The Samoa Observer Newspaper recognises the importance of protecting the privacy of your personal information, and we have prepared this Privacy Policy to provide you with important information about our privacy practices. This Privacy Policy applies when you use a website, or other online service (collectively, the “Services”) that links or refers to it.

This Privacy Policy covers the following:

Information We Collect
We may collect personal information about our users in various ways. For example, we may collect information that you provide to us, information that we collect through your use of the Services, and information that we collect from publicly available sources or third parties.

Information You Provide to Us
When you register or otherwise interact with the Services, you may be invited to provide personal information to enhance your experience on the Services. For example, during subscription registration, we may ask for information such as your name, e-mail address, year of birth, gender, street address, job title and industry and related information. We may collect payment information, such as your credit card number and expiration date, where appropriate to process a financial transaction you have requested.

We also collect information that you provide us when you comment on articles, participate in message boards, and submit images, photos, videos, or other content to the Services. We may ask you for additional information at other times, such as when you enter a contest or participate in a promotion, when you post an online ad, or when you order products from us or otherwise engage with the Services. Please review our Discussion and Submission Guidelines for more information about our practices applicable to content that you submit to certain areas of our Services.

Information about Your Use of the Services
In addition to the information you provide to us directly, we may collect information about your use of the Services. For example, we may collect:

Device information— such as your hardware model, IP address, other unique device identifiers, operating system version, browser type and settings, such as language and available font settings, and settings of the device you use to access the Services.

Usage information— such as information about the Services you use, the time and duration of your use of the Services and other information about your interaction with content offered through a Service, and any information stored using cookies, mobile ad identifiers, and similar technologies that we have set on your device. For detailed information about our use of cookies, web beacons, and other technologies, see the Online Tracking and Advertising section below.

Location information— such as your computer’s IP address, your mobile device’s GPS signal or information about nearby Wi-Fi access points and cell towers that may be transmitted to us when you use certain Services.

Information From Third-Party Sources
We may receive information about you from publicly and commercially available sources, as permitted by law, which we may combine with other information we receive from or about you. For example, we may receive information about you from a social media site if you connect to the Services through that site.

Other Information We Collect
We also may collect other information about you, your device, or your use of the services in ways that we describe to you at the point of collection or otherwise with your consent. You may choose not to provide us with certain types of information, but doing so may affect your ability to use some of the Services.

How We Use Information

To Provide and Manage the Services You Request
This includes, for example, processing your subscription, sending you electronic newsletters, or enabling you to participate in the features provided by the Services. It also includes providing personalized content and recommendations to you, including by email. Through such features, we are able to bring you information and content tailored to your individual interests and needs.

To Contact You
We may periodically contact you with offers and information about the Services and our affiliates, including in connection with your accounts, online surveys, legal notices, news stories, new features that you are entitled to access, and other important information. You may opt out of receiving commercial email messages from us by following the instructions contained in those email messages.

To Deliver Targeted Advertising
We may use your information to facilitate the delivery of targeted ads, promotions, and offers to you, on behalf of ourselves and advertisers, on and off the Services.

To Better Understand Our Readers and Users
The Services conduct research on our users’ demographics, interests and behavior based on the information we collect. We do this to better understand and serve our users, and to improve our products and services.

To Protect the Rights of the Services and others
We may use your personal information as we believe is necessary or appropriate to protect, enforce, or defend the legal rights, privacy, safety, or property of the Services, its employees or agents, or other users and to comply with applicable law.

Consent
We may otherwise use your information with your consent or at your direction.

Sharing of Information
The following provides information about entities with which we may share information. Our practices vary depending on the type of information.

Affiliates
We may share information within our family of affiliated companies.

Business Partners
We may also share your information with business partners to provide you with services that you request. For example, if you sign up for a promotion that runs on our Services but that is sponsored or co-sponsored by another company, your information may be shared with that sponsor. The Samoa Observer is not responsible for the privacy practices of these entities.

Service Providers
We may share information with vendors providing contractual services to us, such as hosting vendors, advertising service providers, and list managers. We also may share your information, including your payment information, as appropriate to process your payments for the Services or complete a transaction.

