Main Stream Media Privacy Policy

Updated: August 15, 2019.
We take your privacy very seriously. Please read the following to learn more about the privacy policies on our platforms.

Main Stream Media is the company that operates various platforms, sites, apps, services, content, features, and related products. Collectively, in this policy, we’ll refer to the suite of products and services as “Main Stream Media”. This Privacy Policy describes the policies and procedures of Main Stream Media on the collection, use and disclosure of your information on our platforms. In connection with your use of Main Stream Media platforms, we receive information about you from various sources, including: (i) through your user account (your "Account"); (ii) your use of the platform generally; and (iii) from third party websites and services. When you use our platforms, you are consenting to the collection, transfer, manipulation, storage, transmission, disclosure and other uses of your information as described in this Privacy Policy. In this document, we’ll refer to the information associated with your use of Main Stream Media as “Usage Data”.

What Does This Privacy Policy Cover?
This Privacy Policy covers the treatment of personally identifiable information ("Personal Information" or “PII”) we gather when you are using or accessing our platforms. This Privacy Policy also covers our treatment of any Personal Information that our business partners share with us or that we share with our business partners. This Privacy Policy does not apply to the practices of third parties that we do not own or control, including but not limited to any third-party websites, content sources, services and applications ("Third Party Services") that you choose to access through Main Stream Media, or to individuals that we do not manage or employ. Basically, our Privacy Policy applies to the things we control; others’ privacy policies apply to the things they control. While we endeavor to facilitate access only to Third Party Services that share our respect for your privacy, we can’t, and don’t, take responsibility for the content or privacy policies of those Third Party Services. We encourage you to carefully review the privacy policies of any Third Party Services you access via Main Stream Media.

What Information Is Collected by Main Stream Media?
The information we gather enables us to operate, personalize, and improve Main Stream Media. When you access some components of Main Stream Media, we may request, collect and/or display some of your Personal Information. We collect the following types of information from our users.

Sign-In Information:
When you create an Account or login using your Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and/or Google credentials, you will provide information that could be Personal Information, such as your username on that service and/or email address. You acknowledge that this information may be personal to you, and by creating an account with Main Stream Media and providing Personal Information to us, you allow others, including us, to identify you and therefore may not be anonymous.
We may use contact information you voluntarily provide to send you information about our Services, including without limitation, notifications regarding the Services and, upon your consent, email digests of content shared by those that you follow on Main Stream Media, Twitter, and/or Facebook. You may subscribe and unsubscribe from these messages through your Account settings, although we regardless reserve the right to contact you when we believe it is necessary, such as for account recovery purposes.

User Content and URL Information:
Main Stream Media allows you to provide content to Main Stream Media platforms, such as the ability to submit collections of content and uniform resource locators ("URLs"), written descriptions of content or URLs, comments, text, images and video, along with your Name, Username, avatar, and profile bio. We may also collect and store information regarding the content submitted, or shared to your Twitter, and/or Facebook, and the original URL, and associate that information with your Account. We also collect and store (i) the time and date on which the content was first submitted, or shared and (ii) information on the channels through which the content was shared, e.g., to other Main Stream Media users, Twitter, Instagram followers, and/or Facebook friends. Your Main Stream Media name, username, bio, and avatar and your comments on Main Stream Media are always public. We share certain information about you when you choose to make other information public through the account settings page, such as your Twitter, Instagram handle (which is displayed on the public page for your Main Stream Media /Top content), your reading feeds through Main Stream Media, your Main Stream Media /Top stories, Twitter, your Saved items, and other information you elect to make public to your followers on Twitter, your friends on Facebook, and/or any other Third Party Services you use. This may include Personal Information, but only to the extent that you decide to share such information with others. We may retain data submitted by you to Main Stream Media indefinitely, even after you terminate your Account.

Main Stream Media Reader Information:
If you are a Main Stream Media Reader user, we may maintain information about the sources and subscriptions, including RSS and other content feeds, that you choose to follow. We will collect and store (i) all articles and posts that are part of your subscribed feeds, (ii) data associated with those items, such as the time and date they were published, (iii) whether and when you viewed, saved, or marked them as read, (iv) information related to your organizational choices, such as the folders or tags you assign to sources, and (v) information necessary to complete actions you may choose to take with particular items, such as saving, liking, recommending, or sharing to Third Party Services.

