Privacy Policy

Terms of Use and Privacy Policy for the Ohio Farm Bureau Federation Family of Websites

Ohio Farm Bureau Federation is a member of American Farm Bureau Federation®, a national organization of farmers and ranchers including Farm Bureau® organizations in 49 other states and Puerto Rico, and is responsible for Farm Bureau membership and programs within the State of Ohio. Ohio Farm Bureau Federation programs and services are available only to Farm Bureau members within Ohio. The political views expressed in these pages represent Ohio Farm Bureau Federation’s positions on various issues as they relate to Ohio. The positions of the national Farm Bureau organization collectively are expressed through American Farm Bureau Federation. Any opinions, statements or views expressed through comments or by outside contributors are the express views of those individuals and do not necessarily represent the views of the Ohio Farm Bureau Federation.

Terms and Conditions of Use

PLEASE READ THESE TERMS AND CONDITIONS OF USE CAREFULLY BEFORE USING THIS SITE. BY USING THIS SITE, YOU AGREE TO THESE TERMS OF USE. IF YOU DO NOT AGREE TO THESE TERMS OF USE, PLEASE DO NOT USE THIS SITE.

A. Welcome. The Ohio Farm Bureau Federation, Our Ohio Communications, Inc. and Animals For Life Foundation, Inc. (‘we,’ ‘us,’ ‘OFBF,’ or ‘Farm Bureau’) own and operate the OFBF family of sites, including the ofbf.org, growwithFB.org, ourohio.org, and aflfoundation.org web sites (the “Website”). OFBF has the right at any time to change or discontinue any aspect or feature of the Website, including, without limitation, the content, hours of availability, and equipment needed for access or use of the Website. These Terms of Use apply to all users of the Website, including visitors, advertisers, and members.

B. Equipment. You shall be responsible for obtaining and maintaining all telephone, computer hardware, and other equipment needed for access to and use of the Website and all charges related thereto.

C. Security. We use industry-standard efforts to safeguard the confidentiality of all information, regardless of whether it identifies you or not. Our security includes use of firewalls and encryption. Your password (when available) is a component of our security system. As such, it is your responsibility to protect it. Do not share your password with any third parties.

D. E-Mail Policy. At various points in the Website, we provide visitors the opportunity to contact us via e-mail. E-mail messages are not encrypted. You acknowledge and agree that by providing OFBF with any personal or confidential user information through the e-mail function, you consent to the transmission of such personal or confidential user information through the public Internet, and understand that there are risks that this information could be viewed by other parties. You agree to adhere to procedures that we may establish to enhance the safety and confidentiality of transmissions of personal data over the Internet.

E. Restrictions on Use.

i. You shall use the Website for lawful purposes only. You shall not post or transmit through the Website any material that (i) violates or infringes in any way upon the rights of others, (ii) is unlawful, threatening, abusive, defamatory, invasive of privacy or publicity rights, vulgar, obscene, profane or otherwise objectionable, or (iii) encourages conduct that would constitute a criminal offense, gives rise to civil liability or otherwise violates any law. You shall not: (i) post or transmit through the Website any material that contains advertising or any solicitation with respect to products or services without OFBF’s express prior approval, or (ii) use the Website to advertise or perform any commercial solicitation, including, without limitation, the solicitation of users to become subscribers of other on-line services. Any conduct by you that in OFBF’s discretion restricts or inhibits any other user from using or enjoying the Website will not be permitted.

ii. The Web Site contains copyrighted material, trademarks and other proprietary information, including, without limitation, text, software, photos, video, graphics, music and sound, and certain contents of the Web Site are copyrighted under the United States copyright laws. You may not modify, publish, transmit, display, participate in the transfer or sale, create derivative works, or in any way exploit, any of the content, in whole or in part. Except as specifically permitted below, no copying, redistribution, retransmission, publication, or commercial exploitation of downloaded material will be permitted without the express written permission of OFBF and the copyright owner. In the event of any permitted copying, redistribution, or publication of copyrighted material, no changes in or deletion of author attribution, trademark legend or copyright notice shall be made. You acknowledge that you do not acquire any ownership rights by downloading copyrighted material.
Any news release or story written by OFBF or other OFBF generated original content may be copied, reprinted or otherwise reproduced in its entirety and without alteration for personal, non-commercial use only without written permission as long as the copy, reprint or other reproduction credits Ohio Farm Bureau Federation as the source. This permission constitutes a limited, non-exclusive, non-transferable, non-sublicensable license which may be revoked by OFBF. You acknowledge that you do not acquire any ownership rights in this material. This license also does not include the right to use or republish any material present on the Web Site of which OFBF is not the owner. OFBF makes no representations or guarantees as to the suitability of third-party use of any content, and such license as described above is only applicable to content of which OFBF is the owner.
For information about reusing or reproducing other material on this site, contact us by telephone at 614-246-8232 or via e-mail at [email protected].

