Effective Date: April 16, 2025
See related: Terms of Use
At ProtectMyPublicMedia.org, we (ProtectMyPublicMedia.org and co-managers American Coalition for Public Radio (ACPR) and APTS Action, Inc. (APTS Action) (collectively “we” or “ProtectMyPublicMedia.org”)) recognize the importance of privacy to visitors of our website. This Privacy Policy explains what type of information is collected from you when you visit the protectmypublicmedia.org website, features, and services and other applications, platforms and interactive services provided by ProtectMyPublicMedia.org that link to or refer to this Privacy Policy (collectively, “ProtectMyPublicMedia.org”) and how that information may be used and shared. This Privacy Policy also applies to information gathered under ProtectMyPublicMedia.org’s prior domain name, 170millionamericans.org. Please note that this Privacy Policy is separate and distinct from the privacy policies governing the websites, applications, features, and services of ACPR, APTS Action, National Public Radio, Inc. (“NPR”), America’s Public Television Stations (APTS), local NPR, APTS and PBS member stations, campaign partners, and national public media distributors and producers that participate in ProtectMyPublicMedia.org (“Distributors and Producers”) and the websites, applications, features, and services that may link to or from ProtectMyPublicMedia.org.
By using, registering for, or otherwise accessing ProtectMyPublicMedia.org, you agree to this Privacy Policy and the ProtectMyPublicMedia.org Terms of Use and you give your express consent (or “opt in”) to the collection, use, sharing and processing of your personal information in accordance with this Privacy Policy. If you do not agree to this Privacy Policy or the Terms of Use, please do not use, register for or otherwise access any of the ProtectMyPublicMedia.org services or provide personally-identifying information.
ProtectMyPublicMedia.org may update this Privacy Policy and our Terms of Use from time to time in our sole discretion. Any changes to the Privacy Policy will be posted to this page, with an updated Effective Date noted at the top of the Privacy Policy; visitors to ProtectMyPublicMedia.org are responsible for reviewing the Privacy Policy for any changes before using, registering for or accessing ProtectMyPublicMedia.org. Use of ProtectMyPublicMedia.org constitutes consent to and acceptance of the Privacy Policy and Terms of Use in effect at the time of such use.
Collecting Information
Information you provide directly to us
ProtectMyPublicMedia.org collects personally-identifying information (such as your name, address, email address, and telephone number) through ProtectMyPublicMedia.org for the purposes described in this Privacy Policy. ProtectMyPublicMedia.org collects personally-identifying information from visitors whenever visitors provide it to ProtectMyPublicMedia.org. ProtectMyPublicMedia.org asks visitors to provide certain personally-identifying information as they interact with the website, for example: when they register for certain features or services of ProtectMyPublicMedia.org, including signing up for email or text message updates, signing up for a giveaway, uploading content to ProtectMyPublicMedia.org, inviting a friend to join the Protect My Public Media campaign, sharing the campaign with a friend, signing a petition, submitting a letter or email, making a telephone call, or sending a text message to Congress through the website, or when they post, upload, transmit and/or otherwise submit (“Submit”) a testimonial, blog comment, message, essay, video, photo, image, or other text, content or material (“User Materials”) through the website, or when they share a social media post or otherwise interact with ProtectMyPublicMedia.org’s social networking pages. When accessing ProtectMyPublicMedia.org from a mobile device, ProtectMyPublicMedia.org collects that device’s device identifier, operating system, phone model, and/or browser information through its third-party analytics vendor. ProtectMyPublicMedia.org may also ask visitors to provide personally-identifying information in other limited circumstances specified at the time the information is gathered.
Any content that visitors Submit to or through ProtectMyPublicMedia.org, as part of a testimonial, blog comment, message or otherwise, may become public. Any information that visitors Submit on or through ProtectMyPublicMedia.org’s social networking pages, including comments on our Facebook, X (formerly known as Twitter), LinkedIn, Instagram, Bluesky or YouTube pages, also may become public. Please be aware that third party services such as Facebook, X, LinkedIn, Instagram, Bluesky and YouTube are unrelated to ProtectMyPublicMedia.org and your use of those websites, applications, features, and services is subject to the terms and policies of those third parties.
ProtectMyPublicMedia.org also may collect other personal information (such as age, gender or other demographic information) (a) that the visitor has chosen to associate with his or her own social media account(s), or (b) in aggregated, deidentified, or other non-identifying form through third-party vendors that provide analytics services. This information may be stored on ProtectMyPublicMedia’s servers with other information previously received or collected from the visitor.
