Privacy Policy
The Oyster Encyclopedia takes privacy seriously, especially when conducting business. This statement governs how we collect, use, share, and protect information about visitors to our site (“Visitors”) and visitors who register to transact business or use our services (“Authorized Customers”, collectively the “Services”).
Personally Identifiable Information
“Personally Identifiable Information” refers to any information that identifies or can be used to identify, contact, or locate the person to whom such information pertains, including name, address, phone number, fax number, email address, financial profiles, social security number, and credit card information. Personally Identifiable Information does not include information that is collected anonymously or demographic information not connected to an identified individual.
What Personally Identifiable Information is collected?
We may collect basic user profile information from all of our Visitors. We collect the following additional information from Authorized Customers: name, email address, phone number, address, and social media profile information.
What organizations are collecting the information?
In addition to our direct collection of information, third-party service vendors (such as credit-card companies, clearinghouses, and banks) who may provide services such as credit, insurance, and escrow may collect this information from our Visitors and Authorized Customers. We do not control how these third parties use such information, but we do ask them to disclose how they use personal information provided to them.
How does the Site use Personally Identifiable Information?
We use Personally Identifiable Information to customize the Site, to make appropriate service offerings, and to fulfill buying and selling requests on the Site. We may email Visitors and Authorized Customers about purchases or information related to the subject matter of the Site. We may also use Personally Identifiable Information to contact Visitors and Authorized Customers in response to specific inquiries.
With whom may the information be shared?
Personally Identifiable Information about Authorized Customers may be shared with other Authorized Customers who wish to evaluate potential transactions with other Authorized Customers. We may share aggregated information about our Visitors with our affiliated agencies and third-party vendors. We also offer the opportunity to “opt out” of receiving information or being contacted by us.
How is Personally Identifiable Information stored?
Personally Identifiable Information is stored securely and is not accessible to third parties or to our employees, except for use as indicated above.
Visitor choices regarding collection, use, and distribution
Visitors and Authorized Customers may opt out of receiving unsolicited information from us, our vendors, or our affiliated agencies by responding to emails as instructed, or by contacting us at mason@oysterencyclopedia.com.
Cookies
A cookie is a string of information that a website stores on a visitor’s computer, and that the visitor’s browser provides to the website each time the visitor returns.
We use cookies to collect information. You can instruct your browser to refuse all cookies or to indicate when a cookie is being sent. However, if you do not accept cookies, you may not be able to use some portions of our Service.
Cookies used by our service providers
Our service providers use cookies and those cookies may be stored on your computer when you visit our website.
How we use log information
We use login information, including IP addresses, ISPs, browser types, browser version, pages visited, and date and time of visit, to analyze trends, administer the Site, track a user’s movement and use, and gather broad demographic information.
How we keep Personally Identifiable Information secure
All of our employees are familiar with our security policy and practices. Personally Identifiable Information is only accessible to a limited number of qualified employees who are given a password to gain access. We audit our security systems and processes on a regular basis. Sensitive information, such as credit card numbers or social security numbers, is protected by encryption protocols. While we take commercially reasonable measures to maintain a secure site, electronic communications and databases are subject to errors, tampering, and break-ins, and we cannot guarantee that such events will not take place.
Correcting inaccuracies in Personally Identifiable Information
Visitors and Authorized Customers may contact us to update Personally Identifiable Information about them or to correct any inaccuracies by emailing us at mason@oysterencyclopedia.com.
Deleting or deactivating Personally Identifiable Information
We provide Visitors and Authorized Customers with a mechanism to delete or deactivate Personally Identifiable Information from the Site’s database by contacting us at mason@oysterencyclopedia.com. However, because of backups and records of deletions, it may be impossible to delete an entry without retaining some residual information. An individual who requests to have Personally Identifiable Information deactivated will have this information functionally deleted, and we will not sell, transfer, or use it going forward.
Your rights
These are summarized rights that you have under data-protection law:
- The right to access
- The right to rectification
- The right to erasure
- The right to restrict processing
- The right to object to processing
- The right to data portability
- The right to complain to a supervisory authority
- The right to withdraw consent
Children’s Privacy
Our Service does not address children under the age of 18, and we do not knowingly collect personally identifiable information from children under 18.
If you are a parent or guardian and you are aware that your child has provided us with Personal Information, please contact us. If we learn that children below 18 have provided personal information, we will delete the information from our servers immediately.
Compliance with laws
We will disclose Personally Identifiable Information in order to comply with a court order or subpoena or a request from a law enforcement agency to release information. We will also disclose Personally Identifiable Information when reasonably necessary to protect the safety of our Visitors and Authorized Customers.
Changes to this Privacy Policy
We will let our Visitors and Authorized Customers know about changes to our privacy policy by posting such changes on the Site. If we are changing our privacy policy in a manner that might cause disclosure of Personally Identifiable Information that a Visitor or Authorized Customer has previously requested not be disclosed, we will contact such Visitor or Authorized Customer to allow them to prevent such disclosure.
Links to other websites
The Oyster Encyclopedia contains links to other websites. Please note that when you click on one of these links, you are moving to another website. We encourage you to read the privacy statements of these linked sites as their privacy policies may differ from ours.
Contact us
If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy, please contact us at mason@oysterencyclopedia.com.
Last updated: May 1, 2023