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Privacy Policy

Updated & Effective Date: February 15, 2024

The American Printing House for the Blind (“APH”, “we”, “us”, and “our”) offers you access to its interactive online websites, applications and services. This Privacy Policy explains what information may be collected when you access this or any of our websites (collectively known as the “Website”), any of the mobile or other applications that reference this Privacy Policy (“Applications”), how we and others use this information, under what circumstances we may disclose the information to third parties, and the instances in which we may allow third parties to collect information directly. Depending on your activities when using or accessing our Website or Applications (collectively, “Services”), you may from time to time be required to agree to additional terms and conditions. For clarity, our Services may include any promotion which refers to this Privacy Policy for terms regarding the collection and use of your information.

Please note that this Privacy Policy applies regardless of whether you use our Services via a computer, mobile device or other platform (collectively, your “Equipment”). Also, this Privacy Policy applies only to information we collect through our Services and does not apply to our collection of information from other sources (e.g., in person, over the telephone, etc.).

If you have a disability, please click APH’s Web Accessibility statement for additional support. If this Privacy Policy is provided offline, please ask to have this Privacy Policy and other policy provided in an alternative format to accommodate your accessibility needs.

Notwithstanding the foregoing, additional information on our privacy and data security related practices for donation information are described in our “Donor Privacy Policy,” available at https://www.aph.org/donor-privacy-policy/ (“Donor Policy”). In the event of a conflict between the terms in this Privacy Policy and the Donor Policy or any other policy as incorporated herein, the terms in the Donor Policy or other applicable policy will apply to the extent of any such conflict.

If you are a California resident, you will find our California Consumer Privacy Notice (“CCPA Notice”) at: https://aph.org/ccpa-notice/.

Please use the links below to access the sections of the Privacy Policy that interests you.

A. Modifications to This Privacy Policy

We keep this Privacy Policy posted on our Website and in our Applications. You should review this Privacy Policy frequently, as it may change from time to time without notice. The date the Privacy Policy was last revised is at the top of the page. Any changes will be effective immediately upon the posting of the revised Privacy Policy. When you use our Services, you agree to this Privacy Policy. If you do not agree to this Privacy Policy, or to any changes we may subsequently make, immediately stop using our Services. Please note, however, that if we decide to use your personal information in a manner materially different than what is provided in this Privacy Policy or what we advised at the time it was collected, we will notify you of this change by email to the last email address provided to us or through our Applications. You are responsible for ensuring we have an up-to-date email address for you.

B. Information We Collect

Personal information means any information about an individual from which that person can be identified, directly or indirectly. It does not include data where the identity has been removed (anonymized data), which we can use for any purpose. We may collect the following types of information about you, which we have grouped together as follows:  

From the information you provide us 

In certain circumstances, we may request, allow or otherwise provide you an opportunity to submit your personally identifiable information in connection with a feature, program, promotion or some other aspect of our Services. For instance,

  • Identity Information. Examples include first name, last name, email address, phone number, your profile image, and gender.
  • Contact Information. Examples include billing address, shipping address, email address and telephone numbers.
  • Financial Information. Examples include payment card details or other forms of payment you share with us.
  • Transaction Information. Examples include details about payments to and from you and other details of products and services you have ordered or purchased from us.
  • Credential Information. Examples include your account login information such as username and password, your interests, preferences, feedback and survey responses. 
  • Marketing and Communications Information. Examples include your preferences in receiving marketing from us and our third parties and your communication preferences, and comments and feedback you provide through our Services.

Information automatically collected by technology

In addition, to the information you provide us, we may automatically collect certain information about your Equipment, software, and browser to provide you with an efficient and personalized experience. This information includes:

  • Location Information. Examples include geolocation information collected from Equipment specific information. 
  • Technical Information. Examples include internet protocol (IP) address, language preference, browser type and version, time zone setting and location (including as provided by certain third-party service providers to better help the visually impaired), browser plug-in types and versions, Equipment information such as device type, operating system and platform, and other technology on the devices you use to access our Website. 
  • Usage Information. Examples include information about how you use our Services and the usage frequency of a certain webpage or an application.

Information Collected from Third Parties

We may collect personal or anonymized information about you from third-party companies that provide products and services that are used in together with our Website or our Services. Examples include:

  • Social Media Information. We may collect information from social networking sites, such as Facebook including your name, username, location, gender, birth date (if publicly available), email address, reviews and feedback you provide our organization pages. 
  • Geolocation Information. We may collect your geolocation information from location-based third-party service providers so that we can better serve the visually impaired. By using our Applications, you consent to our use of your location information. In certain instances, your Equipment operating system will also require you to separately consent to the application’s use of your location information. In all instances, you may withdraw your consent by disabling the location features for your Equipment entirely, or the application’s access to your location information – in such instances, the application may not function as intended.

