The websites AnnArborObserver.com and washtenawguide.com are owned and run by the Ann Arbor Observer Company.

Neither of the sites collects individual data from visitors who only view the pages. The Observer does track aggregate statistics on how many people visit each page of each site. On each site there is a cookie that collects anonymous traffic data so that Google Analytics can provide us with information about trends in how people use the sites. The cookie does not provide the Observer with any personal information about who you are or what pages you visit.

The Observer’s websites show Google AdSense ads. Through these ads, third parties may be placing and reading cookies on your browser, or using web beacons to collect information as a result of showing those ads.

If you register to post photos on arborview, then the name, e-mail address, and contact information that you have entered are stored on our server. Your e-mail address is never posted where the public can see it on the website.

If you post comments on articles or calendar events, our server stores the name, e-mail address, and comments that you have entered. The e-mail address is not visible to the public.

We never send mass mailings (“spam”) to any of the e-mail addresses that we have collected.

If you send e-mail through our server on AnnArborObserver.com (but not with our Add This widget), the full content of the message, including the e-mail addresses that it is sent to and from, is logged on our server. This is used only for debugging purposes; the staff people with access to these logs do not read the e-mail stored there except for what is necessary in the course of fixing a problem. The e-mail addresses logged there are never used for mass mailings (“spam”), but only for debugging mail problems. We do not log the e-mail that is sent via the Add This widget.