Privacy policy
Look Local First recognizes that its customers, visitors, users, members, and others who use www.looklocalfirst.org or other websites owned or operated by Look Local First ("Look Local First Services") (collectively or individually "Users") value their privacy. This Privacy Notice details important information regarding using and disclosing User information collected on Look Local First Services. Look Local First provides this Privacy Notice to help you decide whether to use or continue using Look Local First Services.
This Privacy Notice is incorporated into and is subject to the Look Local First Terms of Use. Your use of Look Local First Services and any personal information you provide on Look Local First Services remains subject to this Privacy Notice and our Terms of Use. Please note that any writing, image, or other content posted at the direction of Users onto the Look Local First Services becomes published content and is not considered personally identifiable information subject to this Privacy Notice.
Look Local First Collects The Following Information:
- User Provided Information: You provide certain personally identifiable information (such as your name and email address) to Look Local First when choosing to participate in various activities on Look Local First Services, such as posting in our forums, entering contests or sweepstakes, taking advantage of promotions, responding to surveys, or subscribing to newsletters or other mailing lists.
- Cookies Information: When you visit Look Local First Services, we may send one or more cookies - a small text file containing a string of alphanumeric characters - to your computer that uniquely identifies your browser. Look Local First may use both session cookies and persistent cookies (persistent cookies remain after you close your browser.) Your browser may use persistent cookies on subsequent visits to the site. Persistent cookies can be removed by following your web browser's help file directions. A session cookie is temporary and disappears after you close your browser. You can reset your web browser to refuse all cookies or to indicate when a cookie is being sent. However, some features of the Look Local First Services may not function properly if the ability to accept cookies is disabled.
- Log File Information: When you use Look Local First Services, our servers automatically record certain information your web browser sends whenever you visit any website. These server logs may include information such as your web request, Internet Protocol ("IP") address, browser type, browser language, referring / exit pages and URLs, platform type, number of clicks, domain names, landing pages, pages viewed and the order of those pages, the amount of time spent on particular pages, the date and time of your request, and one or more cookies that may uniquely identify your browser.
- Clear GIFs Information: When you use Look Local First Services, we may employ "clear GIFs" (a.k.a. Web Beacons) to track the anonymous (i.e., non-personally identifiable) online usage patterns of our Users. We may also use clear GIFs in HTML-based emails sent to our users to track which emails are opened by recipients.
Look Local First Uses Information in the Following Way:
- Suppose you submit personally identifiable information to us through Look Local First Services. In that case, we use your personal information to operate, maintain, and provide you with the features and functionality of Look Local First Services.
- Any personal information you voluntarily disclose online (via discussion boards, messages, areas within any public profile page, etc.) becomes publicly available and can be collected and used by others. Your account name (not your email address) is displayed to other Users when you post messages through Look Local First Services.
- We do not use your email address or other personally identifiable information to send commercial or marketing messages without your consent, except as part of a specific program or feature for which you can opt-in or opt-out. We may, however, use your email address without further consent for non-marketing or administrative purposes (such as notifying you of major Look Local First Services changes or for customer service purposes).
- We use both your personally identifiable information and certain non-personally-identifiable information (such as anonymous User usage data, cookies, IP addresses, browser type, clickstream data, etc.) to improve the quality and design of Look Local First Services and to create new features, promotions, functionality, and services by storing, tracking, and analyzing User preferences and trends.
- We use cookies, clear gifs, and log file information to (a) remember information so that you will not have to re-enter it during your visit or the next time you visit Look Local First Services; (b) provide custom, personalized content and information; (c) monitor the effectiveness of our marketing campaigns; (d) monitor aggregate metrics such as total number of visitors, pages viewed, etc.; and (e) track your entries, submissions, and status in promotions, sweepstakes, and contests.
- Occasionally, we may contact Users to invite them to participate in usability surveys. Participation in these surveys is purely voluntary. Typically, these surveys are anonymous, and no personal information is requested. However, occasionally, we request your email address to send you a reward for completing the survey. No personally identifiable information submitted will be shared with people who are not our authorized agents. Data collected through the survey is used to compile demographic information about our members and assist us in improving Look Local First Services.
Look Local First Only Discloses Information When:
- We provide personally identifiable and non-personally identifiable information to our affiliated companies, other businesses, or persons to process such information on our behalf. We require that these parties agree to process such information in compliance with our Privacy Policy, and we use reasonable efforts to limit their use of such information and to use other appropriate confidentiality and security measures.
- We do not share your personally identifiable information (such as name or email address) with other third-party companies for their commercial or marketing use without your consent or as part of a specific program or feature for which you can opt-in or opt-out.
- We do share non-personally identifiable information (such as anonymous User usage data, referring / exit pages, URLs, platform types, number of clicks, etc.) with interested third parties to assist them in understanding the usage patterns for certain content, services, advertisements, promotions, and/or functionality on Look Local First Services.
