Privacy Policy and Privacy Statement

Effective Date:  This Privacy Policy was last updated on August 13, 2014

Scope

Your privacy is important to us, Ocean First Education (“OFE”).  This Privacy Policy and Privacy Statement (together the “Policy”) describe how we collect, use, disclose, transfer, and store your information.  Please take a moment to familiarize yourself with our privacy practices and let us know if you have any questions. 

This Policy generally applies to all communications between you and us, including the Ocean First Education website, email, telephone, social networks, and mobile services.  It also applies generally to other related websites where this policy appears in the footer of the page (“the Sites”).  Some websites we operate may be governed by separate privacy policies.  The policy that applies on any of our domains or subdomains is always the policy that appears in the footer of each website.

By communicating with us, you are accepting the Policy, and you expressly consent to our collection, storage, use, transfer and disclosure of your personal information as described in this Policy.  This Policy is effective upon acceptance for new users and is otherwise effective on January 1, 2008.

Collection and Use of Personal Information

Personal information is data that can be used to identify or contact a single person.

You can browse the Sites without telling us who you are or revealing any personal information about yourself.  You may be asked to provide your personal information anytime you are in contact with OFE or an OFE affiliated company.  OFE and its affiliates may share this personal information with each other and use it consistent with this Policy.  They may also combine it with other information to provide and improve our products, services, content, and advertising.  You are not required to provide the personal information that we have requested, but, if you chose not to do so, in many cases we will not be able to provide you with our products or services or respond to any queries you may have.

Once you give us your personal information, you are not anonymous to us.  If you choose to provide us with personal information, you consent to the transfer and storage of that information to our servers located in the United States.

We may collect and store the following personal information:

Email address, physical contact information, and (depending on the service used) sometimes financial information, such as credit card or bank account numbers; transactional information based on your activities on the Sites (such as buying, selling, item and content you generate or that relates to your account); shipping, billing and other information you provide to purchase or ship an item; correspondence through the Site, and correspondence sent to us; computer sign-on data, statistics on page views, traffic to and from the Site, and ad data; other information, including IP address and standard web log information.  When you share your content with others using our media, we may collect the information you provide about those people such as name, mailing address, email address, and phone number.

We may use your personal information in the following manner.  We may keep you posted on OFE announcements, updates, and upcoming events.  If you don’t want to be on our mailing list, you can opt out by updating your preferences.  We also use personal information to help us create, develop, operate, deliver, and improve our products, services, content and advertising, and for loss prevention and anti-fraud purposes.  From time to time, we may use your personal information to send important notices, such as communications about purchases and changes to our terms, conditions, and policies.  Because this information is important to your interaction with OFE, you may not opt out of receiving these communications.  We may also use personal information for internal purposes such as auditing, data analysis, and research to improve OFE’s products, services, and customer communications.

Collection and Use of Non-Personal Information

We also collect data in a form that does not, on its own, permit direct association with any specific individual.  We may collect, use, transfer, and disclose non-personal information for any purpose.  The following are some examples of non-personal information that we collect and how we may use it:

§  We may collect information such as occupation, language, zip code, area code, unique device identifier, location, and the time zone where an OFE product is used so that we can better understand customer behavior and improve our products, services, and advertising.

§  We may collect information regarding customer activities on our website and Store and from our other products and services.  This information is aggregated and used to help us provide more useful information to our customers and to understand which parts of our website, products, and services are of most interest.  Aggregated data is considered non-personal information for the purposes of this Policy.

If we do combine non-personal information with personal information the combined information will be treated as personal information for as long as it remains combined.

Children

We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13 except where a parent or a teacher has set up an account for the child through the OFE students program and provided us with verified parental consent.  If we learn that we have collected the personal information of a child under 13 without first receiving verifiable parental consent we will take steps to delete the information as soon as possible.

Marketing

We do not sell or rent your personal information to third parties for their marketing purposes without your explicit consent.  We may combine your information with information we collect from other companies (such as demographic data) to improve and personalize our services.  If you don't wish to receive marketing communications from us, simply indicate your preference once you sign-in or by following the directions within the email.  At times OFE may make certain personal information available to strategic partners that work with OFE to provide products and services, or that help OFE market to customers. 

Participating Merchant Policies

Related services and offerings with links from this website, including vendor sites, have their own privacy statements that can be viewed by clicking on the corresponding links within each respective website. Online merchants and others who participate in Ocean First Education, LLC services are encouraged to participate in industry privacy initiatives and to take a responsible attitude towards consumer privacy.  However, since we do not have direct control over the policies or practices of participating merchants and other third parties, we are not responsible for the privacy practices or contents of those sites.  We recommend and encourage that you always review the privacy policies of merchants and other third parties before you provide any personal information or complete any transaction with such parties.

Our Disclosure of Your Information

We may disclose personal information to respond to legal requirements, enforce our policies, respond to claims, or protect anyone's rights, property, or safety.  OFE websites, products, applications, and services may contain links to third-party websites, products, and services.  Our products and services may also use or offer products or services from third parties.  Information collected by third parties, which may include such things as location data or contact details, is governed by their privacy practices. We encourage you to learn about the privacy practices of those third parties.

