Legal

Disclaimer

The visitPA.com Web site, https://visitpa.com, is provided as a public service. The site is managed by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Pennsylvania Tourism Office of the Department of Community and Economic Development and its interactive agency.

Please note that users of this Web site are responsible for checking the accuracy, completeness, currency, and/or suitability of all information. The Pennsylvania Tourism Office makes no representations, guarantees, or warranties as to the accuracy, completeness, currency, or suitability of the information provided via this Web site.

The Pennsylvania Tourism Office specifically disclaims any and all liability for any claims or damages that may result from providing the visitPA.com Web site or the information it contains, including any Web sites maintained by third parties and linked to the visitPA.com Web site. The responsibility for content rests with the organizations that are providing the information. The inclusion of links from this site does not necessarily imply endorsement by the Pennsylvania Tourism Office or the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Specific questions regarding a document should be directed to the appropriate organization and not necessarily to the VisitPA.com webmaster. The Pennsylvania Tourism Office and its interactive agency will make only reasonable efforts to independently verify, and do not exert editorial control over, information on pages outside of the visitPA.com domain.

The Pennsylvania Tourism Office does not endorse any of the products, vendors, consultants, or documentation referenced in this Web site. Any mention of vendors, products, or services is for informational purposes only.

Please review the visitPA Privacy Policy for further details on the data collection information. In response to the need to ensure equal access to electronic and information technologies, visitPA.com was developed according to a set of Universal Access Design standards for Web pages. The Pennsylvania Tourism Office is pleased to provide an alternative medium for accessing information about our programs and services. VisitPA.com has Universal Access Design standards for Web pages incorporated into its codebase in recognition of those individuals with visual, physical or developmental disabilities.

Universal Access Design calls for appropriate use of auxiliary aids and services where necessary to ensure clear communication. The standards were developed in part based on recommendations by the W3C (World Wide Web Consortium). The process of incorporating Universal Access Design elements into visitPA.com will evolve as the site grows- and also as the standards themselves evolve.

 

Privacy Policy

The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Pennsylvania Tourism Office of the Department of Community and Economic Development maintains the VisitPA site as a public service. If you would like to review your information within our contacts database, revise it, or remove it, please contact the data protection officer, Kelly Bonner, at [email protected]. The following is the privacy policy for this site (all pages within the domain https://visitpa.com):

Content and Information Collected

As part of standard internet practice, we collect the following information when you visit our sites:

  • Your domain name; for example, “xcompany.com” if you use a private internet access account, or “yourschool.edu”, if you are connecting from a university domain;
  • Your IP address, a number automatically assigned to your computer when you are using the Internet;
  • The type of browser and operating system used to access our site;
  • The internet address of the website from which you linked directly to our site;
  • The pages you visit within visitPA’s site; and
  • The links made to other websites through this site.

This information is collected for statistical analysis using standard third-party software programs (for example, Google Analytics may be used by third parties on behalf of the Commonwealth) to create summary statistics. The statistics are used for determining what information is of interest to visitors and identifying system performance or problem areas. Where Google Analytics is used, the data are used for other limited purposes by Google. For more detail on how data is used by Google Analytics, please see here: https://www.google.com/policies/privacy/partners/

The Pennsylvania Tourism Office does not collect any personal information through www.visitPA.com except that knowingly and willingly supplied by the user for the purpose of providing the services/information requested through our site. Depending on the website you are using, the information collected, whether or not personally identifiable, may include audio, video, and other graphic formats you send us. Personal identifying information may be collected through e-newsletter forms, online request forms, contests, feedback forms, surveys and personal interest forms. Any information that the user provides, such as name, address, email, ZIP code, age, gender and income will be stored in a secure location and will be used only for those purposes stated. The Pennsylvania Tourism Office does not provide information collected online. Any information, including personally identifiable information (PII), that you provide will be collected and retained in accordance with existing laws.

Users of our services, such as e-newsletter subscriptions, may also withdraw consent for the use of their personal information at any time. To review, revise, or delete your collected data or to withdraw consent for use, contact [email protected].

