Privacy Policy

Effective Date: August 14, 2026
Last Updated: August 14, 2026

PassingHerald (“PassingHerald,” “we,” “us,” or “our“) respects your privacy and is committed to handling personal information responsibly.

This Privacy Policy explains how we collect, use, disclose, retain, and protect information when you visit or interact with PassingHerald, including our website, digital publications, obituary and memorial submission services, newsletters, contact forms, and other online services that link to this Privacy Policy (collectively, the “Services“).

Because PassingHerald operates as a digital news and memorial publication, some of the information we publish may concern deceased individuals, their families, friends, colleagues, or other people connected with a death or memorial event. This Privacy Policy explains how we handle personal information relating to living individuals. Information concerning deceased persons may also be subject to applicable laws, contractual obligations, and our editorial policies.

By using our Services, you acknowledge that you have read and understood this Privacy Policy.

1. Who We Are

PassingHerald is a digital publication focused on death news, obituaries, memorials, tributes, life-and-legacy stories, and related community reporting.

For privacy-related questions or requests, contact us at:

Email: privacy@passingherald.com

General contact: contact@passingherald.com

Website: passingherald.com

Before publishing this policy, replace the contact details above with the actual legal entity name, registered/business address, and functioning privacy contact information for the organization operating PassingHerald.

2. Information We Collect

We collect information in several ways depending on how you interact with PassingHerald.

2.1 Information You Provide Directly

You may voluntarily provide information when you:

  • Submit an obituary or memorial notice;

  • Submit a tribute or remembrance;

  • Contact our editorial team;

  • Submit a correction request;

  • Submit a photograph;

  • Subscribe to a newsletter;

  • Participate in a survey, promotion, or reader-feedback program;

  • Submit information for possible publication;

  • Contact us regarding advertising or partnerships;

  • Communicate with us by email; or

  • Otherwise voluntarily provide information through our Services.

Depending on the interaction, this information may include:

  • Name;

  • Email address;

  • Telephone number;

  • Postal or geographic information;

  • Relationship to the deceased;

  • Information contained in an obituary or memorial submission;

  • Photographs;

  • Information contained in correspondence;

  • Professional or organizational information;

  • Information about funeral or memorial arrangements;

  • Other information you voluntarily choose to provide.

You should not provide passwords, payment-card numbers, government identification numbers, or other highly sensitive information through an ordinary contact or obituary submission form unless we specifically request it through a secure process.

3. Information Submitted for Obituaries and Memorials

PassingHerald operates in a publishing environment where users may voluntarily submit information about deceased individuals.

An obituary or memorial submission may contain information such as:

  • Full name;

  • Age;

  • Date and place of birth;

  • Date and place of death;

  • Family relationships;

  • Employment history;

  • Education;

  • Military or public service;

  • Community involvement;

  • Religious or cultural affiliations;

  • Accomplishments;

  • Personal interests;

  • Funeral or memorial arrangements;

  • Photographs;

  • Tributes;

  • Statements from family members or friends; and

  • Other biographical information.

Important

Please consider carefully what you submit for publication.

Information submitted for editorial publication may become publicly accessible through PassingHerald, search engines, social-media platforms, news aggregators, archives, or other third-party services.

Where information is intended for publication, submitting it to us may result in its publication as part of an obituary, memorial, article, tribute, photograph, or related editorial feature.

We cannot guarantee that publicly published information will disappear from search engines, cached pages, archives, social-media posts, screenshots, or other websites after removal or modification from PassingHerald.

4. Information We Collect Automatically

When you visit PassingHerald, certain information may be collected automatically.

This may include:

  • IP address;

  • Browser type and version;

  • Device type;

  • Operating system;

  • Language preferences;

  • Approximate geographic information derived from IP address;

  • Referring website;

  • Pages viewed;

  • Links clicked;

  • Date and time of visits;

  • Time spent on pages;

  • Search queries made on our Services;

  • Interaction with advertisements;

  • Technical information about your device;

  • Error and diagnostic information; and

  • Other information generated through your interaction with our Services.

We may use this information for purposes including website operation, analytics, security, fraud prevention, troubleshooting, audience measurement, advertising, and improving our Services.

5. Cookies and Similar Technologies

PassingHerald may use cookies, pixels, tags, web beacons, local storage, software development kits, and similar technologies.

