Privacy Policy

Effective Date: November 5, 2026

GCJ.news is an independent, nonpartisan online news organization dedicated to providing the greater Ephrata, Washington community with information on issues and topics affecting area residents and the region. We provide this information at no charge to you through our website and an emailed weekly newsletter.

GCJ.news is committed to protecting your privacy and keeping your information secure. We also strive to be transparent about how we handle your information. This statement (the “Privacy Policy”) describes our practices for handling the information we collect from or about you. It applies to the websites and online services that we operate and that link to this Privacy Policy (the “Services”).

I. Categories and Sources of Information

We may collect or process the following categories of information when you use our Services:

Information you provide directly to us

• Contact information, including real name, email address, telephone or mobile phone number, and postal address;
• Sign-in information, including name and email address;
• Payment information, including details about your method of payment and billing address when you provide your payment information to us; and
• Correspondence you send to us and other information you share with us, including information you post on or through the Services.

Information we collect automatically

• Online and technical information, such as information via cookies, pixels, and similar technologies when you use our Services or interact with our emails or content, including IP address, device identifiers, settings, characteristics, web server logs, server log records, activity log records, and other information collected using cookies and similar technologies.

Information we collect from other sources

We receive online and technical information from other sources, including from data analytics providers, operating systems and platforms, and social networks. For example, if you access any social media or similar services through the Services to share social content or links, we may collect information from these third-party services.

Some of the information we collect may be considered sensitive information under applicable law. We use sensitive information only to complete your request or as otherwise permitted by law.

Without this information, we may not be able to provide you with all the requested Services. Any differences in services relate to the information you have chosen not to share.

We may aggregate or de-identify the information described above. Aggregated or de-identified data is not subject to this Privacy Policy.

II. Use of Information and Purpose of Data Processing

We use and otherwise process each of the categories of information identified above to provide and maintain our Services and as otherwise permitted by law, including:

• To provide you with information you request from us and to provide you with features, including to allow you to receive our newsletter, information about your membership, event information, and participate in interactive features of our Services.
• To manage our relationship with you, including providing you with the information that you request from us, notifying you about changes to our terms or Privacy Policy, and for account management.
• To make suggestions and recommendations to you about things that are similar to those that you have enquired about or may otherwise be of interest to you, or to send promotional materials from us or by our affiliates and trusted business partners.
• To improve our Services, including to ensure that content is presented in the most relevant and effective manner for you and for your device and to train and enhance software-based features and tools that support our Services;
• To administer our Services, including troubleshooting, data analytics, testing, research, statistical and survey purposes;
• For legal and compliance purposes, including to keep our Services, business and users safe and secure; to comply with applicable laws and regulations; and to protect or exercise our legal rights or defend against legal claims; and
• To support our everyday business purposes, such as for account management, quality control, website administration, business continuity and disaster recovery, security and fraud prevention, corporate governance, reporting and legal compliance, analytics and research, enforcement of contracts and other contract management.

III. Disclosure of Information

We are committed to maintaining your trust, and we want you to understand when and with whom we may disclose the categories of information we collect. We may disclose the categories of personal information explained above with the following categories of third parties:

• Authorized third-party vendors and service providers. We may disclose information you provide to us, information we collect automatically, and information from other sources to third-party vendors and service providers that provide services to us for a variety of business purposes, such as donation payment processing, customer service, email deployment, advertising and marketing, security and performance monitoring, or maintaining or servicing accounts.
• Business transfers. We may disclose information you provide to us, information we collect automatically, and information from other sources in connection with a substantial corporate transaction, such as the sale of a website, a merger, consolidation, or asset sale.
• Advertising partners. We may disclose information you provide to us, information we collect automatically, and information from other sources to partners and third parties as part of marketing and advertising on and off the Services, including so that they can provide individuals with sponsored articles, promotions, and other materials that may be of interest to them.
• Legal purposes. We may disclose your information to comply with applicable laws, including to respond to law enforcement; to protect our rights, privacy, safety or property, and/or that of our affiliates, you or others; and to stop any activity that we consider illegal, unethical, or legally actionable.
• Other recipients, with notice and your consent. We may disclose information for any other purposes disclosed to you at the time we collect the information or pursuant to your consent.

If you choose to post information publicly on the Services, you should be aware that other users can read, collect, or use this information. Please use caution when sharing information in these public areas. We are not responsible for information you choose to share publicly.

Service providers we use

GCJ.news relies on a small number of outside companies to publish our website, deliver our newsletters, process donations, and understand how readers use our site. Each maintains its own privacy policy:

IV. Cookies and Similar Technologies

When you use our Services, we use cookies, pixel tags, local storage, and other similar technologies (collectively, “cookies”) to collect information from your browser or device. By using the Services, you agree to our use of cookies and similar technologies.

The following types of cookies are used on our Services:

Cookie preferences

You may be able to refuse or disable cookies by declining cookies directly on our website or by adjusting your web browser settings. Some browsers have options that allow the visitor to control whether the browser will accept cookies, reject cookies, or notify the visitor each time a cookie is sent. Because each web browser is different, please consult the instructions provided by your web browser (typically in the “help” section). If you choose to refuse, disable, or delete these technologies, some of the functionality of the Services may no longer be available to you and any differences in service are related to the data. Deleting cookies may in some cases cancel the opt out selection in your browser.

Change your cookie settings

Do-not-track signals and similar mechanisms

Some mobile and web browsers transmit “do-not-track” signals. Because of differences in how web browsers incorporate and activate this feature, it is not always clear whether users intend for these signals to be transmitted, or whether they even are aware of them. We currently do not take action in response to these signals.

V. Children

We do not knowingly collect, sell, or share cross-context behavioral advertising, any information from known children who are less than thirteen years of age or such other age defined by applicable law, without parental consent or as otherwise permitted by applicable law.

VI. Data Retention, Security, and Integrity

We retain your information only for as long as reasonably necessary for the purposes described above, in line with our retention policies. We consider factors such as the length of our relationship with you, how sensitive the information is, applicable statutes of limitations, and any legal requirements to keep your personal information.

We use reasonable security measures to protect your information from loss, theft, interference, misuse, unauthorized access, disclosure, alteration, or destruction. We also take steps to help ensure that your data is reliable, accurate, complete, and current. However, no data storage system or transmission over the Internet can be guaranteed to be 100 percent secure, accurate, complete, or current. Please note that information collected by third parties may not have the same security protections, and we are not responsible for protecting their security practices.

VII. Links to Other Websites

The Services may contain links to other websites or online services that are operated and maintained by third parties and are not under our control or maintained by us. These links do not mean that we endorse those other websites, their content, or the people or organizations associated with them. This Privacy Policy does not apply to this third-party content. We encourage you to review the privacy policies of these third-party websites or services.

VIII. Changes to the Privacy Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. When we do, we will revise the “Effective Date” above and post the new Privacy Policy. Any changes take effect when we post the revised Privacy Policy on the Services. You understand and agree that you will be deemed to have accepted the updated Privacy Policy if you continue to use the Services after the new Policy takes effect.

IX. Contact Information

If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy or our practices or would like to exercise a right under applicable law, please contact us: