Privacy Statement

Last Updated: 2023-01-15

Your privacy is important to us. This privacy statement explains our collection, use, and disclosure of personal data. This privacy statement applies to OrcasHub and to our controlled affiliates and subsidiaries ("OrcasHub"). References to our "services" in this statement include our websites, apps, devices, and any other services.

Personal Data We Collect

The personal data we collect depends on how you interact with us, the services you use, and the choices you make.

We collect information about you from different sources and in various ways when you use our services, including information you provide directly, information collected automatically, information from third-party data sources, and data we infer or generate from other data.

Information you provide directly. We collect personal data you provide to us. For example:

Name and contact information. We collect name, username, or alias, and contact details such as email address, postal address, and phone number.
Demographic data. In some cases, such as when you register or participate in surveys, we request that you provide age, gender, marital status, and similar demographic details.
Payment information. If you make a purchase or other financial transaction, we collect credit card numbers, financial account information, and other payment details.
Content and files. We collect the photos, documents, or other files you upload to our services; and if you send us email messages or other communications, we collect and may retain those communications.
Sensitive Personal Information.

Account access information. We collect information such as a username or account number in combination with a password, security or access code, or other credential that allows access to an account.

Information we collect automatically. When you use our services, we collect some information automatically. For example:

Identifiers and device information. When you visit our websites, our web servers automatically log your Internet Protocol (IP) address and information about your device, including device identifiers (such as MAC address); device type; and your device's operating system, browser, and other software including type, version, language, settings, and configuration. As further described in the Cookies, Mobile IDs, and Similar Technologies section below, our websites and online services store and retrieve cookie identifiers and other data.
Demographic data. In some cases, such as when you register or participate in surveys, we request that you provide age, gender, marital status, and similar demographic details.
Usage Data. We automatically log your activity on our websites, apps and connected products, including the URL of the website from which you came to our sites, pages you viewed, access times, and other details about your use of and actions on our website.

Information we create or generate. We infer new information from other data we collect, including using automated means to generate information about your likely preferences or other characteristics ("inferences"). For example, we infer your general geographic location (such as city, state, and country) based on your IP address.

Information we obtain from third-party sources. We also obtain the types of information described above from third parties. These third-party sources include, for example:

Third-party partners. Third-party applications and services you choose to connect with or interact with through our services.
Co-branding/marketing partners. Partners with which we offer co-branded services or engage in joint marketing activities.
Service providers. Third parties that collect or provide data in connection with work they do on our behalf, for example companies that process payments or determine your device’s location based on its IP address.
Publicly availale sources. Public sources of information such as open government databases.

When you are asked to provide personal data, you may decline. And you may use web browser or operating system controls to prevent certain types of automatic data collection. But if you choose not to provide or allow information that is necessary for certain services or features, those services or features may not be available or fully functional.

Cookies and Similar Technologies

We use cookies and similar technologies to operate our websites and online services and to help collect data, including usage data, identifiers, and device information.

What are cookies and similar technologies?

Cookies are small text files placed by a website and stored by your browser on your device. A cookie can later be read when your browser connects to a web server in the same domain that placed the cookie. The text in a cookie contains a string of numbers and letters that may uniquely identify your device and can contain other information as well. This allows the web server to recognize your browser over time, each time it connects to that web server.

How do we and our partners use cookies and similar technologies?

We use these technologies in our websites, apps, and online services to collect personal data (such as the pages you visit, the links you click on, and similar usage information, identifiers, and device information) when you use our services. This data is used to store your preferences and settings, enable you to sign-in, analyze how our websites and apps perform, track your interaction with the site or app, develop inferences, combat fraud, and fulfill other legitimate purposes. We and/or our partners also share the data we collect or infer with third parties for these purposes. For more information about the third-party analytics partners that collect personal information on our services, please see the Our Disclosure of Personal Data section of this statement.

What controls are available?

There are a range of cookie and related controls available through browsers, mobile operating systems, and elsewhere. See the Choice and Control of Personal Data section below for details.

Our Use of Personal Data

We use the personal data we collect for purposes described in this privacy statement or as otherwise disclosed to you. For example, we use personal data for the following purposes:

Produce and service delivery. To provide and deliver our services, including troubleshooting, improving, and personalizing those services.
Business operations. To operate our business, such as billing, accounting, improving our internal operations, securing our systems, detecting fraudulent or illegal activity, and meeting our legal obligations.
Product improvement, development, and research. To develop new services or features, and conduct research.
Personalization. To understand you and your preferences to enhance your experience and enjoyment using our services.
Customer support. To provide customer support and respond to your questions.
Communications. To send you information, including confirmations, invoices, technical notices, updates, security alerts, and support and administrative messages.
Marketing. To communicate with you about new services, offers, promotions, rewards, contests, upcoming events, and other information about our services and those of our selected partners (see the Choice and Control section of this statement for information about how to change your preferences for promotional communications).