iii. You shall not upload, post or otherwise make available on the Website any material protected by copyright, trademark, or other proprietary right without the express permission of the owner of the copyright, trademark, or other proprietary right, and the burden of determining that any material is not protected by copyright rests with you. You shall be solely liable for any damage resulting from any infringement of copyrights, proprietary rights, or any other harm resulting from such a submission. By submitting material to any public area of the Website, you automatically grant, or warrant, that the owner of such material has expressly granted OFBF the royalty-free, worldwide, perpetual, irrevocable, non-exclusive right and license to use, reproduce, modify, adapt, publish, display, translate and distribute such material (in whole or in part) and/or to incorporate it in other works in any form, media or technology now known or hereafter developed. You also permit any other user of the Website to access, view, store, or reproduce the material for that user’s personal use. You grant AFBF the right to edit, copy, display, publish, and distribute any material made available on the Website by you.

iv. Access to the Website, other than to portions open to the public, is controlled by individual passwords. Individuals may not share their passwords with anyone else or permit their passwords to be used to provide anyone else with access to non-public portions of the Website.

v. The foregoing provisions of this Section are for the benefit of OFBF, its subsidiaries, affiliates, and its third party content providers and licensors and each shall have the right to assert and enforce such provisions directly or on its own behalf.

F. Disclaimer of Warranty; Limitation of Liability.

i. YOU EXPRESSLY AGREE THAT USE OF THE WEBSITE IS AT YOUR SOLE RISK. NEITHER OFBF, ITS AFFILIATES NOR ANY OF THEIR RESPECTIVE EMPLOYEES, AGENTS, THIRD PARTY CONTENT PROVIDERS OR LICENSORS WARRANT THAT THE WEBSITE WILL BE UNINTERRUPTED OR ERROR FREE; NOR DO THEY MAKE ANY WARRANTY AS TO THE RESULTS THAT MAY BE OBTAINED FROM USE OF THE WEBSITE, OR AS TO THE ACCURACY OR RELIABILITY OF ANY INFORMATION, SERVICE OR MERCHANDISE PROVIDED THROUGH THE WEBSITE, INCLUDING, WITHOUT LIMITATION, ANY INFORMATION OR TOOLS PROVIDED ON THE WEBSITE SUCH AS CALCULATORS, NEWS, WEATHER INFORMATION AND MARKET DATA.

ii. IN NO EVENT WILL OFBF, OR ANY PERSON OR ENTITY INVOLVED IN CREATING, PRODUCING OR DISTRIBUTING THE WEBSITE OR THE CONTENT INCLUDED THEREIN, BE LIABLE IN CONTRACT, IN TORT (INCLUDING FOR ITS OWN NEGLIGENCE) OR UNDER ANY OTHER LEGAL THEORY (INCLUDING STRICT LIABILITY) FOR ANY DAMAGES, INCLUDING, WITHOUT LIMITATION, DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, PUNITIVE, CONSEQUENTIAL OR SIMILAR DAMAGES, INCLUDING, WITHOUT LIMITATION, LOST PROFITS OR REVENUES, LOSS OF USE OR SIMILAR ECONOMIC LOSS, ARISING OUT OF THE USE OF OR INABILITY TO USE THE WEBSITE. YOU HEREBY ACKNOWLEDGE THAT THE PROVISIONS OF THIS SECTION SHALL APPLY TO ALL USE OF AND CONTENT ON THE WEBSITE. APPLICABLE LAW MAY NOT ALLOW THE LIMITATION OR EXCLUSION OF LIABILITY OR INCIDENTAL OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES, IN WHICH EVENT THE ABOVE LIMITATION OR EXCLUSION MAY NOT BE APPLICABLE. IN NO EVENT SHALL OFBF’S TOTAL LIABILITY TO YOU FOR ALL DAMAGES, LOSSES AND CAUSES OF ACTION WHETHER IN CONTRACT, TORT (INCLUDING ITS OWN NEGLIGENCE) OR UNDER ANY OTHER LEGAL THEORY (INCLUDING STRICT LIABILITY) EXCEED THE AMOUNT PAID BY YOU, IF ANY, FOR ACCESSING AND/OR USING THIS WEBSITE.