We may also share your personal information with:

  • members of our corporate family to help detect and prevent potentially illegal acts and provide joint services (our corporate affiliates will market only to users who request these services);
  • service providers under contract who help with our business operations;
  • other third parties to whom you explicitly ask us to send your information (or about whom you are otherwise explicitly notified and consent to when using a specific service);
  • law enforcement or other governmental officials, in response to a verified request relating to a criminal investigation or alleged illegal activity;
  • other business entities, should we plan to merge with or be acquired by that business entity. (Should such a combination occur, we would require that the new combined entity follow this privacy policy with respect to your personal information.  If your personal information will be used contrary to this policy, you will receive prior notice.)

Without limiting the above, in an effort to respect your privacy and our ability to keep the community free from bad actors, we will not otherwise disclose your personal information to law enforcement, other government officials, or other third parties without a subpoena, court order or substantially similar legal procedure, except when we believe in good faith that the disclosure of information is necessary to prevent imminent physical harm or financial loss or to report suspected illegal activity.

Security

Your information is stored on our servers located in the United States. We treat data as an asset that must be protected.  However, third parties may unlawfully intercept or access transmissions or private communications, and other users may abuse or misuse your personal information that they collect from the Sites.  Therefore, although we work very hard to protect your privacy, we do not promise, and you should not expect, that your personal information or private communications would always remain private.

When you use some OFE products, services, or applications or post on an OFE forum, chat room, or social networking service, the personal information you share is visible to other users and can be read, collected, or used by them.  You are responsible for the personal information you choose to submit in these instances.  For example, if you list your name and email address in a forum posting, that information is public.  Please take care when using these features.

Use of Web Beacons or GIF files

OFE’s website, online services, interactive applications, email messages, and advertisements may use “cookies” and other technologies such as pixel tags and web beacons.  These technologies allow Ocean First Education to count users who have visited those pages and to deliver co-branded services.  Ocean First Education may include Web beacons in promotional e-mail messages or newsletters in order to determine whether messages have been opened and acted upon.

Some of these Web beacons may be placed by third party service providers to help determine the effectiveness of our advertising campaigns or email communications.  These Web beacons may be used by these service providers to place a persistent cookie on your computer.  This allows the service provider to recognize your computer each time you visit certain pages or emails and compile anonymous information in relation to those page views, which in turn enables us and our service providers to learn which advertisements and emails bring you to our website and how you use the site.  Ocean First Education, LLC prohibits Web beacons from being used to collect or access your personal information.  We treat information collected by cookies and other technologies as non-personal information.  However, to the extent that Internet Protocol (IP) addresses or similar identifiers are considered personal information by local law, we also treat these identifiers as personal information.  Similarly, to the extent that non-personal information is combined with personal information, we treat the combined information as personal information for the purposes of this Policy. 

As is true of most websites, we gather some information automatically and store it in log files.  This information includes Internet Protocol (IP) addresses, browser type and language, Internet service provider (ISP), referring and exit pages, operating system, date/time stamp, and clickstream data.

Location-Based Services

We may collect, use, and share precise location data, including the real-time geographic location of your computer or device.  This location data is collected anonymously in a form that does not personally identify you and is used by OFE and our partners and licensees to provide and improve location-based products and services. For example, we may share geographic location with application providers when you opt in to their location services.

Accessing Web Account Information

We will provide you with the means to ensure that personally identifiable information in your web account file is correct and current.  You may review this information by contacting us by sending an email to info@oceanfirsteducation.blue.

Third Parties

Except as otherwise expressly included in this Privacy Policy, this document addresses only the use and disclosure of information we collect from you.  If you disclose your information to others, different rules may apply to their use or disclosure of the information you disclose to them.  Since Ocean First Education does not control the privacy policies of third parties, you are subject to the privacy policies of those third parties.  We encourage you to ask questions before you disclose your personal information to others.

Changes to this Policy

Ocean First Education has the discretion to occasionally update this Policy.  When we do, we will also revise the “updated” date at the top of this Policy.  We encourage you to periodically review this Policy to stay informed about how we are helping to protect the personal information we collect.  Your continued use of the service constitutes your agreement to this privacy statement and any updates.

Ocean First Education California Do Not Track Notice

We do not track our customers over time and across third party websites to provide targeted advertising and therefore we do not respond to Do Not Track (DNT) signals.  However, some third party sites do keep track of your browsing activities when they serve you content, which enables them to tailor what they present to you.  If you are visiting such sites, your browser allows you to set the DNT signal on your browser so that third parties (particularly advertisers) know you do not want to be tracked.   

Third parties that have content embedded on OFE’s websites such as a social feature or a stock ticker may set cookies on a user’s browser and/or obtain information about the fact that a web browser visited a specific OFE website from a certain IP address.  Third parties cannot collect any other personally identifiable information from OFE’s websites unless you provide it to them directly.

Contacting Us

If you have questions, complaints, concerns or other feedback  regarding our Policy, its implementation, failure to adhere to this Policy and/or our general practices, please send us an email at info@oceanfirsteducation.blue or mail via post your comments to:

Ocean First Education, LLC
Attention:  Privacy Statement Personal
3015 Bluff St.
Boulder, CO 80301

Ocean First Education, LLC will use commercially reasonable efforts to promptly respond and resolve any problem or question.  All such communications are examined and replies issued where appropriate as soon as possible.  If you are unsatisfied with the reply received, you may refer your complaint to the relevant regulator in your jurisdiction.  If you ask us, we will endeavor to provide you with information about relevant complaint avenues which may be applicable to your circumstances.