<aside> 🤠 This is the boring legal stuff. (Don't tell our lawyers we said that). If you're looking for our community guidelines - a.k.a, the rules our groups run by - click here.

</aside>

Privacy Policy for Talk Howdy

This Privacy Policy describes how we collect, use, and disclose Personal Information for our Service, including our web based services, and other services we may provide in the future (the “Service”). By using the Service, regardless of opening an account or becoming a “User”, you agree to the below. If you do not agree, please immediately stop using the Service.

Overview

As an overview, the Service is a platform for individuals to create and/or join interest-based online communities. We collect Personal Information about Users.

  1. Information we collect includes but is not limited to the following:
  2. First and Last Name
  3. Age
  4. Location and/or address
  5. Contact Information (including email, user names, screen names, phone numbers and/or other persistent identifiers)
  6. Personal interests, preferences, goals, and commentary
  7. Pictures, videos and sound clips which may identify you, your image or your voice
  8. Information about Users and their family (parents, guardians, or other kin)
  9. Information about interests with which the User is affiliated

Users may elect to share some or all of their Personal Information, subject to the terms of this Policy. If you have questions or comments about this policy, you may contact us via email at: [email protected]

Please review this Privacy Policy as well as the Service’s Terms of Use, which govern your use of the Service.

This Privacy Policy was last updated on February 18, 2021, and is effective as of that date.  We may change this Privacy Policy from time to time so please check back regularly to keep informed of updates.

By accessing our Service you expressly agree to the use of your Personal Information pursuant to the terms of this Policy. Children under the age of 13 are not allowed to use the Service, access the site, or create an account, without the express consent of their parent or guardian. The collection, use and disclosure of information that is not Personal Information is not covered by this Privacy Policy.  If you do not agree to this Privacy Policy or any changes to this Privacy Policy or our Terms of use, please do not visit or access our Service.

Important Features of Our Service

This Service is password protected and limited to registered Users.

Types of Accounts and Users

Community Pages: Any user may request to build a community on Talk Howdy. Pending Talk Howdy’s approval of community, said user will then become a Community Administrator of the now-approved community, and may now set up the homepage for the approved community. These pages will be managed by the Community Administrators, as set forth below.

Community Admin/Leader Roles: If you are a Community Administrator of a Talk Howdy community, then you can establish a community homepage. Other members of said community also acquire an administrative role (as assigned by the Community Administrator) for a particular community. The primary Community Administrator in question will be required to permit any additional Community Administrator prior to such account gaining administrative permissions. The initial Community Administrator shall also have the right to eliminate or remove any secondary Community Administrators or community members at any time.

Community Member Accounts: The Service provides a platform for individuals to join existing  communities built on the Talk Howdy platform. Individual users may sign up for a Community Member account to join communities. If you are a prospective user under the age of 13, then you must have a parent or guardian approve your Account prior to signing up. Unless specifically authorized by their legal guardian (via consent to the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy of the Service), children under the age 13 may not participate in the use of the Service, including the management of an account, or the contribution or manipulation of content. Users with a Member Account may join as many communities as they like, and be appointed as secondary Community Administrators to as many communities as they like. Each member shall have his/her own login and may add a profile picture, comments or other content and participate in community messaging, virtual meetups, and any other features.

All of the proceeding (Community Administrator, Community Member) shall be considered a User.

All User profiles will be viewable by all other Users. Any information posted to an account or on a profile will become Shared Information. Please use caution when sharing your Personal Information.

What Information Do We Collect and How is it Used?

The information we collect, including Personal Information, Shared Information, and other information  includes, but is not limited to the following:

We collect this information in order to register and manage User accounts, to provide requested services, to contact Users about features or postings on the Service, to facilitate User communications, and to respond to any questions Users submit to us.   We share Users’ Personal Information internally in order to manage and operate the Service.

We collect information in order to notify Users by email that other Users have created relevant communities of interest or posted information.  Such notifications may occur when other Users post information and may require additional online communications.   Individuals with Shared Personal Information may require the deletion of their Account and any online contact information, and may do so as described below.

