Privacy Policy

The MotherJones.com website is operated by the nonprofit Foundation for National Progress (the "Foundation"), which also publishes Mother Jones magazine.

The Foundation provides MotherJones.com to you subject to the terms of this Privacy Policy. By registering with or using the MotherJones.com site (the "Site"), you accept and agree to this Privacy Policy.

We respect your privacy. We allow you to "opt out" of providing us with certain information. However, choosing to share information with us will help make your experience at MotherJones.com and other interactions with us more pleasant and successful for you, and will help us to continue providing outstanding investigative journalism.

Most of the information we collect on our website is aggregated to track general patterns, such as browser and platform usage and overall traffic patterns. We use name, address, and email information primarily to deliver items you request, such as magazines or email newsletters. We may also use your email address to remind you to renew your subscription, notify you about new products or upcoming events, or send you donation appeals and sponsored messages with offers from other organizations. You may always opt out of receiving these communications.

Upon request, we provide our users, including subscribers to the magazine, with access to any personally identifiable information that we maintain about them. Users may correct this information or have themselves removed from any list of users or subscribers that we may share with others by contacting us by postal mail at our San Francisco office or by email. (For more information on contacting us, please see below.) 

1. CHANGES TO PRIVACY POLICY AND REVISION DATE

This Privacy Policy may change from time to time. The Revision Date below will show you when the Privacy Policy was last revised. By continuing to use this Site, you agree to all terms of the most recent version of this Privacy Policy.

This Privacy Policy was last revised on November 14, 2022.

2. CONTENT YOU SUBMIT

The Site allows you to submit and post comments and to recommend comments posted by others (collectively "User Content"). User Content that you submit to Mother Jones or post on the Site, including any personal information included in your User Content, becomes publicly available and can be seen, collected, and used by others.

The comment function on the Site is provided by Coral. To learn about how Coral will handle your information, please see their privacy policy, located here.

The Site may also allow you to send email messages to other users. While the content of such messages will not be publicly displayed on the Site, the Foundation has no ability to control how the content of messages sent to other users is used or disseminated. You should assume that anything you put into an email message to another user may become public.

3. HOW WE USE YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS

We use your email address for administrative purposes (such as notifying you of changes to the Site or customer service). We may also use your email address to remind you to renew your subscription, to contact you about new products or upcoming events, and to send you newsletters or other editorial content, donation appeals, and sponsored messages with offers from other organizations. If you make a donation, we may use your email address to send you occasional messages about our projects or ways that you can support Mother Jones.  

In order to send you some of these communications, we may provide your email address to Sailthru, which will then be subject to Sailthru’s Privacy Policy. You may opt out of receiving these communications by contacting us at the postal address below with your request, along with your full name, address, and email address. In addition, electronic messages to you will provide you with the opportunity to opt out of receiving similar messages in the future. For information on how to opt out, see Section 11 below.

4. SITE USAGE INFORMATION: COLLECTION AND USE BY THE FOUNDATION

The Site uses cookies. (A cookie is a small amount of data—sent to your browser from a web server and stored on your computer’s hard drive—that may be accessed when you use a website.) Cookies are used primarily as follows: (1) to help deliver advertisements, and in particular to spare users the irritation of seeing the same pop-up ads repeatedly in the same visit; (2) to store information so that you will not have to reenter it during your visit or the next time you visit the Site; (3) to track usage throughout the Site (e.g., tracking where traffic comes from, how traffic flows within the Site, etc.); (4) to monitor aggregate metrics, such as the total number of visitors, pages viewed, etc. Most web browsers are initially set up to accept cookies, but you can reset your web browser to refuse all cookies or to indicate when a cookie is being sent. However, certain features of the Site may not work if you delete or disable cookies.

In addition, when you visit the Site, some basic technical information may be collected by us or by a third party that provides us with Site usage information, including your IP address, domain name (e.g., whether you logged on from AOL.com or WhiteHouse.gov), referral data (e.g., the address of the last website you visited prior to clicking through to the Site), and browser and platform type (e.g., a Firefox browser on a Macintosh platform).

Information about users and usage of the Site may be merged into aggregated data, which may then be used by the Foundation and/or shared with our advertisers and others. We generally receive only aggregate information about Site usage, which is not linked to any identifiable individual. If we provide aggregated information to outside companies, they will not be able to identify you or contact you based on that data. We will not disclose personally identifiable information about you, except to the degree that you disclose it through your comments or Profile Page, or as provided in this Privacy Policy, or with your permission.

5. USAGE INFORMATION: USE BY ADVERTISERS AND OTHERS

The Site includes advertisements placed by advertisers or ad networks. These companies use technology to deliver advertisements you see on the Site and other websites directly to your Web browser. In doing so, they automatically receive your IP address. Companies that place advertising on the Site also have the ability to use cookies or Web beacons to collect information, such as your "click stream" (your viewing and/or purchasing behavior) and information about your usage of the Site. Additionally, other companies may also use and track this type of information for Mother Jones to provide and improve the Site, to provide tailored services to you, and for other purposes. We also use advertising features from Facebook and Google Analytics, which provide aggregated information on user demographics and interests. You can see which data Facebook collects on you here, and you can opt out of the Google features here.