Information collected automatically through technology, including through cookies and other technologies
Like other web servers, ProtectMyPublicMedia.org’s web server automatically creates log files for each visitor who accesses ProtectMyPublicMedia.org. These “access logs” allow us to make our website and services more useful to our visitors. The access logs do not record a visitor’s name, address, email address, or other similar personally-identifying information. Rather, they contain some or all of the following information:
- The Internet Protocol address (IP address) of the computer or device accessing ProtectMyPublicMedia.org;
• General location information (based on IP Address);
• Device type and unique device identifier (for mobile visitors) and other technical information about your device, system and application software;
• The date and time of the visit;
• The path taken through ProtectMyPublicMedia.org, as well as patterns in the paths taken by visitors;
• The browser and operating system being used;
• A list of files downloaded or viewed;
• The amount of time spent listening to or viewing media files;
• Any errors encountered.
ProtectMyPublicMedia.org uses cookies to collect and receive information. A cookie is a string of characters that can be written to a file on the visitor’s hard drive when the visitor visits a website, application, or service. Only the website, application, or service that set the cookie can read it, and it can only be used as a record keeping device to store visitor IDs and information that the website already has. It cannot be used to read other information from the visitor’s hard drive.
Third party vendors that measure and analyze the use of ProtectMyPublicMedia.org and facilitate the delivery of letters to Congress through ProtectMyPublicMedia.org may also use their own cookies. For example, ProtectMyPublicMedia.org’s third-party analytics vendors use cookies across multiple sites to collect visitor data (such as data related to age, gender and visitor interests). This Privacy Policy does not cover the cookies used by these third-party vendors.
ProtectMyPublicMedia.org and its third-party vendors also may use web beacons, pixel tags, and other tracking and storage technologies, alone or in conjunction with cookies. A web beacon or pixel tag is an electronic image, also known as a clear .gif., which can be used to recognize certain information on your computer, such as cookies, or the time and date a web page or email is viewed.
Use and Sharing of Information
The use of personally-identifying information by ProtectMyPublicMedia.org may include the following: managing and administering ProtectMyPublicMedia.org; responding to visitor messages; contacting visitors for an online survey or to provide information about public media funding and/or other legislative or regulatory activity impacting public media; sending ProtectMyPublicMedia.org email updates, newsletters, and other communications, including informational, educational, marketing, membership and other communications, from ProtectMyPublicMedia.org, ACPR, APTS Action, NPR, APTS, local NPR, APTS and PBS member stations, campaign partners and Distributors and Producers; providing petitions, letters, emails, texts, and other communications to lawmakers and/or their offices; facilitating telephone calls to lawmakers and/or their offices; identifying visitors who submit testimonials and other User Materials through ProtectMyPublicMedia.org; internal ProtectMyPublicMedia.org purposes; internal purposes of ACPR, APTS Action, NPR, APTS, local NPR, APTS and PBS member stations, campaign partners, and Distributors and Producers; analytics and sponsorship activity; and other purposes specified at the time that the information is gathered. ProtectMyPublicMedia.org, ACPR, APTS Action, NPR, APTS, local NPR, APTS and PBS member stations, campaign partners, and Distributors and Producers that participate in ProtectMyPublicMedia.org may contact visitors regarding their submissions in certain circumstances.
If you sign a petition, send a letter, email, or text or make a telephone call to your lawmaker and/or their offices, or send a social media message through ProtectMyPublicMedia.org, or otherwise take action to urge your lawmakers to support public media, your name, email address, telephone number and address will be shared with lawmakers and/or their offices. Any information that you disclose when participating in the ProtectMyPublicMedia.org social networking features, forums or discussions, or when uploading content to ProtectMyPublicMedia.org, submitting a comment to a blog, or otherwise Submitting User Materials, may become public. This information may be posted on ProtectMyPublicMedia.org, and the websites, applications, features, and services of ACPR, APTS Action, NPR, APTS, local NPR, APTS and PBS member stations, campaign partners, or Distributors and Producers. In addition, ProtectMyPublicMedia.org, ACPR, APTS Action, NPR, APTS, local NPR, APTS and PBS member stations, campaign partners, and Distributors and Producers may use, copy, sublicense, modify, transmit, publicly perform, display, create derivative works of, host, index, cache, tag, encode, and/or adapt any User Materials, and any information contained therein, in any and all media formats or channels, whether now known or hereafter devised, including, but not limited to, ProtectMyPublicMedia.org, the websites, applications, features, and services of ACPR, APTS Action, NPR, APTS, local NPR, APTS and PBS member stations, campaign partners, and Distributors and Producers, and other third party websites, applications, features, and services, over the air (on radio or television) and through other distributions of their broadcasts, and on mobile platforms.
