Privacy Policy

Effective: April 10, 2023

This Privacy Policy explains how Andrews McMeel Universal, Inc. (“Andrews McMeel Universal,” “we,” “our,” or “us”) collects, uses, discloses, and otherwise processes information about you related to your access or use of TheFarSide.com, which is operated by Andrews McMeel Universal (the “Site”). Your use of the Site is subject to TheFarSide.com’s Terms and Conditions of Use (collectively the “Terms”). If we make changes to this policy, we will notify you by revising the date at the top of the policy, and, in some cases, we may provide you with additional notice (such as adding a statement to our website homepage or sending you a notification).

1. WHAT DOES THIS PRIVACY POLICY COVER?

This policy covers the treatment and use of information that is collected by Andrews McMeel Universal through your use of the Site. This policy does not cover information collected from workforce members of Andrews McMeel Universal other than information collected in the course of their use of the Site.

2. WHAT TYPES OF INFORMATION ARE COLLECTED THROUGH THE SITE?

We collect various information about you through the Site, including information that identifies, relates to, describes, is reasonably capable of being associated with, or could reasonably be linked, directly or indirectly, with a particular consumer or household. In particular, the Site has collected information within the following categories from consumers within the last 12 months for the following purposes (see “How my information is used by Andrews McMeel Universal?” below for more details):

Andrews McMeel Universal does not collect information through the Site that consists of:

1. Sensitive personal information such as social security numbers, driver’s license numbers, bank account numbers, or other similar information.
   
   
2. Protected classification characteristics such as race, color, ancestry, national origin, or similar immutable characteristics.
   
   
3. Biometric information such as genetic, physiological, behavioral, and biological characteristics.
   
   
4. Geolocation data such as your precise physical location or movements.
   
   
5. Sensory data such as audio, electronic, visual, thermal, olfactory, or similar information.
   
   
6. Professional or employment-related information from consumers other than applicants, employees, business owners, directors, officers, medical staff, or contractors of Andrews McMeel Universal.
   
   
7. Non-public education information.
   
   

Andrews McMeel Universal obtains the categories of information listed in the table above from the following categories of sources:

1. Directly from you. For example, from forms you complete or products and services you purchase after clicking links on the Site.
   
   
2. Indirectly from you. For example, from observing your actions on the Site.
   
   

Please note that your personal information does not include (A) publicly available information from government records or (B) deidentified or aggregated consumer information.

3. HOW IS MY INFORMATION COLLECTED?

We collect certain information when you register or provide us your information on the Site. We may ask you to register and/or provide information when you visit certain areas of our Site, register for services, order products, enter contests, subscribe to a newsletter, or other communication. If you choose not to register, you may not have access to areas that require registration. We may receive information, including information about you from other sources, such as publicly available sources, if you log in through social media platforms or other third-party data providers, such as analytics, audience identification, and demographics providers, and combine that with information we receive from you.

The Site, and any messages sent from Andrews McMeel Universal, may contain code that enables our database and servers to better understand how you use the Site, including whether a message was opened and/or what links (if any) were clicked. We may combine that information with information we have about you and may use that information to improve your experience and/or provide customized messages to you. Andrews McMeel Universal may also use other technologies to verify and track your use of certain products and services, confirm receipt of certain products, or to test the integrity of our systems, products, and services. We use different technologies to collect information, including cookies and web beacons. Cookies are small data files stored on your hard drive or in device memory that help us improve our Site and your experience, see which areas and features of our Site are popular, and count visits. Web beacons are electronic images that may be used on our Site or emails and help deliver cookies, count visits, and understand usage and campaign effectiveness. Your browser has options to accept, reject, or provide you with notice when a cookie is sent. Please be aware that disabling or revoking consent to the use of cookies may impact your ability to fully utilize the Site. Please see the section below entitled “Cookies, Advertisements, and Third-Party Websites” for more information about how to opt out of cookies on the Site.