iii. THE ABOVE DISCLAIMER OF LIABILITY APPLIES TO ANY DAMAGES OR INJURY CAUSED BY ANY FAILURE OF PERFORMANCE, ERROR, OMISSION, INACCURACY, INTERRUPTION, DELETION, DEFECT, DELAY IN OPERATION OR TRANSMISSION, COMPUTER VIRUS, COMMUNICATION LINE FAILURE, THEFT OR DESTRUCTION OR UNAUTHORIZED ACCESS TO, ALTERATION OF, OR USE OF THIS WEBSITE, WHETHER FOR BREACH OF CONTRACT, TORTIOUS BEHAVIOR (INCLUDING STRICT LIABILITY), NEGLIGENCE, OR UNDER ANY OTHER CAUSE OF ACTION. YOU SPECIFICALLY ACKNOWLEDGE THAT OFBF IS NOT LIABLE FOR THE DEFAMATORY, OFFENSIVE, OR ILLEGAL CONDUCT OF OTHER USERS OR THIRD-PARTIES AND THAT THE RISK OF INJURY FROM THE FOREGOING RESTS ENTIRELY WITH YOU.

G. Copyright Infringement. If you suspect or claim copyright infringement based on content present on this Website, please contact the Webmaster at the [email protected].

H. Marks. “Farm Bureau” and the “FB” logo are registered service marks of American Farm Bureau Federation and are used by Ohio Farm Bureau Federation under a license agreement between the two organizations. The Our Ohio Communications (OOC) logo is a registered service mark of the Ohio Farm Bureau Federation. All page headers, custom graphics and button icons are service marks, trademarks, and/or trade dress of OFBF and/or AFBF. All other trademarks appearing on the Website are the property of their respective owners. Unauthorized use of any trademark, service mark, or logo appearing on the Website may be a violation of federal and/or state trademark laws. If you would like to use the OFBF or OOC logo for any purpose, please contact the organization prior to use. If you would like to use the marks of any other organization which appears on this Website, please contact those entities individually.

I. Monitoring; Loss of Information. OFBF shall have the right, but not the obligation, to monitor the content of the Website including any chat rooms and forums, to determine compliance with these Terms of Use and any operating rules established by OFBF and to satisfy any law, regulation or authorized government request. OFBF shall have the right in its sole discretion to edit, refuse to post, or remove any material submitted to or posted on the Website. Without limiting the foregoing, OFBF shall have the right to remove any material that OFBF in its sole discretion finds to be in violation of the provisions hereof or otherwise objectionable. OFBF assumes no responsibility for the deletion of or failure to store electronic-mail messages, chat comments, or other information submitted to the Website.

J. Violations of Rules and Regulations. We reserve the right to seek all remedies available at law and in equity for violations of the rules and regulations set forth herein, including the right to block access from a particular Internet address to this Website.

K. Indemnification. You agree to defend, indemnify and hold harmless OFBF and its affiliates, their respective directors, officers, employees, agents, successors and assigns from and against any and all claims, actions, demands, damages, costs, liabilities, losses and expenses (including reasonable attorneys’ fees) arising out of your use of the Website in violation of these Terms of Use or any applicable law, statute, ordinance or regulation.

L. Third Party Content. OFBF is a distributor (and not a publisher) of content supplied by third parties and users of the Website. Accordingly, OFBF has no more editorial control over such content than does a public library, bookstore, or newsstand. Any opinions, advice, statements, services, offers, or other information or content expressed or made available by third parties, including information providers and users, are those of the respective author(s) or distributor(s) and not of OFBF. In many instances, the content available through the Website represents the opinions and judgments of the respective information provider or user. OFBF neither endorses nor is responsible for the accuracy or reliability of any opinion, advice or statement made on the Website by anyone other than authorized OFBF employee spokespersons while acting in their official capacities. Notwithstanding the foregoing, OFBF reserves the right to monitor, edit, and sort content supplied by third parties.

M. Changed Terms. OFBF has the right at any time to change or modify these Terms of Use, or any part thereof, or to impose new conditions. Such changes, modifications, additions or deletions shall be effective immediately upon notice thereof, which may be given by any means including, without limitation, posting on the Website, or by electronic or conventional mail, or by any other means. Any use of the Website by you after such notice shall be deemed to constitute acceptance of such changes, modifications, additions or deletions.

