Effective: July 7, 2020

Welcome to Pluralistic, a website created by Cory Doctorow, which lives at pluralistic.net. This Privacy Policy applies to any information that is collected while you use my hosted discussion forum at chinwag.pluralistic.net. My goal with this policy is to be transparent about the information I collect, how I use it, and how it is shared.

This Privacy Policy is part of my Terms of Service, and by using the Site you agree to both. Terms with initial capital letters used in this Privacy Policy shall have the respective meanings assigned to them in the Terms of Service.

WHAT INFORMATION DO I COLLECT?

  1. I collect information when you use our Discussion Forum

I host a Discourse.org Discussion Forum. This allows you to create an account. This policy controls how I use the data I am able to access about your account and your use of the Forum.

When you sign up for an account on Chinwag, I store your email address and a hashed version of your password that I cannot unscramble. I associate your email address and username with your comments. You can delete all of this information at any time by visiting the settings for your Chinwag account.

In general, I will never look at this data or pass it on to any third parties. However, I may analyze it for forensic purposes to head off (or remediate) cybersecurity attacks or to address questions of impersonation. If I am legally required to pass on this info, I will do so, though I will do my best to inform you of such requests.

You should also remember that anything you post on the forum is public and therefore is not covered by this privacy policy-- it is viewable by everyone on the Internet.

  1. I Collect Information When You Communicate With Me Directly

If you email me or send other communications to me directly, I will retain your email or address and correspondence so that I may respond to your request. I retain this information indefinitely so that I have a history of my past communications.

It is my policy not to share or sell your personally identifiable information with any third party. We may, however, share information if I believe doing so is reasonably necessary to comply with a law, regulation, or valid legal process. If I am going to release your information, I will do my best to provide you with notice in advance, if I have a means to contact you, unless I am prohibited by court order from doing so.

DATA SECURITY

I have adopted commercially reasonable technical, physical and administrative procedures to protect the confidentiality of the information that I collect on my site. However, the Internet is not a vault and data can be lost.

RATED PG-13

The United States government has put limits on my ability to accept users under a certain age through the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act of 1998. So to be clear, Pluralistic is not intended for users under the age of 13. Nobody under 13 may create an account or use any part of the Site that requires the submission of personally identifiable information, like email or name. Any account that is created by a person under 13 will be terminated and any content created will be removed from the Site.

CHANGES TO THIS POLICY

This Privacy Policy may be revised. If I make material changes to this policy, I will make them available, in advance, on the Pluralistic.net home page.

CONTACT US

If you have any questions or suggestions regarding my Privacy Policy or your information, please contact me at doctorow@craphound.com

COOKIE POLICY

I as few cookies as possible on this site.

What is a cookie?

Cookies are small data files that websites store in your hard drive. They create a unique id that is associated with your browser. I use first-party cookies to keep you logged into the forums.