how Google Analytics uses data and how to opt out of Google Analytics.

2. (E) We Carry Out Administrative Tasks.

For auditing: We verify that our internal processes work as intended and comply with legal, regulatory and contractual requirements. For fraud and security monitoring: We detect and prevent cyberattacks or unauthorized robot activities. For customer satisfaction: We assess users’ satisfaction with Services and our customer care team.

2. (F) We Allow for Personalized Advertising on Services and Create Audiences for Third-Party Advertisers.

We gather data and work with service providers and third parties to show you and measure the performance of personalized ads on behalf of advertisers. This data comes from ad tracking technologies set by us or the third party (e.g., cookies), the information you provide (e.g., your email address), your use of Services (e.g., your reading and account activity history), information from advertisers or advertising vendors (e.g., demographic data) and anything inferred from any of this information.

For example, we use Google to serve ads on Services. Google uses cookies or unique device identifiers, in combination with their own data, to show you ads based on your visit to worldjournal.com and other sites. You can opt out of the use of certain Google cookies by visiting the related Google privacy policy.

We also identify groups of users to whom to serve personalized ads on behalf of our advertisers. To do this, we combine information we collect through surveys or registration with information we collect automatically using tracking technologies while you browse our sites and apps. This combined information is used to build models. These data models are then used to measure users’ attributes, like their demographic information or their interests. Working with service providers, we use these measurements to group users by common attributes. Each group is associated with a random ID which is then passed to our ad server for use in targeting ad campaigns on our sites and apps.

Another example is our affiliate link vendors, which we use in our guides and product recommendations. Services like Wirecutter may include links that will send you to vendor URLs and other services not operated or controlled by us. These vendors use cookies and other technologies to collect information about your navigation from the Services to the merchant you are visiting. If you buy a product after following a link to a link vendor’s URL, we may earn a commission.

Additional Notes:

For more about targeted advertising, and how to opt out with your specific browser and device, go to the DAA Webchoices Browser Check and NAI Opt Out of Interest-Based Advertising. You can download the AppChoices app to opt out in mobile apps.

We try to limit how our third-party advertising technology vendors use the information they gather from you. Many of these providers require us to enter into contracts that allow them to optimize their own services and products, or that help them create their own. Essentially, these providers combine any information they gather about you through Services with information they receive from their other clients. This helps them target ads to you on behalf of their other clients, not just us.

These third parties sometimes use other services in order to serve ads; check their privacy policies for more details.

2. (G) We Advertise or Market Services to You.

We market our Services to you. Sometimes we use marketing vendors to do this. For example, when you visit Services, the Google Dynamic Floodlight tag collects data through redirects of requests from your browser to entities other than Services, Google, and the owner or operator of other properties on which The Times may serve marketing using Google.

We serve ads through websites, locations, platforms and services operated and owned by third parties. Often these ads are targeted at people who have visited or registered for a Times Service but have not subscribed to or purchased anything. The ads are also targeted at people with similar traits or behaviors to our subscribers or customers.

We target our advertising to these users by uploading a customer list (email addresses) to a third party, or by incorporating a tracking technology from a third party onto our Times Service. The third party then matches individuals who appear in both our data and their data.

We will take steps designed to opt you out of such matched ads if you are a resident of certain states where you have the right to opt out of such processing, as discussed further below. That being said, in order to opt out of receiving these matched ads, you should also contact the applicable third parties. For example, when we use “Custom Audiences” to serve you our ad through Facebook, you should be able to hover over the box in the right corner of that Facebook ad and opt out. We are not responsible for any third party’s failure to comply with opt-out requests.

We periodically send you targeted email newsletters or promotional emails.

2. (H) We Aggregate (or De-identify) Personal Information into Larger Findings.

Sometimes we aggregate or de-identify information so that it can no longer identify you, as defined under applicable laws. This helps us better understand and represent our users, such as when we measure ad performance, create advertising interest-based segments or compile survey results. We can use and disclose this aggregated or de-identified information for any purpose, unless an applicable law says otherwise.

3. To Whom Do We Disclose or Share the Information We Gather?

3. (A) Within The World Journal Company:

Our affiliates may access your information for the purposes listed here. Our affiliates include the companies on this list.