We do not control the processes that advertisers and other companies use to collect information. However, cookies and web beacons alone generally cannot be used to identify individuals, only computers. Therefore, these companies generally will not know who you are unless you provide additional information to them, by responding to an advertisement, by entering into an agreement with the company, by creating an account with the company, or by some other means. Our systems do not recognize browser "Do Not Track" signals, but several of our service providers who utilize these cookies or web beacons on the Site enable you to opt out of targeted advertising practices. To learn more about these advertising practices or to opt out of this type of advertising, you can visit www.networkadvertising.org and www.aboutads.info/choices. We also provide you with additional tools to opt out of marketing from us. You can learn about this in Section 11 below.

The Site may also contain links to sponsor, advertiser, or other third-party websites that are not owned or controlled by the Foundation. We have no control over, and we assume no responsibility for, the conduct, practices, or privacy policies of others. You should review the privacy polices of the companies who operate those websites.

7. INFORMATION REGARDING SUBSCRIBERS AND DONORS

When you subscribe to our magazine (either the print or the digital edition), subscribe to our online newsletter, or make a donation, you may provide us with your name, physical address, and email address. You may also provide credit card account information. 

The Foundation does not retain or use any credit card or other financial account information. That information is conveyed to third-party payment services, and is used only to clear the payment for your subscription or donation. When sending or receiving credit card information, we automatically direct users to a secure transaction server. 

When you subscribe, we use the information you provide to deliver the magazine or newsletter, and to send you periodic reminders to renew your subscription. We may also use it to contact you about new products or upcoming events, to send you donation appeals, or to send you sponsored messages with offers from other organizations. In addition, we may share your information with reputable companies who may contact you via mail or email with products or services we think will be of interest to you. If you do not wish to receive such communications, you can contact us at the postal address below with your request, along with your full name, address, and email address. In addition, electronic messages to you will provide you with the opportunity to opt out of receiving similar messages in the future.

When you donate, we use the information you provide to process your donation. Online donations made to Mother Jones are processed by SFG or PayPal. We do not share your name, address, email address, or any other personally identifiable information about your donation with anyone else. If you provide us with your postal address or email, we will use that information for the purpose of delivering any benefit or information you have requested, such as your magazine subscription, newsletter, or other premium content. We may also use that information to send you occasional messages about our projects or ways that you can support Mother Jones. If you do not wish to receive such communications, you can write to us at the postal or email address below with your request, along with your full name, address, and email address. In addition, electronic messages to you will provide you with the opportunity to opt out of receiving similar messages in the future.

7. PROMOTIONS AND SURVEYS

From time to time, we may sponsor promotions, contests, surveys, or other events which require the collection, processing, and storage of individual contact information (e.g. your name and mailing or email address) and demographic information (e.g., your age and state of residence) to be used for the event. We may cosponsor these events with other companies. In that case, your individual contact and demographic information is likely to be shared with other sponsors.

Demographic information may be compiled and reported or shared in the aggregate with others, but no personal details that can be linked to specific individuals will be provided. We will not release personally identifiable contact or demographic information to any third party other than named sponsors without your consent (except as provided in Section 9). 

We request that cosponsors uphold the privacy of your information by not distributing or sharing such information with any other businesses or organizations. However, we do not control the information practices of others, and cannot guarantee that they will not disclose your information. You should review the privacy policy of any cosponsor before participating in a promotion or survey.

8. CHILDREN’S PRIVACY

Protecting the privacy of young children is important to us. For that reason, we do not collect or maintain information at our Site from those we know are younger than 13, and no part of our Site is designed to attract anyone younger than 13. If you are younger than 13, you should not submit or post any personal information on our Site.

9. DISCLOSURE OF PERSONAL INFORMATION

We will not use or disclose your personal information (personally identifiable data such as your name, email address, password, and the content of your communications) except: (1) as described in our Terms of Service or this Privacy Policy; (2) after obtaining your permission to a specific use or disclosure; (3) if we are required to do so in order to comply with any valid legal process or governmental request (such as a court order, a search warrant, a subpoena, a civil discovery request, or a statutory requirement); or (4) as otherwise required by law.

10. NOTICE TO CALIFORNIA RESIDENTS—YOUR CALIFORNIA PRIVACY RIGHTS

As set forth in this Privacy Policy, we offer our visitors the ability to opt out of sharing your personally identifiable information with third parties for their direct marketing purposes. To make such a request, please contact us at support@motherjones.com and clearly state your request, including your name, mailing address, email address, and phone number. Please see Section 11 of this Privacy Policy for additional information.

11. ASKING QUESTIONS, MAKING CHANGES, OR OPTING OUT

If you have questions about this Privacy Policy or about our privacy practices, or if you want to review and correct any personal information we may have about you, please contact us at privacy@motherjones.com, with "Privacy" in the subject line. 

If you want to opt out of receiving messages regarding new products or upcoming events, requests for donations, messages about our projects or ways that you can support Mother Jones, or advertisements from our partners, please write to us with your request, including your full name, address, and email address, at:

Foundation For National Progress
P.O. Box 584
San Francisco, CA 94104-0584

You may also email your request to support@motherjones.com. If you send us an email, please write "Unsubscribe" in the subject line. In addition, electronic messages to you will provide you with the opportunity to opt out of receiving similar messages in the future.