The following guidelines apply for information collected from visitors to the Homes-Online website:

We (Landmark Communications, Inc.) are committed to protecting your privacy. We believe you have a right to know what information we collect about you when you visit our website and how that information is used and safeguarded.

Your Personal Information

We collect personally identifiable information (name, e-mail address, etc.) and/or demographic data (zip code, gender, etc.) that you submit when you: register for our services; complete a survey; enter a contest, promotion, or sweepstakes; order a subscription to our newspaper; place a classified ad; send us an e-mail; submit reader opinions.

We do not give or sell any personally identifiable information to advertisers or other outside parties. We may use this information to process and maintain your account, reply to your specific questions and requests, verify submitted editorial information (ie: wedding and birth announcements,) inform you of special offers from us and compile aggregate demographic statistics about our users.

Landmark Communications, and all of it's subsidiaries and assigns, is not responsible for the policies or actions of third parties that may collect any information you disclose in the Opinions, Guest Book, Classifieds, Community Calendar or other public forums on or in any way associated with this site.

Other Internet sites and services that may be accessible through Homes-Online, Carroll County Times Online, and any other site maintained by Landmark Community Newspapaers of Maryland have separate data and privacy practices. These sites include, but are not limited to, TownNews and dotPhoto. Please contact those sites directly if you have questions about their privacy policies.

Children's Privacy

The Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) stipulates that website operators cannot knowingly collect personal information from children under age 13 without verifiable parental permission. While we offer information on our site that is appropriate for, available to and useful to children, we do not seek children's participation in services that require registration.

You must be 18 years or older to participate in the following services:

Register for our services; complete a survey (unless otherwise noted); enter a contest, promotion, or sweepstakes; order a subscription to our newspaper; place a classified ad; submit reader opinions.

Cookies and IP Addresses

We use cookies (small text files transferred from our website to your hard drive) to recognize repeat users, track content preferences and traffic patterns. Cookies do not damage files or give anyone access to your personally identifiable information. They simply provide us with information about how visitors are using Carroll County Times Online to help us improve and enhance the site. We may share aggregate site usage statistics and demographic information with third parties, but this information does not contain any personally identifiable information.

We do use IP addresses to track general traffic patterns and content preference, but do not make any effort to identify the behavior of any specific users.

How to contact us

If you have any questions or comments regarding our privacy policy, please contact us at webmaster@lcniofmd.com or 410-848-4400.