These technologies may be used to:

  • Keep the website functioning;

  • Remember preferences;

  • Understand website traffic;

  • Measure audience engagement;

  • Analyze how visitors use the Services;

  • Improve website performance;

  • Deliver or measure advertising;

  • Prevent fraud and abuse; and

  • Provide relevant content or functionality.

Some cookies may be placed by third-party service providers operating on our behalf or by third parties whose services appear on our website.

Where required by applicable law, we will request consent before using non-essential cookies or similar technologies.

You can also control certain cookies through your browser settings and, where available, our cookie-consent controls.

Disabling certain cookies may affect website functionality.

6. Analytics

PassingHerald may use analytics services to understand how visitors interact with our Services.

Analytics providers may collect information such as:

  • Device information;

  • IP address or an approximate location;

  • Pages viewed;

  • Referral information;

  • Browser information;

  • Interaction events;

  • Session information; and

  • Other usage information.

We may use analytics information to understand audience behavior, measure editorial performance, improve our website, diagnose technical problems, and make business decisions.

If we use Google Analytics or another third-party analytics service, that service’s collection and processing of information will also be governed by its own privacy documentation.

7. Advertising

PassingHerald may display advertisements supplied by us, advertising partners, advertising networks, programmatic advertising platforms, or other third parties.

Advertising providers may use cookies, pixels, IP addresses, device identifiers, or similar technologies to:

  • Deliver advertisements;

  • Measure advertising performance;

  • Limit repetitive advertisements;

  • Detect invalid traffic;

  • Understand advertising interactions; and

  • Where legally permitted, personalize advertising.

Third-party advertising providers may independently collect information through technologies operating on our website.

If PassingHerald uses Google advertising products, our implementation will be subject to Google’s applicable publisher policies and privacy requirements. Google requires publishers using its products to provide appropriate disclosures concerning data collection, cookies, web beacons, IP addresses, identifiers, and third-party advertising technologies.

We may provide links to relevant third-party privacy information where appropriate.

8. Newsletters and Email Communications

If you subscribe to a PassingHerald newsletter or other email communication, we may collect:

  • Your email address;

  • Your name, where provided;

  • Subscription preferences;

  • Information concerning email delivery and engagement.

We use this information to send the communications you requested and to manage our mailing lists.

You may unsubscribe from marketing or newsletter emails by using the unsubscribe mechanism contained in the applicable message.

Transactional, administrative, security, or service-related communications may still be sent where necessary.

9. How We Use Information

PassingHerald may use information for the following purposes:

Providing our Services

To operate, maintain, and improve our website and publications.

Publishing Editorial Content

To investigate, prepare, edit, and publish news stories, obituaries, memorials, tributes, and related editorial content.

Communicating With You

To respond to inquiries, submissions, correction requests, complaints, and other communications.

Verification

To verify information submitted to us and assess whether it meets our editorial standards.

Security

To detect, prevent, investigate, and respond to fraud, abuse, unauthorized activity, security incidents, and other threats.

Analytics

To understand audience behavior and improve our editorial and technical operations.

Advertising

To support advertising, sponsorship, and other commercial activities where applicable and permitted.

Legal Compliance

To comply with applicable laws, regulations, legal processes, court orders, or legitimate governmental requests.

Business Operations

To administer our organization, maintain records, enforce our agreements, and protect our legal rights.

10. Legal Bases for Processing

Where applicable privacy law requires us to identify a legal basis for processing personal information, we may rely on one or more of the following:

  • Consent: where you have given us permission to process information for a specified purpose;

  • Contract: where processing is necessary to provide a service you requested;

  • Legitimate interests: where processing is reasonably necessary for our editorial, business, security, operational, or other legitimate interests and those interests are not overridden by applicable rights;

  • Legal obligation: where processing is necessary to comply with law;

  • Vital interests: where applicable law permits processing necessary to protect someone’s vital interests; and

  • Public-interest or journalistic purposes: where recognized by applicable law and relevant to our publishing activities.

The applicable legal basis may vary depending on the information and circumstances.

11. Journalism and Editorial Processing

PassingHerald is a publisher.

Some personal information may be processed as part of legitimate journalistic, editorial, archival, or public-interest activities.

