Brand Privacy Policy
Effective Date: July 1, 2023
At Synapse, we take privacy seriously and we respect the privacy concerns of our community of users. This Privacy Policy (the “Privacy Policy”) describes how Synapse Group, Inc. (the “Company,” “we,” “us,” or “our”) collects, uses, discloses, and otherwise processes personal information in connection with our websites (the “Sites”) and the related content, services, products, and other features and functionality offered on or through those Sites (collectively, the “Services”).
Manage Your Information
Email Preferences
Opt-out of marketing e-mails by clicking on the following link and filling out the form accordingly.
Delete Your Data
Permanently delete your information.
Control Over Your Data
For additional ways to delete, opt out, or manage your information, please see the “What Controls Do I Have Over My Information?” section of this Privacy Policy.
What Personal Information Do We Collect?
Information You Provide to Us
The personal information we collect from and about you may vary depending on how you engage with our Services and the information you provide voluntarily. We may collect personal information directly from you or otherwise in connection with your use of the Services, such as:
Contact Information, including your name, contact details (such as a postal address and email address), and communication preferences.
Inquiry/Redemption Information, including information provided through forms or surveys, to our email addresses, via phone, or other channels, including offers inquired about, redeemed, or rejected. This also may include information provided when you sign up for our newsletters.
Account Information, including name, username, account IDs (e.g., Synapse account number or third-party loyalty number), contact information, profile information, payment and purchase history information, and subscription information.
Financial Information, including credit and debit card information, bank account and routing number, and billing and shipping address.
User-Generated Content, including personal information you choose to provide about yourself when you participate in forums or discussions on the Services, post comments or reviews, and participate in any Services. Please be aware that information you post may be viewed, used, or captured by anyone who visits the Services; therefore, you should avoid posting sensitive personal information that you would not want to be available to the public.
Contest, Sweepstakes, and Survey Information, including information provided when you enter a contest or sweepstakes, information included in any responses submitted through surveys or questionnaires, or the content of any testimonials.
Inferences About Your Interests, Preferences, and Other Behavioral Data, including hobbies, interests, and characteristics,( e.g., subscriptions or other purchases, recipes, or consuming tendencies).
Information Automatically Collected
General
As is true of many digital properties, we and our third-party partners may automatically collect information you provide to us and information about your device and use of the Service when you visit or interact with our Services.
The type of information automatically collected includes:
Device data, including internet protocol (IP) address, device or other digital IDs, operating system, device type and version, browser type and version, browser id, the URL entered and the referring page/campaign, date/time of visit, other user agent string data, the time spent on our Services, and any errors that may occur during the visit to our Services. Device data may overlap with the other categories of data listed below.
Analytics/Usage data, including the path taken to our Services, through our Services, and when exiting our Services, usage and activity on or in connection with our Services (e.g., pages visited, whether you have visited or left a third-party property, links clicked, videos watched, offers viewed, clicked, or redeemed, other “conversion” data such as actions taken in response to ads or whether offers have been redeemed), metrics on how many emails we send are actually opened and which attachments or links are opened, clicked, or viewed (such as via pixels, as described further below). We may also use third-party tools to collect information you provide to us or information about how you use the Services, including mouse movements, scrolling, clicks, and keystroke activity on the Services and other browsing, search, or purchasing behavior. These tools may also record information you enter when you interact with our Services or engage in chat or other features through our Services.
Note that we and our third-party partners may combine information that each of us collects automatically with other information about you, including information you choose to provide.
See the “What Controls Do I Have Over My Information?” section below to learn more about how you may limit or disable cookies or certain other tracking technologies on your device.Third-Party Sources
We also obtain personal information from third parties, which we often combine with personal information we collect either automatically or directly from an individual. For example, we may receive the same categories of personal information described above from the following third parties:
Other Users who Interact with our Services: We may receive your information from other users who interact with our Services.
Business Partners: We may receive your information from our business partners, such as companies that offer their products or services on our Services or on other properties (e.g., digital properties, offline locations) or marketing/advertising and analytics partners.
Social Media Networks: When an individual interacts with our Services through various social media networks, such as when someone logs in through a social network, “Likes” us on Facebook, or follows us or shares our content on Google, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, or other social networks, we may receive some information from those social networks including your profile information and any other information you permit the social network to share with third parties. We use this information to allow you to log into your account, to communicate or interact with individuals on the social network, to better understand the demographics of our visitors, and to personalize content and advertising. Individuals should always review and, if necessary, adjust their privacy settings on third-party websites and social media networks and services before sharing information or linking or connecting them to other services.