3. (B) With Service Providers:

We work with service providers, as defined above, to carry out certain tasks, including:

Processing your payments

Fulfilling your orders

Maintaining technology and related infrastructure

Offering you customer service

Serving and targeting ads

Measuring ad performance

Presenting surveys

Shipping you products and mailings

Distributing emails

List processing and analytics

Managing and analyzing research

Managing promotions

When performing these tasks, service providers often have access to your personal information. We sometimes allow them to use aggregated or de-identified information for other purposes, in accordance with applicable laws.

3. (C) With Other Third Parties:

There are situations when we disclose your information to third parties beyond our service providers. For example, as discussed above in Section 2, we share your email address and other personal information with third parties both for marketing of Services across third party sites and services, and to support matching for third party advertising on Services. Those emails may or may not be hashed when they are shared with third parties.

It is worth noting how practices of certain vendors and changes in law outside of our control have changed what we can say about this. First, as noted elsewhere in this Policy, to the extent regulators take the position that the disclosure of information for matched ads is a “sale,” we will take steps designed to opt you out of such matched ads if you are a resident of an applicable jurisdiction and you exercise your right not to have your personal information “sold.” As noted above, you may also have to contact certain third parties to opt out of such matched ads.

Second, at least one of our vendors uses pseudonymized email addresses they receive from us to power products that they provide to us and their other customers. Therefore, it is possible that your email address, which was shared with our vendor to provide services to us, is being used in pseudonymized form by the vendor to provide products and services to other companies.

While we try to control the behavior of our vendors that we understand to be service providers, some of those vendors engage in activities beyond our control that may be seen by a regulator as the activities of “third parties,” not service providers.

The following provides more information about the circumstances in which we know we are disclosing personal information to third parties that are not service providers.

i. We provide information to third party advertisers and their agencies as described in Section 2(F) above.
ii. We provide information to websites, locations, platforms and services operated and owned by third parties in connection with marketing, as described in Section 2(G) above.
iii. We process payments you make through Services with external services. There are two ways this can happen:
We collect your information and provide it to the third-party service for processing .

The third-party service collects your information for processing.

iv. In the event of a reorganization, merger, sale, joint venture, assignment, transfer or other disposition of all or any portion of our business, assets or stock (including in connection with any bankruptcy or similar proceedings), we would have a legitimate interest in disclosing or transferring your information to a third party — such as an acquiring entity and its advisers.

v. We can preserve or disclose personal information if the law requires us to do so. We can also preserve or disclose personal information if we believe it would be necessary to:

Comply with the law or with legal process
Protect and defend our rights and property
Protect against misuse or unauthorized use of the Services
Protect the safety or property of our personnel, users or the general public (e.g., if you provide false information or attempt to pose as someone else, we could share your information to help investigations into your actions)
Cooperate with government authorities, which could be outside your country of residence.

vi. We disclose public activities in our RSS feeds, APIs and other distribution formats. Your public activities could thus appear on other websites, blogs or feeds.

4. What Are Your Rights and Choices?

We provide a variety of ways for you to control the personal information we hold about you, including choices about how we use that information. In some jurisdictions, these controls and choices are enforceable as rights under applicable law.

4. (A) In General

i. Communications Preferences

The choices described below are limited to the specific email address, phone or device used. They won’t affect different email addresses, phones or devices used, or subsequent subscriptions.

Email:

We offer a variety of commercial emails and email newsletters. You can unsubscribe from emails and email newsletters from The Times, including emails regarding The Athletic, by following the instructions near the bottom of the email. You can also email us at [email protected].

Push Notifications:

You can opt out any time by adjusting your device settings, or uninstalling our app.

ii. Access, Correct, Change/Update, Delete or Restrict Processing of Your Personal Information

In some jurisdictions, you may exercise the following choices:

Access, modify or delete the personal information we have about you

Be informed of or receive an electronic copy of the personal information we have about you, for data portability.

Restrict, or object to, how we process personal information about you

We’ll respond to your request in a manner consistent with applicable law, including any exceptions that may result in a request being denied in whole or in part.

We might need to keep certain information for recordkeeping purposes, or to complete a transaction you began prior to requesting a change or deletion (e.g., if you make a purchase or enter a promotion, you might not be able to change or delete the personal information provided until after the completion of the purchase or promotion).

In some cases, your request doesn’t ensure complete removal of the content or information.

iii. Browser and Platform Controls

Cookie Controls:

Most web browsers are set to accept cookies by default. If you prefer, you can go to your browser settings to learn how to delete or reject cookies. If you choose to delete or reject cookies, this could affect certain features or services of our websites. If you choose to delete cookies, settings and preferences controlled by those cookies, including advertising preferences, may be deleted and may need to be recreated.