4. HOW IS MY INFORMATION USED BY ANDREWS MCMEEL UNIVERSAL?

Andrews McMeel Universal may use information we collect for one or more of the following categories of purposes:

1. Service Delivery and Support
   
   
1. To fulfill or meet the reason you provided the information. For example, if you share your name and contact information or ask a question about our products or services, we will use that information to respond to your inquiry. If you provide your information to purchase a product or service, we will use that information to process your payment and facilitate delivery. We may also save your information to facilitate new product orders;
   
   
2. To process purchases, transactions, and payments;
   
   
3. To attempt to detect and reduce fraud, credit risk, and other illegal activities or threats to the safety, security, or integrity of the Site;
   
   
4. To provide, support, personalize, and develop the Site and other products and services;
   
   
5. To personalize your experience and to deliver content and product and service offerings relevant to your interests, including targeted offers and ads through the Site, third-party sites, and via email or text message (with your consent, where required by law);
   
   
6. To provide a seamless experience across multiple devices, platforms, or browsers for each user;
   
   
7. To create, maintain, customize, and secure your account with us as well as provide certain premium content services or products subject to a subscription agreement or registration;
   
   
8. To send periodic messages, via mobile, Twitter, email, or other platforms, with content updates, subscription information, and order information;
   
   
9. To offer contests or promotions that are sponsored by Andrews McMeel Universal or another company; and
   
   
10. To operate a comments section or other user-generated content functionality. Any posting by you is considered public information available to other users.
    
    
2. Research & Development:
   
   
1. To provide, support, personalize, and develop the Site and other products and services;
   
   
2. To personalize your experience and to deliver content and product and service offerings relevant to your interests, including targeted offers and ads through the Site, third-party sites, and via email or text message (with your consent, where required by law); and
   
   
3. To create, maintain, customize, and secure your account with us as well as provide certain premium content services or products subject to a subscription agreement or registration.
   
   
3. Marketing:
   
   
1. To personalize your experience and to deliver content and product and service offerings relevant to your interests, including targeted offers and ads through the Site, third-party sites, and via email or text message (with your consent, where required by law);
   
   
2. To send periodic messages, via mobile, Twitter, email, or other platforms, with content updates, subscription information, and order information; and
   
   
3. To offer contests or promotions that are sponsored by Andrews McMeel Universal or another company.
   
   
4. Compliance & Operations:
   
   
1. To attempt to detect and reduce fraud, credit risk, and other illegal activities or threats to the safety, security, or integrity of the Site;
   
   
2. To respond to law enforcement requests and as required by applicable law, court order, or governmental regulations; and
   
   
3. To evaluate or conduct a merger, divestiture, restructuring, reorganization, dissolution, or other sale or transfer of some or all of Andrews McMeel Universal's assets, whether as a going concern or as part of bankruptcy, liquidation, or similar proceeding, in which personal information held by Andrews McMeel Universal about the Site’s users is among the assets transferred.
   
   
5. To fulfill or complete any other purpose or function described to you when collecting your information.
   
   

5. WHO DOES ANDREWS MCMEEL UNIVERSAL SHARE OR SELL INFORMATION TO?

Subject to applicable law, we disclose (either sharing, selling, or otherwise) information about you to the following categories of recipients:

1. Consultants, service providers, or other businesses that support the Site’s functions and operations, including:
   
   
1. Security and fraud prevention consultants;
   
   
2. Hosting and other technology and communications providers (including internet service providers, operating systems and platforms, commenting tools, mailing services and consent management platforms);
   
   
3. Site data analytics providers;
   
   
4. Customer relationship management and customer support providers (including mailing list managers);
   
   
5. Affiliate shopping networks; and
   
   
6. Advertising networks.
   
   
2. Other users (where you post information publicly or as otherwise necessary to effect a transaction initiated or authorized by you).
   
   
3. Other parties authorized or requested by you.
   
   
4. Other parties as required by law (such as law enforcement or other governmental entities).
   
   

Over the past twelve months, we have disclosed the following categories of Information about you (to the extent you have used the Site) to the parties identified below:

We also allow certain companies to place tracking technologies like cookies and pixels on the Site, which allow those companies to receive information about your activity on the Site that is associated with your browser or device. The companies may use that data to serve you more relevant ads on the Site or other websites. Under some state laws, sharing data like this is considered a "sale" or "sharing" of information in certain circumstances and you may have the right to opt-out of these sales in your state.

