Last updated January 8, 2022
Black Bay (parent company) take privacy very seriously. Please read this privacy policy for more information.
This privacy policy covers this web site (Black Bay) and web sites that are a part of its network. All other web sites linked from or to here or other web sites in the network do not apply.
Black Bay collects various pieces of information from both anonymous individuals and also registered members. Keep in mind, none of this information is sold or given to any third party or used to communicate unsolicited advertisements via email or otherwise.
Believe it or not, many people still believe that if they post something to their public blog, only their friends will see it. Contrary to such beliefs, information posted to the Internet is available to everyone who can access the Internet. We provide the ability to hide and control access to all pieces of submitted information, but we cannot control what a user post to the public.
Black Bay may set and access cookies on a visitor or user's computer to customize experience. If one disables or rejects cookies, the experience may be hindered.
Black Bay and its parent company may at any time, change, update, or remove any content from this privacy policy without prior notification. Generally, however, we announce all major updates to our policies.
Safeguarding your privacy is serious business. That's why Black Bay's policy is simple: Except as provided in this statement, Black Bay will not disclose, sell or rent any personally identifiable information without proper consent. You, the Black Bay user, always have the final word on whether Black Bay knows who you are. It is your choice whether you wish to share personally identifiable information with Black Bay. We encourage you to consider sharing information with Black Bay only if you receive true value in exchange for that information. Please use discretion when revealing personally identifiable information while using Black Bay tools, as it may be collected and used by unauthorized third parties (e.g. harvesting). Such activities are beyond the control of Black Bay. In other words, if for some reason you post your home phone number on the Black Bay boards (which you should NOT do), you're on your own. Please take a minute to read our policy so that you understand your options and how Black Bay collects, processes and shares information. If you have any questions about Black Bay's information practices, please contact Black Bay's Policy Manager.
If you decide to join Black Bay, registration is the only place where you are required to submit information about yourself. To become a Black Bay member you need to submit your email address (which can be your new Black Bay email address), gender, birth-date, and name.
Black Bay receives zip or postal code-based data about demographics and income levels from third parties such as Nielsen and the US Census Bureau. Black Bay appends such third party data to each member's record to understand demographics and income levels for a zip or postal code or set of zip/postal codes. We use this for our own statistics, we do not give/sell/transport/email/sing/broadcast/bee dance/etc this information to third parties.
The main function of cookies is to connect members with their stored account information so that Black Bay can deliver better and more personalized service. Cookies do not enable the Black Bay staff to access personally identifiable information that you haven't already provided, nor do cookies give anyone unauthorized access to your computer.
Black Bay uses information collected from you and other members primarily to provide more personalized service and advertising, and to learn more about its audience demographic. Black Bay also collects market research data in order to generate appropriate content for users. Market research data are always anonymous and are never used to sell anything to individual respondents based on their personal responses.
Black Bay logs information automatically transmitted from your browser (URL of the web page you were on before coming to Black Bay, IP address, time spent on the site, and browser version); information you submit through registration, forms for optional programs, surveys and other entries; and communications transmitted through Black Bay tools.
To preserve our database, Black Bay retains information submitted by members for an indefinite length of time. Black Bay understands your submissions as consent to store all your information in one place for this indefinite length of time. Black Bay will nullify (scramble so that it is unrecognizable) account information if required by law or in response to a written member request.
Black Bay makes every effort to make sure your information is secure. Your Black Bay account is password-protected so that only you and authorized Black Bay employees can access your information.
When you submit information to Black Bay, it isn't usually shared with anyone. Sometimes Black Bay's partner companies are allowed to collect certain information about members from Black Bay or directly from members. When Black Bay is the source, it is usually so that we can provide a service through a partner. When visitors come to Black Bay, they may receive cookies from Black Bay's sponsors; this information is not shared with Black Bay. Black Bay reserves the right to disclose user information if required by law or if Black Bay has reason to believe that the law is being violated.
During registration you choose whether to receive correspondence from either Black Bay or its partners, and whether you want to participate in a variety of Black Bay programs. This information lives on your Profile where you can, at any point, easily edit it to indicate that you have changed your mind. As for promotions, contests, submission opportunities and programs, you will not be included unless you opt-in.