We combine data we collect from different sources for these purposes to give you a more seamless, consistent, and personalized experience.

Our Disclosure of Personal Data

We disclose personal data with your consent or as we determine necessary to complete your transactions or provide the services you have requested or authorized. In addition, we disclose each of the categories of personal data described above, to the types of third parties described below, for the following business purposes:

Public information. You may select options available through our services to publicly display and disclose your name and/or username and certain other information, such as your profile, demographic data, content and files, or geolocation data.
Service providers. We provide personal data to vendors or agents working on our behalf for the purposes described in this statement. For example, companies we’ve hired to provide customer service support or assist in protecting and securing our systems and services may need access to personal data to provide those functions.
Financial services and payment processing. When you provide payment data, for example to make a purchase, we will disclose payment and transactional data to banks and other entities as necessary for payment processing, fraud prevention, credit risk reduction, analytics, or other related financial services.
Affiliates. We enable access to personal data across our subsidiaries, affiliates, and related companies, for example, where we share common data systems or where access helps us to provide our services and operate our business.
Legal and law enforcement. We will access, disclose, and preserve personal data when we believe that doing so is necessary to comply with applicable law or respond to valid legal process, including from law enforcement or other government agencies.
Security, safety, and protecting rights. We will disclose personal data if we believe it is necessary to: protect our customers and others, for example to prevent spam or attempts to commit fraud, or to help prevent the loss of life or serious injury of anyone; operate and maintain the security of our services, including to prevent or stop an attack on our computer systems or networks; or protect the rights or property of ourselves or others, including enforcing our agreements, terms, and policies.

Finally, we may disclose de-identified information in accordance with applicable law.

Choice and Control of Personal Data

We provide a variety of ways for you to control the personal data we hold about you, including choices about how we use that data. In some jurisdictions, these controls and choices may be enforceable as rights under applicable law.

Access, portability, correction, and deletion. If you wish to access, correct, or delete personal data about you that we hold, you may access your account by logging into the OrcasHub services you use.

If you are unable to access, copy, correct, or delete certain personal data we have via the means described above, you can send us a request by using contact methods described at the bottom of this privacy statement.

Communication preferences. You can choose whether to receive (a) promotional communications and (b) post push notifications from us by email and physical mail. If you receive promotional email messages or post push notifications from us and would like to stop, you can do so by (a) following the directions in that message, (b) contacting us as described in the “Contact Us” section below, or (c) by using your account settings to control post push notifications. These choices do not apply to certain informational communications including surveys and mandatory service communications.

These choices are specific to the device or browser you are using. If you access our services from other devices or browsers, take these actions from those systems to ensure your choices apply to the data collected when you use those systems.

Retention of Personal Data

We retain personal data for as long as necessary to provide the services and fulfill the transactions you have requested, comply with our legal obligations, resolve disputes, enforce our agreements, and other legitimate and lawful business purposes. Because these needs can vary for different data types in the context of different services, actual retention periods can vary significantly based on criteria such as user expectations or consent, the sensitivity of the data, the availability of automated controls that enable users to delete data, and our legal or contractual obligations. For example:

Expired posts will be retained for 4 weeks to facilitate easier reposting. After that period the post and associated images will be completely deleted.
In a future mailing list service, posts by a user may be anonymized but remain otherwise intact if a user deletes their account.
Server logs containing anonymous user access information will be cleaned periodically, but likely not on a set schedule, at least for now.

Location of Personal Data

The personal data we collect may be stored and processed in your country or region. Currently, we singularly use data storage on Orcas Island. The storage location is chosen to operate efficiently and improve performance. We take steps with the intent of processing and protecting as described in this statement wherever the data are located.

Security of Personal Data

We take reasonable and appropriate steps to help protect personal data from unauthorized access, use, disclosure, alteration, and destruction.

To help us protect personal data, we request that you use a strong password and never share your password with anyone or use the same password with other sites or accounts.

Changes to This Privacy Statement

We will update this privacy statement when necessary to reflect changes in our services, how we use personal data, or the applicable law. When we post changes to the statement, we will revise the "Last Updated" date at the top of the statement. If we make material changes to the statement, we will provide notice or obtain consent regarding such changes as may be required by law.

How to Contact Us

If you have a privacy concern, complaint, or a question for OrcasHub, please contact us at support@orcashub.org.