We may use your information for our general business operations and goods and services provided by us if it is in a form that is not capable of being personally identified with you (including hashed email addresses as described below or other persistent identifiers) or if it is combined with information from one or more other customers in aggregate form that does not personally identify any particular customer. We may also sell, share, license or otherwise provide such de-identified or aggregated data to third parties.

As we develop our business, we may buy or sell assets, and, depending upon the transaction, your information may be one of the transferred assets. In the event that Andrews McMeel Universal or any Site is acquired by another company, your information may be part of the assets transferred to the acquiring party.

6. TRANSFER OF INFORMATION TO THE UNITED STATES

This Site is based in the United States and is directed to U.S. residents, and we process and store information in the United States. If you are located outside the United States, we and our service providers may transfer your information to, or store or access your information in, jurisdictions that may not provide equivalent levels of data protection as your home jurisdiction.

7. WHAT ARE MY OPTIONS TO CONTROL THE USE OF MY INFORMATION?

We will not discriminate against you for exercising any of the rights provided below.

Personal Information Sales and Sharing Opt-Out

You have the right to direct us to not sell (including sharing in certain circumstances) your personal information at any time by visiting the page identified below and completing an opt-out request. We do not collect, and therefore do not sell, the personal information of consumers who we know are less than 16 years of age. Consumers who opt-in to personal information sales may opt-out of future sales at any time. You do not need to create an account with us to exercise your opt-out rights. We will only use personal information provided in an opt-out request to review and comply with the request

To exercise the right to opt out, you (or your authorized representative) may submit a request to us by visiting the following page: Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information .

Promotional Communications Opt-Out

We may email you with information about other products and services of Andrews McMeel Universal, including information about selected third parties. If you do not want to receive such promotional communications from Andrews McMeel Universal, you may decline to receive those email messages by opting out when you receive such a communication, sign-up, register, or from within your account, as applicable. However, we may still communicate with you by email if such email communication is for the purpose of corresponding with you regarding products or services you have requested, related to protecting your interests, including any information, property, or other data, or to provide you with any notification or disclosure that may be required by applicable law or this Privacy Policy. Accordingly, you agree that all communications, disclosures, and notices sent to you by email satisfy any requirement that notice be provided in writing.

Access to Specific Information and Data Portability Rights

If you are a California resident or a resident of certain other states, you may request that Andrews McMeel Universal disclose certain information to you about our collection and use of your personal information over the past 12 months. Once we receive and confirm your verifiable consumer request (see Exercising Access, Data Portability, and Deletion Rights), we will, to the extent required by applicable law, disclose specific information about what information we have collected, the sources we collected information from, our business purpose in collecting information, who we shared information with, the specific pieces of information we collected about you (also called a data portability request), and any sales or disclosures for a business purpose of your information.

Deletion Request Rights

If you are a California resident or a resident of certain other states, you may request that Andrews McMeel Universal delete any of your personal information that we collected from you and retained, subject to certain exceptions. Once we receive and confirm your verifiable consumer request, we will delete (and direct our service providers to delete) your personal information from our records, unless an exception applies. We may deny your deletion request if retaining the information is permitted under applicable law. You should also be aware that deleting certain information may impact your ability to receive certain services from Andrews McMeel Universal including newsletters, accounts, subscriptions, etc.

Correction Rights 

If you are a California resident or a resident of certain other states, you may request that Andrews McMeel Universal correct any of your personal information that we maintain, subject to certain exceptions. Once we receive and confirm your verifiable consumer request, we will correct (and direct our service providers to correct) your personal information from our records, unless an exception applies. We may deny your correction request if permitted under applicable law.

Exercising Access, Data Portability, Deletion and Correction Rights

To exercise the access, data portability, deletion, and correction rights described above as permitted under state law, please submit a verifiable consumer request to us by either:

1. Calling us at 877-682-5425
   
   
2. Visiting our Privacy Request page.
   

Only you, or someone legally authorized to act on your behalf, may make a verifiable consumer request related to your personal information. You may also make a verifiable consumer request on behalf of your minor child. You may only make a verifiable consumer request for access or data portability twice within a 12-month period. The verifiable consumer request must: (A) provide sufficient information that allows us to reasonably verify you are the person about whom we collected personal information or an authorized representative; and (B) describe your request with sufficient detail that allows us to properly understand, evaluate, and respond to it.