In addition, if you Submit User Materials to ProtectMyPublicMedia.org, the User Materials, or an excerpt from the User Materials, may be printed on ProtectMyPublicMedia.org, or the websites, applications, features, or services of ACPR, APTS Action, NPR, APTS, local NPR, APTS and PBS member stations, campaign partners, and Distributors and Producers, read on air, or otherwise published in any other medium, together with your name and location (city, state, and/or country) if you provide that information to us.
ProtectMyPublicMedia.org uses cookies to track visitors’ activity through ProtectMyPublicMedia.org, and uses information gathered through ProtectMyPublicMedia.org and third-party vendor cookies, for purposes including understanding our users, improvement of the site/application/service architecture, offering the visitor interactive features that would not be possible without them, recalling specific information to save the visitor time during subsequent visits to ProtectMyPublicMedia.org, and other operational purposes. ProtectMyPublicMedia.org also may use first-party cookies and third-party cookies and share information automatically collected by these cookies to enable us to show sponsorship credits, marketing and other messages that we think will be relevant to your interests while you are using ProtectMyPublicMedia.org or third-party services. ProtectMyPublicMedia.org and its third-party vendors also may use web beacons, pixel tags, and other tracking and storage technologies, alone or in conjunction with cookies. A web beacon or pixel tag is an electronic image, also known as a clear .gif., which can be used to recognize certain information on your computer, such as cookies, or the time and date a web page or email is viewed. We may use web beacons or pixel tags on this website from time to time for these and other purposes.
Excluding content provided by the visitor when participating in ProtectMyPublicMedia.org social networking features, forums, or discussions, or when uploading content to ProtectMyPublicMedia.org, submitting a comment to a blog, or otherwise Submitting User Materials to ProtectMyPublicMedia.org, which may become public as discussed above, personally-identifying information collected by ProtectMyPublicMedia.org is not provided to outside parties except ACPR, APTS Action, NPR, APTS, local NPR, APTS and PBS member stations, campaign partners, and Distributors and Producers, ProtectMyPublicMedia.org service vendors, and other third parties, including through cookies and other technologies used by vendors providing analytics or sponsorship services, when the visitor specifically consents to such distribution (such as the disclosure of your name, email address, and address to a lawmaker or their staff when you sign a petition or otherwise to urge lawmakers to support public media, or the disclosure of your name to a friend when you send a friend an invitation to join the Protect My Public Media campaign through the website). In these circumstances, the information is provided for the sole purpose of, and only to the extent necessary for, delivering the emails to your friend, delivering petitions and letters to lawmakers and their staffs, providing services for and on behalf of ProtectMyPublicMedia.org, or serving other internal purposes and informational, educational, marketing, membership and communication purposes of ProtectMyPublicMedia.org, ACPR, APTS Action, NPR, APTS, local NPR, APTS and PBS member stations, campaign partners, or Distributors and Producers. Visitors to ProtectMyPublicMedia.org using a mobile device should be aware that the wireless carrier for the mobile device or the automobile manufacturer may collect personally-identifying information and geolocation data. Visitors should check the privacy policies of their wireless carriers and automobile manufacturers for additional information.
ProtectMyPublicMedia.org also may disclose personally-identifying information if required to do so by law or if it believes that such action is necessary to: (a) comply with the law or with legal process; (b) protect against misuse or unauthorized use of ProtectMyPublicMedia.org; or (c) protect the personal safety, property or rights of visitors of ProtectMyPublicMedia.org, or ACPR, APTS Action, NPR, APTS, local NPR, APTS and PBS member stations, campaign partners, Distributors and Producers, and their employees, officers, directors, agents and contractors, the public, service providers or others.
If you do not want your personally-identifying information to be collected or used for any of these purposes, please do not provide it (although if you do not provide it, you may not be able to use or participate in certain features of ProtectMyPublicMedia.org). You can also “opt out” from the use of your personally-identifying information for certain direct communications purposes by following the process described below titled “Corrections to Registrations; Opting Out of Communications.”