Metrics and Analytics:
We collect information about accesses of content curated through Main Stream Media, as well as interactions with Main Stream Media features and services. This information includes, but is not limited to: (i) the IP address and physical location of the devices accessing the curated content or interacting with Main Stream Media; (ii) the time and date of each access or interactions; and (iii) information about sharing of curated content or content appearing on or accessed through Main Stream Media.

Information Collected From Third Party Services:
Some features of Main Stream Media allow you to share content accessed through Main Stream Media to Third Party Services, as well as your content through Third Party Services to Main Stream Media. If you choose to connect Main Stream Media to such Third Party Services, we may collect information related to your use of those Third Party Services, such as authentication tokens that allow us to connect to your Third Party Service accounts. We may otherwise collect information about how you are using Main Stream Media to interact with those connected Third Party Services. Note that Third Party Services may have the ability to restrict the information that is provided to us. We use Google Analytics to collect information about use of this site. Google Analytics provides us with information such as how often people visit, what pages they visit when they do so, and what other sites they used prior to coming to this site. To accomplish this, Google Analytics collects the IP address assigned to you on the date you visit this site, but not your name or other identifying information. Google Analytics also places a permanent cookie on your web browser to define user sessions and recognize you as a return user the next time you visit this site. We do not combine the information collected through the use of Google Analytics with personally identifiable information. Google Analytics uses only first-party cookies for data analysis, which means that the cookies are linked to a specific website domain, and Google Analytics will only use that cookie data for statistical analysis related to your browsing behavior on that website. The data collected cannot be retrieved by services from other domains. Google's ability to use and share information collected by Google Analytics about your visits to this site is restricted by the Google Analytics Terms of Service and the Google Privacy Policy. You can prevent Google Analytics from recognizing you on return visits by disabling cookies in your browser or deleting the Google Analytics cookies. You can also manage your settings for Google Analytics and opt-out of this feature by visiting Google.com Ad Settings or Google Analytics' opt-out tools.

Main Stream Media mobile applications (iOs and Android) use Localytics for demographic and interest-based information. You may wish to read Localytics’ privacy policy and/or use their opt-out service.

Main Stream Media uses Chartbeat in order to measure engagement and help us make decisions about features or products we offer. If you would like to opt-out, you can delete some cookies from your browser as described in the Charbeat Privacy Policy.

Main Stream Media uses Quantcast for information on Internet traffic statistics and demographic data. If you do not wish to participate, you may adjust your setting in Quantcast’s opt-out tool.

You may also opt-out of the collection and use of information for ad targeting by going to http://www.aboutads.info/choices.

IP Address Information and Other Information Collected Automatically:
We automatically receive and record information from the Main Stream Media application or your web browser when you interact with Main Stream Media, including your IP address and cookie information. This information is used to facilitate collection of data concerning your interaction with Main Stream Media (e.g., what content you have clicked on).
Generally, Main Stream Media automatically collects usage information, such as the number and frequency of users accessing Main Stream Media, Main Stream Media features and applications, and its various streams of content/platforms. We may use this data in aggregate form, that is, as a statistical measure, but not in a manner that would identify you personally. This type of aggregate data enables us and third parties authorized by us to figure out how often individuals use parts of Main Stream Media so that we can analyze and improve them.

Tracking Technologies We May Use. We may use one or more of the following tracking technologies, and similar future tracking technologies, to automatically collect information: cookies, local shared objects, web beacons, pixel tags, unique telephone numbers, general log information and referral information from third-party services

“Cookies” are alphanumeric identifiers that we transfer to your computer’s hard drive through your Web browser to enable our systems to recognize your browser and tell us how and when pages in the Service are visited and by how many people. Our cookies do not collect personal information, and we do not combine information collected through cookies with other personal information to tell us who you are or your screen name or e-mail address. The ”Help” portion of the toolbar on the majority of browsers will direct you on how to prevent your browser from accepting new cookies, how to command the browser to tell you when you receive a new cookie, or how to fully disable cookies. We recommend that you leave the cookies activated because cookies allow you to use many features of the Service.