This may include information obtained from:

  • Public records;

  • Funeral-home notices;

  • Official statements;

  • Family announcements;

  • Organizations;

  • Public social-media posts;

  • Interviews;

  • News reports;

  • Public websites;

  • Other publicly available sources; and

  • Information voluntarily supplied to our editorial team.

Not all information processed for journalism is necessarily collected directly from the person concerned.

Applicable privacy and data-protection laws may contain specific exemptions, protections, or provisions relating to journalism, freedom of expression, public interest, or publication.

Where applicable, PassingHerald may rely on such provisions.

12. Publicly Available Information

PassingHerald may investigate and report on information that is already publicly available.

For example, information may be obtained from:

  • Public announcements;

  • Obituaries;

  • Funeral-home websites;

  • Government records;

  • Court records;

  • Institutional announcements;

  • Professional biographies;

  • Public social-media posts;

  • News reports; and

  • Other publicly accessible sources.

The fact that information is publicly available does not mean that we will publish every piece of information we encounter.

Our editorial decisions are guided by relevance, verification, public interest, accuracy, proportionality, and respect for individuals and families.

13. Information About Other People

If you submit information about another person, you should ensure that you have a legitimate reason to provide that information and that your submission is accurate.

This is particularly important when submitting:

  • Family information;

  • Contact information;

  • Photographs;

  • Personal stories;

  • Funeral arrangements;

  • Statements attributed to another person; or

  • Other information concerning living individuals.

Do not submit another person’s sensitive personal information unless there is an appropriate reason and legal basis to do so.

14. Photographs and Copyright

Photographs submitted to PassingHerald may be published as part of editorial content where we have an appropriate basis to use them.

By submitting a photograph, you represent that you have the right or appropriate authorization to provide the photograph to PassingHerald for the intended use.

We may request information concerning the source, ownership, licensing, or authorization associated with a photograph.

If you believe a photograph or other material has been published without appropriate authorization, contact us promptly with relevant information.

15. Information We Share

We may share information in the following circumstances.

Service Providers

We may use third-party providers for services such as:

  • Website hosting;

  • Content delivery;

  • Email delivery;

  • Analytics;

  • Security;

  • Advertising;

  • Website maintenance;

  • Data storage;

  • Technical support; and

  • Other business operations.

These providers may process information on our behalf as necessary to provide their services.

Editorial Partners

Where appropriate, information may be shared with journalists, editors, photographers, contributors, or other editorial partners involved in preparing a story.

Advertising Partners

Advertising and measurement partners may receive information through technologies operating on our website, subject to applicable law and the relevant provider’s practices.

Legal Requirements

We may disclose information where reasonably necessary to:

  • Comply with applicable law;

  • Respond to valid legal process;

  • Protect our rights;

  • Protect the safety of individuals;

  • Investigate fraud or abuse; or

  • Protect the security and integrity of our Services.

Business Transfers

If PassingHerald or substantially all of its assets are acquired, merged, reorganized, or transferred, information associated with the Services may be transferred as part of that transaction, subject to applicable law.

16. We Do Not Sell Personal Information for Money

PassingHerald does not sell personal information in exchange for money in the ordinary meaning of that term.

However, certain privacy laws define terms such as “sale,” “sharing,” or “targeted advertising” more broadly than an ordinary commercial sale.

If our advertising, analytics, or other activities constitute a regulated “sale,” “sharing,” or similar activity under a law applicable to you, we will provide the rights and controls required by that law.

17. Data Retention

We retain personal information only for as long as reasonably necessary for the purposes described in this Privacy Policy, including:

  • Providing our Services;

  • Maintaining editorial and business records;

  • Preserving legitimate journalistic archives;

  • Meeting legal obligations;

  • Resolving disputes;

  • Enforcing agreements;

  • Preventing fraud and abuse; and

  • Protecting our legal interests.

Retention periods vary depending on the nature of the information.

Published editorial material may remain available as part of our journalistic archive even after the underlying submission or communication is no longer actively maintained.

18. Editorial Archives

PassingHerald may maintain an archival record of published articles, obituaries, memorials, tributes, and related editorial content.

Because our publication functions as a news and memorial archive, deletion of an article is not necessarily appropriate simply because an individual requests it.