N. Linked Internet Sites. THE LINKS IN THIS WEBSITE WILL LET YOU LEAVE OUR WEBSITE. THE LINKED SITES MAY NOT BE UNDER OUR CONTROL, AND THE CONTENT AVAILABLE ON THE INTERNET SITES LINKED TO THIS WEBSITE MAY NOT NECESSARILY REFLECT OUR OPINION. WE ARE PROVIDING THESE LINKS TO OTHER INTERNET SITES AS A CONVENIENCE TO YOU, AND ACCESS TO ANY OTHER INTERNET SITES LINKED TO THIS WEBSITE IS AT YOUR OWN RISK. THE INCLUSION OF ANY LINK DOES NOT IMPLY THAT WE RECOMMEND OR ENDORSE THE LINKED SITE, OR MAKE ANY REPRESENTATIONS AS TO THE VERACITY OR RELIABILITY OF THE INFORMATION OR SERVICES PROVIDED IN THE LINKED SITE.

O. Governing Law; General Provisions. These Terms of Use shall be construed in accordance with applicable laws of the State of Ohio, without regard to any conflict of laws rules, and you hereby consent to exclusive jurisdiction of OFBF’s choosing for any cause of action, claim, liability, demand or dispute arising out of your use of this Website or its Terms of Use. We operate this Website from our offices within the United States of America. We make no representation that the information in this Website is appropriate or available for use in other locations, and access to this Website from territories where the contents of this Website may be illegal is prohibited. Those who choose to access this Website from other locations do so on their own initiative and are responsible for compliance with applicable local laws. No waiver by either party of any breach or default hereunder shall be deemed to be a waiver of any preceding or subsequent breach or default. The section headings used herein are for convenience only and shall not be given any legal import.

P. Information provided at this site. The information provided at this site is intended for educational and informational purposes only and should not be construed as legal advice or counsel. If you have legal questions involving any of the topics discussed on this Website, please contact an attorney who can address them in regards to your particular situation.

Q. Incorporation of Privacy Policy. The Privacy Policy of the Ohio Farm Bureau Federation, as provided below, is hereby fully incorporated into these terms and conditions.

At OFBF we recognize that privacy is important. This Privacy Policy applies to all of the products, services and Websites offered by OFBF or its subsidiaries or affiliated companies. In addition, where more detailed information is needed to explain our privacy practices, we post supplementary privacy notices to describe how particular services process personal information.

If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy, please feel free to contact us through our Website, e-mail via [email protected], or write to us at: Webmaster; c/o Ohio Farm Bureau Federation, Inc.; P.O. Box 182383; Columbus, Ohio 43218-2383.

General

This Privacy Policy is incorporated into and subject to the Terms of Use. We may change this Privacy Policy over time to address new issues and to reflect changes to the Internet and to our site. Your continued use of the Website following the institution of any such changes denotes your acceptance of those changes.

Third Party Collectors of Information

This Privacy Policy addresses only the use and disclosure of information we collect from you. Any information you disclose to a third party, such as other users or advertisers, is subject to that party’s Privacy Policy. We encourage you to ask questions before you disclose your personal information to others.

Information we collect and how we use it

We offer a number of services that do not require you to register for an account or provide any personal information to us. In order to provide our full range of services, we may collect the following types of information:

Information you provide – When you sign up for an OFBF Account or other OFBF service or promotion that requires registration, we ask you for personal information (such as your name, email address and an account password). We may combine the information you submit under your account with information from other OFBF services or third parties in order to provide you with a better experience and to improve the quality of our services. For certain services, we may give you the opportunity to opt out of combining such information.

Log information – When you access OFBF Websites, our servers automatically record information that your browser sends whenever you visit a website. These server logs may include information such as your web request, Internet Protocol address, browser type, browser language, the date and time of your request, number of clicks, and one or more cookies that may uniquely identify your browser. This information is used to track usage, administer the site, analyze trends and gather demographic information in the aggregate, but will not be used to personally identify you.

User communications – When you send email or other communications to OFBF, we may retain those communications in order to process your inquiries, respond to your requests and improve our services.

Affiliated sites – We offer some of our services in connection with other web sites. Personal information that you provide to those sites may be sent to OFBF in order to deliver the service. We process such information in accordance with this Privacy Policy. The affiliated sites may have different privacy practices and we encourage you to read their privacy policies.

Other sites – This Privacy Policy applies to OFBF services only. We do not exercise control over the sites displayed as search results or links from within our various services. These other sites may place their own cookies or other files on your computer, collect data or solicit personal information from you.

OFBF only processes personal information for the purposes described in this Privacy Policy and/or the supplementary privacy notices for specific services. In addition to the above, such purposes include:

Providing our services to users, including the display of customized content and advertising;

Auditing, research and analysis in order to maintain, protect and improve our services;

Ensuring the technical functioning of our network; and

Developing new services.

You can find more information about how we process personal information by referring to the supplementary privacy notices for particular services.