Collection of Aggregated Data

We may also collect, use and share aggregated data such as statistical or demographic data for any purpose (“Aggregated Data”). Aggregated Data could be derived from your personal information but is not considered personal information as this data will not directly or indirectly reveal your identity. For example, we may aggregate your Usage Data to calculate the percentage of users accessing our Website and Services. However, if we combine or connect Aggregated Data with your personal information so that it can directly or indirectly identify you, we treat the combined data as personal information which will be used in accordance with this Privacy Policy.

Except for precise geolocation information and disability or health-related information needed for use of our products and services, we do not collect any special categories of sensitive personal information about you (this includes details about your race or ethnicity, religious or philosophical beliefs, sex life, sexual orientation, political opinions, trade union membership, information about your health, genetic and biometric data).

C. How We Use the Information Collected

The personal information that we collect may be used in the following reasons:

Communicate with you.

This may include:

  • informing you of our new products, services and promotional information that may be of interest to you from us or our affiliated companies
  • providing information about our Services, including communication regarding your account and orders
  • responding to your feedback about our Website and Services, including, for example, technical and accessibility support and service improvements to our Website and Services
  • responding to your questions or inquiries, including product information and troubleshooting using our Services
  • responding to your general inquiries
  • communicating with you about content or other information you have posted or shared with us via our Services
  • inviting you to subscribe to our newsletters
  • responding to your privacy inquiries and data subject/consumer requests.

In certain instances, we may provide you with the option to set your preferences for receiving email communications from us – that is, agree to some communications but not others – or allow you to opt-out directly through functionality in the email communication.

Develop and manage our relationships with you.

This may include:

  • to process payments and refunds via third-party service providers
  • delivering products or services, or carrying out transactions via our service providers
  • providing you with a more consistent experience with our Services by learning more about you and how you use and interact with our Services
  • planning, managing, and performing our contractual relationships with you and our service providers.

Improve our Services.

This may include:

  • customizing our Website to your preferences or interests
  • making them more compatible with your devices and browsers, or otherwise making our Website and Services easier to use and accessible
  • maintaining the security of our Website and Services
  • improving our Website and Services
  • developing new applications and services with better user experiences.

To Address legal issues.

This may include:

  • complying with laws, regulations, court orders, or other legal processes, including fulfilling government requests
  • protecting our rights or property, or yours or other health, safety, welfare, rights, or property, our Services or other users
  • complying with our obligations to retain certain business records for minimum retention periods
  • establishing, exercising, or defending legal claims
  • detecting, preventing, fraud or intellectual property infringement claims, violations of our contracts or agreements, violations of law, or other misuse of our Website or Services

We may also use your personal information for other uses consistent with the purpose and reason in which the information was collected or with your consent or lawful purposes. If we believe the purpose for which we use your personal information goes beyond the scope of your consent you provide during the personal information collection, we will communicate with you to obtain your consent.

If you send us an email, please do not send any sensitive personal information or profile login data, such as passwords, social security numbers, or bank account information, to us to protect your information.

We may use and share information that is not personal information for any purpose. For example, we may use aggregate usage data from many people in a way that does not identify any individuals to calculate the percentage of users accessing a feature on the Website.

D. Disclosure of Your Personal Information

  • With Service Providers. We may also disclose your personal information with service providers and subprocessors to perform support Services and to assist us in processing your personal information as described above. These processors are required to treat your personal information in compliance with all applicable privacy and data protection laws.

Our service providers have agreed to use the information we share with them only to carry out our requests or provide Services. Except as provided in this Privacy Policy or in our Terms of Use, your personal information will not be shared for targeted advertising or sold to any third parties without your prior approval.

  • Third Parties (if necessary). We may share your personal information to third parties when we have a good faith belief that disclosure is necessary:
    • to comply with a law, regulation, court order, or other legal processes;
    • to detect, prevent, and respond to fraud or intellectual property infringement claims, violations of our contracts or agreements, violations of law, or other misuse of our Website or Services;
    • to protect our rights or property or yours or others’ health, safety, welfare, rights, or property.
    • We may disclose your personal information with third parties in connection with liquidation, or dissolution, or under similar circumstances.

