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This Privacy Policy is provided by the Georgia Department of Economic Development ("Poets Foundation") and applies to any information collected from you by Poets Foundation in the operation of its services, such as through the websites and mobile applications operated by Poets Foundation ("Poets Foundation Services"), which include, without limitation, PoetsFoundation.com,

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PoetsFoundation.com, any Poets Foundation operated mobile apps, promotional websites, and any associated content, features and functionality, including email and RSS feeds made available on Poets Foundation Services. Poets Foundation respects your privacy and confidentiality and maintains this Privacy Policy to help you understand its commitment to safeguard the privacy of the information you provide to Poets Foundation. This Privacy Policy outlines how Poets Foundation collects and uses the information you provide to Poets Foundation. It also explains the choices available to you regarding Poets Foundation’s use of the information you provide to Poets Foundation and how you can access, update, and request or delete this information.

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Use and Collection of Your Personal Information by POETS FOUNDATION;

Use of Cookies and Tracking Tools:

Poets Foundation is the sole owner of the information collected on www.PoetsFoundation.com. Poets Foundation collects information from our users at several different points on our website through cookies, log files, clear gifs, and/or third parties to create a profile of our users. To protect your privacy, Poets Foundation does not sell or trade personally identifiable information that visitors voluntarily provide in any registration or contest submission. This personal information is used to better understand visitors’ use of the Poets Foundation sites, which helps us provide stronger content and functionality appropriate to visitors’ needs. We do not share your profile with other parties.

 

Log Files:

Like most standard website servers, we use log files. This includes Internet Protocol (IP) addresses, browser type, internet service provider (ISP), referring/exit pages, platform type, date/time stamp, and number of clicks to analyze trends, administer the site, track user movement in the aggregate, and gather broad demographic information for aggregate use. IP addresses, etc. are not linked to personally identifiable information.

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Tracking Clicked Links:

Poets Foundation uses third-party advertising technology to serve ads on sites upon which we advertise. This technology uses information about your visits to the sites upon which we advertise (not including your name, address, or other personal information) to serve our ads to you. In the course of serving our advertisements to you, a unique third-party cookie may be placed or recognized on your browser. In addition, we use clear GIFs, or pixel tags, provided by our ad serving company to help manage our online advertising. These clear GIFs allow our ad server to recognize a browser’s cookie when a browser visits this site and to learn which banner ads bring users to our website. The information we collect and share through this technology is not personally identifiable. Learn more about our ad serving partner, cookies and how to "opt-out."

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In order to create a better electronic community, we track patterns of use in the emails we send out. We note which links are clicked in our email communications to tell us what areas are of most interest to our opt-in recipients. We may use this information to better personalize the content and promotions that we send you in future mailings. A "referrer" is the information passed along by a Web browser that references the Web URL you linked from, and is automatically gathered by our Web server. This information is used to identify broad demographic trends that may be used to provide information tailored to your interests. You will not be personally identified from this information.

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It is the policy of Poets Foundation not to sell, share, transfer, or rent to third parties any information you provide to Poets Foundation, including information you provide through the use of Poets Foundation Services, without your consent except as required by operation of the law or in compliance with legal authorities; provided, however Poets Foundation may share your personal information with certain third parties ("Target Third Parties") without your consent in order to further the purpose for which you voluntarily provide Poets Foundation with the information. Additionally, POETS FOUNDATION engages third party information management service providers, including, but not limited to, customer relationship management providers, to help maintain efficient operations.

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Poets Foundation routinely collects, compiles, and reports statistics and information reflecting the use of Poets Foundation Services and information services in order to enhance membership services, advertising services, improve marketing and promotional efforts, analyze usage of Poets Foundation Services, improve Poets Foundation Services' content and layout, generate aggregate reports on trends, interests and behavior and enhance service offerings.

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Poets Foundation may now or in the future work with third parties, including third party advertising networks and website analysis firms, who use cookies, pixels and other tracking technologies to collect non-personally identifiable information when you visit Poets Foundation Services. This non-personally identifiable information, collected through cookies, pixels, Local Storage and other techniques, is often used by these advertising networks to serve you with advertisements tailored to meet your preferences and needs.

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Poets Foundation reserves the right to take any action Poets Foundation deems prudent or necessary to safeguard Poets Foundation Services and your information in Poets Foundation systems and databases from malicious or unwarranted attack by viruses, hackers, or other miscreants.

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Limited Access:

Certain Poets Foundation services may be limited to industry professionals and not available to the general public. These services may require a Poets Foundation approved account and password to access.