Service Providers: Our service providers that perform services on our behalf, such as payment processors or survey and third parties who conduct marketing/advertising and analytics activities on our behalf, collect personal information and may share some or all of this information with us.
Information Providers: We may, from time to time, obtain information from third-party information providers to correct or supplement personal information we collect. For example, we may obtain updated contact information from third-party information providers to reconnect with an individual or obtain demographic information (e.g., interests, preferences).
Other Sources: We may also collect personal information about individuals that we do not otherwise have from, for example, publicly available sources, third-party data providers, brand partnerships, or through transactions such as mergers and acquisitions.
How Do We Use Personal Information?
We may use your information for various purposes, including:
To fulfill your requests and provide our Services to you. This includes:
To personalize your experience on our Services: This includes providing you with content or other products or services you might be interested in (e.g., offers) and de-emphasizing other such content, products, or services, such as offers you may not be interested in.
For marketing purposes: We may send email or other marketing/advertising communications about our or others’ features, updates, products/services, and special offers. We may also use individual and aggregate information about you to inform our, and our third-party partners, marketing and advertising campaigns more broadly. For more information on your choices about marketing communications, see the “What Controls Do I Have Over My Information?” section of this Privacy Policy.
To communicate with you: For example, we may communicate with you about your account activities, such as by providing you transaction confirmations or alerting you when a subscription is up for renewal. If you register with us, we may also send you user surveys and promotional communications. We may communicate with you by email, postal mail, telephone, text message, or other means. For more information on how to adjust your communications preferences, see “ What Controls Do I Have Over My Information? ” below.
To monitor, improve, and develop our products and services: We may use your information to understand our users and to tailor or optimize our Services. For example, we may analyze statistics and trends to make our Services better and to develop or better personalize the Services or new services or features.
To protect the security and integrity of our business, comply with legal requirements and obligations, or as otherwise permitted by law: We may use your information to protect our company, our affiliates, our customers, and our Services. We may also use information in order to comply with laws, regulations, court orders, or other legal obligations or to assist in an investigation, protect and defend our rights and property, or the rights or safety of third parties, enforce our Terms of Service, Terms of Use, this Privacy Policy, or agreements with third parties, detect and prevent fraud or for crime-prevention purposes, or for any other reason permitted by law. We may take part in or be involved with a corporate business transaction, such as a merger, acquisition, joint venture, or financing or sale of company assets and may use information in connection with or as an asset in such a corporate business transaction. Personal information may also be used in the event of insolvency, bankruptcy, or receivership.
For any other purposes with your consent, at your direction, or where notice is provided: We may use your personal information for any other purposes with your consent, at your direction, or where notice is otherwise provided.
How Do We Share Personal Information?
We may also disclose personal information to third parties, including:
Third Parties At Your Request: You may choose to share your activities on the Services with your friends through email, text, or on various social media networks.
Promotional Partners: We may share information with third parties with whom we partner to provide contests, surveys, and sweepstakes, or other joint promotional activities.
Marketing and Strategic Business Partners: We may share information with marketing/advertising, analytics, and other business partners (such as those that provide their own products or services on other properties) for purposes such as us or those entities providing you with information, undertaking marketing/advertising activities about products or services that may interest you, displaying offers, carrying out measurement/attribution activities, informing business analytics, or for other business or commercial purposes as may be further described in their privacy policies or our privacy policy.
The Public: When you provide feedback or post user content on our Services (e.g., if you post a comment on an article or comment on our social media sites), your information (e.g., your first name, last initial, state of residence, and your comments) may be displayed on our Services or on our social media pages. When you engage with us on social media, we may tag your social media account or the social media account of others (e.g., to give photo credit to another user).
With Your Consent, At Your Direction, or Where Notice is Provided: In addition to the sharing described in this Privacy Policy, we may share information about you with third parties whenever you consent to or direct such sharing or where notice is otherwise provided.
Service Providers and Advisors: Personal information may be shared with third-party vendors and other service providers who perform services for us or on our behalf. This may include certain vendors and providers who engage in marketing or advertising activities, analytics, or provide mailing or email services, tax and accounting services, product fulfillment, delivery services, payments processing, data enhancement services, fraud prevention, web hosting, or analytic services.