“Web beacons,” also known as an Internet tags, pixel tags or clear GIFs, link web pages to web servers and their cookies. Web beacons can be embedded in web pages, videos, or emails, to collect certain types of information from your browser, check whether you have viewed a particular web page or email message, and determine, among other things, the time and date on which you viewed the content, the IP address of your computer, and the URL of the web page from which the content was viewed.

“Local shared objects,” sometimes known as Flash cookies, may be used to store your preferences or display content based upon what you have viewed on various websites to personalize your visit.

Information Collected Using Cookies:
Cookies are pieces of text that may be provided to your computer through your web browser or application when you access a website or service. Your browser stores cookies in a manner associated with each website or service you visit. We use cookies to enable our servers to recognize your web browser or Main Stream Media application and tell us how and when you visit and use Main Stream Media through the web or through an application. Main Stream Media may also use cookies to display the most appropriate advertisements, based on your interests and activity on our sites. Main Stream Media cookies also allow us to track when you have accessed content through Main Stream Media. Each access is tracked using a unique identifier assigned to you in one or more cookies stored by your web browser or application and associated with Main Stream Media. Main Stream Media cookies do not, by themselves, contain Personal Information, and we do not combine the general information collected through cookies with other Personal Information to tell us who you are. As noted, however, we do use cookies to identify that your web browser or application has accessed content through Main Stream Media and may associate that information with your Account if you have one.
This Privacy Policy covers our use of cookies only and does not cover the use of cookies by third parties. We do not control when or how third parties place cookies on your computer or device. For example, third party websites may set their own cookies.

Pixel Tags
We may also use "pixel tags," which are small graphic files that allow us and third parties to monitor the use of Main Stream Media and collect Usage Data. A pixel tag can collect information such as the IP address of the computer that downloaded the page on which the tag appears; the URL of the page on which the pixel tag appears; the time (and length of time) the page containing the pixel tag was viewed; the type of browser that retrieved the pixel tag; and the identification number of any cookie previously placed by that server on your computer.
We may use pixel tags, either provided by us or by our third party advertisers, service providers and ad networks, to collect information about your visit, including the pages you view, the links you click and other actions taken in connection with Main Stream Media and use them in combination with our cookies to provide offers and information of interest to you. Pixel tags may also enable ad networks to serve targeted advertisements to you when you visit Main Stream Media or other websites.

Aggregate Information:
We collect statistical information about how people use Main Stream Media ("Aggregate Information"). Some of this information is derived from Personal Information, such as your location (which, in turn, can be derived from your IP address or through location based services used by your device). This statistical information is not Personal Information and cannot be tied back to you, your Account, your web browser or your Main Stream Media application.

How and To Whom Is My Information Shared?
Main Stream Media is designed to help you share information that you or people you choose to follow locate on the web. As a result, much of the information generated through Main Stream Media is shared publicly or with third parties. All Main Stream Media content is public. We may also distribute content and feeds through an email digest to users who have elected to receive such email digests.

Public Main Stream Media Activity Information:
Your activity on the Main Stream Media network is public by default and can be located by or distributed to anyone, although certain activity and information can be made private through your Account settings page. Individuals reading the aforementioned information may use or disclose it to other individuals or entities without our control and without your knowledge. Therefore, we urge you to think carefully about how you configure your Main Stream Media settings, and what actions you take on Main Stream Media.

Information You Elect to Share:
In addition to reviewing this Privacy Policy, you should also review the terms of service and privacy policies of any Third Party Services that you access through Main Stream Media. Main Stream Media respects the privacy settings/policies that you have selected with Third Party Services, and only shares information consistent with those privacy settings and policies.

You may otherwise access Third Party Services through Main Stream Media, for example by accessing curated content. We are not responsible for the privacy policies and/or practices of these Third Party Services, and you are responsible for reading and understanding those privacy policies. This Privacy Policy only governs information collected on or through Main Stream Media.