Other Parties When Required by Law or As Necessary to Protect Our Users and Services
We may share your personal information as we believe is necessary or appropriate to protect, enforce, or defend the legal rights, privacy, safety, or property of the Services, our employees or agents or users or to comply with applicable law or legal process, including responding to requests from public and government authorities.

Logging In Through Social Media Services
If you log into the Services with a social media service or if you connect a social media account with the Services, we may share your information with that social media service. The social media services’ use of the shared information will be governed by the social media services’ privacy policy and your social media account settings. If you do not want your information shared in this way, do not connect your social media service account with your Services.

Third Parties that Provide Content, Advertising, or Functionality
When you use our Services, third parties may collect or receive certain information about you and/or your use of the Services (e.g., hashed data, click stream information, browser type, time and date, information about your interactions with advertisements and other content), including through the use of cookies, beacons, mobile ad identifiers, and similar technologies, in order to provide content, advertising, or functionality or to measure and analyze ad performance, on our Services or other websites or platforms. This information may be combined with information collected across different websites, online services, and other linked or associated devices. These third parties may use your information to improve their own services and consistent with their own privacy policies.

This Site is affiliated with CMI Marketing, Inc. d/b/a CafeMedia (“Cafe Media”) for the purposes of placing advertising on the Site, and CafeMedia will collect and use certain data for advertising purposes. To learn more about CafeMedia’s data usage, click here www.cafemedia.com/publisher-advertising-privacy-policy

Other Parties in Connection With a Corporate Transaction
We reserve the right to transfer any information we have about you in the event that we sell or transfer all or a portion of our business or assets to a third party, such as in the event of a merger, acquisition, or in connection with a bankruptcy reorganization.

Otherwise With Your Consent or At Your Direction
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.

We also may share other information with third parties in a manner that does not identify particular users, including, for example, aggregated data about how users are using our Services.

Embedded Content and Links to Third-Party Sites and Services
Our Services may embed content from, or link to, third-party websites and services, including social media platforms, that are outside of our control. We are not responsible for the security or privacy of any information collected by other websites or other services. This Privacy Policy does not govern these third party’s content or services, and we encourage you to review the privacy statements applicable to the third-party websites and services you use.

How to Access or Update Your Information & Other Privacy Choices Available To You

Manage Your samoaobserver.ws Account
You may access or modify your samoaobserver.ws account on the User Profile page.

Email Promotions
You may opt out of receiving commercial email messages from us by following the instructions contained in those email messages.

Data Security
We have in place physical, electronic and managerial procedures to protect the information we collect online. However, as effective as these measures are, no security system is impenetrable. We cannot guarantee the security of our database, nor can we guarantee that the information you supply will not be intercepted while being transmitted to us over the Internet.

Request for data
The local laws where you live may permit you to make certain requests about your personal information. You may request that we:

  • provide you with personal information about what we collect, disclose or sell about you;
  • provide access to and/or a copy of certain information we hold about you;
  • delete certain information we have about you;

Please note that certain information may be exempt from such requests under applicable law. For example, we may retain certain information for legal compliance and to secure our Services. We may need certain information in order to provide the Services to you; if you ask us to delete it, you may no longer be able to use the Services.

How can I find out what personal information the Samoa Observer holds and how can I update it or request deletion?

Any personal information you provide will be collected and managed in accordance with New Zealand law. We will retain your personal information only for as long as necessary for the purposes for which it was collected, or as required by New Zealand law.

Under the New Zealand Privacy Act 2020, you have the right to request access to the personal information that we hold about you. You may also request updates or corrections to your information at any time. If you wish for us to delete your information or suspend your account, please be aware that certain details may need to be retained as mandated by law or for legitimate business purposes.

If you withdraw your consent for us to use your personal information, we will delete it unless there are legal reasons to retain it. Additionally, if you unsubscribe from marketing communications, we will keep your email address on file to ensure you do not receive future marketing materials.

To inquire about the personal information the Samoa Observer holds about you, please contact us by email.