Where legally required or editorially appropriate, we may instead:

  • Correct inaccurate information;

  • Update an article;

  • Add clarification;

  • Remove specific information;

  • Restrict certain processing; or

  • Consider removal in exceptional circumstances.

Requests will be evaluated individually and in accordance with applicable law and our editorial standards.

19. Data Security

We use reasonable administrative, technical, and organizational measures designed to protect personal information against unauthorized access, alteration, disclosure, loss, misuse, or destruction.

Security measures may include:

  • Access controls;

  • Authentication mechanisms;

  • Encryption where appropriate;

  • Secure transmission technologies;

  • Monitoring and logging;

  • Backups;

  • Security updates; and

  • Internal procedures governing access to information.

However, no internet transmission or electronic storage system can be guaranteed to be completely secure.

You should use appropriate caution when submitting information online.

20. Data Breaches and Security Incidents

If PassingHerald experiences a security incident involving personal information, we will assess the incident and take reasonable steps required by applicable law.

Where legally required, we may notify affected individuals, regulators, or other relevant parties.

21. Third-Party Websites and Links

Our Services may contain links to websites operated by third parties.

These websites may have their own privacy policies and information practices.

PassingHerald is not responsible for the privacy, security, or content practices of websites that we do not control.

We encourage you to review the privacy policy of any third-party website before providing personal information.

22. Social Media and Embedded Content

Our website may contain social-media buttons, feeds, videos, posts, or other embedded content.

Third-party services may collect information about your interaction with embedded content even if you do not directly visit the third-party website.

Examples may include services operated by social-media platforms, video providers, advertising providers, or other technology companies.

Their processing of information is governed by their own privacy policies and terms.

23. Children’s Privacy

PassingHerald is intended for a general audience and is not directed toward children under 13.

We do not knowingly seek to collect personal information directly from children under 13.

If you believe that a child has provided personal information to us in circumstances where it should not have been collected, contact us so that we can investigate.

Where applicable, we will take appropriate steps consistent with legal requirements.

The U.S. Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (“COPPA”) contains specific requirements for websites and services directed toward children or knowingly collecting children’s personal information.

24. Your Privacy Rights

Depending on where you live and which privacy laws apply, you may have rights concerning your personal information.

These may include the right to:

  • Know whether we process your personal information;

  • Request access to personal information we hold about you;

  • Request correction of inaccurate information;

  • Request deletion of certain personal information;

  • Request restriction of processing;

  • Object to certain processing;

  • Withdraw consent where processing is based on consent;

  • Request portability of certain information;

  • Opt out of certain forms of targeted advertising or regulated sharing;

  • Appeal certain privacy decisions; and

  • Lodge a complaint with an applicable privacy regulator.

These rights are subject to exceptions and limitations established by applicable law.

In particular, rights relating to deletion, correction, restriction, or objection may be affected by applicable journalism, freedom-of-expression, public-interest, archival, legal, or other exemptions.

25. How to Submit a Privacy Request

To submit a privacy request, contact:

Email: privacy@passingherald.com

Please include:

  1. Your name;

  2. The email address associated with your interaction with PassingHerald;

  3. The nature of your request;

  4. The information or article to which your request relates; and

  5. Any information reasonably necessary for us to verify your identity and process the request.

We may need to verify your identity before completing certain requests.

We will not require you to provide more information than reasonably necessary for verification.

26. Correction Requests Concerning Published Articles

Privacy requests and editorial correction requests are not always the same.

If you believe that a PassingHerald article contains a factual error, use our Corrections Policy and provide evidence supporting the requested correction.

For privacy-related requests, contact our privacy team.

We may coordinate between our editorial and privacy teams when a request involves both published information and personal-data rights.

27. California Privacy Rights

If you are a California resident and applicable California privacy law applies to our processing of your information, you may have additional rights.

Depending on the circumstances, these may include rights to:

  • Know about personal information collected;

  • Access certain personal information;

  • Request deletion;

  • Request correction;

  • Opt out of certain sale or sharing activities;

  • Limit certain uses of sensitive personal information where applicable; and

  • Receive information concerning our privacy practices.

California privacy rights are subject to statutory exceptions, including exceptions that may apply to journalism, publicly available information, legal obligations, and other protected activities.

