Cookies and Other Tracking Technologies from PPA

PPA websites use cookies, as almost all websites do, to help provide you with the best experience we can.

We have a set of essential website cookies that cannot be prevented other than by not using our websites. These cookies help us:

• Save you having to log in every time you visit our websites
• Remember if we have already asked you certain questions (e.g. you declined to use our app or take our survey)
• Improve the speed/security of our websites
• Provide you with relevant content
• Make our marketing more efficient (helping us offer you the services we do without raising membership dues)
• Compile visitor statistics such as number of page views, number of visitors, and time spent on each page, etc. This helps us to improve our websites. These analytics also tell us how people reached our websites (e.g. from a search engine) and whether they have been here before

PPA’s websites, like most websites, include functionality cookies provided by third parties. A common example is an embedded YouTube video. And unlike essential cookies, these third-party cookies can be disabled. 

In addition to the essential cookies listed above, PPA websites may include cookies from the following third parties:

• Bold Chat
• Bing
• Expression Engine
• Facebook Advertising
• Facebook Custom Audience
• Google Analytics
• Google DoubleClick
• Google Tag Manager
• Higher Logic
• Informz
• Instagram
• LinkedIn Advertising
• SpotXchange
• Twitter Advertising
• Unbounce
• Yahoo
• YouTube Video player

These third-party cookies fall into three categories:

1. Advertising cookies: These cookies track your browsing behavior throughout PPA websites and what you click through on PPA emails in order to deliver content and ads more relevant to you and your interests. This targeting is based on what you have viewed on our websites and is known as Online Behavioral Advertising. The information contained in these cookies has NO personal identifier information (no email address, no name, no phone number, etc.) as it is all “anonymized”. Disabling these cookies will likely break the functions offered by these third parties and prevent us from collecting quality analytics to understand where our traffic comes from or promote PPA through these third-party platforms.
    
2. Retargeting cookies: You may notice that sometimes after visiting a website you see increased numbers of ads from the company you visited. This is because advertisers, including PPA, pay for these interest-based ads, which are made possible by retargeting cookies. We use these interest-based ads to encourage U.S. based photographers who haven’t joined PPA or attended Imaging USA yet, to come back to our websites. And just like for advertising cookies, the information contained in retargeting cookies has NO personal identifier information (no email address, no name, no phone number, etc.) as it is all “anonymized”.
    
3. Tracking techniques other than cookies:
   • PPA may use tracking techniques such as embedding URLs to allow use of the PPA websites without cookies. Embedded URLs allow limited information to follow you as you navigate the sites, but are not associated with your personal data and are not used beyond each session.
      
   • PPA and its service providers may also use embedded pixel tags for the purposes of identifying unique user visits (as opposed to aggregate hits) and for advertising purposes.
      
   • We may place pixel gifs, also known as beacons, in emails sent to our users. These are tiny graphic files that contain unique identifiers that enable us to recognize when our users have opened an email or clicked certain links. This action records each user’s IP address, email address, date, and time associated with each open/click for a campaign. We use this information to track our email campaigns’ responsiveness but never sell it to third parties.
      
   • We may use some widgets, which are interactive mini-programs that run on our sites to enable and track the effectiveness of buttons or tools on our websites. The widget, button or tool may collect and automatically send Personal Data, such as your e-mail address, or other Information (such as your browser information, or IP address) and information collected or used by a widget, button or tool, including cookie settings and preferences, is governed by PPA’s privacy policy.

It is worth noting that opting out of these third-party cookies or interest-based ads will not mean that you will stop seeing ads. Instead, the ads you will be served will no longer be tailored to you.

For your own peace of mind, know that you can opt-out of all these cookies at any time (see the next section "Turning Cookies Off", below).

You have the right to decide whether to accept or reject cookies on any website.

You can usually set or amend your web browser controls to switch cookies off by adjusting your browser settings to stop it from accepting cookies. On most web browsers, you will find a “help” section on the toolbar. Please refer to this section for information on how to receive a notification when you are receiving a new cookie and how to turn cookies off. Please see the links below for guidance on how to modify your web browser’s settings on the most popular browsers:

• Internet Explorer
• Mozilla Firefox
• Google Chrome
• Apple Safari

If you choose to reject cookies, you may still use our websites; However, know that doing so will likely limit your access to some functionalities and areas of PPA.com, PPmag.com, ImagingUSA.org, and PhotoVisionVideo.com as cookies are not only a standard part of most modern websites, but they allow safeguarding of content that is reserved for PPA members.

Please note that if you reject cookies or disable cookies, your use of certain features or functions on our website or platforms or services may be limited. When you opt-out, the random ID we (or our third-party partners) had previously assigned to you will also be removed. This means that if at a later stage, you decide to opt-in, we will not track you with the same ID as before, and you will for all practical purposes be a new visitor in our system.

To find out more about cookies and targeted ads, including to see what cookies have been set and how to manage and delete them, visit the Network Advertising Initiative’s opt-out platform and follow the instructions there.

By opting out of targeted advertisements you will no longer see ads from advertisers who participate in the Digital Advertising Alliance; however, you may still continue to see other non-targeted ads on our websites from PPA partners.

Lastly, should you choose to delete all cookies from our sites registered on your devices, you’re also deleting the log where we know which consent or refusal you have issued. Deleting your cookies is like resetting your consent, which means that you will be asked to log in and re-take several steps of navigation each time you come back to the website or until you accept or refuse the cookies each time. Similarly, if you use another internet browser, you will have to accept or refuse these cookies again because your choices depend on the browser and device that you use to access our site.

You have the right to decide whether to accept or reject cookies. Here's how:

• Website Cookie Preference Tool: You can exercise preferences about what cookies are served on our Websites by visiting our cookie settings preference center, available here: Privacy Settings. You can also exercise your Website cookie preferences by visiting the TRUSTe preference center by clicking this link: http://preferences-mgr.truste.com/.
   
• Browser Controls: You can set or amend your web browser controls to accept or refuse cookies. If you choose to reject cookies, you may still use our Websites though your access to some functionality and areas of our Websites may be restricted. As the means by which you can refuse cookies through your web browser controls vary from browser-to-browser, you should visit your browser’s help menu for more information.
   
• Disabling Most Interest Based Advertising: Most advertising networks offer you a way to opt out of Interest Based Advertising. If you would like to find out more information, please visit http://www.aboutads.info/choices/ or http://www.youronlinechoices.com.
   
• Mobile Advertising: You can opt out of having your mobile advertising identifiers used for certain types of Interest Based Advertising, including those performed by us, by accessing the settings in your Apple or Android mobile device and following the most recent published instructions. If you opt out, we will remove all data about you and no further data collection or tracking will occur. The random ID we (or our third party partners) had previously assigned to you will also be removed. This means that if at a later stage, you decide to opt-in, we will not be able to continue and track you using the same ID as before, and you will for all practical purposes be a new user to our system.
   
• Do Not Track: Some Internet browsers - like Internet Explorer, Firefox, and Safari - include the ability to transmit “Do Not Track” or “DNT” signals. Since uniform standards for “DNT” signals have not been adopted, our Websites do not currently process or respond to “DNT” signals. MailChimp takes privacy and meaningful choice seriously and will make efforts to continue to monitor developments around DNT browser technology and the implementation of a standard. To learn more about “DNT”, please visit All About Do Not Track.