As we continue to develop our business, we may sell or purchase assets. If any bankruptcy or reorganization proceeding is brought by or against us, all such information may be considered an asset of ours and as such may be sold or transferred to third parties.

  • With Consent. We may share your personal information with your consent or at your express request.

We may share anonymized or Aggregated Data internally and with third parties for any purpose. Such information will not identify you individually.

E. Cookies and Preference-Based Advertising

Our Website may use automatic data collection technologies such as cookies and web beacons to distinguish you from other website users. We use cookies and web beacons to analyze the aggregate visitor activities on our Website and Applications, including understanding which products or services our customers have viewed or searched for, as well as the URL you come from and go to next (whether this URL is on our site or not). This helps us deliver a better and more personalized experience when you browse our Website. It also allows us to improve our Website by enabling us to:

  • Estimate our audience size and usage patterns.
  • Store your preferences, so we may customize our Website according to your individual interests.
  • Recognize you when you return to our Website.

The technologies we use for this automatic data collection may include:

Cookies. “Cookies” are small files that we transfer to your Equipment’s hard drive, memory or web browser to enable our systems to recognize your browser or Equipment and to provide convenience and other features to you.

Web Beacons. “Web beacons” are tiny graphics with a unique identifier, similar in function to cookies, and may be used to track the online movements of users, when an email has been opened, and to provide other information

Managing Cookies. If you are concerned about the storage and use of cookies, you may block or limit the storage of cookies via browser controls or other software. You may also be able to delete cookies manually from your Equipment through your internet browser, operating system or other programs. Please note, however, that some portions of our Services will not function properly or be available if you are able and do block and/or delete cookies. For further questions please communicate with us via the methods described at Contact & Opt-Out Information.

Google Analytics. We have Google Analytics enabled on the Website to provide certain analytics services for us. More information about Google Analytics can be found in the Google Analytics Terms of Use and the Google Analytics Privacy Policy. We also use the Google Analytics Demographics and Interest Reporting feature from the Google Analytics Advertising Features.

F. Open Authorization, Plugins & Third-Party Links

Some contents or applications on our Website may be provided by third parties, content providers and application providers including the following:

  1. Open Authorization. We may offer you the ability to create or login to your account with us through accounts you may have with various social network platforms, such as Facebook or Twitter (each, a “Social Network Account”). To do so, you may be required to provide, or allow our Services to access, your Social Network Account login information. By granting us access to your Social Network Account, you understand and agree that we may access, make available and store any content that you have provided to and stored in your Social Network Account (e.g., friends, mutual friends, contacts, etc.). We may make this information available on or through our Services and to our users. You may be able to restrict what information is shared and how it is used through privacy and other settings. Also, depending on the privacy settings you have set in your Social Network Account, personal information may be shared with us and made available through our Services and to our users.
  2. Our Website may make available the option for you to use “plugins” that are operated by social media/networking companies. If you choose to use one of these plugins, then it may collect information about you and send it back to the social media company that owns it. This may happen even if you do not click on the plugin, or if you are logged into the social media/networking website that owns the plugin when you visit our website. Data collected by a plugin is subject to the privacy policy and terms of the social media company that makes it. If you do not want the social media company that owns a plugin to collect information about you when you visit our website, sign out of the social media network before visiting. By interacting with a plugin when you are on our website (for example, clicking the Facebook “Like” button), you are intentionally transferring information to that social media/networking company. Further, if you are logged into a social media website when you visit our website, then you are directing us to share your data with the social media company that owns the plugin.
  3. Third-party links. Our Website may contain links to other sites, such as Facebook, X(twitter), YouTube, Instagram, and LinkedIn, which we do not control. We are not responsible for the privacy practices employed by any third-party website or service provider. You are responsible for any personal information you choose to share with any third party or service provider. Those websites have their own privacy policies and terms, and we encourage you to read those terms before interacting with third-party sites.

G. Retention

We will retain your personal information as reasonably necessary for the disclosed purpose. The retention periods for each category of personal information, including sensitive information, vary depending on compliance with relevant laws, your request for deletion, and our retention policies. For example, we may need to retrain your personal information to comply with our legal or reporting obligations in accordance with the laws or to defend against claims. Consequently, it is not possible for us to provide a definitive length of time. Our retention periods are determined by using and balancing the following criteria:

  • The volume, nature, and sensitivity of your information;
  • The potential risk of unauthorized access, use or disclosure, or misappropriation;
  • The purposes for which we process your personal information; and
  • The retention obligations under applicable legal requirements.