We cannot respond to your request or provide you with personal information if we cannot verify your identity or authority to make the request and confirm the personal information relates to you.

Response Timing and Format

We will confirm receipt of your request within ten (10) business days. If you do not receive confirmation within such time frame please contact us call us at 877-682-5425. We endeavor to substantively respond to a verifiable consumer request within 45 days. If we require more time, we will inform you of the reason and extension period in writing. If applicable, any disclosures we provide will only cover the 12-month period preceding the verifiable consumer request’s receipt. The response we provide will also explain the reasons we cannot comply with a request, if applicable. For data portability requests, we will select a format to provide your personal information that is readily useable and should allow you to transmit the information from one entity to another entity without hindrance. We do not charge a fee to process or respond to your verifiable consumer request unless it is excessive, repetitive, or manifestly unfounded.

8. EUROPEAN UNION/GENERAL DATA PROTECTION REGULATION (“GDPR”)

If you are located within the European Economic Area (“EEA”) or within another jurisdiction having similar data protection laws to the GDPR, Andrews McMeel Universal provides such users the following rights:

1. the right to be told how we use your information and obtain access to your information;
   
   
2. the right to have your information rectified or erased or to place restrictions on processing your information;
   
   
3. the right to object to the processing of your information (e.g., for direct marketing purposes);
   
   
4. the right to have information you directly provided to us provided to you in a structured, commonly used, and machine-readable format;
   
   
5. wherein the processing of your information is based on your consent, the right to withdraw that consent subject to legal or contractual restrictions;
   
   
6. the right to object to any decisions that have significant legal effect based on the automated processing of your information, including profiling; and
   
   
7. the right to lodge a complaint with the supervisory authority responsible for data protection matters.
   
   

If we hold any information about you that is incorrect, or if there are any changes to your details, please let us know so that we can keep our records accurate and up-to-date. If you withdraw your consent to the use of your information for purposes set out in our Privacy Policy, we may not be able to provide you with access to all or parts of the Site. We will retain your information for the duration of our business relationship and afterward for as long as is necessary and relevant for our legitimate business purposes, in accordance with our data retention, marking and destruction policy, or as otherwise permitted by applicable laws and regulations.

Certain data protection law requires us to rely on one or more lawful grounds to process your personal information. We consider the following grounds to be relevant:

1. Consent: Wherein you have provided consent in accordance with applicable law to us using your personal information in a certain way, such as to send you email, text, and/or telephone marketing.
   
   
2. Performance of a contract: Wherein we are entering into a contract with you or performing our obligations under it, such as when you buy products and services through the Site.
   
   
3. Legal obligation: Where necessary so that we can comply with a legal or regulatory obligation to which we are subject, for example where we are ordered by a court or regulatory authority.
   
   
4. Legitimate interests: Wherein it is reasonably necessary to achieve our or others’ legitimate interests (as long as what the information is used for is fair and does not duly impact your rights). We consider our legitimate interests to be operating the Site and facilitating the services we provide to users.

For example, to:

1. understand how people choose/use our services and products;
   
   
2. determine the effectiveness of our services, promotional campaigns, and advertising;
   
   
3. monitor whom we deal with to protect against fraud, money laundering, and other risks;
   
   
4. enhance, modify, personalize, or otherwise improve our services/communications for the benefit of our customers; and
   
   
5. better understand how people interact with the Site.
   
   
6. When we process your personal information in this way, we consider and balance any potential impact on you (both positive and negative) and your rights under data protection laws. We will not use your personal information where our interests are overridden by the impact on you.
   
   

Due to the nature and location of our business in the United States, your personal data will be disclosed to Andrews McMeel Universal and others as outlined herein outside of the EEA, including in the United States. It may also be processed by our employees or suppliers operating outside the EEA.