Black Bay believes strongly in giving you the ability to access and edit your personal information. You can always update the personal information in your Profile by clicking on the profile button located below your member name on the top of the left-hand navigation bar. To change your personal account settings (e.g., your email address and password), click the settings button also located below your member name. You can edit your Profile or account settings at any time -- all you need is your member name and password.
Because Black Bay is intended for people ages 13 and over, its registration policy is intentionally designed to identify people who are 13 or younger. Black Bay will not knowingly allow anyone under 13 to join the service. Black Bay has developed a process to verify and delete accounts belonging to members who are discovered to be under 13. For more information, see our COPPA page.
Note to Parents:If your child is under 13 and has become a Black Bay member using a false age, please notify Black Bay's Policy Manager, who will immediately close the account and nullify all personally identifiable information collected from them. If your child is under the age of 18 and you would like to know more about Black Bay's site, information practices, stored information or how to close your child's account, contact the Policy Manager.
Black Bay's security and privacy policy are periodically reviewed and enhanced as necessary. This policy might change as Black Bay updates and expands its services. Black Bay will contact you via email and post notification if there are any material changes in its privacy practices. Black Bay also encourages you to also check the privacy policy out periodically.
If you have technical problems, questions or other issues related to your use of Black Bay, please check out the Help Center. Black Bay's Policy Manager will respond to all requests sent through mail or email from members and parents interested in knowing more about personal information stored on the Black Bay database, having their personal information nullified, or have additional questions regarding privacy.
What information does Black Bay collect?
Black Bay wants to be your favorite online destination. To encourage your participation, your Black Bay experience is personalized so that you are offered the services, products and information most relevant to you. This requires the collection of information to help tell you apart from other Black Bay members. The forms are specially designed so that you don't have to disclose any more information than is necessary to participate in a given activity or use a given tool.
Black Bay collects two kinds of information: anonymous and personally identifiable. Anonymous information is not associated with specific individuals. For instance, Black Bay may know how many people read this Privacy Policy today, but they don't necessarily know their names, addresses or birthdays. Personally identifiable information reveals who you are and/or how you can be contacted. It includes your name, address, phone number and email address.
Below is a summary of the different ways Black Bay collects various kinds of information about members:
Registration (mandatory to be a Black Bay member)If you decide to join Black Bay, registration is the only place where you will be required to submit information about yourself. To become a Black Bay member, you need to complete a form with your email address (which can be your new Black Bay email address), gender, birthday, zip code, and country. Black Bay uses this information to provide you with more personalized service, and to learn more about its audience demographics.
Only when you choose to participate in optional Black Bay programs or services will registration information be linked to information you submit for other purposes. For example, if you decide to be a Black Bay Rep, you'll be asked to provide Black Bay with your full name, address, school and graduating class. Black Bay keeps this information in its database with your member name and other registration data. If you decide that you no longer want Black Bay to have a certain piece of information about you, email the Policy Manager.
Information from registration will automatically be placed in your Member Profile. In addition, you can choose to tell everyone your hobbies, interests, likes and dislikes. You can fill out as much or as little of your Profile as you want. The more you fill out, the more likely it is that you'll be able to meet members based on things you have in common.
Black Bay runs promotions, contests, submission opportunities, surveys and programs designed to improve your experience on Black Bay. To participate in these programs you may have to give contact (name, address, email address) and/or demographic (i.e., age, gender) information. This only goes to the authorized Black Bay employees who run the promotion, contest or program so that they can inform you if you win, ask you questions about your submission and deal with other relevant details. Black Bay understands your decision to participate as permission to contact you, if necessary, and to store this additional information in its databases with your registration data.
Black Bay understands your decision to post in public areas as permission to contact you through your Black Bay account.
