Legal and Privacy Policy

The Awl is committed to preserving the privacy of its users.

Types and uses of personal information

In order to access a profile, post comments, and mark favorite comments on The Awl, you must first create an account with an email address and password, or log in with social media account. The Awl’s databases are backed up regularly, and may include the user’s information. Much like commenters’ email addresses, when any administrators of The Awl are emailed, the addresses and correspondence are retained.

Letters sent to The Awl become the property of The Awl and its assigns.

Information Sharing and Disclosure

• Aggregate Information (non-personally identifiable)
  Aggregated demographic information about our audience is used in-house and shared with third-party advertising partners. This includes browser information and traffic statistics. This data is not tied to any individual readers’ accounts or personally identifiable information.
• Personally identifiable information:
  No personally identifiable information is shared with third parties, with one limited exception: in situations in which The Awl must disclose personally identifiable information about a user if we have a good faith belief that doing so is required by law, such as pursuant to a subpoena or other judicial or administrative order.

Cookies

A cookie is a small text file that is stored on a user’s computer for record-keeping purposes. The Awl uses cookies on this site.

The Awl uses both short-term cookies and persistent cookies. A short-term cookie expires within a limited period of time. Session cookies are used so that readers with accounts can navigate and contribute to The Awl without logging in multiple times over a short period of time. A persistent cookie remains on the user’s hard drive for an extended period of time. These persistent cookies are used to recognize account holders.

If cookies are rejected, The Awl is still usable and accessible, but a user’s ability to use some areas of the site, such as comments, will require logging in for each action.

Indemnification

You agree to indemnify, hold harmless, and defend The Awl and its assigns and contractors from and against any and all demands, claims, damages, liabilities, judgments, fines, interest, penalties, losses, costs, expenses and harms, including attorneys’ fees, arising out of or in connection with (i) your use of the site (ii) your behavior on the site, (iii) your failure to comply with any applicable laws or regulations, (iv) your negligence, willful misconduct, or violations of the intellectual property or other rights of any person, or (v) any of your dealings or transactions with other persons resulting from use of the site.