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GENERAL PRIVACY POLICY STATEMENT

Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden recognizes the obligation to its customers, community and online visitors to fulfill our mission of creating adventure, conveying knowledge and conserving nature. Likewise, Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden is dedicated to the fundamentals of protecting consumer privacy on the Internet, especially for children.

We have created this Privacy Policy (the “Policy”) to notify you how we treat personally identifiable information and other information that we collect and store.  We’ve developed our privacy practices from guidelines established by the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (“COPPA”) and Controlling the Assault of Non-Solicited Pornography and Marketing Act (“CAN-SPAM”).  This Policy applies only to information collected by cincinnatizoo.org (the “Site”) and does not protect information you post to public areas on the Site.  This Policy is not a contract between you and us, and this Policy imposes no duties on us not imposed by state or federal law.

The Site is owned and operated by the Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden.  Any inquiries about this Policy should be directed to:

Mail:
Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden
Privacy Inquiries
3400 Vine Street
Cincinnati, OH 45220-1399

Email:
[email protected]
Toll Free Number:
1-800-944-4776

 

SECURITY AND PRIVACY

The Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden website uses security measures to protect against the loss, misuse, and alteration of the information under our control. We store the information in a database in a secure environment at our data center.

We will never share, sell, or rent individual personal information to anyone without your advance permission or unless ordered by a court of law. Information submitted to us is only available to employees managing this information for purposes of contacting you or sending you e-mails based on your request for information.

 

GATHERING AND USE OF INFORMATION

Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden collects personal information from our visitors only on a voluntary basis. We do not require this information for customers to obtain access to our Site. However, in order to participate in some of the programs offered on the Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden website, you may have to provide personal information.  Occasionally, we may also ask for personal information for our own internal marketing use. You may provide this information on a voluntary basis. If you provide this information to Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden, we will maintain your privacy and will not sell or provide your personal information to third parties. The following are the types of information we gather:

  • Information You Voluntarily Give Us:  We receive information when you register for the Site, sign up for membership, request certain features, or make a purchase.  Additionally, you may provide information when you participate in sweepstakes or contests, voting and polling activities, and other interactive areas of the Site.  When you provide us with information, you will not be asked for your Social Security number, sex, race, national origin, or disability.  Any personally identifiable information you provide is voluntary.  The Site may combine information that you voluntarily give us with information provided by third parties and affiliates.
  • E-mail / Opt-Out: Only those people who ask to be added to our promotional newsletter list or who ask for information from us will receive e-mail communications from Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden. We also offer an “Opt-out or Unsubscribe” feature that allows you, at any time, to have Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden discontinue e-mail communications.
  • Automatic Information: We automatically receive and record certain types of information whenever you interact with us.  This information, which is recordable any time you use the Internet, includes the Internet Protocol (IP) address used to connect your computer to the Internet; your domain name, if any; and computer and connection information, such as browser type and version.  In addition, like many Web sites, we use a technology called “cookies” to record your activity while visiting the Site.  We use this information to learn how you use the Site, to remember your preferences, and to diagnose problems.
  • Aggregated Usage Information: We may provide aggregated usage information to third parties, such as content licensors and advertisers, for diagnostic, billing and sales purposes.  However, such information will not include any personally identifiable user information.  This information is purely statistical in nature and cannot be tied to you.
  • Links & Advertisements: To better serve you, we may provide you with external links to other sites which we believe can offer you useful information and services.  Any external (non-cincinnatizoo.org) Web sites to which we provide links are subject to their own privacy policies, and you will need to review those policies.  We have no control over or responsibility for the privacy practices of any external sites.  Additionally, we use third-party technology to serve advertisements to you and allow third parties to access their own cookies on your computer.  Use of cookies by third parties is subject to their own privacy policies and not this Policy.
    Use of the Site by anyone under the age of 13 is prohibited.  Children must be at least 13 years of age, to receive e-mail communications from Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden. We will use our best efforts to only collect information from individuals over the age of 13.  If you are under the age of 13, do not attempt to register for or to otherwise use the Site.  If we are notified that we have collected personal information from anyone under age 13, we will delete that information as quickly as is reasonably possible.

To report use by a child under age 13, please contact us at the e-mail address listed above, and include the following information:

  • Name of the child you are reporting;
  • The child’s username or alias he or she is using;
  • E-mail address used by the child;
  • Actual age of the child;
  • Your relationship to the child;
  • Your basis for making the report.