ProtectMyPublicMedia.org may share information with third parties that does not personally identify its visitors. The use and disclosure of such information is not subject to restrictions under this Privacy Policy.
ProtectMyPublicMedia.org, with the assistance from time to time of its third-party service vendors, uses non-identifying information (in aggregated and non-aggregated form) to analyze use of and better design ProtectMyPublicMedia.org. ProtectMayPublicMedia.org may share information with third parties in aggregate, non-identifying form as appropriate. For example, we may tell a third party that a certain number or category of visitors accessed a particular page of ProtectMyPublicMedia.org. We may share non-identifying information, in aggregated or non-aggregated form, with third-party vendors to help ProtectMyPublicMedia.org analyze and improve ProtectMyPublicMedia.org. However, we will not disclose any personally-identifying information about those visitors.
We also may share with ACPR, APTS Action, NPR, APTS, local NPR, APTS and PBS member stations, campaign partners, and Distributors and Producers information that does not personally identify our visitors, as described in this Privacy Policy.
Security
ProtectMyPublicMedia.org employs physical, electronic, and managerial procedures in an effort to secure the sensitive information we collect. Because no security system is impenetrable, however, ProtectMyPublicMedia.org cannot guarantee the security of our databases or that information you supply will never be intercepted or disclosed in a manner that is inconsistent with this Privacy Policy. Because most email and mobile transmissions are not encrypted, you should take special care in deciding what information you send to us via ProtectMyPublicMedia.org, email, text messages, or other mobile transmissions.
Children
Under 16: Children should always get permission from their parents before sending any information about themselves (such as their names, addresses, email addresses, and phone numbers) via the web or their mobile device, to ProtectMyPublicMedia.org or to anyone else. ProtectMyPublicMedia.org does not knowingly allow anyone under the age of 16 to provide any personally-identifying information to ProtectMyPublicMedia.org. If you are under 16 years of age, please do not send any information about yourself, including your name, address, email address or telephone number. If we discover that we have collected any personally-identifying information from a child under the age of 16, we will remove that information from our database as soon as possible.
16-18: You must be at least 18 years old in order to Submit any User Materials on or through ProtectMyPublicMedia.org. Visitors between the ages of 16 and 18 must obtain permission from their parents or guardians before registering for email updates or newsletters, writing a letter or signing a petition to Congress through ProtectMyPublicMedia.org, sharing the Protect My Public Media campaign with others, or any other ProtectMyPublicMedia.org service that requires submitting any personally-identifying information.
Your Choices and Rights
Don’t volunteer information. If you do not consent to the collection, use or sharing of your contact and other information as described in this Privacy Policy, please do not use the ProtectMyPublicMedia.org website or provide information to us. By using the ProtectMyPublicMedia.org website or providing information to us through the ProtectMyPublicMedia.org website, you are “opting in” to the collection, use and sharing of that information as described in this Privacy Policy.
Opting Out of Communications. Please Contact Us to: (a) access, correct, update or delete any information that you have provided to us; (a) opt-out of future communications from ProtectMyPublicMedia.org; or (b) request ProtectMyPublicMedia.org to cancel your registration for updates and other ProtectMyPublicMedia.org services.
Opting out of Cookies and Google Analytics. If you wish to prevent certain or all cookies from being set to your hard drive or device, or to clear existing cookies from your browser’s or device’s cache, you may be able to disable them in your browser’s or device’s preferences, although your browser or device might then be unable to accommodate certain functionalities on ProtectMyPublicMedia.org. Visitors desiring to prevent data from being collected by Google Analytics, including user ID information collected through Google’s Universal Analytics service, may use the opt-out browser add-on developed by Google for this purpose.
Your Rights. We also offer you choices that affect how we handle the personal information that we control. Depending on the applicable law in your jurisdiction and the nature of your interactions with our services, you may request the following in relation to personal information:
- Information about how we have collected and used personal information. We have made this information available to you without having to request it by including it in this Privacy Policy.
- Access to a copy of the personal information that we have collected about you. Where applicable, we will provide the information in a portable, machine-readable, readily usable format.
- Correction of personal information that, under applicable law, is inaccurate or out of date.
- Deletion of personal information that we no longer need to provide ProtectMyPublicMedia.org or for other lawful purposes.
