Privacy Policy

1. Introduction

The Sentinel by Yuvoice (“The Sentinel,” “we,” “us,” or “our”) is a nonpartisan, global nonprofit citizen journalism publication. We are committed to protecting the privacy of everyone who visits our website at sentinel.yuvoice.org (the “Site”), subscribes to our newsletter, submits articles, posts comments, or contacts us. This Privacy Policy explains what personal information we collect, why we collect it, how we use and protect it, and what choices you have.

2. Information We Collect

We collect only the personal information reasonably necessary to operate the Site and support our publishing mission. The specific information we collect depends on how you interact with us:

a. Newsletter Subscription (“The Superhero Brief”)

When you subscribe to our CEO’s newsletter, we collect your:

• Name
• Email address

b. Article Submission

When you submit an article for editorial consideration, we collect your:

• First and last name
• Email address
• Country or countries you consider home
• Pen name or nickname (if provided)
• Article category selection
• Google Doc URL containing your submission
• Anonymity preference (whether you wish to publish anonymously, under a pen name, or under your full name)
• Demographic information you voluntarily choose to share (such as ethnicity, identity, pronouns, or languages spoken)

Providing demographic information is entirely voluntary. We invite contributors to share as much or as little as they wish about themselves, consistent with our commitment to inclusive publishing.

c. Comments

When you post a comment on the Site, we collect your:

• Name (or display name)
• Email address
• The content of your comment

d. Contact Form

When you contact us through the Site, we collect your:

• Name
• Email address
• The content of your message

e. Automatically Collected Information

When you visit the Site, certain information may be collected automatically through cookies and similar technologies, including:

• IP address
• Browser type and version
• Operating system
• Pages visited and time spent on the Site
• Referring website or source

3. How We Use Your Information

We use the personal information we collect for the following purposes:

• Newsletter delivery: To send you editions of The Superhero Brief and related communications you have opted into.
• Editorial review and publication: To review article submissions, communicate with contributors during the editorial process, and publish accepted work with appropriate attribution (or anonymously, per the contributor’s preference).
• Comment moderation: To display your comments on published articles and to moderate comments for compliance with our content guidelines.
• Responding to inquiries: To respond to messages you send through our contact form.
• Site operations and improvement: To maintain, operate, and improve the Site, including analyzing usage patterns and fixing technical issues.
• Legal compliance: To comply with applicable laws, regulations, or legal processes.

We will not use your personal information for purposes materially different from those described here without notifying you and, where required, obtaining your consent.

4. Sharing and Disclosure of Your Information

We do not sell, rent, or trade your personal information. We may share your information only in the following limited circumstances:

• Published content: If your article is accepted, your name (or pen name or “Global Citizen,” per your preference) and author biography will be published on the Site and may be visible to the public.
• Service providers: We may share information with third-party service providers that help us operate the Site (such as our website hosting provider, email delivery service, and analytics tools), but only to the extent necessary for them to perform their services for us. These providers are not authorized to use your information for their own purposes.
• Legal requirements: We may disclose your information if required to do so by law, regulation, legal process, or governmental request, or if we believe disclosure is necessary to protect our rights, your safety, or the safety of others.
• Organizational transfers: If The Sentinel by Yuvoice undergoes a merger, reorganization, or transfer of assets, your information may be transferred as part of that transaction. We will notify you of any such change.

5. Cookies and Tracking Technologies

The Site uses cookies and similar technologies to facilitate basic site functionality and to understand how visitors use the Site. Specifically:

• Essential cookies: Required for the Site to function properly (for example, session management and security).
• Analytics cookies: Used to collect aggregated, anonymized data about Site usage to help us improve the user experience.

You can manage your cookie preferences through your browser settings. Disabling cookies may affect your ability to use certain features of the Site, such as posting comments or subscribing to the newsletter.

We do not use cookies to serve targeted advertising. We do not sell data collected through cookies to third parties.

6. Data Retention

We retain your personal information only for as long as necessary to fulfill the purposes described in this Privacy Policy:

• Newsletter subscribers: We retain your name and email address for as long as you remain subscribed. You may unsubscribe at any time, after which we will delete your information within a reasonable period.
• Article submissions: We retain contributor information for the duration of the publication of the submitted work, plus a reasonable period thereafter to administer the Contributor Agreement and address any questions that may arise.
• Comments: Published comments and associated information are retained for as long as the relevant article remains on the Site, unless you request removal.
• Contact form inquiries: We retain your message and contact information for as long as necessary to respond to and resolve your inquiry, after which it is deleted.
• Automatically collected data: Aggregated and anonymized analytics data may be retained indefinitely for statistical purposes.

7. Your Rights and Choices

Depending on your location, you may have certain rights regarding your personal information, including:

• Access: The right to request a copy of the personal information we hold about you.
• Correction: The right to request that we correct inaccurate or incomplete information.
• Deletion: The right to request that we delete your personal information, subject to certain exceptions (such as information we are required to retain by law or to fulfill the terms of the Contributor Agreement).
• Opt-out of communications: You may unsubscribe from The Superhero Brief at any time by using the unsubscribe link included in each email.
• Comment removal: You may request removal of a comment you have posted by contacting us.

To exercise any of these rights, please contact us using the information in Section 10 below. We will respond to your request within a reasonable timeframe.

8. Data Security

We implement reasonable administrative, technical, and organizational measures to protect your personal information from unauthorized access, alteration, disclosure, or destruction. These measures include encryption of data in transit, access controls limiting who within our organization can view personal information, and secure storage of contributor records.

No method of data transmission or storage is completely secure. While we strive to protect your personal information, we cannot guarantee its absolute security.

9. Children’s Privacy

The Site is not directed at children under the age of 13. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13. If you believe that a child under 13 has provided us with personal information, please contact us and we will take steps to delete such information promptly.

10. Contact Information

If you have questions or concerns about this Privacy Policy or our data practices, or if you wish to exercise any of your rights described above, please contact us at:

11. Changes to This Privacy Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes in our practices or applicable law. When we make changes, we will update the “Effective Date” at the top of this page and post the revised version on the Site. We encourage you to review this Privacy Policy periodically. Your continued use of the Site after any changes constitutes your acceptance of the updated Privacy Policy.