User Profile Information:
User profile information, including the display Name you select, the username you choose to use on Main Stream Media, avatars or images you elect to upload and other information you enter on your profile (such as your bio), may be displayed to other users to facilitate user interaction within Main Stream Media. Email addresses, Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, and/or Google account name will not appear on your public profile unless you enter it in the bio area yourself.

Aggregate Information:
We share Aggregate Information with our partners, service providers and other persons with whom we conduct business. We share this type of statistical data so that our partners can understand how and how often people use Main Stream Media and their services or websites, which facilitates improving both their services and how we interface with them. In addition, these third parties may share with us non-private, aggregated or otherwise non Personal Information about you that they have independently developed or acquired.

Information Shared with Our Agents:
We employ and contract with people and other entities that perform certain tasks on our behalf and who are under our control (our "Agents"). We may need to share Personal Information with our Agents in order to provide products or services to you. Unless we tell you differently, our Agents do not have any right to use Personal Information or other information we share with them beyond what is necessary to assist us. You hereby consent to our sharing of Personal Information with our Agents.

Information Disclosed Pursuant to Business Transfers:
In some cases, we may choose to buy or sell assets. In these types of transactions, user information is typically one of the transferred business assets. Moreover, if we, or substantially all of our assets associated with Main Stream Media, were acquired, or in the unlikely event that we go out of business or enter bankruptcy, user information would be one of the assets that is transferred or acquired by a third party. You acknowledge that such transfers may occur, and that any acquirer of us may continue to use your Personal Information as set forth in this policy.

Information Disclosed for the Protection of Us and Others:
We also reserve the right to access, read, preserve, and disclose any information as it reasonably believes is necessary to (i) satisfy any applicable law, regulation, legal process or governmental request, (ii) enforce these Terms of Service, including investigation of potential violations hereof, (iii) detect, prevent, or otherwise address fraud, security or technical issues, (iv) respond to user support requests, or (v) protect our rights, property or safety, our users and the public. This includes exchanging information with other companies and organizations for fraud protection and spam prevention.

Information We Share With Your Consent:
Except as set forth above, you will be notified when your Personal Information may be shared with third parties, and will be able to prevent the sharing of this information.

Email Communications:
If you sign up for email via the Main Stream Media website or in any other Main Stream Media application, you will receive an email once daily highlighting some curated or other content on Main Stream Media. Regardless of whether you decide to receive the above mentioned email alerts, you may occasionally receive from us email and other communication relating to your Account. These emails will only be sent for important purposes, such as password recovery or important communications regarding Main Stream Media services and/or features.
We may receive a confirmation when you open an email from us. We use this confirmation to improve email deliverability and/or our customer service. You may wish to read the policy for use of cookies and other technologies used by our email provider. If you do not wish to receive emails from Main Stream Media, you may unsubscribe from individual email communications through the settings page, or click the unsubscribe link in any email to cease all further email correspondence from Main Stream Media.

Use of the Service and Transfer of Information Outside the United States:
Children Under The Age of 13. We do not collect or solicit any information from anyone under the age of 13 or allow people under the age of 13 to register for the Service. The Service and its content are not directed at children under the age of 13. In the event that we learn that we have collected personal information from a child under age 13 without 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 [email protected]

California Privacy Rights and Do Not Track Disclosures. If you are a California resident, you may have certain additional rights. Privacy Rights. California Civil Code Section 1798.83 permits you to request information regarding the disclosure of your Personal Information by us to third parties for the third parties’ direct marketing purposes. California Business and Professions Code Section 22581 permits registered users who are minors to request and obtain deletion of certain posted content. To make any such requests, please email us at [email protected]

Do Not Track Disclosures. California Business & Professions Code Section 22575(b) (as amended effective January 1, 2014) provides that California residents are entitled to know how we respond to “Do Not Track” browser settings. We do not currently take action to respond to Do Not Track signals because a uniform technological standard has not yet been developed. We continue to review new technologies and may adopt a standard once one is created.