- Opt out of the sharing of your personal information. Please note, however, that when we send your letters, emails, calls and texts to lawmakers and their officers, we are required to share personal information, including your name, email address, street address, phone number or other contact information, with lawmakers and their offices, as described in this Privacy Policy. If you do not wish to share your personal information with lawmakers and their offices, please do not use these features.
- Additional rights, such as to object to and request that we restrict our use of personal information.
To make a request, please Contact us. We may ask for specific information from you to help us confirm your identity. For your protection, we may only act on requests with respect to the registration data associated with the particular email address that you use to send us your request, and we may ask you to verify your identity before implementing your request. We will try to comply with your request as soon as reasonably practicable, or comply as required by law. We may need to retain certain information for recordkeeping purposes and/or to complete the interactions with lawmakers and their offices that you began prior to requesting an update or cancellation. Depending on where you reside, you may be entitled to empower an "authorized agent" to submit requests on your behalf. We will require authorized agents to confirm their identity and authority, in accordance with applicable laws. You are entitled to exercise the rights described above free from discrimination.
In some instances, your choices may be limited, such as where fulfilling your request would impair the rights of others, our ability to provide a service you have requested, or our ability to comply with our legal obligations and enforce our legal rights, or where fulfilling your request may interfere with our rights to free speech. If you are not satisfied with how we address your request, you may submit a complaint by Contacting us. Depending on where you reside, such as if you reside in the European Economic Area or United Kingdom, you may have the right to complain to a data protection regulator where you live or work, or where you feel a violation has occurred.
Retention of Personal Information
ProtectMyPublicMedia.org retains personal information collected from our website as necessary to perform the processing described in this Privacy Policy and in case of any legal claims or complaints, or as otherwise required or permitted by law.
Acceptance of Privacy Policy Terms
ProtectMyPublicMedia.org reserves the right to change this Privacy Policy. Any changes to this Privacy Policy will be posted to this page as soon as reasonably possible, so please check this page periodically. Use of ProtectMyPublicMedia.org constitutes consent to any privacy policy then in effect. Please make sure that you read ProtectMyPublicMedia.org’s Terms of Use to understand additional terms and conditions that apply to the use of ProtectMyPublicMedia.org.
Links to Other Sites and Services
ProtectMyPublicMedia.org contains links to other sites, applications, features, and services maintained by third parties that may not follow the same privacy policies as ProtectMyPublicMedia.org. These sites, applications, features, and services may use cookies, collect data, and use the data in ways that ProtectMyPublicMedia.org would not. ProtectMyPublicMedia.org is not responsible for the privacy practices of, or any information or materials on, these other sites. Please visit these sites if you wish to review their privacy policies.
ProtectMyPublicMedia.org includes a tool that allows you to share the Protect My Public Media campaign using a third-party service, such as Facebook, X, LinkedIn, Instagram, Bluesky or YouTube. Please be aware that those third-party services are unrelated to ProtectMyPublicMedia.org, and that your use of the third-party services is subject to the terms and policies of those services.
In some cases, ProtectMyPublicMedia.org may include embedded tools provided and controlled by third-parties and governed by the terms and policies of the third parties. You should only use these third-party tools if you agree to their respective terms and policies.
International User Notice
For international visitors, please note that it may be necessary to transfer your information internationally and, in particular, your information may be transferred to and processed in the United States. For residents of the European Union: the data protection and other laws of countries outside of the European Union may not be as comprehensive as those of the European Union. Please be assured that we take steps to ensure that your privacy is protected as described in this policy. By using ProtectMyPublicMedia.org, you agree to have your information used and transferred to the United States as set forth in this policy.
Questions
If you have any questions or comments concerning our Privacy Policy, please Contact Us.
Privacy Snapshot
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Personal information we collect |
Data categories (Descriptions are available here) |
Purposes for which we may collect and use the personal |
Categories of third parties, to which we may disclose the personal information (in addition to our service providers)** |
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•Name |
•Identifiers |
•Service delivery |
•Lawmakers and their offices •ACPR •APTS Action •NPR •APTS •Local NPR, APTS and PBS member stations •Campaign partners and Distributors and Producers, •Other third parties when the visitor consents |
|
•Protected Classification Characteristics |
•Protected Classification Characteristics |
•Service Delivery •Research & Dev •Compliance & Ops |
•None |
|
•Device data •Inferences derived from device data and online activity |
•Identifiers •Internet or Network Information |
•Service delivery • Research & Development |
•None |
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*Although ACPR and APTS Action, Inc. are not subject to the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA), we are providing these definitions for your convenience. |
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