Personal Information

“Personally Identifiable Information,” or “Personal Information” for the purposes of this Privacy Policy, includes information that permits the physical or online contacting of a specific individual or User.  Users may elect to share some or all of their Personal Information (“Shared Personal Information” or ”Shared Information”).

Other than as described in this Policy, Personal Information collected will not be used or disclosed for any other purpose or combined with any other information collected from a member.  We retain Personal Information collected from members for only as long as is reasonably necessary to fulfill the purpose for which the information was collected.   If it is determined that a minor under the age of 13 has managed to access and post information or content to the Service without the approval and consent of their parent/guardian, the information or content will be held until approval is given, or, if not approved within a reasonable time, then will be deleted as soon as reasonably possible to protect against unauthorized access to, or use of, the Personal Information.

We may otherwise collect Personal Information from members as permitted by law.

By providing the Service any of your information, Personal or otherwise, users agree and represent that the information provided is accurate, complete and up to date.   Users agree to notify us at [email protected] if any changes or updates are necessary.

Information Users Share

By using the Service, Users acknowledge that information provided on a profile or account can be seen by others and used by us as described in this Privacy Policy and our Terms. To the extent you post or share information about yourself or third parties, you agree that you are authorized to do so. This includes having any and all rights or licenses necessary to use or share that content.  Furthermore, each User acknowledges and agrees that to the extent any private information or other content is shared or posted to the Service, that (i) the Service shall have the right to use, manipulate, repost, share or otherwise disseminate such information for purposes relating to the business of the service, and (ii) that User has the ability and/or right to authorize the Service to use, manipulate, repost, share or otherwise disseminate such information.

Any information you put on your profile and post on the Service may be seen by others - this may include Personal Information, Shared Information and information otherwise made publicly available. Unless required by law, previously shared or posted by you, or otherwise made public, we do not provide any of your Personal Information to the public without your consent.

Shared Personal Information provided to us may reveal or allow others to identify aspects of your life that are not expressly stated on your profile (for example, your picture or your name may reveal your gender). By providing us with Personal Information when you create or update your account and profile, you are expressly and voluntarily accepting and agreeing to this Privacy Policy and the Terms, and are freely accepting and agreeing to our processing of your  Personal Information in ways set out by this Privacy Policy. Supplying information to us, including any information deemed "sensitive" by applicable law, is entirely voluntary on your part. You have the right to withdraw or modify your consent to the Service collecting and processing the information you provide at any time, in accordance with the terms of this Privacy Policy and our Terms, by changing your account settings or by closing your account.

The Service supports middleware providers that offer archiving solutions to firms subject to financial services regulation, which, with your permission, facilitate the archiving of your communications and other Service activity by a third party for compliance purposes. Content distributed through the Service sharing features and third-party integrations may result in displaying some of your personal information outside of the Service. For example, if you have bound your account to your Twitter and Facebook account, or any other social media, you can easily share content from the Service to Twitter and Facebook.

User Generated Content

The Service may allow users to share and post comments and other information they generate (“User Content”) with other Users, whether by emailing other Users, posting photos, in forums, message boards, chat areas, or through other features or services on the Service.   Please note that if a User discloses User Content on the Service that includes Personal Information, the information posted can be viewed and collected by others.  We bear no responsibility for, and will not be liable for, any actions of any third parties who may collect User Content that is posted on the Service.

You own all of the content and information you post on the Service, and agree as follows:

  1. For content that is covered by intellectual property rights, like photos and videos (IP content), you specifically give us the following permission: you grant us a non-exclusive, transferable, sub-licensable, royalty-free, worldwide license to use any IP content that you post on or in connection with the Service (IP License).
  2. This IP License ends when you delete your IP content or your account unless your content has been previously shared or posted, and such ancillary content has not been deleted. When you delete IP content, it is deleted from your account and/or profile in a manner similar to emptying the recycle bin on a computer. However, you understand that removed content may persist in backup copies for a reasonable period of time (but will not be available to others).

