OBODS Privacy policy

[Saule]

(If this is the wrong spot please move me.)

What is the privacy policy for the boards and other information. I was just wondering what it is since I can't find a statement of it any where. By privacy policy I mean selling of information to anyone etc. Is there a statement that covers it somewhere?

Thanks.

[Dryadia2]

Greetings Saule,

Here's what I've found:
viewtopic.php?f=125&t=4175

And in The Druids' Marketplace 'forum rules' in the pink box:
viewforum.php?f=63

If that doesn't cover your needs, then perhaps an Admin can chime in here.

/|\

[Selene]

And there's this, from the Registration Agreement:

By registering to use the OBOD Message Board, you agree:
...
4. Not to disclose any material posted on the message board to a third party without the consent of the author.
...

And, of course, questions and discussion of the OBOD course materials takes place only in the designated members' fora, not in any general access forum; the material is copyrighted and is restricted to members of the Order only, just as are the actual gwersi.

I'm not sure what you mean by selling the information to someone...does what Dryadia and I have said answer your question, or are we missing something?

[Sean Martin]

Based on my professional IT experience the privacy policy usually spells out what the management/owners of the board will or will not do in respecting the privacy of its users/members. As opposed to the responsibility of the users/members. For example, does OBOD ever sell the email addresses of us board users?

I'm pretty sure the policy is that all information provided is used solely within the scope of the operation and administration of the DHP board and is not ever sold or shared. But is that written out anywhere?

-- John

[Donata]

It may not be written anywhere (not sure) but OBOD and OBOD Message Board policy is to protect the privacy of the members as much as possible. Your information is private and won't ever be given out or sold. Sold! I don't think the possibility ever occurred to anyone!

Protecting your privacy is a reason administration recommends that you don't give out any personal information such as physical address or home phone number in a post or in your profile. Adm & mods are always alert to anyone who appears to be trolling, etc., and responds to any complaints, but you need to protect yourself as well.

BB
Donata

[Kat Lady]

It may not be written anywhere (not sure) but OBOD and OBOD Message Board policy is to protect the privacy of the members as much as possible. Your information is private and won't ever be given out or sold. Sold! I don't think the possibility ever occurred to anyone!

I think Donata is correct on this. OBOD membership is kept very private so having been one who helped to revise the current Message Board User Agreement, I can tell you it never crossed my mind that information here would be any less private.

I think the closest we have in writing is the following part of the User Agreement.

This forum system uses cookies to store information on your local computer. These cookies do not contain any of the information you have entered as part of the registration process. The e-mail address is used only for confirming your registration details and password (and for sending new passwords should you forget your current one).

This is the standard PhPbb policy for all of their Message Boards.

I am not sure if Selene, Art or any of the Technical Admins (Eoin Dubh or Kernos) have any other insight as to where the standard PhPbb policy for privacy may be.

[Selene]

Well, I don't know anything about phpBB standards [although there apparently are some...see below--I haven't waded through it all] but my reaction was much as Donata's and Kat's...I'd never even considered the possibility of OBOD's membership lists being sold—even if you're a member looking for nearby members to contact about forming a group, they won't divulge the information, so I think it's safe to say they aren't going to be selling it to spammers. Sorry if my initial answer was off...it hadn't ever occurred to me that you were asking that!

And I can absolutely assure you that nothing of the sort comes out of this board. That's why it has the e-mails linked the way it does via the buttons in profiles and posts, so that people don't have to have their addresses visible for the world to see, and I promise that those of us who do have access to members' contact information do not share it with anyone. We make every attempt to preserve people's privacy here, even to the point of asking people who post too much personal information to remove it, or, in emergencies, removing it ourselves and notifying the member who posted it to make sure they really want to reveal whatever it was. (People occasionally post not only viable e-mail addresses, but sometimes mailing addresses and phone numbers; we think that is a potentially dangerous activity, hence the actions we take as mods and admins.)

Now, there can be hackers, of course, but one of the main reasons for the upgrade of this board's software last September was to enhance the electronic security of our data. It'll take Kernos or Eoin or someone who actually knows something (not me!) to evaluate how successful it is, but so far as I know there have been no problems.

Here's the info on phpBB from our Registration Agreement:

Our forums are powered by phpBB (hereinafter “they”, “them”, “their”, “phpBB software”, “www.phpbb.com”, “phpBB Group”, “phpBB Teams”) which is a bulletin board solution released under the “General Public License” (hereinafter “GPL”) and can be downloaded from http://www.phpbb.com. The phpBB software only facilitates internet based discussions, the phpBB Group are not responsible for what we on this board allow and/or disallow as permissible content and/or conduct. For further information about phpBB, please see: http://www.phpbb.com/.

[Sean Martin]

I'll let Saule speak for herself if all this has answered her query. But I'd like to point out that the phpBB standards are not really relevant. As stated in the registration agreement "... the phpBB Group are not responsible..." And information does not have to be sold. What if some university/college wanted to do some sort of demographics study on modern druidy? Given the replies above and especially the detail in Selene's most recent post, I'm fairly confident that no information would be given and certainly not any personally identifiable information.

I am fairly unconcerned. Having been a user on the board for some time, I think the management, admins and moderators do a smashing-good job.

Peace,

-- John

[Saule]

I'm sorry for the confusion but I was not referring to the board specifically. I meant the over all membership privacy.. as in the courses etc. Though your responses are comforting I would still like to be directed to the written over all privacy statement if it exists, just to put my mind at ease.

[Selene]

Saule, I don't know if such a policy exists for the Order, but if you write the OBOD office, office@druidry.org, I'm sure someone will be able tell you. For all matters of OBOD policy, it's best to contact them directly; the mods and admins here on the board aren't at all involved in that sort of thing.

[Saule]

I didn't think the mods were involved and I have e-mailed them it was really more to see if some one new off hand the url of the policy if it existed. I guess its the wikipedia theory, the more people you ask the better chance you get at a prompt answer . As it is I'll be patient and wait for a response from the office!