We want you to understand how and why Uptick collects, uses, and shares information about you when you use our websites, mobile apps, widgets, and other online products and services (collectively, the "Services") or when you otherwise interact with us or receive a communication from us.  

What We Collect

Information You Provide to Us

We collect information you provide to us directly when you use the Services. This includes:

• Account information. To create an account, you must provide a username and password. Your username is public, and it doesn’t have to be related to your real name. You may also provide an email address. We also store your user account preferences and settings.
• Content you submit. We collect the content you submit to the Services. This includes your posts and comments.   Your content may include text, links, images, gifs, videos, and information related to your fresh expression such as location, time of meetings, website links, social media links, etc.
• Actions you take. We collect information about the actions you take when using the Services. This includes your interactions with content, like videos, articles, e-books read or listened to, FXS on the maps, and resources posted in the resources section. It also includes your interactions with other users, such as likes, comments, and posts. 
• Transactional information. If you purchase products or services from us we will collect certain information from you, including your name, address, email address, and information about the product or service you are purchasing. Payments are processed by third-party payment processor (Stripe), so please refer to Stripe’s terms and privacy policy for more information about how payment information is processed and stored.
• Other information. You may choose to provide other information directly to us. For example, we may collect information when you fill out a form, participate in our sponsored activities or promotions, request customer support or otherwise communicate with us.

Information We Collect Automatically

When you access or use our Services, we may also automatically collect information about you. This includes:

• Log and usage data. We may log information when you access and use the Services. This may include your IP address, user-agent string, browser type, operating system, referral URLs, device information (e.g., device IDs), pages visited, links clicked, the requested URL, hardware settings, and search terms. Except for the IP address used to create your account, Uptick will delete any IP addresses collected after 100 days.
• Information collected from cookies and similar technologies. We may receive information from cookies, which are pieces of data your browser stores and sends back to us when making requests, and similar technologies. We use this information to improve your experience, understand user activity, personalize content, and improve the quality of our Services.  
• Location information. We may receive and process information about your location. For example, with your consent, we may collect information about the specific location of your mobile device (for example, by using GPS or Bluetooth). We may also receive location information from you when you choose to share such information on our Services, including by associating your content with a location, or we may derive your approximate location from other information about you, including your IP address.

Information Collected from Other Sources

If you use Facebook or Google to create an account, we will use your First name, Last Name, Email ID and Profile Image to create your account and use it for log-in purposes. We will not use any other information from your Facebook profile or Google account.  

 Information collected from integrations. We also may receive information about you, including log and usage data and cookie information, from third-party websites that integrate our Services, including our embeds and buttons.  

How We Use Information About You

We use information about you to:

• Provide, maintain, and improve the Services;
• Research and develop new services;
• Help protect the safety of Uptick and our users, which includes blocking suspected spammers, addressing abuse, and enforcing the Uptick user agreement and our other policies;
• Send you technical notices, updates, security alerts, invoices and other support and administrative messages;
• Provide customer service;
• Communicate with you about products, services, offers, promotions, and events, and provide other news and information we think will be of interest to you (for information about how to opt out of these communications, see “Your Choices” below);
• Monitor and analyze trends, usage, and activities in connection with our Services; and
• Personalize the Services and provide content and features that match user profiles or interests. (for information about how to manage the types of advertisements you experience on our Services, see “Your Choices” below)

How Information About You Is Shared

For more information about the purpose and scope of data collection and processing in connection with social sharing features, please visit the privacy policies of the third parties that provide these social sharing features (e.g.,  Facebook, Google, Instagram, Twitter).