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Links to Third Party Websites:

In an attempt to provide increased value to users of Poets Foundation Services, Poets Foundation Services may link to, or contain links for, third party websites that we do not control or maintain. These may include websites linked to products referenced on Poets Foundation Services or in advertisements on Poets Foundation Services. We are not responsible for the terms and conditions or privacy practices employed by any such third party website accessible from Poets Foundation Services. Access to such third party websites is at your own risk, and we encourage you to read the privacy statements of all third party websites before submitting any personally identifiable information while using such other websites.

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Surveys, Contests, & Promotions:

Occasionally our site requests information from users via surveys, contests, or promotions. Participation in these surveys, contests, or promotions is completely voluntary and the user therefore has a choice whether or not to disclose this information. The requested information typically includes contact information (such as name and email address), and demographic information (such as zip code). Survey information will be used for purposes of monitoring or improving the use and satisfaction of this site. Contact information will be used to notify winners and award prizes. Users’ personally identifiable information is not shared with third parties unless we give prior notice and choice. Though we may use an intermediary to conduct these surveys, contests or promotions, they may not use our users’ personally identifiable information for any secondary purposes.

Photography and Copywriting Use Terms and Conditions:

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By submitting your Work to our website or social media platforms, you are agreeing to these Terms and Conditions, and are granting Poets Foundation a non-exclusive, royalty-free, perpetual, irrevocable, worldwide license (with sublicense and assignment rights) to display and use your Work on Poets Foundation’s own social media accounts and/or our website at PoetsFoundation.com at Poets Foundation’s sole discretion. Poets Foundation will attribute your Work to you by crediting your social media username or display name. However, you will not be entitled to any form of compensation whatsoever in exchange for allowing us to display your Work on our social media accounts or website.

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Furthermore, by submitting your work, you are representing:

• That you are 18 or over;

• That the Work is wholly your own, original work and not a derivative or copy of someone else's work (including, but not limited to, another person, company, entity, or publication);

• That you own the full rights to license and distribute the Work and full rights and permissions to license and distribute the Work from any third party person, company or brand represented or shown in the Work;

• That you agree to license the Work, without receiving compensation of any kind or any other conditions, to Poets Foundation for display on the Poets Foundation social media accounts (including, but not limited to Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Pinterest) as well as the Poets Foundation website at PoetsFoundation.com. This license will extend worldwide, in perpetuity, and is irrevocable; and

• That the Work does not contain inappropriate, illegal, harassing, defamatory or objectionable content.

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User Comments Guidelines:

Some of the Poets Foundation Services allow users to post comments to Poets Foundation websites. To the extent a user posts any comments to any Poets Foundation website, the user agrees not to post any comments that violate our User Comments Guidelines.

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The following is a set of guidelines for posted comments on any sites operated by Poets Foundation. These guidelines will be used to determine what is appropriate and inappropriate for posting. The following types of comments will be removed. Comments that:

• Are not on-topic.

• Use offensive language.

• Are self-serving or flagrant promotion of goods, sites or services. We may remove any URL for any reason.

• Are personal attacks (hostile, derogatory or deliberately insulting comments toward a specific individual or group).

• Are flaming (comments intended to induce an angry response).

• Are posted by anyone under the age of 13.

• If a portion of a comment is not allowable, the entire comment will not be posted.

• Are attempting to collect email addresses or other contact information of other users from the Service or the Site by electronic or other means for the purposes of sending unsolicited emails or other unsolicited communications.

• Use the site in any unlawful manner or in any other manner that could damage, disable, overburden or impair the Site.

• Use automated scripts to collect information from or otherwise interact with the Service or the Site.

• Solicit personal information from anyone under 18 or solicit passwords or personally identifying information for commercial or unlawful purposes.

• Intimidate, threaten and/or harass another.

• Include content that infringes upon patents, trademarks, trade secrets, copyrights or other proprietary rights.

• Include telephone numbers, websites, email addresses, street addresses or any personally identifiable information.

• Include information that do not have the right to disclose or make available under any law or under contractual or fiduciary relationships (such as insider information, or proprietary and confidential information learned or disclosed as part of employment relationships or under nondisclosure agreements).​

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In addition, users will be removed if they attempt to:

• Register for more than one User account, register for a User account on behalf of an individual other than themselves, or register for a User account on behalf of any group or entity.

• Impersonate any person or entity, or falsely state or otherwise misrepresent themselves, their age or affiliation with any person or entity.

