About Surf Buds
Surf Buds is an online service that allows its members to set up unique personal profiles that can be linked together through networks of friends. Surf Buds members can view each others' profiles, communicate with old friends and meet new friends on the service, share photos, videos, describe their interests, add surf reports, surf cams, and favorite web pages. To enrich our members' experience, we request and display some personal information to other members and visitors, which allows our users to identify each other and expand their network of friends. Surf Buds members can change their profile information at any time and can control how other members and the service communicates with them.
Surf Buds cares deeply about online privacy. If you have any questions concerning this privacy policy, please contact us.
Information Collection and Use by Surf Buds
Surf Buds collects user submitted information such as name, and email address to authenticate users and to send notifications to those users relating to the Surf Buds service. Surf Buds also collects other profile data including but not limited to: personal interests, gender, age, education and occupation in order to assist users in finding and communicating with each other.
Surf Buds also logs non-personally-identifiable information including IP address, profile information, aggregate user data, and browser type, from users and visitors to the site. This data is used to manage the website, track usage and improve the website services. This non-personally-identifiable information may be shared with third-parties to provide more relevant services and advertisements to members. User IP addresses are recorded for security and monitoring purposes.
User Profile information including members' Profile Pictures and Member Names are displayed to people in order to facilitate user interaction in the Surf Buds social networking community. Email addresses are used for the purposes of inviting new friends to join Surf Buds, to add users to members' friends' networks, and to send notifications related to the service. With the exception of inviting friends, adding friends, and notifications, a user's email address is not shared or displayed to people within a user's personal network. Users within a personal network communicate on Surf Buds with each other through the Surf Buds service, without disclosing their email addresses.
From time to time, Surf Buds or a partner, may sponsor a promotion, sweepstake or contest on Surf Buds. Users may be asked to provide personal information including name, email address or home address or to answer questions in order to participate. We may transfer personal information to certain ad partners that you have explicitly requested to receive information from. It will be clear at the point of collection who is collecting the personal information and whose privacy statement will apply.
Invitations and Other Communications to Non-members
Surf Buds members can invite friends to join the service by sending invitation emails via our automated invitation system. Surf Buds does not store the email addresses that members provide with these invitations. Surf Buds does not share, sell nor trade these email addresses.
Use of Cookies
Surf Buds uses cookies to store visitors' preferences and to record session information, for purposes including ensuring that visitors are not repeatedly offered the same advertisements and to customize advertising, and Web page content based on browser type and user profile information. We do not link the information we store in cookies to any personally identifiable information you submit while on our site. You may be able to configure your browser to accept or reject all or some cookies, or notify you when a cookie is set -- each browser is different, so check the "Help" menu of your browser to learn how to change your cookie preferences -- however, you must enable cookies from Surf Buds in order to use most functions on the site. Please note that Surf Buds allows 3rd party advertisers that are presenting advertisements on some of our pages to set and access their cookies on your computer. Advertisers' use of cookies is subject to their own privacy policies, not the Surf Buds Privacy Policy.
Links
Surf Buds contains links to sites. Surf Buds is not responsible for the privacy policies and/or practices on other sites. When linking to another site a user should read the privacy policy stated on that site. Our privacy policy only governs information collected on Surf Buds.
Chat Rooms, Journals and WebLogs, Message Boards, Classifieds and Public Forums
Please be aware that whenever you voluntarily post public information to Journals, WebLogs, Message Boards, Classifieds or any other Public Forums that that information can be accessed by the public and can in turn be used by those people to send you unsolicited communications.
Correcting/Updating or Removing Information
Surf Buds users may modify or remove any of their personal information at any time by logging into their account and accessing the "Edit Profile Information" section.
Email Choice/Opt-out from Announcememnts and Notifications
Members who no longer wish to receive important updates regarding Surf Buds and their surf site may choose not to by logging into their account and unchecking the "Announcements" checkbox in the "Edit Profile: Profile Information" area. "Email Notifications" pertaining to network activity may also be disabled in the member's "Account Settings" area.
Third Party Advertising
Ads appearing on this Web site may be delivered to users by Surf Buds or one of our Web advertising partners. Our Web advertising partners may set cookies. These cookies allow the ad server to recognize your computer each time they send you an online advertisement. In this way, ad servers may compile information about where you, or others who are using your computer, saw their advertisements and determine which ads are clicked on. This information allows an ad network to deliver targeted advertisements that they believe will be of most interest to you. This privacy statement covers the use of cookies by Surf Buds and does not cover the use of cookies by any advertisers.
Security
Surf Buds member accounts are secured by member-created passwords. Surf Buds takes precautions to insure that member account information is kept private. We use reasonable measures to protect member information that is stored within our database, and we restrict access to member information to those employees who need access to perform their job functions, such as our customer service personnel and technical staff. Please note that we cannot guarantee the security of member account information. Unauthorized entry or use, hardware or software failure, and other factors may compromise the security of member information at any time.
Sharing and Disclosure of Information Surf Buds Collects
Except as otherwise described in this privacy statement, Surf Buds will not disclose personal information to any third party unless we believe that disclosure is necessary: (1) to conform to legal requirements or to respond to a subpoena, search warrant or other legal process received by Surf Buds, whether or not a response is required by applicable law; (2) to enforce the Surf Buds Terms of Service Agreement or to protect our rights; or (3) to protect the safety of members of the public and users of the service. Surf Buds reserves the right to transfer personal information to a successor in interest that acquires rights to that information as a result of the sale of Surf Buds or substantially all of its assets to that successor in interest. For more information see the "Changes in Our Privacy Policy" section below.
Changes in Our Privacy Policy
From time to time we may make changes to our privacy policy. If we make changes, we will post them on our site to make users aware of what the changes are so users will always be aware of what information we collect, how we use it, and when we may disclose it. A User is bound by any minor changes to the policy when she or he uses the site after those changes have been posted. If, however, we are going to use users' personally identifiable information in a manner materially different from that stated at the time of collection we will notify by posting a notice on our Web site for 30 days.
Contacting the Web Site
If you have any questions about this privacy statement, the practices of this site, or your dealings with this Web site, please contact us using our contact form.