By continuing to utilize visitpa.com, you consent to this processing of the aforementioned data unless you otherwise your consent as directed above.

If you send us an electronic mail message with a question or comment that contains personally identifying information- or fill out a form that emails us this information, will use the information only to respond to your request. We may redirect your message to another government agency or person who is in a better position to answer your question.

Remarketing/Retargeting Policy

This website utilizes uses third-party vendors, including Google and Bing, which use cookies to gather visitor data for advertising. It could mean that we advertise to previous visitors who have not completed a task on our site or visited key pages, for example requesting a Happy Traveler Guide. You may see certain ads on this website or on other websites that are based on the information that we or they have collected. These targeted ads are based on your interests and preferences. This could be in the form of an advertisement on the Google search results page, or a site in the Google Display Network. Third-party vendors, including Google, use cookies to serve ads based on someone’s past visits to the PA Tourism website.

Of course, any data collected will be used in accordance with our own privacy policy, Google’s privacy policy and other third-party vendor privacy policies. You can opt out of Google's use of cookies by visiting Google's Ads Settings. Alternatively, you can opt out of a third-party vendor's use of cookies by visiting the Network Advertising Initiative opt-out page or the Digital Advertising Alliance’s Consumer Choice Tool.

External Linking Policy and Disclaimer

The information posted on Commonwealth websites may include hypertext links, or pointers, to information created and maintained by other public and/or private organizations (outside websites). We only provide these links and pointers for your information and convenience. When you select a link to an outside website, you are leaving the Commonwealth site and are subject to the privacy and security policies of the owners/sponsors of the outside website.

The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania does not control or guarantee the accuracy, relevance, timeliness, or completeness of information contained on an outside website.

The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania does not endorse the organizations sponsoring outside websites and does not endorse the views they express or the products/services they offer.

The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania cannot authorize the use of copyrighted materials contained in outside websites. Users must request such authorization from the sponsor of the outside website.

The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is not responsible for transmissions users receive from outside websites.

The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania cannot guarantee that outside websites comply with accessibility requirements.

 

Copyright

VisitPA.com -- Copyright 2003 +, Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Pennsylvania Tourism Office of the Department of Community and Economic Development.

No part of this work may be copied, reproduced, or translated in any form or medium without the prior written consent of the Pennsylvania Tourism Office. Although all content on our site is public information, the Pennsylvania Tourism Office maintains and will defend a copyright interest in these pages.

Permission may be granted to redistribute this material in its entirety provided that this copyright notice is not removed or altered. No portion of this work may be sold, either by itself or as part of larger work, without the express written permission of the Pennsylvania Tourism Office.

Please do not capture our pages within frames- or otherwise present our content as your own. You should not link to individual graphics or tables within our pages, especially in an effort to place the downloading burden on our servers.

To obtain permission to reproduce the information (text or graphics) contained on the visitPA.com Web site for any commercial purpose, submit the specifics of your request in writing to the VisitPA.com webmaster at [email protected].

The visitPA.com Web site sometimes creates links to sites that may be non-governmental- but are otherwise topical, timely, or of other general interest to our visitors. The following are considerations in creating these links:

  • The frequency of requests for adding such a link.
  • The convenience of a state agency.
  • The stability and trustworthiness of the site.
  • Fitting the link within our Web design and mission.

Such links may be removed or replaced at any time without notice. We reserve the right to change subpages at any time without notice, so it is up to you to continuously verify your links to our subpages. We will remove a link if:

  • The link no longer points to the original information or resource that was intended.
  • The information is inaccurate, outdated, or no longer relevant or trustworthy.
  • Access to the information has become difficult due to odd formatting, lengthy download times, or intrusive advertising.

 

User Generated Content Terms and Conditions

The following Terms of Use apply to areas of visitPA.com (the "website") that allow users to post content ("User Generated Content" or "UGC") and to intended use of content. You agree that your registration for the website, access to the website, submitted content, and participation in any forum are subject to the following visitPA.com Terms of Use and applicable law.