• Upload, post, transmit, share, store or otherwise make available any content that we deem to be harmful, threatening, unlawful, defamatory, infringing, abusive, inflammatory, harassing, vulgar, obscene, fraudulent, invasive of privacy or publicity rights, hateful, or racially, ethnically, religiously or otherwise objectionable.

• Upload, post, transmit, share or otherwise make available any unsolicited or unauthorized advertising, solicitations, promotional materials, "junk mail," "spam," "chain letters," "pyramid schemes," or any other form of solicitation.

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Web Linking Policy:

Poets Foundation welcomes links to our site. All external links to PoetsFoundation.com should be clearly identified. We believe strongly in the utility of hyperlinks, which allow you to point directly to content, whether on the same site or an external site. Please use the headline of the link to which you would like to connect from PoetsFoundation.com.

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PoetsFoundation.com contains links to other sites that we do not control; therefore, we are not responsible for these other sites. We provide these links for your reference and convenience, but we do not endorse the content of these other sites.

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Please Do Not:

• Use Poets Foundation logo without prior written permission. To request permission to use the logo online, contact us at https://www.poetsfoundation.com/contact

• Copy the editorial content and paste directly on to your site.

• Attribute a link on your site to PoetsFoundation.com and then link to another site.

• Frame the PoetsFoundation.com content or otherwise present it as your own.

• Use any images from PoetsFoundation.com without permission

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Communications from the Site:

Members of the site will occasionally receive newsletters, information on services, or special deals. Out of respect for the privacy of our users we present the option to not receive these types of communications. Please see the Opt-Out Policy section. If a user wishes to subscribe to our newsletter, we ask for contact information such as name and email address. Out of respect for our users' privacy we provide a way to opt-out of these communications. Please see the Opt-Out section.

 

Opt-Out Policy:​

Poets Foundation will use email addresses and other personally identifiable information to contact visitors who communicate with us. For example, we email visitors who provide us with their email addresses for specific purposes such as receiving our email newsletters. After gathering any user information, Poets Foundation offers users the opportunity to remove their information from our database so as not to receive future communications or to no longer interact with the website until they later chose to.

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Each email communication always contains instructions on how to discontinue receipt. If a visitor at any time chooses to no longer receive such information and opt-out from any future mailings, they will have the opportunity to update and modify any information they have previously provided by visiting the "Profile Pages" section and updating and/or modifying the information previously provided.

 

Changing and Deleting Your Personal Information:

You may request Poets Foundation change or delete your personal information in Poets Foundation systems and databases by submitting a web inquiry to https://www.poetsfoundation.com/contact

Please note that after Poets Foundation processes a change or deletes your personal information from active Poets Foundation systems and databases, it is possible that non-active residual copies of your information may still exist in Poets Foundation systems and on archive or backup media.

 

Your Consent:

Other than for European Union citizens, your use of any of Poets Foundation Services constitutes your consent to the collection and uses described in this Privacy Policy of your information by Poets Foundation (and Target Third Parties, in which case, once such Target Third Party is in possession of your information, we cannot control such Target Third Party's use of your information). If you do not agree with the terms and conditions stated in this Privacy Policy, please do not access or use Poets Foundation Services.

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Children’s Privacy and POETS FOUNDATION Website Age Limitations:

Poets Foundation Services are intended for use by persons aged 18 or older. Poets Foundation does not knowingly allow use of Poets Foundation Services by any person that Poets Foundation believes to be younger than 18. Poets Foundation also does not collect any personally identifiable information from any persons under the age of 18 and if we discover that we have been provided any such information, we will delete this information from our records.

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Your Questions and Concerns:

If you have questions or concerns about this Privacy Policy or any of POETS FOUNDATION's use of your information, please contact Poets Foundation at https://www.poetsfoundation.com/contact

 

Changes to this Privacy Policy:

If we decide to change our privacy policy, we will post those changes to this privacy statement, the homepage, and other places we deem appropriate so our users are always aware of what information we collect, how we use it, and under what circumstances, if any, we disclose it. We will use information in accordance with the privacy policy under which the information was collected.

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If, however, we are going to use a user’s personally identifiable information in a manner different from that stated at the time of collection we will notify users via email. Users will have a choice as to whether or not we use their information in this different manner. However, if users have opted out of all communication with the site, or deleted/deactivated their account, then they will not be contacted, nor will their personal information be used in this new manner. In some cases, where we post a notice we will also email users who have opted to receive communications from us, notifying them of the changes in our privacy practices.