In certain jurisdictions, you may also be able to manage your cookie preferences through our consent management platform.

Global Privacy Control:

Some browsers and browser extensions support the Global Privacy Control (“GPC”) that can send a signal to the websites you visit indicating your choice to opt-out from certain types of data processing, including data "sales" as defined under certain laws. In certain territories, when we detect such a signal, we will make reasonable efforts to respect your choices indicated by a GPC setting as required by applicable law.

Do Not Track:

Some browsers include a "Do Not Track" (DNT) setting that can send a signal to the websites you visit indicating you do not wish to be tracked. Unlike the GPC described above, there is not a common understanding of how to interpret the DNT signal; therefore, our websites do not respond to browser DNT signals. Instead, you can use the range of other tools to control data collection and use, including the cookie controls and advertising controls described above.

Mobile Advertising ID Controls:

iOS and Android operating systems provide options to limit tracking and/or reset the advertising IDs.

Email Web Beacons:

Most email clients have settings which allow you to prevent the automatic downloading of images, including web beacons, which prevents the automatic connection to the web servers that host those images.

iv. Opt Out of Targeted Advertising and “Sales or Sharing” of Personal Information

In order to exercise your right to opt out of targeted advertising or "sales" of your personal information, please click on the “Your Privacy Choices” link at the bottom of the webpage.

v. Other Rights and Choices

You will not receive discriminatory treatment by us for the exercise of your privacy rights.

This Policy has been designed to be accessible to people with disabilities. If you experience difficulties accessing this Policy, please contact us at [email protected]. If you’d like, you can lodge a complaint with a data protection authority. We encourage you to first contact us with any questions or concerns.

In some jurisdictions, you may appeal to us if we refuse to take action on your exercise of certain choices described above. In order to appeal such a refusal, please contact us at [email protected] using the subject line “Take Action on Privacy Request” and provide the relevant information in the email.

5. How Long Do You Retain Data?

We store your personal information for as long as needed, or permitted, based on the reason why we obtained it (consistent with applicable law). This means we might retain your personal information even after you close your account with us.

When deciding how long to keep your information, we consider:

How long we have had a relationship with you or provided a Times Service to you

Whether we are subject to any legal obligations (e.g., any laws that require us to keep transaction records for a certain period of time before we can delete them)

Whether we have taken any legal positions (e.g., in connection with any statutes of limitation)

Rather than delete your data, we might de-identify it by removing identifying details.

6. How Do You Protect My Information?

We protect your personal information with appropriate organizational, technological and physical safeguards — but we cannot guarantee its absolute security. We recommend that you use complex and unique passwords for your Times accounts and for third-party accounts linked to them. Do not share your password with anyone.

If you have reason to believe your interaction with us is no longer secure, notify us immediately.

7. Are There Guidelines for Children?

Services are intended for a general audience and are not directed at children under (13) years of age.

We do not knowingly gather personal information (as defined by the U.S. Children’s Privacy Protection Act, or COPPA) in a manner not permitted by COPPA. If you are a parent or guardian and you believe we have collected information from your child in a manner not permitted by law, contact us at [email protected]. We will remove the data to the extent required by applicable laws.

8. How Is Information Transferred Internationally?

The World Journal Company is headquartered in the United States. If you are located outside the United States, your information is collected in your country and then transferred to the United States — or to another country in which we (or our affiliates or service providers) operate.

In certain situations, the courts, law enforcement agencies, regulatory agencies or security authorities in those countries might be entitled to access your personal information.

9. What Is Our Legal Basis?

In some jurisdictions, like the European Union and the European Economic Area, we only collect, use or share information about you when we have a valid reason. This is called a “lawful basis.” Specifically, this is one of the following:

The consent you provide to us at the point of collection of your information

The performance of the contract we have with you

The compliance of a legal obligation to which we are subject, or

The legitimate interests of The Times or a third party. “Legitimate interest” is a technical term under international laws, including the European Union General Data Protection Regulation. It means that there are good reasons for the processing of your personal information, and that we take measures to minimize the impact on your privacy rights and interests. “Legitimate interest” also refers to our use of your data in ways you would reasonably expect and that have a minimal privacy impact.

We have a legitimate interest in gathering and processing personal information, for example: (1) to ensure that our networks and information are secure; (2) to administer and generally conduct business within The World Journal Company; (3) to prevent fraud; and (4) to conduct our marketing activities.