The Services are hosted and operated in the United States and elsewhere by us and our authorized Third Party Services. Use of the Services is governed by United States law. If you are accessing our Services while you are domiciled outside of the United States, laws in the United States may differ from laws where you reside, which may include but not be limited to the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (“GDPR”). You acknowledge that the Personal Information you are providing us may be collected and stored in the United States and elsewhere and therefore consent to the transfer of information to and storage of the information outside of your domiciled country and in the United States. If you are covered by the GDPR, please note the following: You may access, correct or update certain Personally Information as described under “What Information Is Collected by Main Stream Media?” above. You may remove cookies. To request deletion, withdraw consent to use of or request other restrictions on your Personally Information, you may contact us as described under "What If I Have Questions or Concerns?" below. Please note that withdrawing your consent will not affect the legality of any processing conducted prior to your withdrawal or at any time on grounds other than consent. If you need further assistance, please contact us as described under "What If I Have Questions or Concerns?" below.

Users From Other Jurisdictions. By using the Service, you acknowledge that you accept the practices and policies outlined in this Privacy Policy and consent to having your data transferred to and processed on computers located outside of your state, province, country or other governmental jurisdiction where the data protection laws may differ from those in your jurisdiction. If you do not accept this Privacy Policy, please do not use the Service. The Service is controlled and operated by Main Stream Media from the United States. If you are not a resident of the United States or you are located outside the United States and choose to use the Service or provide information to us, please note that we will transfer the information, including Personal Information, to the United States and process it there. Your acceptance of this Privacy Policy, followed by your submission of such information represents your agreement and consent to that transfer. We do not represent or warrant that the Service, or any portion thereof, are appropriate or available for use in any particular jurisdiction. Those who choose to access the Service do so on their own initiative and at their own risk, and are responsible for complying with all local laws, rules and regulations. You also are subject to United States export controls in connection with your use of the Service and are responsible for any violations of such controls, including, without limitation, any United States embargoes or other federal rules and regulations restricting exports. We may limit the availability of the Service, in whole or in part, to any person, geographic area or jurisdiction that we choose, at any time and in our sole discretion.

Is Information About Me Secure?
Your Account information (including your Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, Google or other third-party logins) is protected for your privacy and security. You need to prevent unauthorized access to your account and Personal Information by selecting and protecting your passwords appropriately and limiting access to your computer and browser by signing off after you have finished accessing your account. We endeavor to protect Account information to ensure that it is kept private; however, we cannot guarantee the security of any Account information. Unauthorized entry or use, hardware or software failure, and other factors, may compromise the security of user information at any time. We store all of our information, including your IP address information, using industry-standard security techniques. Although we undertake regular security review and use industry Best Practices to keep your information safe, we do not guarantee or warrant that such techniques will prevent unauthorized access to information about you we store, Personal Information or otherwise.

What Information of Mine Can I Access?
You can access information associated with your Account by logging into the web version of Main Stream Media, or through the Main Stream Media application. You can adjust settings and privacy preferences through your Account settings.

How Can I Delete My Account?
Should you ever decide to delete your Account, you may do so by visiting your Account settings page. If you terminate and delete your Account, any association between your Account and information stored by, or in connection with, Main Stream Media will no longer be accessible. However, given the nature of sharing using Main Stream Media, any public activity on your Account prior to deletion will remain stored on our servers and will remain accessible to the public. If you would like us to remove such stored information, please send us an email at [email protected]

What Choices Do I Have Regarding My Information?
As stated previously, you can opt not to disclose certain information to us, even though it may be needed to take advantage of some Main Stream Media platforms features.
You can delete your Account or adjust your Account's privacy settings. Please note that we will need to verify that you have the authority to delete the Account, and activity generated prior to deletion will remain stored by us and may be publicly accessible.

What Happens When There Are Changes to this Privacy Policy?
We may amend this Privacy Policy from time to time. Use of information we collect now is subject to the Privacy Policy in effect at the time such information is used. If we make changes in the way we collect or use information, we will notify you by posting an announcement on or within Main Stream Media or sending you an email. A user is bound by any changes to the Privacy Policy when he or she uses Main Stream Media after such changes have been first posted.

What If I Have Questions or Concerns?
If you have any questions or concerns regarding privacy using Main Stream Media, please send us a detailed message to: [email protected] and we will make every effort to resolve your concerns.