Otherwise, we do not share, sell, or give away your personal information to third parties unless one of the following circumstances applies:

• With linked services. If you link your Uptick account with a third-party service, Uptick will share the information you authorize with that third-party service. You can control this sharing as described in "Your Choices" below.
• To comply with the law. We may share information in response to a request for information if we believe disclosure is in accordance with, or required by, any applicable law, regulation, legal process or governmental request, including, but not limited to, meeting national security or law enforcement requirements. To the extent the law allows it, we will attempt to provide you with prior notice before disclosing your information in response to such a request.  
• In an emergency. We may share information if we believe it's necessary to prevent imminent and serious bodily harm to a person.
• To enforce our policies and rights. We may share information if we believe your actions are inconsistent with our user agreements, rules, or other Uptick policies, or to protect the rights, property, and safety of ourselves and others.
• With our affiliates. We may share information between and among Uptick, and any of our affiliates under common control and ownership.
• With your consent. We may share information about you with your consent or at your direction.
• Aggregated or de-identified information. We may share information about you that has been aggregated or anonymized such that it cannot reasonably be used to identify you. For example, we may show the total number of times a post has been upvoted without identifying who the visitors were.

Analytics Partners

We may partner with third-party analytics providers to deliver content targeted to your interests and to better understand your use of the Services. These third parties may collect information sent by your computer, browser, or mobile device in response to a request for content, such as unique identifiers, your IP address, or other information about your computer or device.

For example:

Analytics Partners

We use analytics partners (such as Google Analytics) to help analyze usage and traffic for our Services. As an example, we may use analytics partners to analyze and measure, in the aggregate, the number of unique visitors to our Services.

Your Choices

As a Uptick user, you have choices about how to protect and limit the collection, use, and disclosure of information about you.

Accessing and Changing Your Information

You can access and change certain information through the Services by contacting us.  

Deleting Your Account

You may delete your account information at any time. You can also submit a request to delete the personal information Uptick maintains about you by contacting us. We may retain certain information about you as required by law or for legitimate business purposes after you delete your account.

Controlling Linked Services’ Access to Your Account

You can review the services you have linked to your account and revoke access to individual services.

Controlling the Use of Cookies

Most web browsers are set to accept cookies by default. If you prefer, you can usually choose to set your browser to remove or reject first- and third-party cookies. Please note that if you choose to remove or reject cookies, this could affect the availability and functionality of our Services.

Controlling Advertising and Analytics

Some analytics providers we partner with may provide specific opt-out mechanisms and we may provide, as needed and as available, additional tools and third-party services that allow you to better understand cookies and how you can opt-out. For example, you may manage the use and collection of certain information by Google Analytics.  

Do Not Track

Most modern web browsers give you the option to send a Do Not Track signal to the websites you visit, indicating that you do not wish to be tracked. However, there is no accepted standard for how a website should respond to this signal, and we do not take any action in response to this signal. Instead, in addition to publicly available third-party tools, we offer you the choices described in this policy to manage the collection and use of information about you.

Controlling Promotional Communications

You may opt out of receiving some or all categories of promotional communications from us by following the instructions in those communications or by updating your email options in your account preferences. If you opt out of promotional communications, we may still send you non-promotional communications, such as information about your account or your use of the Services.

Controlling Mobile Notifications

With your consent, we may send promotional and non-promotional push notifications or alerts to your mobile device. You can deactivate these messages at any time by changing the notification settings on your mobile device.

Controlling Location Information

If you initially consent to our collection of location information, you can subsequently stop the collection of this information at any time by changing the preferences on your mobile device.

Other Information

Information Security

We take measures to help protect information about you from loss, theft, misuse and unauthorized access, disclosure, alteration, and destruction. For example, we use HTTPS while information is being transmitted. We also enforce technical and administrative access controls to limit which of our employees have access to non-public personal information.

Data Retention

We store the information we collect for as long as it is necessary for the purpose(s) for which we originally collected it. We may retain certain information for legitimate business purposes or as required by law.

Changes to This Policy

We may change this Privacy Policy from time to time. If we do, we will let you know by revising the date at the top of the policy. If we make a change to this policy that, in our sole discretion, is material, we will provide you with additional notice. We encourage you to review the Privacy Policy whenever you access or use our Services or otherwise interact with us to stay informed about our information practices and the ways you can help protect your privacy. By continuing to use our Services after Privacy Policy changes go into effect, you agree to be bound by the revised policy.

Contact Us

If you have other questions about this Privacy Policy, please contact us at Uptick@BGAV.org or in writing at 2828 Emerywood Parkway, Richmond, Virginia 23294.