10. What about Third-Party Services?

Some Services contain links to third-party websites, resources, vendors and advertisers. These third parties are not Services. Additionally, Services may be available to you through third-party digital properties such as Google’s Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP). We do not control (and are not responsible for) third party content or privacy practices. These third parties may independently collect and solicit information about you and affect your data preferences when you access the Services on third-party digital properties (see “Additional Notes” below for more information). Any personal information you provide to them is not covered by this Privacy Policy. These third parties have their own policies and practices about data, which may include what information they share with us, your rights and choices on their services and devices, and whether they store information in the U.S. or elsewhere. We encourage you to familiarize yourself with their privacy policies and terms of use.

Additional Notes

As mentioned above, some Services are offered on third-party digital properties (such as third-party websites, frameworks, and domains) which can affect our data practices and your data preferences. For example, we use Google AMP to help Services load quickly on mobile devices. We also use third-party properties to facilitate other Services, such as our Live Events.

If you set your data preferences while using one of these third-party digital properties, your preferences will only be saved with respect to the Services on that specific third-party digital property. Your preferences will not carry over when you use the Services on The Times’s own digital properties. And, your preferences will only be saved on Google AMP and other third-party digital properties until your cookies are cleared. Once your cookies are cleared, you will need to reset your data preferences for each third-party digital property used to access Services.

If your browser settings allow for cross-site tracking (e.g., allows for trackers to follow your preferences across websites), you can set your preferences on The Times’s digital properties so that your preferences will be remembered when you access the Services through Google AMP. However, if your browser settings do not allow for cross-site tracking, your preferences on The Times’s own digital properties will not carry over to the Services you access through Google AMP.

If you are an European resident and you do not accept trackers (other than essential trackers) while using Services on AMP, you will be served non-personalized ads. If you do not accept trackers (other than essential trackers) while using the Services on The Times’s digital properties, you will receive The Times house ads or no ads at all.

11. How Are Changes to this Privacy Policy Communicated?

We are always improving our products and services, and we create new features regularly. These updates sometimes require us to collect new information or use what we already have differently. Further, the laws regarding personal information and privacy frequently change. As a result, we must periodically update this Privacy Policy.

We will post any changes on this page by updating this policy. If we make a significant or material change in the way we collect, use or share your personal information, we will notify you at least 30 days prior to the changes taking effect. We will do this via email or prominent notice within Services. If you object to any change, you can stop using the Services.

After we post any changes on this page, your continued use of Services is subject to the updated Privacy Policy.

The World Journal Company is referred to in this Privacy Policy as included in “Services,” “we” or “our.”

The World Journal reserves the right to change this Privacy Policy at any time by posting revisions on this Web page. Such changes will be effective upon posting.

在本政策中，“非個人信息”指的是不能直接識別您的信息。此外，非個人信息還指“整合”並“去個人化”的信息，即我們收集的關於我們的服務的使用情況已經去除了可識別個人的數據的信息。
我們可能使用工具或第三方分析軟件自動收集和使用非個人信息。我們可能收集、使用的非個人信息包括但不限於以下類型：

• 設備屬性，包括但不限於IP地址、網卡（MAC）地址、開放性獨特設備標識符和廣告識別符 或其他永久性或非永久性設備標識符（“設備標識符”）；
• 設備軟件平臺和固件；
• 手機運營商；
• 郵政編碼、地域碼、粗略定位等地理數據；
• 遊戲進程、遊戲時間、得分和成績；
• 其他我們為提升我們的服務和其他服務和產品而合理需要的非個人信息。

我們可能使用友盟分析工具來開發我們的服務和分析您使用服務的情況。友盟將根據友盟隱私政策使用、處理通過我們服務搜集到的您的數據。您在安裝、使用、註冊或以其他方式訪問我們的服務前，請點擊http://www.umeng.com/privacypolicy 仔細閱讀友盟隱私政策，以了解友盟如何處理您的數據，以及友盟的名稱、地址和聯絡方式。
壹旦您安裝、使用、註冊或以其他方式訪問我們的服務，那就意味著您已經同意我們使用友盟分析工具並接受友盟隱私政策，並且在知情的基礎上明確同意友盟按其隱私政策的規定處理、使用和披露您的數據。如果您不接受友盟的隱私政策，請不要安裝、使用、註冊或以其他方式訪問我們的服務。