H. International Data Transfers

We are a company located in the United States and our Services are provided to individuals residing in the United States. If you are using our Website or Applications from outside the United States, you should be aware that the information collected on this Website may be stored and processed in the United States, or any other country in which APH, or its affiliates, subsidiaries or agents maintain facilities, including hosting services or servers. By providing your information to our Website or our Applications, you are consenting to the transfer of your information (including placing cookies) outside of your country in accordance with this Privacy Policy. You are also consenting to the application of United States law in all matters concerning our Website, Applications and Services.

I. Children

Although our Services are directed to a general audience, children under the age of 13 may gain access to some of our Services, such as educational mobile apps. Services that require a user to complete a registration process before using those areas are solely directed to parents that are at least 18 years of age. However, APH respects the privacy of children and voluntarily complies with the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA), although as a non-profit, it is not required to under 16 C.F.R. § 312.2. Please see our Privacy Policy for Children for more information about our data practices for children under the age of 13.

By Mail:
American Printing House for the Blind
ATTN: Information Governance & Privacy Compliance
1839 Frankfort Avenue
Louisville, KY 40206
By Phone: (toll free) 1-800-223-1839
By FAX: 502-899-2284
By Email: privacy@aph.org
By Webform: Please click to access the webform.

J. Keeping Your Information Secure

We have implemented security measures we consider reasonable and appropriate to protect against the loss, misuse and alteration of the information under our control (e.g., where appropriate, implementing firewalls, encryption, etc.). Please be advised, however, that while we strive to protect your personal information and privacy, we cannot guarantee or warrant the security of any information you disclose or transmit to us online or through our Services, and are not responsible for the theft, destruction, or inadvertent disclosure of your personal information.

In the unfortunate event that your “personal information” (as the term or similar terms are defined by any applicable law requiring notice upon a security breach) is compromised, we may notify you by email (if individual notification is required by law)  to the last email address you have provided us in the most expedient time reasonable under the circumstances; however, delays in notification may occur while we take necessary measures to determine the scope of the breach and restore reasonable integrity to the system as well as for the legitimate needs of law enforcement if notification would impede a criminal investigation. From time to time, we evaluate new technology for protecting information, and when appropriate, we upgrade our information security systems.

K. Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act Notice

APH is a vendor to educational agencies and institutions and APH is subject to Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act of 1974 (FERPA) and regulations under 34 C.F.R. §99.33(a) related to the use and redisclosure of personally identifiable information. APH will not disclose a student’s personally identifiable information without consent of the parent or guardian or a student who is 18 years or older, unless FERPA or applicable laws permit the disclosure of such information.

L. Your Rights and Choices

Your rights may vary depending on where you are located. We have created mechanisms to provide you with the following control over your information.

  • Accessing, Updating, and Deleting Your Information. You can contact us as set forth in the Contact & Opt-Out Information section below to request access to, correction of, or deletion of personal information that you have provided to us. We may also ask you to verify your identity before we respond to your request. Depending on your request, we may not accommodate your request to change information if we believe the change would violate any law or legal requirement or negatively affect the information’s accuracy.
  • California Residents. If you are a California resident, you may have additional personal rights and choices with regard to your personal information. Please see Your California Privacy Rights in the California Consumer Protection Act Notice for more information.

M. Contact & Opt-Out Information

If you: (a) have any questions or comments concerning this Privacy Policy or about your personal information; (b) wish to make corrections to any personal information you have provided; (c) want to opt-out from receiving future commercial; or (d) wish to withdraw your consent to sharing your personal information with others, you may contact us in the following ways:

By Mail:
American Printing House for the Blind
ATTN: Information Governance & Privacy Compliance
1839 Frankfort Avenue
Louisville, KY 40206
By Phone: (toll free) 1-800-223-1839
By FAX: 502-899-2284
By Email: privacy@aph.org
By Webform: Please click to access the webform.

We will respond to your request and, if applicable and appropriate, make the requested change in our active databases as soon as reasonably practicable.

You may also opt-out of further marketing communications by replying to any promotional email we have sent you or following the opt-out links on that message. Please note that we may not be able to fulfill certain requests while allowing you access to certain benefits and features of our Website and/or Applications.

N. Sole Statement

This Privacy Policy as posted on these Services is the sole statement of our privacy practices with respect to this Website and applicable Applications, and (except as otherwise provided in this Privacy Policy – e.g., with respect to our Donor Policy, Privacy Policy for Children, and California Consumer Privacy Act Notice) no summary, modification, restatement or other version thereof, or other privacy statement or policy, in any form, is valid unless we post a new or revised policy to these Services.