If you are in the EEA, we provide adequate protection for the transfer of your personal data to countries outside of the EEA through a series of intercompany agreements based on the Standard Contractual Clauses authorized under EU law or equivalent measures. A copy of the Standard Contractual Clauses is available here: https://ec.europa.eu/info/law/law-topic/data-protection/data-transfers-outside-eu/model-contracts-transfer-personal-data-third-countries_en

9. HOW DO I UPDATE MY INFORMATION?

You can help Andrews McMeel Universal maintain the accuracy of your profile by notifying us when you change your address, phone number, email address, or other information. If at any time you wish to update your information, then contact us or edit the information within your account, if applicable. Please include your old and new contact information in any message so that we can make the appropriate corrections.

10. CHILDREN’S INFORMATION

The Site is a general-audience site that is not directed to children under the age of sixteen. If a parent believes that his or her child has submitted personal information to Andrews McMeel Universal, he or she can contact us via email or postal mail as listed below. Andrews McMeel Universal will promptly delete the information upon learning that it relates to a child under the age of sixteen.

11. COOKIES, ADVERTISEMENTS, AND THIRD-PARTY WEBSITES

The Site may contain links to other websites. We are not responsible for the privacy practices or the content of such websites. We may allow third-party advertisers to place ads on the Site. These third-party advertisers may use cookies or similar technologies to help present the advertisements to you or to help measure the effectiveness of their advertisements. Some advertisers may use cookies or other tracking technologies to serve ads based on your visits to the Site and other websites on the Internet. The use of such technologies is subject to the privacy policies of the third-party advertisers and is not covered by this Privacy Policy. As a result, if you respond to any such third-party advertisers by clicking on the advertisements and/or visiting their websites or the websites of any other third party, be sure you evaluate their privacy policies before providing them with any of your information. To opt out of a third party's use of cookies, you must visit such third party’s website and follow its specified opt-out procedures. For example, we use Google Ad Manager (DoubleClick) product on the Site. You can learn more about Google and how they use your data by visiting http://www.google.com/intl/en/policies/privacy/partners/. You may opt out of Google’s use of the DoubleClick cookie by visiting the Google Advertising Policies and Principles page at http://www.google.com/policies/privacy/ads/. You can also opt out of some, but not all, third-party advertiser cookies in one location by visiting the Network Advertising Initiative opt-out website, located at https://thenai.org/opt-out/browser-opt-out/. You may block all cookies by following the instructions applicable to your browser at https://www.aboutcookies.org/how-to-manage-and-delete-cookies.

In addition, we may provide one-way secured (or “hashed”) versions of your email address or similar identifying information to certain third parties to provide more relevant and customized experiences and advertising to you as you browse the Site or other third-party websites. This hashed version of your email address is a text string that uniquely identifies your email address but which is designed to prevent reverse engineering so that a third party should be unable to utilize the actual underlying email address and merely identify you as a unique user across devices, sessions, and browsers if you provide the same identifying information. If you provide a third party’s website with the same identifying information and that third party utilizes the same method of hashing, it is possible that the third party could match information obtained from us and combine it with information that you provide to the third-party website. For example, we may use ALC’s advertising services to provide you with more customized advertising by providing them with a one-way hashed version of your email address. You can learn more about how they process information, including information you submit to them directly, and about how to opt out of their targeted services by visiting https://optoutpreference.org/.

12. REFER A FRIEND

If a user elects to use our referral service for informing a friend about the Site or particular products or services, we ask them for the friend’s name and email address. Andrews McMeel Universal will automatically send the friend a one-time email inviting them to visit the Site. Andrews McMeel Universal stores this information for the sole purpose of sending this one-time email. The friend may contact Andrews McMeel Universal to request the removal of this information from their database.

13. CONTACTING ANDREWS MCMEEL UNIVERSAL

Please address comments or questions regarding Andrews McMeel Universal’s Privacy Policy to us via email or postal mail. You can complete our email form at http://www.gocomics.com/help/contact. You may also contact Andrews McMeel Universal by mail or email at:

Andrews McMeel Universal

Attn: Andrews McMeel Universal Privacy

1130 Walnut St.

Kansas City, MO 64106

USA

-or-

support@thefarside.com