 

CHANGES AND ACCESS TO PERSONAL INFORMATION

Parents or guardians who want to view, correct, update or delete personal information collected about their child should send an e-mail to [email protected], or contact by phone (at the number listed above). Parents can also contact Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden to request that their child’s participation in Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden programs be discontinued or that no further information be collected from their child. Parents or guardians will be required to provide identification before the child’s information is released to the parent or guardian. A child’s participation in Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden programs will cease as a result of a parent or guardian limiting information collection by Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden because Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden would be unable to operate programs for that child.

 

LOG FILES

Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden uses standard website server log files. This includes internet protocol (IP) addresses, browser type, internet service provider (ISP), referring/exit pages, platform type, date/time stamp, and number of clicks to analyze trends, administer the Site, track aggregate user’s movement, and gather broad demographic information for analytical use.

 

MORE ABOUT COOKIES

Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden may use “cookie” technology to obtain non-personal information from its online visitors. Cookies are information files that your web browser places on your computer when you visit a website. Most browsers accept cookies automatically, but can be configured not to accept them or to indicate when a cookie is being sent. We do not extract personal information in this process nor do we provide this information to third parties. We also do not contact you. Cookies allow us to customize your user interface to speed up the navigation process and to make the site experience more efficient. If your browser is configured to reject cookies, you may not be able to utilize some features of the Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden website.

 

HOW COLLECTED INFORMATION IS PROTECTED

We use state-of-the-art technology to protect your data from unauthorized third parties.  Currently, we use Secure Socket Layer (SSL) software to protect your personal data.  SSL encrypts personal information as it is transmitted over the Internet.  We use firewalls between our internal network and the Web to allow only clearly defined traffic to access specific services.  The Site is registered with a site identification authority that enables your browser to confirm our identity before you send any information.  During the registration process, we use a server ID (or a digital certificate) together with industry-standard 128-bit SSL encryption to protect sensitive Member information, if any, during both transmission and storage. You can confirm the presence of security measures when transmitting data through your security-enabled browser by looking for:  A URL beginning with “https://” rather than “http://”.  If you’re using Microsoft Internet Explorer® or Mozilla Firefox®, a closed lock icon at the bottom of the browser window.

 

INFORMATION COLLECTED IN CINCINNATI ZOO’S MOBILE APP

When you use the App, we automatically collect specific data that are required for the use of the App. This data includes:

  • Location, accuracy and date/time periodically throughout the day (only while at the attraction)
  • Each visit to the resort including date/time first seen and last seen
  • Operating system
  • Operating system version
  • Device name
  • Battery level
  • Battery status (charging or not)
  • Bluetooth status (on or off)
  • Mobile network carrier name
  • Currently connected Wi-Fi SSID
  • Location permission status (on or off)
  • IP address
  • User’s preferred locale
  • Current time zone
  • App version and build number
  • App interactions (captured as events fed to Firebase Analytics and Keen IO)
  • Date/time entered/exited geofence region (if you enter an offered geofence region)
This data is automatically sent to us, (1) so that we can make the service and the associated functions available to you; (2) to improve the functions and features of the App and (3) to prevent misuse and to rectify malfunctions and (4) to offer you a personalized guest experience. This data processing is justified on the basis that (1) the processing is required in order to fulfil the requirements of the contract between you as the data subject and us in accordance with Art. 6(1)(b) GDPR for the use of the App, or (2) we have a legitimate interest in guaranteeing the functionality and fault-free operation of the App and being able to offer a service that is in line with the requirements of the market and with the interests of the users and prevails over your rights and interests in the protection of your personal data in accordance with Art. 6(1)(f) GDPR
 

 

PRIVACY RIGHTS OF CALIFORNIA RESIDENTS

If you are a California resident, you are entitled to additional privacy rights under California law.  If you submit a written request to the address above, cincinnatizoo.org will provide you with a California Customer Choice Notice that you may use to opt-out of third party personal information sharing.  Please specify on your request that you are seeking your “California Customer Choice Notice” and allow at least 30 days for a response.

 

CHANGES AND UPDATES TO THE PRIVACY POLICY

The Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden website content and features may be updated, revised, modified and supplemented. Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden reserves the right to change the information, features, products, policies, promotions, disclosures and disclaimers at any time. Changes to this Privacy Policy will be posted on our websites. Please check the policy periodically for changes. At the end of the policy we indicate the date of an update to the Privacy Policy. The continued use of the Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden website following the posting of changes to this Privacy Policy will mean you accept those changes. If there is a material change in our data collection, use or disclosure policies, Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden will ask you to provide a new consent to continue to participate in Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden programs if this updated consent is provided.

Privacy Policy effective date: June 28, 2024