Privacy Policy

The New York Harbor Foundation d/b/a Billion Oyster Project (“BOP”) wants you to be familiar with how we collect, use and disclose information. This Privacy Policy describes our practices in connection with information that we collect through our website that is connected to this Privacy Policy (collectively the “Site”). By using our Site, you agree to this Privacy Policy.  

PERSONAL INFORMATION

“Personal Information” is information that identifies you as an individual or relates to an identifiable individual.  Personal Information we may collect includes:

• Name

• Postal address (including billing and shipping addresses)

• Telephone number

• Email address 

• Profile picture

• Credit and debit card number

• Employer, school or organization

• Users of the Site are not required to provide any personal information

• You may choose to voluntarily provide us with personal information when you fill out a form to sign up for our mailing list; participate in or sponsor our programming; donate money or goods; purchase tickets, services, or goods; volunteer; or otherwise get involved with BOP

Use of Personal Information

We and our service providers may use Personal Information: 

• To respond to your inquiries, fulfill your requests, complete your purchases and donations, and provide you with related customer service  

• To send you updates about BOP and the New York Harbor School and other information, including marketing, we think will be of interest  

• To send administrative information to you, such as changes to our terms, conditions, and policies.

• To personalize your experience on the Site and to facilitate social sharing functionality.

• To allow you to participate in sweepstakes, contests and similar promotions, and to administer these activities.  Some of these activities may have additional rules containing information about how we use and disclose your Personal Information.

For our business purposes, such as data analysis, audits, fraud monitoring and prevention, developing new products, improving or modifying our Site, identifying usage trends, determining the effectiveness of promotional campaigns, and operating and expanding business activities. If you submit any Personal Information relating to other people to us in connection with the Site, you represent that you have the authority to do so and to permit us to use the information in accordance with this Privacy Policy.

Disclosure of Personal Information 

Your Personal Information may be disclosed:

• To our third-party service providers who provide services such as website hosting and server configuration, performance monitoring and analysis, application design and development, database storage and management, data analysis, payment and ticket sale processing, information technology and related infrastructure provision, customer service, email delivery, auditing and other services

• To third-party sponsors of sweepstakes, contests and similar promotions.

• By you, on message boards, chat, Community and Research pages, profile pages, blogs and other services to which you are able to post information, research and materials.  Please note that any information you post or disclose through these services will become public information.

• To your friends associated with your social media account, to other website users and to your social media account provider, in connection with your social sharing activity.  By connecting your Site account and your social media account you authorize us to share information with your social media account provider, and you understand that the use of the information we share will be governed by the social media site’s privacy policy. We do not share personal information with unaffiliated third parties for their own marketing purposes.

Other Uses and Disclosures

We may also use and disclose your Personal Information as we believe to be necessary or appropriate: (a) to comply with applicable law, to respond to requests from public and government authorities, to cooperate with law enforcement, or for other legal reasons; (b) to enforce our terms and conditions; and (c) to protect our rights, privacy, safety or property, and/or that of our affiliates, you, or others. We may use, disclose or transfer your information to a third party in the event of any reorganization, merger, sale, joint venture, assignment, transfer or other disposition of all or any portion of our business or assets (including in connection with any bankruptcy or similar proceedings).

OTHER INFORMATION

“Other Information” is any information that does not reveal your specific identity or does not directly relate to an identifiable individual.  Other Information we may collect includes:

• Browser and device information IP address Date and time you accessed the Site 

• Number of visits to a page (“page views”) BOP pages viewed during one discrete period of time (a “session”) Internet address from which you accessed the Sites

• Method by which you accessed the Site (e.g., email, search engine, social media)

• Items clicked on a page

• Preferred language Screen resolution and screen colors  Information collected through cookies, pixel tags and other technologies 

• Information regarding your role (e.g., community scientist, teacher, non-profit partner/educator)

• Demographic and other information provided by you that does not reveal your specific identity, or information that has been aggregated in a manner that it no longer reveals your specific identity.  Please note that we may use and disclose Other Information for any purpose.

Collection of Other Information 

We and our service providers may collect Other Information in a variety of ways, including: 

• Through your browser or device: Certain information is collected by most browsers or automatically through your device, such as your Media Access Control (MAC) address, computer type (Windows or Macintosh), screen resolution, operating system name and version, device manufacturer and model, language, and Internet browser type and version. We use this information to ensure that the Site functions properly.  

• Using cookies: Cookies are pieces of information stored on the computer that you are using. Cookies allow us to collect information such as browser type, time spent on the Site, pages visited, language preferences, and other anonymous traffic data. We use the information for security purposes, to facilitate navigation, to display information more effectively, and to personalize your experience. We also gather statistical information about use of the Site to continually improve its functionality, understand how it is used and assist us with resolving questions about it. We do not currently respond to browser do-not-track signals. 

  If you do not want information collected through the use of cookies, most browsers allow you to automatically decline cookies, or be given the choice of declining or accepting a particular cookie (or cookies) from a particular site. If, however, you do not accept cookies, you may experience some inconvenience in your use of the Site. 

• Using pixel tags and other similar technologies: Pixel tags (also known as web beacons and clear GIFs) may be used to, among other things, track the actions of Site users and email recipients, measure the success of our marketing campaigns and compile statistics about Site usage and response rates.

• Analytics: We use Google Analytics, which uses cookies and similar technologies to collect and analyze information about use of the Services and report on activities and trends. This service may also collect information regarding the use of other websites, apps and online resources. You can learn about Google’s practices by clicking here, and opting out of them by downloading the Google Analytics opt-out browser add-on.

• IP Address: Your IP Address is a number that is automatically assigned to your computer by your Internet Service Provider. An IP Address may be identified and logged automatically in our server log files whenever a user accesses the Site, along with the time of the visit and the pages visited. We use IP Addresses for purposes such as calculating usage levels, diagnosing server problems, and administering the Site.  We may also derive your approximate location from your IP Address. 

THIRD-PARTY SERVICES

This Privacy Policy does not address, and we are not responsible for, the privacy, information or other practices of any third parties, including any third-party operating any site or service to which the Site links. Please review any third-party privacy policies to learn how they handle your Personal Information.

SECURITY

We use reasonable organizational, technical and administrative measures designed to protect Personal Information within our organization.  Unfortunately, no data transmission or storage system can be guaranteed to be 100% secure. If you have reason to believe that your interaction with us is no longer secure, please immediately notify us in accordance with the “Contacting Us” section below.

CHOICES AND ACCESS

If for any reason you would like to be removed from our mailing lists, you may unsubscribe by clicking the “unsubscribe” link in our emails or by emailing your request to info@nyharbor.org. You may also opt out of direct mail by indicating so on any reply documents sent to you. 

If you would like to update Personal Information that you have provided to us, you may email us at info@nyharbor.org.

If you are a resident of California, under 18 and a registered user of the Sites, you may ask us to remove content or information that you have posted to the Site by writing to info@nyharbor.org. Please note that your request does not ensure complete or comprehensive removal of the content or information, as, for example, some of your content may have been reposted by another user. 

DATA POLICY

When you use data from the Site, please credit the Billion Oyster Project.

UPDATES TO THIS PRIVACY POLICY

We may change this Privacy Policy. The “Last Updated” line at the top of this page indicates when this Privacy Policy was last revised.  Any changes will become effective when we post the revised Privacy Policy on the Sites. Your use of the Site following these changes means that you accept the revised Privacy Policy.

CONTACTING US

If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy, please contact us at info@nyharbor.org.