Privacy Policy
Protecting the privacy of our Web site visitors is very important to Wisconsin Public Television (WPT). Because we gather certain types of information about our users, we want to make sure you are informed of the ways in which we may and may not use the information you transmit to us when you visit wpt.org. This statement discloses the privacy practices for all WPT Web sites.
This privacy policy covers three categories:
- Information you supply voluntarily when you visit wpt.org
- Anonymous statistics collected automatically as you browse the site
- Policies related to children.
1. Voluntarily-Supplied Information
We will not collect personally identifiable information from you, other than what you supply to us on a voluntary basis. To make use of certain features on wpt.org you need to register and to provide some information as part of the registration process. The information you supply helps us offer you more personalized features, tailoring our site to your interests and making it more useful to you.
In order to participate in some activities, you may be asked to provide some personally identifiable information so we can continually improve the services we offer. For example, we need to know your e-mail address to send you electronic newsletters and for you to participate online in the annual Auction. Knowing some of your program preferences can help us send information tailored to your interests. Supplying such information is entirely voluntary.
The areas of the site in which we collect such information, the information collected and the purpose for collecting that information are described below:
Online Financial Transactions
WPT's Web site offers you the convenience of making membership contributions and making purchases via credit card. WPT takes seriously the need for the security of your account information. As with credit card transactions made over the phone or in person, your credit card information is used only for the purchase or contribution you wish to make.
Our Web financial transaction forms are stored and served from a secure server. This means that each page you view and any information you submit is encrypted on its way between computers (yours and ours). Even in the highly unlikely event that your transmission is intercepted, it will not be usable. All online credit card transactions are done through a secure server using 128-bit encrypted SSL. While browsers vary, most show that the session is encrypted in some way, often in the lower left corner of the screen.
Online pledging
You have the option of making a financial contribution to help support WPT. When making an online pledge, you must provide your name, mailing address, home telephone number, contribution level and credit card or other payment information. This is the same information we ask of all contributors in order to process pledges. Online contributors must also supply their e-mail addresses. In addition, you have the option of supplying a work telephone number and a thank-you gift request.
Online purchases
You can purchase videos, raffle tickets, Auction items and other good through the WPT Web site. When making an online purchase, you must provide your name, mailing address, home telephone number, e-mail address and credit card payment information. This information is handled through our secure server and is required to process and ship orders. It will not be disclosed to any third party.
OTHER ONLINE INTERACTIONS
Volunteer opportunities
If you would like to volunteer your time to support WPT, you can do so through wpt.org. In order to register as a volunteer, you must provide your name, mailing address, daytime and evening telephone numbers and your e-mail address. This information makes it possible for us to notify you of volunteer opportunities. The details you provide in the comments section of the online form help us match your interests with WPT's needs.
Subscription to Electronic Newsletters
WPT offers free electronic newsletters to users. These newsletters include highlights of WPT programming and other information of interest to WPT viewers and supporters. To subscribe, you must provide your e-mail address. To remove yourself from the mailing list, follow the instructions at the bottom of any newsletter.
Feedback
To send us e-mail through the Contact WPT page, you must enter a name and e-mail address, and of course, your comments. In addition, you have the option of entering a city and state. This information is used to respond to your comments. It is also used in aggregate form for statistical purposes.
Surveys
WPT occasionally conducts surveys with the option of participating through wpt.org. Apart from program preference information you provide, survey responses are not correlated to any personally identifying information and are used in aggregate form to help us tailor WPT's broadcast and online services.
2. Anonymous statistics
WPT's Web server automatically collects and logs limited information about your computer's connection to the Internet when you visit our site. The information collected allows us to make our site more useful to our visitors. We do NOT record your name, address, phone number, e-mail address, credit card number, or any other personally-identifying information. Rather, we do record some or all of the following information:
- The Internet Protocol Address (IP Address) of the machine you used to access our Web site.
- Your IP address is a number that lets computers attached to the Internet know where to send you data. Your IP address does not identify you personally. Most Internet Service Providers use a "dynamic" form of assigning IP Addresses. This means that you may have a different IP Address each time you visit wpt.org. Also, many Internet Service Providers use "proxy servers" that provide even more anonymity for visitors. For example, all visitors accessing wpt.org through America Online will be recorded in our access logs as having the same IP Address.
- The date and time you visited.
- The pages you visited on our site.
- The brand and version of browser you used and the type of computer you used.
- A list of files you downloaded or viewed.
- The amount of time you spent viewing or listening to streaming media files.
These data DO NOT contain any personally identifiable information. We use the data for to analyze Web site traffic and make improvements for visitors to wpt.org.
Tracking and use of cookies
To help make our sites more responsive to the needs of our visitors, we invoke a standard feature found in browser software, called a cookie, to assign each visitor a unique, anonymous user ID that resides on your computer. Unless you voluntarily identify yourself (through registration, for example), we won't know who you are, even if we assign a cookie to your computer. A cookie can not read data stored on your computer.
We use cookies to help us tailor our site to your needs and to deliver a better, more personalized service. We may also use cookies to track the pages on our site visited by our users. We can build a better site if we know which pages our users are visiting and how often.
You can refuse cookies by turning them off in your browser. You do not need to have cookies enabled to use wpt.org. However, some features of our site will not work properly if you refuse cookies.
3. Policies for Children
The Wisconsin PBS Kids section of wpt.org is for parents, caregivers and children. It is a place where adults and children can surf together that, like the programs we air, is fun, safe and commercial-free.
WPT will not knowingly accept personally identifiable information from visitors under the age of 18 who have not obtained permission from their parents or guardians. If your child sends us an e-mail with a question or comment, or enters a contest, we will respond using his or her e-mail and will not store it for future communications.
The Wisconsin PBS Kids section of the Web site makes links only to other non-commercial, educational sites directly related to WPT's programs and projects. Policies on these sites may vary from those of wpt.org.
Acceptance of the wpt.org privacy policy
By using this Web site, you agree to the terms and conditions of this WPT Online Privacy Policy. If you do not agree to these terms and conditions, please do not use this site. We reserve the right, at our sole discretion, to change, modify, add, or remove portions of this policy at any time. Please check this page periodically for any changes. Your continued use of wpt.org following the posting of any changes to these terms shall mean that you have accepted those changes. If you have any questions or concerns, please contact us.
We assume responsibility only for the information provided by Wisconsin Public Television on this site. As a convenience, there are links throughout the wpt.org site that allow your to leave WPT's site. You should be aware that these linked sites are not under WPT control. We can make no representations to you concerning the content of these sites, nor does the fact that WPT provides a link serve as an endorsement by WPT of any of these sites. You should also be aware that the privacy protections afforded by the WPT Web site may not be afforded by sites linked to the WPT site.