OFBF processes personal information on our servers in the United States of America. We may process personal information to provide our own services. In some cases, we may process personal information on behalf of and according to the instructions of a third party, such as our advertising partners.

Choices for personal information

When you sign up for a particular service that requires registration, we ask you to provide personal information. If we use this information in a manner different than the purpose for which it was collected, then we will ask for your consent prior to such use.

If we propose to use personal information for any purposes other than those described in this Privacy Policy and/or in the specific service privacy notices, we will offer you an effective way to opt out of the use of personal information for those other purposes. We will not collect or use sensitive information for purposes other than those described in this Privacy Policy and/or in the supplementary service privacy notices, unless we have obtained your prior consent.

Cookies

In order to provide more customized service or to address security hazards, we occasionally use a feature of your browser called a ‘cookie.’ A cookie stores a session ID, which can be used to retrieve information including member ID, tracking and preference information by OFBF. A cookie is a small data file that the Website writes to your hard drive. We also use cookies for a number of administrative purposes; for example, to store your preferences for certain kinds of information or to store a password so that you do not have to input it every time you visit our site. We do not store any of your personal information in cookies. A cookie cannot be read by a Website other than the one that set the cookie. A cookie cannot read any other data off your hard drive, pass on a virus, or read cookie files created by other sites. Cookies do not contain any information that will enable anyone to contact you by telephone, e-mail, or other means. You can refuse cookies by turning them off in your browser. Your ability to interact with our Website, however, will be limited if cookies are disabled or refused.

You can decline to submit personal information to any of our services, in which case OFBF may not be able to provide those services to you.

Information sharing

OFBF only shares personal information with other companies or individuals outside of OFBF in the following limited circumstances:

We have your consent. Individuals can opt-out of the sharing of any sensitive personal information, however it may limit the ability to interact with OFBF’s services and/or programs.
We provide such information to our subsidiaries, affiliated companies or other trusted businesses or persons for the purpose of processing personal information on our behalf. We require that these parties agree to process such information based on our instructions and in compliance with this Privacy Policy and any other appropriate confidentiality and security measures.
We have a good faith belief that access, use, preservation or disclosure of such information is reasonably necessary to (a) satisfy any applicable law, regulation, legal process or enforceable governmental request, (b) enforce applicable Terms of Service, including investigation of potential violations thereof, (c) detect, prevent, or otherwise address fraud, security or technical issues, or (d) protect against imminent harm to the rights, property or safety of OFBF, its users or the public as required or permitted by law.
We may share with third parties certain pieces of aggregated, non-personal information, such as how many users clicked on a particular advertisement. Such information does not identify you individually. Please contact us at the webmaster address provided above for any additional questions about the management or use of personal data.

Information security

We take appropriate security measures to protect against unauthorized access to or unauthorized alteration, disclosure or destruction of data. These include internal reviews of our data collection, storage and processing practices and security measures, as well as physical security measures to guard against unauthorized access to systems where we store personal data.

We restrict access to personal information to OFBF employees, contractors and agents who need to know that information in order to operate, develop or improve our services. These individuals are bound by confidentiality obligations and may be subject to discipline, including termination and criminal prosecution, if they fail to meet these obligations.

Unfortunately, no data transmission over the Internet or any wireless network can be guaranteed 100% secure. As a result, while we strive to protect your information, you acknowledge that: (a) there are security and privacy limitations of the Internet which are beyond our control; (b) the security, integrity and privacy of any and all information and data exchanged between you and use through this site cannot be guaranteed; and (c) any such information and data may be viewed or tampered with in transit by a third party.

Data integrity

OFBF processes personal information only for the purposes for which it was collected and in accordance with this Privacy Policy or any applicable service-specific privacy notice. We review our data collection, storage and processing practices to ensure that we only collect, store and process the personal information needed to provide or improve our services. We take reasonable steps to ensure that the personal information we process is accurate, complete, and current, but we depend on our users to update or correct their personal information whenever necessary.

Enforcement

OFBF regularly reviews its compliance with this Privacy Policy. Please feel free to direct any questions or concerns regarding this Privacy Policy or OFBF’s treatment of personal information by contacting OFBF at [email protected].

When we receive formal written complaints at this address, it is OFBF’s policy to contact the complaining user regarding his or her concerns. We will cooperate with the appropriate regulatory authorities, including local data protection authorities, to resolve any complaints regarding the transfer of personal data that cannot be resolved between OFBF and an individual.

Changes to this Privacy Policy

Please note that this Privacy Policy may change from time to time. Each version of this Privacy Policy will be identified at the end by its effective date.

Last modified: April 5, 2013