Privacy policy

We want you to understand how and why TheDojo.com (“TheDojo,” “we” or “us”) collects, uses, and shares information about you when you use our sites, mobile applications, tools, and other online products and services (collectively, the "Services") or when you otherwise interact with us or receive a communication from us. This Privacy Policy applies to all of our Services.


What We Collect (and How it is Used and Shared)

Information You Provide to Us

We collect information you provide to us directly when you use the Services. This includes:


Account information If you create a TheDojo account, we may require you to provide a username and password. Your username is public, and it does not have to be related to your real name. You may also provide other account information, like an email address, bio, or profile picture. We also may store your user account preferences and settings.
Content you submit We collect the content you submit to the Services. This includes your posts and comments including saved drafts, videos you broadcast, your messages with other users (e.g., private messages), and your reports and other communications with moderators and with us. Your content may include text, links, images, gifs, and videos.
Actions you take We collect information about the actions you take when using the Services. This includes your interactions with content and your interactions with other users.
Transactional information If you purchase products or services from us, we will collect certain information from you, including your name, address, email address, and information about the product or service you are purchasing. TheDojo uses industry-standard payment processor services to handle payment information.
Other information You may choose to provide other information directly to us. For example, we may collect information when you fill out a form, participate in TheDojo-sponsored activities or promotions, request customer support, or otherwise communicate with us.

Information We Collect Automatically

When you access or use our Services, we may also automatically collect information about you. This includes:


Log and usage data We may log information when you access and use the Services. This may include your IP address, user-agent string, browser type, operating system, referral URLs, device information (e.g., device IDs), device settings, pages visited, links clicked, the requested URL, and search terms. Except for the IP address used to create your account, TheDojo will delete any IP addresses collected after 100 days.
Information collected from cookies and similar technologies We may receive information from cookies, which are pieces of data your browser stores and sends back to us when making requests, and similar technologies. We use this information to improve your experience, understand user activity, personalize content and advertisements, and improve the quality of our Services. If TheDojo plans to make use of information received from cookies, we will provide notice to you and you may elect to disable cookies.
Location information We may receive and process information about your location. For example, with your consent, we may collect information about the specific location of your mobile device (for example, by using GPS or Bluetooth). We may also receive location information from you when you choose to share such information on our Services, including by associating your content with a location, or we may derive your approximate location from other information about you, including your IP address.

Information Collected from Other Sources

We may receive information about you from other sources, including from other users and third parties, and combine that information with the other information we have about you. For example, we may receive demographic or interest information about you from third parties, including advertisers (such as the fact that an advertiser is interested in showing you an ad), and combine it with our own data using a common account identifier such as a hash of an email address or a mobile-device ID. You can control how we use this information to personalize the Services for you as described below.


Information collected from integrations We also may receive information about you, including log and usage data and cookie information, from third-party sites that integrate our Services, including our embeds and advertising technology. For example, when you visit a site that is access via a link from TheDojo, we may receive information about the web page you visited. Similarly, if an advertiser incorporates TheDojo’s ad technology, TheDojo may receive limited information about your activity on the advertiser’s site or app, such as whether you bought something from the advertiser. You can control how we use this information to personalize the Services for you as described below.

Information Collected by Third Parties


Embedded content TheDojo displays some linked content in-line on the TheDojo services. In general, TheDojo does not control how third-party services collect data when they serve you their content directly via these links. As a result, linked content is not covered by this privacy policy but by the policies of the service from which the content is linked. Programmatic ads We partner with third-party programmatic ad exchanges to show advertisements relevant to your interests. In providing those ads, those third parties collect information, including log and usage data and information from cookies as described above. These third parties do not receive any information from your TheDojo account.

We use information about you to:


  • Research and develop new services;
  • Help protect the safety of TheDojo and our users, which includes blocking suspected spammers, addressing abuse, and enforcing the TheDojo User Agreement and our other policies;
  • Send you technical notices, updates, security alerts, invoices, and other support and administrative messages;
  • Provide customer service;
  • Communicate with you about products, services, offers, promotions, and events, and provide other news and information we think will be of interest to you (for information about how to opt out of these communications, see below);
  • Monitor and analyze trends, usage, and activities in connection with our Services;
  • Measure the effectiveness of ads shown on our Services; and
  • Personalize the Services, and provide and optimize advertisements, content, and features that match user profiles or interests.


Much of the information on the Services is public and accessible to everyone, even without an account. By using the Services, you are directing us to share this information publicly and freely.


When you submit content (including a post, comment, or chat message) to a public part of the Services, any visitors to and users of our Services will be able to see that content, the username associated with the content, and the date and time you originally submitted the content. TheDojo allows other sites to embed public TheDojo content via our embed tools. TheDojo also allows third parties to access public TheDojo content via the TheDojo API and other similar technologies. Although some parts of the Services may be private or quarantined, they may become public (e.g., at the moderator’s option in the case of private communities) and you should take that into consideration before posting to the Services.


Your TheDojo account has a profile page that is public. Your profile may contain information about your activities on the Services, such as your username, prior posts and comments.


TheDojo only shares nonpublic information about you in the following ways.


With your consent. We may share information about you with your consent or at your direction.