Law Enforcement, Regulators, and Other Parties For Legal Reasons: Personal information may be disclosed to third parties, as required by law or subpoena, or if we reasonably believe that such action is necessary to (a) comply with the law and the reasonable requests of law enforcement, (b) to enforce our Terms of Use or to protect the security or integrity of our Services, or (c) to exercise or protect the rights, property, or personal safety of our organization, our visitors, or others.
Purchasers and Third Parties in Connection With a Business Transaction: Personal information may be disclosed to third parties in connection with a corporate transaction, such as a merger, sale of any or all of our company assets or shares, reorganization, financing, change of control or acquisition of all or a portion of our business by an affiliate or third party, or in the event of a bankruptcy, or related or similar proceedings. In connection with any of the above, we may share information with others in an aggregated or otherwise anonymized form that does not reasonably identify you
What Controls Do I Have Over My Information?
You may control your information in the following ways:
Access to, Modification of, or Deletion of Your Information: You have the right to request access to your personal information, amendment/correction of inaccurate/incomplete personal information, or deletion of your personal information. In order to better protect the security of your personal information, we will seek to confirm your identity as part of our processing of any request. Under certain circumstances, we may not fulfill your request, such as where we, in our discretion, deem that your identity has not been reasonably verified or that such information is subject to legal/regulatory, internal audit, record-keeping, or other requirements or legal exceptions such that the request should not reasonably be granted (or should be granted in part). In any event, we will respond to your request within a reasonable timeframe. In order to make such a request of us, please contact us by using one of the following methods:
for United States residents, please use this form.
by emailing at privacy@synapsemail.com and indicating in the subject line the type of request (e.g., Access, Modification, or Deletion)
Marketing E-mail Preferences: You can manage your opt-out by:
using the unsubscribe link at the bottom of such messages, or
Further, you may opt-out of marketing e-mails by clicking on the following link and filling out this form accordingly.
Please note that you cannot opt out of transactional or administrative e-mails (e.g., renewal notifications, orders placed).
Postal Mail: To opt out of receiving marketing offers for other magazines and products by mail:
please use the opt-out form available here; or
send your request to us in a letter addressed to Synapse Group, Inc., Opt-Out Postal, Attn: Customer Care, 225 High Ridge Road, East Building, Stamford, CT 06905. Note that if you choose to opt out of our promotional mailings, you may still receive renewal notices and related offers for any magazines to which you subscribe.
Cookies and Other Tracking Technologies
To manage cookies, an individual may have the ability to change their browser settings to (for example): (i) notify them when they receive a cookie, so the individual can choose whether or not to accept it; (ii) disable existing cookies; or (iii) automatically reject cookies (or certain types of cookies, such as cookies set by third parties). Note that similar controls may exist for other tracking technologies, such as pixels, SDKs, and local storage. Please check your device or browser settings and related documentation for more information.
Further, note that restricting the use of these technologies might negatively impact an individual’s experience using our Services, as some features or offerings may be less personalized or may not work as otherwise intended. Depending on an individual’s device and operating system, the individual may not be able to delete or block all cookies or other tracking technologies described in this Privacy Policy. In addition, if an individual wants to reject cookies across all browsers and devices, the individual will need to do so on each browser and device they use. You may also have options within your email client to prevent the automatic downloading of images that may contain technologies that would allow us to know whether you have accessed our emails and performed certain actions with respect to such emails (e.g., URL clickthroughs).
How Do We Protect Personal Information?
We maintain reasonable administrative, technical, and physical safeguards designed to protect the personal information you provide against accidental, unlawful, or unauthorized destruction, loss, alteration, access, disclosure, or use. That said, no security system is impenetrable and we cannot guarantee the security of our systems at all times. Thus, you assume some risk with regard to the security of information you provide through any digital property, including our Services. To request an invite to our bug bounty program to submit reports on vulnerabilities found on our Sites, you may contact us by emailing security@dotdashmdp.com.
What About Links to Third-Party Websites or Services?
Our Services may provide links to other digital properties that are controlled by third parties. Linked digital properties may have their own privacy notices or policies, which we suggest you review. We are not responsible for the content, usage, terms, privacy policies, or digital properties of any third party.