If applicable, you may submit a request through:

privacy@passingherald.com

We will process qualifying requests in accordance with applicable California law.

28. European Economic Area, United Kingdom, and Other Jurisdictions

If you are located in the European Economic Area, United Kingdom, or another jurisdiction with comprehensive data-protection legislation, you may have additional rights concerning your personal information.

Depending on applicable law, these may include:

  • Access;

  • Rectification;

  • Erasure;

  • Restriction;

  • Objection;

  • Data portability;

  • Withdrawal of consent; and

  • The right to lodge a complaint with a supervisory authority.

Privacy laws may also contain exemptions or special provisions concerning journalism, freedom of expression, public interest, archives, and publication.

Where applicable, we will assess requests in light of those provisions.

Privacy information should be provided clearly and accessibly, including information about processing purposes, retention, and sharing.

29. International Data Transfers

PassingHerald and our service providers may operate in different countries.

As a result, personal information may be processed or stored outside the country in which you reside.

Where applicable law requires safeguards for international transfers, we will take appropriate steps to provide those safeguards.

30. Nigeria and Data Protection

Where applicable, PassingHerald will seek to comply with Nigerian data-protection requirements, including applicable obligations under Nigeria’s data-protection framework.

Where Nigerian privacy law applies to our processing activities, individuals may have rights relating to access, correction, deletion, processing, consent, transfers, and other matters established by applicable law.

The Nigeria Data Protection Commission publishes guidance addressing matters including consent, lawful processing, data-subject rights, third-party transfers, cookies, security, retention, deletion, and data-subject access requests.

If PassingHerald is established in Nigeria or processes significant amounts of personal information in Nigeria, we recommend obtaining jurisdiction-specific legal advice concerning registration, controller/processor obligations, cross-border transfers, data-protection impact assessments, and appointment of any required privacy or data-protection personnel.

31. Do Not Track Signals

Some browsers provide “Do Not Track” or similar signals.

Because there is currently no universally accepted technical standard governing how websites must respond to every such signal, PassingHerald may not respond to all browser-based Do Not Track signals.

Where applicable law requires a specific response to recognized opt-out signals, we will follow those requirements.

32. Email and Communications Preferences

You may unsubscribe from promotional or newsletter communications at any time by following the unsubscribe instructions contained in the relevant email.

Even after unsubscribing from marketing communications, we may continue sending necessary administrative communications, including messages relating to submissions, corrections, security, legal matters, or requested services.

33. User Choices Regarding Cookies

Depending on your browser and our available consent tools, you may:

  • Accept or reject certain cookies;

  • Delete existing cookies;

  • Block third-party cookies;

  • Adjust browser privacy settings; or

  • Change cookie preferences through our cookie-consent mechanism.

Some essential technologies cannot be disabled without affecting core website functionality.

Where non-essential cookies require consent under applicable law, we will provide an appropriate consent mechanism.

34. Changes to This Privacy Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time.

Changes may be made because of:

  • Changes to our Services;

  • New technologies;

  • Changes in our information practices;

  • Changes in applicable law;

  • Changes to third-party services; or

  • Improvements to our privacy practices.

When we make material changes, we may provide additional notice where appropriate.

The “Last Updated” date at the top of this Privacy Policy indicates when the policy was most recently revised.

We encourage you to review this page periodically.

35. Contact Us About Privacy

If you have questions, concerns, or requests concerning this Privacy Policy or PassingHerald’s handling of personal information, contact:

Privacy Team

PassingHerald

Email: privacy@passingherald.com

General inquiries: contact@passingherald.com

Please use the subject line:

Privacy Request — PassingHerald

We will review privacy inquiries and respond in accordance with applicable law.

36. Important Notice About This Policy

This Privacy Policy is intended to describe PassingHerald’s information practices in a clear and comprehensive manner.

It should not be interpreted as creating rights that do not exist under applicable law, nor does it limit rights that applicable law provides.

PassingHerald may maintain additional notices for particular services, promotions, newsletters, contests, submissions, or other activities where additional information is necessary.

Where a service-specific privacy notice conflicts with this general Privacy Policy, the service-specific notice will control for that particular activity to the extent permitted by applicable law.

© 2026 PassingHerald. All rights reserved.