  • With linked services. If you link your TheDojo account with a third-party service, TheDojo may share the information you authorize with that third-party service.
  • With our service providers. We may share information with vendors, consultants, and other service providers who need access to such information to carry out work for us. Their use of personal data will be subject to appropriate confidentiality and security measures. A few examples: (i) payment processors who process transactions on our behalf, (ii) cloud providers who host our data and our services, (iii) third-party ads measurement providers who help us and advertisers measure the performance of ads shown on our Services.
  • To comply with the law. We may share information in response to a request for information if we believe disclosure is in accordance with, or required by, any applicable law, regulation, legal process, or governmental request, including, but not limited to, meeting national security or law enforcement requirements. To the extent the law allows it, we will attempt to provide you with prior notice before disclosing your information in response to such a request.
  • In an emergency. We may share information if we believe it's necessary to prevent imminent and serious bodily harm to a person.
  • To enforce our policies and rights. We may share information if we believe your actions are inconsistent with our Terms of Use or other TheDojo policies, or to protect the rights, property, and safety of ourselves and others.
  • Aggregated or de-identified information. We may share information about you that has been aggregated or anonymized such that it cannot reasonably be used to identify you. For example, we may show the total number of times a post has been upvoted without identifying who the visitors were, or we may tell an advertiser how many people saw their ad


How We Protect Your Information

We store the information we collect for as long as it is necessary for the purpose(s) for which we originally collected it. We may retain certain information for legitimate business purposes or as required by law.


Your Choices

You have choices about how to protect and limit the collection, use, and sharing of information about you when you use the Services.

Accessing and Changing Your Information You can access and change certain information made available through the Services on your account settings page.
Deleting Your Account You may delete your account information at any time from the user preferences page. You can also submit a request to delete the personal information TheDojo maintains about you. When you delete your account, your profile is no longer visible to other users and disassociated from content you posted under that account. Please note, however, that the posts, comments, and messages you submitted prior to deleting your account will still be visible to others unless you first delete the specific content. We may also retain certain information about you as required by law or for legitimate business purposes after you delete your account.
Controlling the Use of Cookies Most web browsers are set to accept cookies by default. If you prefer, you can usually choose to set your browser to remove or reject first- and third-party cookies. Please note that if you choose to remove or reject cookies, this could affect the availability and functionality of our Services.
Controlling Promotional Communications You may opt out of receiving some or all categories of promotional communications from us by following the instructions in those communications or by updating your email options in your account preferences at [Insert Link]. If you opt out of promotional communications, we may still send you non-promotional communications, such as information about your account or your use of the Services.

Requests for a copy of the information TheDojo has about your account—including EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) data subject access requests and California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) consumer information requests—can be submitted via email to admin@TheDojo.com.


Before we process a request from you about your personal information, we need to verify the request via your access to your TheDojo account or to a verified email address associated with your TheDojo account. TheDojo does not discriminate against users for exercising their rights under data protection laws to make requests regarding their personal information.

We are based in the United States and we process and store information on servers located in the United States. By accessing or using the Services or otherwise providing information to us, you consent to the processing, transfer, and storage of information in and to the U.S. and other countries, where you may not have the same rights as you do under local law.

Additional Information for EEA Users

Users in the European Economic Area have the right to request access to, rectification of, or erasure of their personal data; to data portability in certain circumstances; to request restriction of processing; to object to processing; and to withdraw consent for processing where they have previously provided consent. EEA users also have the right to lodge a complaint with their local supervisory authority.

As required by applicable law, we collect and process information about individuals in the EEA only where we have a legal basis for doing so. Our legal bases depend on the Services you use and how you use them. We process your information on the following legal bases:


  • You have consented for us to do so for a specific purpose;
  • We need to process the information to provide you the Services, including to operate the Services, provide customer support and personalized features and to protect the safety and security of the Services;
  • It satisfies a legitimate interest (which is not overridden by your data protection interests), such as preventing fraud, ensuring network and information security, enforcing our rules and policies, protecting our legal rights and interests, research and development, personalizing the Services, and marketing and promoting the Services; or
  • We need to process your information to comply with our legal obligations.

Additional Information for California Users

The California Consumer Privacy Act (“CCPA”) requires us to provide California residents with some additional information about the categories of personal information we collect and share, where we get that personal information, and how and why we use it.

In the past year, we collected the following categories of personal information from California residents, depending on the Services used:


  • Identifiers, like your TheDojo username, email address, and IP address.
  • Commercial information, including information about transactions you undertake with us.
  • Internet or other electronic network activity information, such as information about your activity on our Services and limited information about your activity on the services of advertisers who use our advertising technology.
  • Audiovisual information in pictures, audio, or video content submitted to TheDojo.

If you are a California resident, you have additional rights under the CCPA, including the right to request access to or deletion of your personal information, and information about our data practices, as well as the right not to be discriminated against for exercising your privacy rights. These rights can be exercised as described above.


Children

Children under the age of 13 are not allowed to create an account or otherwise use the Services without the consent of a parent or guardian. Additionally, if you are in the EEA, you must be over the age required by the laws of your country to create an account or otherwise use the Services, or we need to have obtained verifiable consent from your parent or legal guardian.


Changes to This Policy

We may change this Privacy Policy from time to time. If the changes, in our sole discretion, are material, we may also notify you by sending an email to the address associated with your account (if you have chosen to provide an email address) or by otherwise providing notice through our Services. We encourage you to review the Privacy Policy whenever you access or use our Services or otherwise interact with us to stay informed about our information practices and the ways you can help protect your privacy. By continuing to use our Services after Privacy Policy changes go into effect, you agree to be bound by the revised policy.


Contact Us

To send a GDPR data subject request or CCPA consumer request, follow the steps in the “Your Rights - Data Subject and Consumer Information Requests” section above.

If you have other questions about this Privacy Policy, please email us at admin@thedojo.com.