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Governing Law:

This Privacy Policy shall be governed in all respects by the laws of Florida, without regard to the choice of law provisions.

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ADDITIONAL NOTICES TO EUROPEAN UNION CITIZENS:

Legal Bases for Processing Personal Information of European Union Citizens.  When processing your personal information, Poets Foundation may rely on one or more of the following legal bases (or other available legal grounds), depending on the circumstances:

(a) Legitimate Interests – Poets Foundation may process your personal information where Poets Foundation has a legitimate interest in such processing for managing, operating or promoting our business, and that legitimate interest is not overridden by your interests, fundamental rights, or freedoms.

(b) Consent – Poets Foundation may process your personal information where Poets Foundation has obtained your consent to the processing.

(c) Contractual Necessity – Poets Foundation may process your personal information where such processing is necessary in connection with any contract that Poets Foundation has with you.

(d) Legal Requirements – Poets Foundation may process your personal information where such processing is required by applicable law.

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Disclosures to Third Parties:

Your personal information will not be disclosed to third parties except for where it is necessary for fulfillment of Poets Foundation’s obligations to you or where Poets Foundation is obliged or permitted to do so by law (including, without limitation, through the terms of any agreement Poets Foundation may have with you), or where Poets Foundation makes disclosures that are otherwise consistent with the uses described in this Privacy Policy.

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Poets Foundation may also disclose any information (including personal information) relating to you to law enforcement authorities or any regulatory or government authority in response to any request including requests in connection with the investigation of any suspected illegal activities.

Poets Foundation will not sell, resell or lease your personal information to any third parties but POETS FOUNDATION may, if required for the purpose(s) for which your personal information was collected and processed, share it with the POETS FOUNDATION partners and/or service providers to enable them to provide their services to POETS FOUNDATION or to you, as applicable. The foregoing is in addition to the other uses described elsewhere in this Privacy Policy.

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Security of Personal Information of European Citizens

Poets Foundation has measures in place which are intended to safeguard and protect your personal information against unauthorized access, accidental loss, improper use and disclosure. However, you should be aware that information transmitted over the internet is not completely secure because of the nature of the internet and that systems and measures used to secure information are not flawless. For these reasons, although Poets Foundation will use reasonable efforts to protect your personal information, Poets Foundation does not warrant the security of personal information transmitted to Poets Foundation or stored by Poets Foundation, and personal information that is transmitted to Poets Foundation by you electronically is done at your own risk.

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Retention of Personal Information of European Citizens:

POETS FOUNDATION’s policy is to retain your personal information only for as long as is necessary to fulfill the purposes for which Poets Foundation collected such personal information, including for the purposes of satisfying any professional, legal, accounting, reporting, or retention requirements to which Poets Foundation is subject. To determine the appropriate retention period for personal information, Poets Foundation considers the scope, nature, and sensitivity of the personal information, the potential risk of harm from unauthorized use or disclosure of the personal information, the purposes for which Poets Foundation collected and processed your personal information, and whether Poets Foundation can achieve those purposes through other means, and any applicable legal and professional requirements, including State retention requirements.

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Your Rights as a European Citizen

You have a number of rights concerning your personal information that Poets Foundation holds and uses, including the following:

(a) Right of Access – You have the right to be informed about what personal information Poets Foundation holds about you and to a copy of this personal information.

(b) Right to Rectification – You have the right to have any inaccurate personal information which Poets Foundation holds about you updated or corrected.

(c) Right to Erasure – In certain circumstances you may request that Poets Foundation delete the personal information that Poets Foundation holds about you.

(d) Right to Complain – You have the right to lodge a complaint regarding the processing of your personal information to an applicable governmental or supervisory authority in your country.

(e) Right to Withdraw Consent – Where processing of personal information is based on your consent, you have the right to withdraw such consent at any time.

(f) Right to Object – Where Poets Foundation relies on our legitimate interests to process your personal information, you have the right to object to such use and Poets Foundation is required to discontinue such processing unless Poets Foundation can demonstrate an overriding legitimate interest in such processing.

(g) Right to Restriction – You have the right to request that Poets Foundation stop using your personal information in certain circumstances including if you believe that the personal information Poets Foundation holds about you is inaccurate or that Poets Foundation’s use of your personal information is unlawful. If you validly exercise this right, Poets Foundation will store your personal information and will not carry out any other processing until the issue is resolved. You may exercise any of the above requests in writing to https://www.poetsfoundation.com/contact

 

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