VisitPA.com does not prescreen UGC, and visitPA.com retains the right to use but not the responsibility to edit or remove any UGC. VisitPA.com reserves the right to terminate your account for any reason at its sole discretion.

You are solely responsible for your conduct, and for any messages, notes, data, text, information, graphics, photos, audio and video clips, advertisements, listings, links and other content, in any form User Submitted Content that you submit, upload, publish, post or display on or through the visitPA.com websites or social media channels (collectively, the “visitPA.com Services”.). You may not post, transmit or share User Submitted Content on the visitPA.com Services that you did not create or that you do not have permission to post. While visitPA.com has the right to monitor activity and content associated with the visitPA.com Services, and may choose to pre-prescreen User Submitted Content, we are not obligated to do so. Without limiting the generality of the foregoing, you acknowledge and agree that visitPA.com may use certain automated filters and other tools to block spam and to categorize and arrange User Submitted Content on the visitPA.com Services. We may, but will have no obligation to, remove or limit access to User Submitted Content originating from any User we believe in our sole discretion to be unlawful, fraudulent, threatening, libelous, defamatory, obscene or otherwise objectionable, or that infringes or violates any party’s intellectual property or other proprietary rights or these Terms. Further, under no circumstances does visitPA.com have any obligation to verify the accuracy, timeliness or truthfulness of any User Submitted Content, nor to monitor any User on the visitPA.com Sites. You are responsible at your sole cost and expense for creating backup copies and replacing any User Submitted Content that you post or store on the visitPA.com Services.

The visitPA.com Services may include various forums, social media channels (Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest), and blogs where you can post your observations, photos and comments on designated topics. visitPA.com does not guarantee that other Users will not use ideas, photos and information that you share. Therefore, if you have an idea or information that you would like to keep confidential and/or don’t want others to use, do not post it on the visitPA.com Services. The PA Tourism Office has contests in which you may voluntarily enter your personal information to be eligible for a chance to win. In entering our social contest, your personal information will be added to our consumer database and you will receive our e-newsletters. You can unsubscribe directly from this opt-in email, or at any time in the future by clicking the unsubscribe link at the bottom of every email newsletter. visitPA.com and visitPA.com affiliates are not responsible for Users misuse or misappropriation of any content or information that you post anywhere on the visitPA.com Services.

You understand and agree that in using the visitPA.com Services, you may be exposed to User Submitted Content that you find offensive, indecent and objectionable. You can contact us to let us know of content that you find objectionable. We may investigate the complaints and violations of our policies that come to our attention and may take action that we believe is appropriate, including, but not limited to, issuing warnings, removing the content or terminating User accounts. However, because situations and interpretations vary, we also reserve the right not to take any action. Under no circumstances will visitPA.com be liable in any way for any User Submitted Content, including but not limited to errors or omissions in any User Submitted Content, or for any loss or damage of any kind incurred as a result of the use of, access to, or denial of access to, any User Submitted Content posted, emailed, transmitted or otherwise made available via the visitPA.com Services.

In posting any User Submitted Content, you represent that you have all rights necessary to post such User Submitted Content without violation of any intellectual property or other rights or any laws or regulations. You further understand and agree that by posting any User Submitted Content on the visitPA.com Services, or otherwise providing any User Submitted Content to visitPA.com, including without limitation suggestions, photos, feedbacks, testimonials or other materials you submit to visitPA.com through the visitPA.com Services, you are granting visitPA.com a world-wide, royalty-free, non-exclusive license to use, reproduce, publish, translate, modify, adapt and distribute that content (in whole or in part) for use in connection with or related to the visitPA.com Services, or any part thereof, for the full term of any copyright that may exist in such User Submitted Content, and that the foregoing license includes a right for visitPA.com to make such User Submitted Content available to third parties, in each case without any compensation or obligation to you, subject to the visitPA.com Privacy Policy. You hereby further grant visitPA.com the right to edit, copy, publish and distribute any User Submitted Content made available on or through the visitPA.com websites by you, for any lawful purpose. You also permit any other User to access, view, store or reproduce any content or links posted by you, subject to the Terms. visitPA.com does not assert any ownership over any User Submitted Content. Rather, as between you and us, subject to the rights granted to us in these Terms, you retain full ownership of all of your User Submitted Content and any intellectual property rights or other proprietary rights associated with your User Submitted Content.