What’s Our Policy With Respect to Children’s Personal Information?
Our Services are not designed or intended for use by children, and we do not knowingly collect or solicit personal information from children under the age of 16 (or the equivalent age of a child in your jurisdiction) on the Services. If we become aware that we have inadvertently collected personal information from a child under the age of 16 (or the equivalent age of a child in your jurisdiction), we will endeavor to delete any such information promptly. If you believe that we may have collected information from a child under 16 (or the equivalent age of a child in your jurisdiction), please contact us using the contact information below.
What’s Our Policy for Users Outside the United States?
Your personal information may be stored in, transferred to, and processed in the United States and in any other country in which the Company or other Company affiliates, or service providers maintain facilities. The data protection laws in these countries may provide a different standard of protection for your personal information than the country in which you are located or your country of residence. If you have questions or wish to obtain more information about the international transfer of your personal information or the implemented safeguards, please contact us using the contact information below.
Where Can I Find Your Region-Specific Disclosures?
We may choose or be required by law to provide different or additional disclosures about our data privacy practices depending on your state or country of residence:
California, Colorado, Connecticut, Utah, and Virginia: If you are a California, Colorado, Connecticut, Utah, or Virginia resident, please see the ‘U.S. State Privacy Notice’ section below.
How Will We Inform You About Changes to This Privacy Policy?
We may update this Privacy Policy periodically to reflect changes to our privacy practices. If we make any material changes to our privacy practices, we will indicate at the top of the Privacy Policy the date when it was most recently updated and you shall be bound to such changes when accessing the Services that are linked to the updated Privacy Policy. We may also provide notice of such material changes in other manners at our discretion. We encourage you to periodically review this page for the latest information on our privacy practices.
How Can You Contact Us?
If you have questions about this Privacy Policy or about our privacy practices, you may contact us by emailing privacy@synapsemail.com.
If you are a California, Colorado, Connecticut, Utah, or Virginia resident inquiring about your privacy rights under your respective State Privacy Law, please include “U.S. Privacy Rights Request” in the subject line of your email.
You may also write to: 225 High Ridge Road, East Building, Stamford, CT 06905
U.S. State Privacy Notice
For residents covered under the State Privacy Laws, this U.S. State Privacy Notice supplements the information contained in our Privacy Policy by providing additional information under such laws. The term “State Privacy Laws” means, as applicable, the California Consumer Privacy Act (the “CCPA”), the Colorado Privacy Act, the Connecticut Data Privacy Act, the Utah Consumer Privacy Act, and the Virginia Consumer Data Protection Act.
Your Privacy Rights
Depending on your state of residency, you may exercise the following rights under the State Privacy Laws in relation to the personal information about you that we have collected about you (subject to certain limitations under such laws, such as exceptions in the State Privacy Laws or the inability to verify your identity):
| The Right to Access |
Under the State Privacy Laws, you have the right to obtain confirmation regarding whether we are processing your personal information and to access that personal information. You also have the right to access that personal information in a portable, readily usable format, unless not technically feasible to provide in such a format. Specifically with respect to the CCPA’s right to access, you have the right to request the following: (a) the specific pieces of personal information the business has collected about you and (b) the categories of personal information collected, the sources of collection, the business/commercial purpose for collecting or "selling/sharing" personal information, and the categories of third party to whom the business discloses personal information. |
| The Right to Deletion |
You have the right to request the deletion of PI we have collected from you, subject to certain exceptions under the State Privacy Laws. |
| The Right to Correction |
You have the right to request that inaccuracies in your PI be corrected, taking into account the nature of the personal information and the purposes of the processing of your personal information. |
| Opt-Out Rights |
Under State Privacy Laws, you have the right to opt-out of “sales” and “shares” of personal information, “targeted advertising,” and certain use/disclosure of “sensitive” personal information. We do not “sell” or “share” your personal information or process your personal information for “targeted advertising.” For purposes of the CCPA, we process “sensitive” personal information only for the limited purposes specified under the CCPA that do not require a corresponding opt-out right. For purposes of the other State Privacy Laws, we will not process “sensitive” personal information except to provide goods/services that you request or as otherwise permitted under those laws without requiring consent (e.g., requesting a magazine that relates to a certain religion). We do not have actual knowledge of “selling” or “sharing” PI of consumers under sixteen (16) years of age. |
To Exercise Your Privacy Rights
To submit a request to exercise your right to access, deletion, or correction, please use this form.
