PRIVACY

This site is owned and operated by Joel Tea.  Your privacy on the Internet is of the utmost importance to me.  I want to make your experience online satisfying and safe.  Because I gather certain types of information about visitors, I feel you should fully understand the terms and conditions surrounding the capture and use of that information.  This privacy statement discloses what information I gather and how I use it.  

While you are visiting this site, I use temporary client identification methods know as "cookies" to establish security controls.  These cookies are not tracked by me and do not interact with your operating system.  They are not persistent and do not provide me with any information.   They cannot be used or modified to provide any information about you, your Internet viewing habits or any information about your system. When you leave a restricted section of the site, these cookies are set to "null" and eliminated.

If you have any questions or would like to contact me, my e-mail address is info@joeltea.com.

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INFORMATION I GATHER AND TRACK

I gather these two types of information about users:

1. Information that users provide through optional, voluntary submissions.  These are voluntary submissions to receive our electronic newsletters, to participate in our forums, to receive e-mail, and to participate in polls and surveys.

2. Information gathered through aggregate tracking information derived mainly by tallying page views throughout the site.  This information allows me to better tailor my content to readers' needs and to help potential advertisers and sponsors better understand the demographics of my audience.  Under no circumstances do I divulge any information about an individual user to a third party, unless required by law or legal process, necessary to protect the safety of users or the public or essential to complete commercial transactions voluntarily initiated by the user.

OPTIONAL VOLUNTARY INFORMATION

I offer the following free services, which require some type of voluntary submission of personal information by users:

I offer a free electronic newsletter to users and access to private pages showing works in progress (The Private Studio).  I gather the e-mail addresses of users who voluntarily subscribe to either service.  Users may remove themselves from this mailing list by following the link in every newsletter or the link in the Private Studio Pages  that points users to the subscription management page.  Users can also decline to  subscribe to the newsletters at the time of registration. 

CHILDREN

Consistent with the Federal Children's Online Privacy Protection Act of 1998 (COPPA), I will never knowingly request personally identifiable information from users under the age of 13 without requesting parental consent. 

USAGE TRACKING

I track user traffic patterns throughout the site.  I do not correlate this information with data about individual users.  Analysis does break down overall usage statistics according to a user's domain name, browser type, and MIME type by reading this information from the browser string (information contained in every user's browser).

USE OF INFORMATION

I use any information voluntarily given by the users to enhance the experience of the site, whether to provide interactive or personalized elements on the site or to better prepare future content based on the interests of the users.

I will not share information about individual users with any third party, except to comply with applicable law or valid legal process or to protect the personal safety of our users or the public or to complete commercial transactions voluntarily initiated by the users.

OPT-OUT POLICY

I give users options whenever necessary and practical.  Such choices include: Opting not to register to receive our electronic newsletters or any materials provided by the site, or opting not to participate in certain areas, which completely alleviates the need to gather personally identifiable information from the users.

YOUR CONSENT

By using this site, you consent to the collection and use of this information by me.  If I decide to change my privacy policy, I will post these changes on this page so that you are always aware of what information I collect, how I use it, and under what circumstances I disclose it.