Content Submission

UGC on the visitPA.com site includes various files and formats submitted by users and intended to be published to the website for public viewing. This content may include photos, stories, profiles, and Roadtrips.

Each week the visitPA.com Content Team will review UGC posts. Posts that are deemed inappropriate or offensive will be removed. Users will not be notified when content is removed.

The photo upload tool will automatically resize the submitted image to the proper display size. There will be no cropping of images. The original proportions of the image will be retained.

Rules for User Generated Content (photos, captions, videos, stories, & profiles)

Do not post content, photos, captions, videos, stories, or profiles that are offensive, libelous, defamatory, indecent, harmful, harassing, intimidating, threatening, hateful, abusive, vulgar, obscene, pornographic, sexually explicit, or offensive in a sexual, racial, cultural, or ethnic context.

Do not post content or imagery that includes information that is false, misleading, inaccurate, fraudulent, or deceptive.

Do not post content that discusses or promotes religious or political views.

Do not post personal information, including your email address, mailing address, IM address, or phone number. Do not solicit personally identifiable information from other Registrants or website users.

Content that is designed to interrupt, destroy, or limit the functionality of any computer software or hardware or telecommunications equipment or to interfere with or disrupt the website or services connected to the website.

You may not use any content or images for any commercial purpose. Do not post any advertising or commercial content whatsoever.

Do not post any content that involves the transmission of junk mail, chain letters, or unsolicited mass mailing or spamming.

Do not post any content that violates any applicable local, state, national, or international law.  

Minors

You must be at least 13 years of age to become a Registrant. If you are between 13 and 18 years old, you must have your guardian's permission to use or post on this website.

Legal

Your UGC is not confidential or proprietary. You grant to visitPA.com a non-exclusive, non-revocable, worldwide, perpetual right to use your User Generated Content in any manner or medium now or later known without limitation including but not limited to the right to sublicense and assign and commercialize without any compensation due to you.

Changes to these Terms: VisitPA.com reserves the right to modify these Terms of Use at any time. Your continued use of the website will be deemed to be your conclusive acceptance of any modified Terms of Use. If any future change is unacceptable to you, you should discontinue using the website.

Ownership: You are responsible for ensuring that any User Generated Content that you post does not, and will not, violate the rights of any third party. You warrant and represent that you own or control all rights in any User Generated Content that you submit.

Safeguard your Profile: Do not allow any third party to use your Profile to access the website. You agree to notify visitPA.com immediately of any unauthorized use of your Profile or of the website. You agree that visitPA.com will not be liable for any loss that results from the unauthorized use of your Profile, either with or without your knowledge.

General Use. You acknowledge and agree that visitPA.com does not have any obligation to review User Generated Content; that visitPA.com is not in any manner responsible for User Generated Content; that visitPA.com does not guarantee the accuracy, integrity, or quality of User Generated Content; and that visitPA.com cannot assure that harmful, inaccurate, deceptive, offensive, threatening, defamatory, unlawful or otherwise objectionable User Generated Content will not appear on the website. You also acknowledge that by providing you with the ability to access, view, and/or post User Generated Content on the website, visitPA.com is merely acting as a passive conduit for such distribution and is not undertaking any obligation or liability relating to any User Generated Content or activities of Registrants or users on the website.

Agreement

By using this website, you agree to our Internet Privacy and Usage Policy and to the use of the information we receive and collect as stated herein and in ways we may notify you of in the future. By providing any personal information to this site, you acknowledge that you fully understand and consent to the collection and processing of such information. Your continued use of this site following the posting of changes to these terms means you accept these changes. We reserve the right at our discretion to change and update our privacy policy at any time. Any changes to our policy will be posted on this site. Last updated: 6/11/2018

We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. If you continue to use our website, we will assume that you are happy to receive all cookies (and milk!) from visitPA.com. Learn more about cookie data in our Privacy Policy