Congress.org (the "Site") is run by Capitol Advantage and Knowlegis LLC, Washington, DC area companies that provide services to organizations that enable visitors to their web sites to contact elected officials and stay current on important issues. Unless otherwise stated, for the purposes of this privacy policy Capitol Advantage and Knowlegis will be referred to as "Us" or "We."
Subject to the privacy limitations inherent with email and non-secure Web sites, We are committed to protecting and respecting your privacy. This document outlines our privacy policy and explains what We do with the personal information that We collect from users of this Site.
We update this privacy policy from time to time and these changes to the privacy policy will be posted on the Site. It is your obligation to review this privacy policy. If you have questions or concerns about this privacy policy, you may contact us via email at cs@capitoladvantage.com.
What information is gathered about you and how do We use it?
If you use any of the special services available through the Site, you will be asked to submit certain information, names and email addresses. This information is used to permit you to receive any information you may have requested from Congress.org and any additional communications the company may deem appropriate in relation to your request.
When you send a message or sign a petition through Congress.org, We ask for your name, address, e-mail address and other optional information that you may chose to provide. We also collect and store the full text of the message you send through our service. This is necessary to deliver your message and to identify you to the recipient. If you choose to have your letter posted publicly in Letters To Leaders, you are choosing to share the contents of your letter with any and all visitors to the Site.
When the user clicks "YES" when asked "Would you like to submit your letter for possible inclusion in an upcoming book on voters' letters to elected officials?" on the message compose page, the user hereby authorizes Us to use and publish User's letter(s) transmitted through this enabling website in a book to be published in the future. We agree to delete all personal information from User's letter(s) prior to using or publishing such letter(s) and shall delete all names and addresses except for the initials of the sender and the city and state. User hereby releases Capitol Advantage and Knowlegis from any liability or damages arising from the use or publication of any of User's letter(s) contained on Congress.org.
If you sign-up for Vote Monitor, Congress.org To Go, a weekly e-mail report of key Congressional votes, We ask for your ZIP code and e-mail address in order to identify your members of Congress and send you a weekly message about how they voted on key legislation.
If you use our "Tell-a-Friend" feature to e-mail a link to Congress.org to a friend, you will need to provide us with both your email address as well as that of your friend(s). We will automatically send your message to this person(s), as well as invite them to visit the Site. We use their information for the sole purpose of sending the Tell-A-Friend e-mail.
If you click the "Remember Me" option, We will place a cookie in your browser to remember your personal information. This cookie is a file that contains your name, address, and e-mail address information as you entered it on the message form. The next time you send a message, We will retrieve that information from the cookie and automatically enter it on the message form for you. A couple of things to remember about cookies: Cookies are stored on your hard drive, not on our site. Most browsers are set up to accept cookies, but you can configure your browser to refuse cookies or to notify you when you've received one. If you reject cookies, though, you will not be able to use the Remember Me feature.
When you use our hand-delivery service (And link to more info), We will also ask for your telephone number, credit card number and expiration date only so that We may process your payment. We may also use your information to contact you regarding your delivery, should the need arise. The transmission of this information is encrypted, using Secure Socket Layers (SSL) technology.
We also collect IP addresses to help us understand how our visitors access the Site, so We can make our Site easier to find and to improve our users' overall experience when they visit Congress.org.
If you sign up for Pledge Your Vote, the information you provide may be shared with others. We may also use this information to contact you with periodic Pledge Your Vote updates.
For any and all of these services you will also be offered the opportunity to opt into a service that will send you alerts on issues and votes on issues selected by you or that We feel may be of interest to you based on your other voluntarily provided information. We also may send you updates about the services or features of Congress.org in an attempt to alert you to better ways to use our services.
Will We disclose any of your personal information?
We disclose your name, address, phone number and e-mail address to the recipient of the message you send through our service. This information is required because most government officials and media contacts will not accept messages they receive from unidentified correspondents.
When you submit your message for inclusion in our online "Letters to Leaders" section, the text of your message and your city of residence will be displayed online. No personal information about you will be disclosed to the public as long as you do not include that information in the body of the message.
We will not disclose any information about individual users, except as described in this Privacy Statement, or to comply with applicable laws or valid legal process, or to protect the rights or property of Capitol Advantage and Knowlegis.
We may occasionally, and at our discretion, share, rent or sell all information you provide while using the Site to partner organizations. We may disclose aggregate information about Site users in order to describe our service to prospective business partners and other third parties, and for other lawful purposes.
Will We use your information for direct mailings?
You are using the Site to engage in civic participation, which is the mission of the Site. Occasionally We, or a third party, may send you messages or mail regarding products and services that might be of interest to you. If you do not want to receive such messages, simply send an e-mail to cs@capitoladvantage.com with "remove me from the Congress.org list" in the subject line.
In addition, We may contact you via e-mail for the following reasons:
- To send you a copy of a message you have sent through our service.
- To send you a weekly Congress.org To Go (Vote Monitor) report (only if you have signed up for this service).
How can I update my personal information for my Vote Monitor Congress.org To Go (formerly MegaVote) subscription?
We permit you to change or correct your personal information at any time and for any reason, or to unsubscribe from Congress.org To Go. Just fill in the e-mail address under which you subscribed, at http://www.congress.org/congressorg/megavote/login/.
If you send us a message about the Site, is it private?
There is an area on the Site which permits you to submit feedback about the Site. Any feedback submitted becomes the property of Capitol Advantage and Knowlegis; We may use your feedback to make improvements to the Site, for marketing purposes, or to contact you.
What else should you know about your privacy?
Keep in mind that your name, address, and e-mail address, as well as any information about yourself that you include in the messages you send through the Site, will be read by the recipient of your message and/or his or her staff. That's really the point of the Site - to enable you to communicate with your elected officials, other government officials and those in the media. Remember that whenever you disclose personal information in your messages you send to others, that information can be collected and used by the recipients and may even be forwarded to other parties.
FURTHERMORE, WHILE WE DO OUR BEST TO PROTECT YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION, WE CANNOT ENSURE OR WARRANT THE SECURITY OF ANY INFORMATION YOU TRANSMIT TO US, AND YOU DO SO AT YOUR OWN RISK.
What restrictions are there on the data I submit or post on Congress.org?
We reserve the right to review all public postings submitted to the Site including Soapbox, See Me profiles and photos and Letters to Leaders. Letters that contain profanity, advocate specific violence against an individual or a group or other objectionable postings will be removed and will not be subject to refunds or other compensation. Multiple postings of the same Soapbox or Letters to Leaders will be removed as well. We reserve the right to rotate or re-sort postings in keeping with a policy of balance and non-partisanship.
- Soapbox Commentary is a feature of Congress.org that allows you, the public, to have a higher profile platform while speaking your mind about issues or elected officials and/or candidates for public office. Congress.org is dedicated to increasing civic participation and open and spirited debate is among the ways you can participate. Congress.org is a privately run, non-partisan site, so We reserve the right to not publish any commentary for any reason We choose. Profanity and threats will (among other reasons) prevent commentaries from being posted. Your name and address, while required to post a commentary, will not be posted online unless you include them in the text of your commentary, which we strongly discourage. All Soapbox alerts unless otherwise noted here will receive equitable time posted in the public areas of the Site at our discretion.
- Letters to Leaders is a feature of Congress.org that allows you to publicly post a copy of your message to an elected official. There are no guarantees of any kind that submissions for Letters to Leaders will be posted for any stated duration or at all. All postings are at our discretion. We reserve the right not to publish any letter for any reason We choose. Profanity, threats and objectionable material (among other reasons) prevent Letters to Leaders from being posted.
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