Who we are

We are the San Bernardino Valley Amateur Astronomers (SBVAA) a non-profit, social club for those interested in astronomy and related subjects located in the San Bernardino valley / Inland Empire of Southern California. Our website address is: https://sbvaa.org.

What personal data we collect and why we collect it

Comments/SignUps

When visitors leave comments or SignUp notifications on the site we collect the data shown in the comments/SignUps form, and also the visitor’s IP address and browser user agent string to help spam detection.

An anonymized string created from your email address (also called a hash) may be provided to the Gravatar service to see if you are using it. The Gravatar service privacy policy is available here: https://automattic.com/privacy/. After approval of your comment/SignUp, your profile picture is visible to the public in the context of your comment/SignUp.

Media

If you upload images to the website, you should avoid uploading images with embedded location data (EXIF GPS) included. Visitors to the website can download and extract any location data from images on the website.

Contact/Feedback forms

When visitors leave feedback using the contact form on the site we collect the data shown in the contact form, and also the visitor’s IP address and browser user agent string to help spam detection. The feedback information obtained from contact form submissions is kept until a response can be made if one is necessary. Afterwards, contact submissions are deleted from the site.

Cookies

If you have an account and you log in to this site, we will set a temporary cookie to determine if your browser accepts cookies. This cookie contains no personal data and is discarded when you close your browser.

When you log in, we will also set up several cookies to save your login information and your screen display choices. Login cookies last for two days, and screen options cookies last for a year. If you select “Remember Me”, your login will persist for two weeks. If you log out of your account, the login cookies will be removed.

If you edit or publish an article, an additional cookie will be saved in your browser. This cookie includes no personal data and simply indicates the post ID of the article you just edited. It expires after 1 day.

Embedded content from other websites

Articles on this site may include embedded content (e.g. videos, images, articles, etc.). Embedded content from other websites behaves in the exact same way as if the visitor has visited the other website.

These websites may collect data about you, use cookies, embed additional third-party tracking, and monitor your interaction with that embedded content, including tracking your interaction with the embedded content if you have an account and are logged in to that website.

Analytics

This site uses Google Analytics to monitor visitors’ browser/system information and HTTP requests made while accessing the site. The information collected is used solely to gauge visitors’ use of the site and determine if improvements to the site should be made. Please refer to the appropriate Google Analytics documentation for the specific type of data it collects.

Who we share your data with

Anonymous information may be shared with club officers. Otherwise, no information is shared with any third-party agencies.

How long we retain your data

If you leave a comment/SignUp notification, the comment/notification and its metadata are retained indefinitely. This is so we can recognize and approve any follow-up comments/SignUps automatically instead of holding them in a moderation queue.

For users that register on our website (if any), we also store the personal information they provide in their user profile. All users can see, edit, or delete their personal information at any time (except they cannot change their username). Website administrators can also see and edit that information.

What rights you have over your data

If you have an account on this site, or have left comments/SignUp notifications, you can request to receive an exported file of the personal data we hold about you, including any data you have provided to us. You can also request that we erase any personal data we hold about you. This does not include any data we are obliged to keep for administrative, legal, or security purposes.

Where we send your data

Visitor comments, SignUp notifications and feedback may be checked through an automated spam detection service.

Your contact information

Questions or concerns pertaining to this privacy policy can be made through the site’s Feedback form.

How we protect your data

When you give us personal information, we take steps to ensure that appropriate technical and organizational controls are in place to protect it. All information transmitted to and from this website is encrypted and protected with 256 Bit encryption using SSL. When you are on a secure page, a lock icon will appear on the web browsers such as Microsoft Internet Explorer. Once we receive your information, we make our best effort to ensure its security on our systems. Where we have given (or where you have chosen) a password which enables you to access certain parts of our website, you are responsible for keeping this password confidential. We ask you not to share your password with anyone.

Changes to this policy

Any changes made to this policy will be posted on this site.

Review of this policy

This policy undergoes regular review. This policy was last updated on January 23, 2019.

Last Updated on January 23, 2019