BBWChan Privacy Policy: Protecting Your Personal Information

1. Introduction and General Provisions

Welcome to BBWChan ("we," "our," or "us"). We operate the bbw-chan.org website and associated services (collectively, the "Service"). This Privacy Policy outlines our practices regarding the collection, use, and disclosure of your information when you use our Service.

By accessing or using BBWChan, you acknowledge that you have read, understood, and agree to the terms outlined in this Privacy Policy. If you do not agree with any aspect of this policy, please discontinue use of our Service immediately.

This policy applies to all visitors, users, and others who access the Service ("Users"). We are committed to protecting your privacy and handling your personal information with transparency and care.

2. What Information We Collect

We collect several types of information to provide and improve our Service to you:

Personal Information You Provide

• Account Information: When you create an account, we collect your username, email address, password (encrypted), birth date, gender, and relationship preferences.
• Profile Information: Information you add to your profile, including photos, biography, interests, location (city/region), and physical preferences.
• Communication Data: Messages you send to other users, support requests, and feedback you provide.
• Payment Information: If you purchase premium features, we collect billing details through secure payment processors. We do not store full credit card numbers.

Automatically Collected Information

• Usage Data: Information about how you interact with our Service, including pages visited, features used, time spent, and click patterns.
• Device Information: Your IP address, browser type, operating system, device identifiers, and mobile network information.
• Location Data: Approximate location derived from your IP address or, with your consent, precise location from your device.
• Cookies and Tracking Technologies: Data collected through cookies, web beacons, and similar technologies as described in Section 7.

3. How We Use Your Information

We use the collected information for various purposes:

Service Improvement: We analyze usage patterns to enhance our platform's functionality, develop new features, and improve user experience.

Safety and Security: To monitor for fraudulent activity, enforce our Terms of Service, protect against unauthorized access, and ensure community safety.

Communication: To send you service-related announcements, respond to your inquiries, and (with your consent) send promotional materials about new features.

Legal Compliance: To comply with applicable laws, regulations, legal processes, or enforceable governmental requests.

4. Sharing Information with Third Parties

We respect your privacy and do not sell your personal information to third parties. We may share information in the following circumstances:

• With Other Users: Your profile information (excluding contact details) is visible to other BBWChan users as part of our matching and community features.
• Service Providers: We engage trusted third-party companies to perform functions on our behalf, such as hosting, payment processing, analytics, and customer support. These providers access only the information necessary to perform their functions.
• Legal Requirements: We may disclose information if required by law, subpoena, or other legal process, or if we believe disclosure is necessary to protect our rights, your safety, or the safety of others.
• Business Transfers: In connection with any merger, sale of company assets, financing, or acquisition of all or a portion of our business by another company.
• With Your Consent: We may share information for any other purpose with your explicit consent.

We require all third parties to respect the security of your personal data and to treat it in accordance with the law and our agreements.

5. Data Protection and Security

We implement appropriate technical and organizational measures to protect your personal information against unauthorized access, alteration, disclosure, or destruction.

Security Measures Include:

• Encryption: Sensitive data is encrypted in transit using SSL/TLS and at rest using industry-standard encryption algorithms.
• Access Controls: Strict access controls limit employee access to your personal information to those with a legitimate business need.
• Regular Security Assessments: We conduct regular vulnerability assessments and penetration testing.
• Data Minimization: We collect only the information necessary for the purposes outlined in this policy.
• Secure Development: Our development practices include security reviews and testing throughout the software lifecycle.

Despite our efforts, no security measures are 100% foolproof. We cannot guarantee absolute security of your information. You are responsible for maintaining the confidentiality of your account credentials.

6. Your Rights and Choices

Depending on your location, you may have certain rights regarding your personal information:

• Access and Portability: You can request a copy of the personal information we hold about you.
• Correction: You can update or correct inaccurate information through your account settings or by contacting us.
• Deletion: You may request deletion of your personal information, subject to certain legal exceptions.
• Restriction and Objection: You may request restriction of processing or object to certain processing activities.
• Withdraw Consent: Where processing is based on consent, you may withdraw consent at any time.
• Opt-Out: You can opt out of marketing communications by following unsubscribe instructions in our emails.

To exercise these rights, please contact us using the information in Section 9. We may need to verify your identity before processing certain requests.

7. Cookies and Tracking Technologies

We use cookies and similar tracking technologies to track activity on our Service and hold certain information.

Types of Cookies We Use:

• Essential Cookies: Necessary for the Service to function properly (e.g., authentication, security).
• Preference Cookies: Remember your settings and preferences.
• Analytics Cookies: Help us understand how users interact with our Service.
• Advertising Cookies: Used to deliver relevant advertisements and measure ad effectiveness.

You can instruct your browser to refuse all cookies or to indicate when a cookie is being sent. However, if you do not accept essential cookies, you may not be able to use some portions of our Service.

We may use third-party analytics services (like Google Analytics) that collect, monitor, and analyze this type of information to improve our Service's functionality.

8. Changes to This Privacy Policy

We may update our Privacy Policy from time to time. We will notify you of any changes by posting the new Privacy Policy on this page and updating the "Last Updated" date.

We will also provide additional notification methods for material changes, such as email notification or a prominent notice on our Service.

You are advised to review this Privacy Policy periodically for any changes. Changes to this Privacy Policy are effective when they are posted on this page.

9. Contact Information

If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy, your personal information, or our privacy practices, please contact us:

• Email: [email protected]
• Contact Form: Available through our Contact Us page
• Mailing Address: BBWChan Privacy Team, 123 Community Lane, Suite 456, San Francisco, CA 94107, USA

We aim to respond to all privacy-related inquiries within 30 business days.

For general support or account-related questions, please visit our Support Center.