The Santa Ynez Valley Star values individual privacy and we want to give our website visitors the opportunity to know what information we collect about them and how they can limit the use of personally-identifiable information beyond the purposes for which they first provided it.

Types of Information We Collect and How We Use It

Personally Identifiable Information

If you are over the age of 13, we may collect your name, address, phone number and email address if you communicate that information to us voluntarily. We will not share your personally identifiable information with anyone outside SYV Star and its affiliated companies, unless previously stating for example for a contest in partnership with an organization.

We may use this information to respond to an email or other inquiry or request, to help improve our website and our services, to customize your experience at our website, or to send updates or notices about our organization. We may also combine this information with other generally or publicly available information to help us identify visitors’ preferences or interests.

Non-Personal Information

In some cases, when you visit our Site, we may also collect information that is non-personally identifiable information or information that, by itself, cannot be used to identify or contact you. Examples of this type of information include the type of Internet browser or computer operating system you use, the date and time you visited our Site, the pages you accessed, the name of the website from which you linked to our Site and other anonymous data involving your use of our Site. We use this information to analyze trends and gather broad demographic information for aggregate use. This information is not linked to any personally identifiable information.

How We Use Cookies

We may send “cookies” to your computer and use other technologies to enhance your online experience, help us recognize repeat visitors, facilitate the visitor’s ongoing access to and use of the Site, and track usage behavior and compile aggregate data that can lead to website improvements. If you do not want information collected through the use of cookies, you can deny or accept the cookie feature using a simple procedure available in most browsers. If you block cookies, however, you may lose some website functionality.

Data Integrity and Security

We make reasonable commercial efforts to keep any information you provide as secure as possible. Only authorized employees or agents are permitted to have access to personally identifiable data about website visitors, and that access is limited to what is reasonably needed to perform an employee’s responsibilities, such as providing updates or notices or customer service. Your password (if issued) is a component of our security system. As such, it is your responsibility to protect it. Do not share your password with any third parties.

Third Party Collectors of Information

This Privacy Statement addresses only the use and disclosure of information we collect from you. Any information you disclose to a third party, such as other users or advertisers, is subject to that party’s Privacy Statement. We encourage you to ask questions before you disclose your personal information to others.