Disclosure to Third Parties

Except as otherwise set forth in this Privacy Policy, we do not sell, share or otherwise disclose Personal Information from Users of TalkHowdy.com to third parties. However, where information is shared, be that Shared Personal Information, or otherwise, the Service retains the right, as provided herein, to further use, manipulate, repost, share or otherwise disseminate  said information. Further, the restriction on sharing or disclosing of Personal Information does not include disclosure to affiliates or trusted third parties who assist us in operating our Service, conducting our business, or servicing users.   We may also release User information, which may include Personal Information, when we believe release is appropriate to comply with the law, enforce our Service policies, or protect our or other’s rights, property, or safety.   By accessing our Service, sending us email, and/or registering for an account, you provide your express consent to our disclosure of your information as described in this Privacy Policy.  If we sell all or part of our organization, or make a sale or transfer of assets, or are otherwise involved in a merger or business transfer, or in the event of bankruptcy, we may transfer information provided by members/users to one or more third parties as part of that transaction.

How do we Protect Your Information?

We implement a variety of reasonable security measures to maintain the safety of our Users’ Personal Information and to protect the confidentiality, security and integrity of Personal Information.  We take reasonable steps to release Personal Information only to service providers and third parties who are capable of maintaining the confidentiality, security and integrity of such information, and who provide assurances that they will maintain the information in such a manner.    However, no method of transmitting or storing electronic data is ever completely secure, and therefore we cannot warrant or guarantee that such information will never be accessed, used or released in a manner that is inconsistent with this policy.

By using the Service and continuing to use the Service, you agree that the Service cannot and will not be liable for any damages related to the storing or transmitting of collected data.

Third Party Services and Links

The Service may contain links to other websites that are independent, are not owned or operated by us, are not covered by this Privacy Policy and which may incorporate Third Party Information. These third party sites have separate and independent privacy policies.  If a User accesses other sites using the links provided, the operators of these sites may collect information which will be used by them in accordance with their privacy policy, which may differ from ours.  User agrees and acknowledges that we have no control over their policies, and therefore have no responsibility or liability for the content and activities of other websites, even if they are linked to our Service.

Cookies and Other Technologies

We use cookies when you visit our Service. Cookies are small files that a site or its service provider transfers to your computer’s hard drive through your Web browser (if you allow) that enables the sites or service provider’s systems to recognize your browser and capture and remember certain information.  By accessing our Service you are giving your express consent to the use of cookies.

Web beacons are 1x1 single-pixel graphics that may be embedded in web pages or emails. We use web beacons to collect information about advertising and site traffic statistics. Local Storage Objects (sometimes referred to as “Flash Cookies”) are similar to standard cookies except that they can be larger and are downloaded to a computer or mobile device by the Adobe Flash media player. Please note that you may need to take additional steps beyond changing your browser settings to refuse or disable Local Storage Objects and similar technologies.  For example, Local Storage Objects can be controlled through the instructions on Adobe’s Setting Manager page.

We also allow third parties to collect persistent identifiers to support the internal operations of the Service.  For example, our third-party service providers may collect persistent identifiers to help us with traffic measurement, research, and analytics.

We also use IP addresses and other location based technologies which may disclose Personal Information to the Service. We implement reasonable security measures to protect this type of information subject to the terms hereof.

Contact Us

If you have a question about the Service or this Privacy Policy or wish to change or update your Personal Information, please contact us at: [email protected].

Control of Personal Information

Upon providing proper identification, members can review, correct, or have deleted their Personal Information from our database, or refuse further collection or use of Personal Information by writing to us via email at: [email protected]/.

Your Texas Privacy Rights

We do not share information that we collect through the Service with third parties for the third party’s direct marketing purposes.

Some web browsers may transmit “do-not-track” signals to the websites with which the user communicates.  Because of differences in how web browsers incorporate and activate this feature, it is not always clear whether users intend for these signals to be transmitted, or whether they even are aware of them.  Because there currently is no industry standard concerning what, if anything, websites should do when they receive such signals, we currently do not take action in response to these signals.  If and when a final standard is established and accepted, we will reassess how to respond to these signals.