One last thing to keep in mind: Whenever you voluntarily disclose personal information on message boards, through email, Black Bay Notes, Zap, Blogs, or in chat, it can be collected and used by anyone, including law-enforcement agencies acting under subpoena power. If you post personal information in public places, others may send you unsolicited email messages. Always be smart about the information you provide online. And, be aware that if Black Bay employees find personally identifiable information posted in public areas, they will delete it.
What are cookies, and how does Black Bay use them?
Black Bay collects anonymous information through cookies. A cookie is a small piece of data containing a unique identification number that is sent to your browser from a web server, and is stored on your computer's hard drive. The unique ID number identifies your browser to Black Bay's computers whenever you visit. Cookies do not enable anyone to access personally identifiable information that you have not already given us. Black Bay primarily uses cookies to connect members with account information stored on Black Bay's computers. This helps Black Bay deliver better and more personalized service. Black Bay also uses cookies to estimate Black Bay's audience size for advertisers; to track the number of entries in Black Bay promotions, sweepstakes and contests; to identify the areas of the site you visit; to hold session information; and to track user preferences.
Cookies are part of the technology implemented by your browser. Most browsers are initially set up to accept cookies. You can reset your browser to either notify you when you have received a cookie, or to refuse them all together.
Black Bay uses both permanent and temporary cookies. Permanent cookies stay with your browser, whereas temporary cookies go away after you close your browser. Black Bay uses permanent cookies in order to recognize you between visits. Black Bay uses temporary cookies to store information about your current visit to the site. That information goes away when you close your browser or shut down your computer. If you choose to not accept cookies, you cannot participate as a registered, signed-in member.
You should be aware that Black Bay's advertisers sometimes use banner ads to give you their own cookies. If you want to understand how and why an advertiser uses cookies, check the company's site for their privacy statement.
We employ a software technology called clear gifs (a.k.a. Web Beacons/Web Bugs) that help us better manage the content of our html emails. Clear gifs are tiny graphics with a unique identifier, similar in function to cookies. The main difference between the two is that clear gifs are invisible on the page and are much smaller, about the size of the period at the end of this sentence. Black Bay uses clear gifs in its html emails to let us know which emails have been opened by the recipients. This allows us to gauge the effectiveness of our marketing campaigns. The clear gifs are not used in conjunction with other user information that is stored by Black Bay.
How does Black Bay use member information?
Black Bay's decisions regarding the use of information collected from Black Bay members are based on two areas of interest: market research, and improving user experience by offering personalized service, content and advertising.
Ads are a standard part of user experience on the Internet, and Black Bay believes that targeted advertising enhances this experience. Black Bay uses information collected from Black Bay members to place ads where they believe interested parties will see them. For example, let's say an advertiser wants to get the word out about a new set of ski boots for guys and girls aged 15-18 who live in Colorado. Black Bay analyzes data from registration and cookies to find out where members who fit the bill hang out on Black Bay, and place the ad accordingly. Don't worry: Advertisers never see or have access to your personal information without you knowing.
In addition to banner ads, Black Bay may advertise products, companies and events that we think might interest you through the email address you provide.
Black Bay may analyze information provided directly by you, or obtained through cookies or third parties to direct services and content based on your interests. This is done in the aggregate (for example, let's say half of Black Bay's members are females who use one service more than another) and at the individual level (for example, Black BayUser1234 mostly uses a specific service). Again, this helps the staff produce and appropriately feature tools and content tailored to your interests.
Black Bay collects market research data in order to to better personalize our services. Market research data are always anonymous and are never used to sell anything to individual respondents based on their personal responses. Market research data, however, may be used at the aggregate level to: 1. Improve the likelihood of a sale to a group of Black Bay members2. Increase the likelihood that a group's experience on Black Bay is relevant to its interests as a whole 3. Formulate group-level statistical models that are used to accomplish goal #2 (above).
Black Bay's market research data is collected in two ways: 1. Among individuals who opt-in to take surveys. 2. Through surveys that we publicly post on Black Bay (it is never mandatory to answer these surveys).
Black Bay uses data at the individual level to sell products and services to Black Bay members who express an interest in these products and services, through a poll for example, or to members who can be presumed to have an interest based on results from a statistical analysis.
What information does Black Bay log?