Unless otherwise prohibited by the State Privacy Laws, we may need to verify your identity and confirm your residency before processing your request. In order to verify your identity, we will generally either require the successful authentication of your account or the matching of sufficient information you provide us to the information we maintain about you in our systems. This process may require us to request additional personal information from you, including, but not limited to, your email address, phone number, or date of last transaction in connection with our Services.
In certain circumstances, we may decline a request to exercise the rights described above, particularly where we are unable to verify your identity or locate your information in our systems. If we cannot comply with a request, we will explain the reasons in our response.
Non-Discrimination and Appeals
You have the right to not receive “discriminatory” treatment for exercising the rights discussed in the table above. However, please note that if the exercise of these rights limits our ability to process personal information (such as in the case of a deletion request), we may no longer be able to provide you our products and services or engage with you in the same manner.
Further, under Colorado, Connecticut, and Virginia’s State Privacy Laws, you may appeal a decision we have made in connection with your rights request. All appeals should be submitted by emailing privacy@synapsemail.com, along with a copy of the decision that you are appealing.
Authorized Agents
In certain circumstances under the State Privacy Laws, you are permitted to use an authorized agent to submit requests on your behalf (using the mechanisms for submitting requests above), where we can verify the authorized agent’s authority to act on your behalf.
Specifically, under the CCPA, for requests to access, delete, or correct personal information, we require the following for verification purposes:
Deidentified Information
Where we process “deidentified information” (as such term is defined under the State Privacy Laws) and are required to keep such information deidentified, we commit to maintain and use the information in deidentified form and will not attempt to reidentify the information, except in instances where necessary for determining whether the deidentification process we used satisfies the requirements under applicable law.
Notice at Collection (CCPA)
The following additional disclosures apply to residents covered under the CCPA.
Categories/Use of PI: In the last 12 months, please see the list below for the categories of personal information we have collected. Further, please see “How Do We Use Personal Information?” for the purposes for which such personal information is used.
Identifiers, such as your name, email address, , or other similar identifiers.
California Customer Records (Cal. Civ. Code § 1798.80(e)), such as contact information, and payment information.
Protected Classification Characteristics, such as age and gender.
Commercial Information, such as payment and purchase history.
Internet/Network Information, such as device information, logs, and analytics data.
Profession/Employment Information, such as your employer, company, or school if your subscription is tied to an employer or school account.
Other Personal Information, such as information you post on our social media pages or otherwise provide to us.
Inferences, such as predictions about your interests and preferences.
Sensitive Personal Information, such as account username and password or magazine subscriptions that may reveal a sensitive category (e.g., racial/ethnic origin). Sensitive Personal Information is used for the limited purposes specified under the CCPA that do not require a corresponding opt-out right.
“Sales” and “Shares”: We do not “sell” or “share” your personal information under the CCPA.
Data Retention: We retain the categories of personal information above as reasonably necessary to fulfill the purposes outlined in this notice, unless a longer retention period is required or permitted by law. In many situations, we must obtain all, or a portion, of your personal information to comply with legal obligations, resolve disputes, enforce our agreements, protect against fraudulent, deceptive, or illegal activity, or for another one of our business purposes.
Notice of Financial Incentives (CCPA): We may offer you financial incentives for the collection, sale, retention, and use of your PI as permitted by the CCPA that can, without limitation, result in reasonably different prices, rates, or quality levels. The material aspects of any financial incentive will be explained and described in its program terms. Please note that participating in incentive programs is entirely optional, you will have to affirmatively opt-in to the program and you can opt-out of each program (i.e., terminate participation and forgo the ongoing incentives) prospectively by following the instructions in the applicable program description and terms. We may add or change incentive programs or their terms by posting notice on the program descriptions and terms linked to above, so check them regularly.
Each price or service difference related to the collection and use of personal information is based upon our reasonable, good-faith determination of the estimated value of such information to our business, such as by calculating the expense related to the offer, provision, or imposition of the financial incentive or price or service difference or revenue generation or expense related to the collection or retention of consumers’ personal information.
How to Contact Us
We are located at: 225 High Ridge Road, East Building, Stamford, CT 06905
All feedback, questions, and comments in connection with our privacy practices and our privacy policies should be directed to: privacy@synapsemail.com.