We have launched some changes to our Privacy Policy on bakersfield.com and our family of local websites. These changes -- our first in several years – include several additions and slight tweaks to the existing policy.

Protecting your privacy has always been a priority for us at bakersfield.com and The Bakersfield Californian, and we’re committed to ensuring your experience with us is safe and enjoyable.

We encourage you to read the entire policy again, but here is a summary of the main changes:

• We’re now a part of the Yahoo ad network. We’re using Yahoo technology to serve banner advertising throughout our local network of sites, and are using a feature called behavioral targeting. In short, behavioral targeting tracks your interests based on the pages you visit, and delivers ads based on those interests. The idea is to target ads you’re likely to be interested in, which offer a better experience for you and the advertiser. For example, if you’re shopping for a car, you may see more ads from auto dealers or lenders. At no time do we share any of your personally identifiable information with third parties such as advertisers or marketers. Even though behavioral targeting is widespread on the most-popular sites on the web,  we have nothing to hide and understand some of you might have concerns. Here's the section that explains how our advertising works and links to Yahoo's opt-out policy governing ad targeting on its sites and those of its partners.
• We added language that allows us to email our registered users about site changes. The previous policy was so tightly written that we were prevented from emailing registered users about important things like these new changes in our privacy policy. I don’t anticipate changing the policy as much as Apple does with its iTunes policy, but I like being able to contact every customer directly to inform them of any changes, big or small.
• Along those same lines, we’ve added language that allows us to contact people who encounter problems ordering products from us.
• Emphasized the importance of taking simple steps to protect your own privacy when you create profiles, post comments and otherwise engage with our websites.

We’d love to hear any constructive thoughts, questions and concerns. 

Thanks.