- We may release personally identifiable information and/or non-personally-identifiable information if required to do so by law or in the good-faith belief that such action is necessary to comply with state and federal laws (such as U.S. Copyright Law) or respond to a court order, subpoena, or search warrant.
- Look Local First also reserves the right to disclose personally identifiable information and/or non-personally-identifiable information that Look Local First believes, in good faith, is appropriate or necessary to enforce our Terms of Use, take precautions against liability, to investigate and defend itself against any third-party claims or allegations, to assist government enforcement agencies, to protect the security or integrity of our web site, and to protect the rights, property, or personal safety of Look Local First, our Users or others.
User Options:
You may, of course, decline to submit personally identifiable information through VizyPay Services, in which case Look Local First may not be able to provide certain services to you. You may update or correct your personal profile information and email preferences anytime by visiting your account profile page. To protect your privacy and security, we take reasonable steps (such as requesting a unique password) to verify your identity before granting you profile access or making corrections. You are responsible for maintaining the secrecy of your unique password and account information.
Please contact Look Local First with any questions or comments about this Privacy Notice, your personal information, your consent, or your opt-in or opt-out choices by emailing us at info@looklocalfirst.org.
Linking Agreements with Other Sites Including Third-party Advertisers:
Look Local First allows other companies, called third-party ad servers or ad networks, to serve advertisements within Look Local First Services. These third-party ad servers or ad networks use technology to send the advertisements and links that appear on Look Local First Services directly to your browser. They automatically receive your IP address when this happens. They may also use other technologies (such as cookies, JavaScript, or Web Beacons) to measure their advertisements' effectiveness and personalize the advertising content they see. Look Local First does not provide any personally identifiable information to these third-party ad servers or ad networks without your consent or except as part of a specific program or feature for which you can opt in or opt out. However, please note that if an advertiser asks Look Local First to show an advertisement to a certain audience (for example, women ages 18-24) or audience segment (for example, women ages 18-34 who have viewed certain categories of content) and you respond to that advertisement, the advertiser or ad-server may conclude that you fit the description of the audience they are trying to reach. The advertiser may also use information regarding your use of Look Local First Services, such as the number of times you viewed an ad (but not any personally identifiable information), to determine which ads to deliver to you. You should consult the respective privacy policies of these third-party ad servers or ad networks for more information on their practices and instructions on how to opt out of certain practices. Look Local First's Privacy Policy does not apply to, and we cannot control the activities of, such other advertisers or websites. However, we require sponsors, advertisers, ad servers, and ad networks that collect cookie or web beacon information through our website to agree that they will not collect any personally identifiable information from our site without your consent.
Look Local First's Commitment to the Security of Data:
Look Local First uses commercially reasonable physical, managerial, and technical safeguards to preserve the integrity and security of your personal information. We cannot, however, ensure or warrant the security of any information you transmit to Look Local First, and you do so at your own risk. Once we receive your transmission of information, Look Local First will make commercially reasonable efforts to secure our systems. However, please note that this does not guarantee that such information may not be accessed, disclosed, altered, or destroyed by breach of any of our physical, technical, or managerial safeguards. If Look Local First learns of a security systems breach; we may notify you electronically so that you can take appropriate protective steps. Look Local First may post a notice on Look Local First Services if a security breach occurs. Depending on where you live, you may have a legal right to receive notice of a security breach in writing. To receive a free written notice of a security breach (or to withdraw your consent from receiving electronic notice), you should notify us by emailing info@looklocalfirst.org.
International Users:
If you are a User accessing Look Local First Services from the European Union, Asia, or any other region with laws or regulations governing personal data collection, use, and disclosure that differ from United States laws, please be advised that through your continued use of Look Local First Services, which are governed by U.S. law, this Privacy Notice, and our Terms of Use, you are transferring your personal information to the United States and you consent to that transfer.
In the Event of Sale, Merger, Acquisition, or Bankruptcy:
Suppose Look Local First is acquired by or merged with a third-party entity. In that case, we reserve the right, in any of these circumstances, to transfer or assign the information we have collected from our Users as part of such merger, acquisition, sale, or other change of control. In the unlikely event of our bankruptcy, insolvency, reorganization, receivership, or assignment for the benefit of creditors, or the application of laws or equitable principles affecting creditors' rights generally, we may not be able to control how your personal information is treated, transferred, or used.
Alterations and Updates to this Privacy Notice:
This Privacy Notice may be revised periodically, reflected in the "effective date" below. Please revisit this page to stay aware of any changes. In general, we only use your personal information as described in the Privacy Notice, which is in effect when we receive the personal information you provided. Your continued use of Look Local First Services constitutes your agreement to this Privacy Notice and any future revisions.
For revisions to this Privacy Notice that may be materially less restrictive on our use or disclosure of the personal information you have already provided, we will obtain your consent before implementing such revisions concerning such information.
Date Last Modified: This Privacy Notice was last modified on April 28, 2025.