When you surf the Internet, your browser automatically transmits information to the web sites you visit, including Black Bay. Such information includes referral data (URL of the web page you were on before coming to Black Bay), IP address, time spent on the site, and your browser version. Black Bay collects this information to help improve services and moderate the site. All the information that is automatically submitted by your browser is considered anonymous.
Black Bay also logs information you submit through registration, forms for optional programs, surveys and other entries, cookie data and communications transmitted through Black Bay applications. Only authorized Black Bay staff have access to your information in its entirety. Other employees may have access to bits and pieces of this information if it pertains to their job duties.
If a user elects to use our referral service for informing a friend about our site, we ask them for a referral identification. Black Bay will automatically send the friend a one-time email inviting them to visit the site. Black Bay does not store this information. It is used for the sole purpose of sending this one-time email.
How does Black Bay secure collected information?
Your Black Bay Profile is password-protected so that only you and authorized Black Bay employees have access to your account information. In order to maintain this protection, do not give your password to anyone. If anyone ever asks you for information claiming they are Black Bay staff, check their Member Profile -- if it doesn't say they are staff, they're not. Also, if you share a computer, you should sign out of your Black Bay account and close the browser window before someone else logs on. This will protect your information on public terminals.
Black Bay makes every effort to ensure that your information is secure on its system. Only certain authorized Black Bay employees can access this information if it's relevant to their job duties. Black Bay has staff dedicated to maintaining this Privacy Policy and other privacy initiatives, periodically reviewing web security and making sure that every Black Bay employee is aware of our security practices. Unfortunately, no data transmission over the Internet can be guaranteed 100% secure. As a result, Black Bay cannot guarantee the security of any information you transmit to us, and you do so at your own risk.
With whom does Black Bay share information?
When you submit information to Black Bay, it is generally collected, processed and maintained solely by us. Sometimes we may allow partner companies to collect information about members from us or directly from you via their web site. When Black Bay is the source, it is usually so that we can provide a service with a partner. We choose to work with upstanding companies that will treat your information responsibly. But, since we don't own these companies, we can't speak for them on privacy issues. Before telling them about yourself, check out their privacy statements. If you are not satisfied with their information practices, you can choose to not use their service.
Below is a summary of the situations in which Black Bay might share information:
Some of our services, such as Black Bay mobile, are offered in conjunction with partner companies. In order to provide these services, Black Bay may choose to share some of you user data (e.g., user name and email address).
Some Black Bay content is "sponsored by" or "presented by" other companies. Black Bay typically shares market research data (how the sponsorship performed, names of contest winners, etc.) collected on the site or via email surveys with these partners. This information is aggregate and not linked to specific users.
Partners may sponsor promotions, contests and sweepstakes that require you to reveal details such as your name, address or phone number. Always check their privacy policy before revealing information about yourself. If you don't want these sponsors to have your personal information, you can choose to not participate.
When visitors come to Black Bay, they may receive cookies from Black Bay's sponsors; this information is not shared with Black Bay. This privacy statement does not address the information practices of our advertisers. You should read the privacy statements of all third-party sites, as their privacy policies may differ from Black Bay's.
Finally, Black Bay reserves the right to disclose user information from both private and public areas of the site if required by law or if given reason to believe, in our sole discretion, that someone is causing injury to or interference with the rights of Black Bay members or the general public, or with Black Bay's rights of property.
Black Bay uses Google AdSense as its third party ad server, to serve ads on the site. For more information about AdSense's privacy policy click here.
How can Black Bay members edit their information?
Black Bay believes strongly in giving you the ability to access and edit your personal information. You can always update the personal information by going to your account panel. You can edit your Profile or account settings at any time -- all you need is your member name and password.
So that we can protect the integrity of sensitive data, there are certain pieces of information, such as your birthday, that you cannot alter yourself. For example, since children under 13 are not allowed to register as Black Bay members, we need to take reasonable measures to preserve the accuracy of our members' ages.
Our databases automatically update any personal information you edit through our services remain in our databases. Keep this in mind if you decide to communicate personal information through any of these applications.