Other Important Information

Children’s Privacy
We do not knowingly collect any personal information from children under the age of 16 without parental consent, unless permitted by law. If we learn that a child under the age of 16 has provided us with personal information, we will delete it in accordance with applicable law.

International Transfers
The Services are headquartered in Samoa. Please be aware that information you provide to us or that we obtain as a result of your use of the Services may be collected in your country and subsequently transferred to Samoa or to another country in accordance with applicable law. By using the Services, you consent to the collection, international transfer, storage, and processing of your information

Changes to Our Privacy Policy
We may modify this Privacy Policy from time to time. We will notify you of changes by posting changes here, or by other appropriate means. Any changes to the Privacy Policy will become effective when the updated policy is posted on the Services. Your use of the Services or your provision of personal information to use the Services following such changes indicates your acceptance of the revised Privacy Policy.

Online Tracking & Advertising
How We Use Cookies, Web Beacons, and Similar Technologies and How to Disable These Technologies

We and third parties that provide content, advertising, or functionality or measure and analyze ad performance on our Services, may use cookies, web beacons, mobile ad identifiers, and similar technologies to facilitate administration and navigation on the Site, to better understand and improve our Services, to determine and/or improve the advertising shown to you here or elsewhere, and to provide you with a customised online experience.

Cookies
Cookies are small files that are placed on your computer when you visit a website. Cookies may be used to store a unique identification number tied to your computer or device so that you can be recognized as the same user across one or more browsing sessions, and across one or more sites. Cookies serve many useful purposes. For example:

Cookies can remember your sign-in credentials so you do not have to enter those credentials each time you visit a Service Cookies can help us and third parties understand which parts of our Services are the most popular because they help us see which pages and features visitors access and how much time they spend on the pages. By studying this kind of information, we are better able to adapt our Services and provide you with a better experience.

Cookies help us and third parties understand which ads you have seen so that you don’t receive the same ad each time you access a Service.

Most browsers accept cookies automatically, but can be configured not to do so or to notify the user when a cookie is being sent. If you wish to disable cookies, refer to your browser help menu to learn how to disable cookies. If you disable browser cookies or flash cookies, it may interfere with the proper functioning of the Services.

Beacons
We, along with third parties, also may use technologies called beacons (or “pixels”) that communicate information from your device to a server. Beacons can be embedded in online content, videos, and emails, and can allow a server to read certain types of information from your device, know when you have viewed particular content or a particular email message, determine the time and date on which you viewed the beacon, and the IP address of your device. We and third parties use beacons for a variety of purposes, including to analyze the use of our Services and (in conjunction with cookies) to provide content and ads that are more relevant to you.

Local Storage & Other Tracking Technologies
We, along with third parties, may use other kinds of technologies, such as Local Shared Objects (also referred to as “Flash cookies”) and HTML5 local storage, in connection with our Services. We also may use unique identifiers associated with your device, such as mobile ad identifiers. These technologies are similar to the cookies discussed above in that they are stored on your device and can be used to store certain information about your activities and preferences. However, these technologies may make use of different parts of your device from standard cookies, and so you might not be able to control them using standard browser tools and settings. For HTML5 local storage, the method for disabling HTML5 will vary depending on your browser. For Flash cookies, information about disabling or deleting information contained in Flash cookies can be found here.

Additional Choices With Respect To Targeted Advertising
As described above, we and third parties may use cookies and other tracking technologies to facilitate serving relevant ads to you. For example, these technologies help us determine whether you have seen a particular advertisement before, tailor ads to you if you have visited our site before, and avoid sending you duplicate advertisements.

Purposes of processing and legal basis for processing
We process personal data consistent with our disclosures in this Privacy Policy. We process personal data on the following legal bases: (1) with your consent; (2) as necessary to perform our agreement to provide Services to you; and (3) as necessary for our legitimate interests in providing the Services where those interests do not override your fundamental rights and freedoms related to data privacy.


For More Information. Please contact us here.

© 2024 The Samoa Observer Newspaper. All rights reserved.