The Boston Underground Film Festival (also herein as “BUFF”) is committed to protecting the privacy of our online guests, visitors, donors, and friends. We understand that maintaining privacy on the BUFF’s websites (bostonunderground.org, herein referred to as “the website” or “the site”) is very important, and we hope that this disclosure will help increase your confidence in our sites and enhance your experience on the Internet.
Types of Information Collected
BUFF does not collect any personal information about individuals, such as names, postal or email addresses, or other personally identifying data (the “Personal Data”) except when such information is knowingly provided. Personal information might be obtained from online transactions such as purchases or registrations. Additionally, personal information may be transmitted as part of a form submission or in connection with other activities, services, or resources available on our website.
Information You Provide
There are a few activities on our sites where the collection of personally identifiable information is necessary. Those activities include things like entering a contest or sweepstakes, signing up for our e-mail list, making a purchase, or contacting us.
Email List
When you subscribe to our electronic mailing list(s), BUFF will request information necessary to process your subscription and send you the information you seek: your name, e-mail address, and areas of interest. Your Personal Data may be used as set forth below. When personally identifiable information is collected, you will know because you will have to fill out a form.
Purchases and Donations
When you purchase a BUFF festival badge and/or BUFF tickets (for admission to Brattle Theatre film screenings via third-party platform ShowClix Inc.), make a donation (via third-party platform Fractured Atlas), or purchase an item from BUFF’s online store (via third-party platform Big Cartel), BUFF and all associated third-party merchants and agents will request information necessary to process your purchase and acknowledge your contribution: your name, billing and shipping address, telephone number, e-mail address, and credit card information. Depending on what you purchase, we may also need to collect other personal information, an example would be something like your clothing size.
Your credit card information will be used only for the purpose of processing and documenting the transaction. Each company provides us with the online e-commerce platform that allows us to sell our products and services to you. Your data is stored through their data storage and databases. They store your data on a secure server behind a firewall. BUFF is in full compliance will all current data security laws and regulations that pertain to credit cards and personal information.
Security
BUFF’s online ticketing and donation secure server software use industry-standard Secure Socket Layer (SSL) encryption technology. SSL encodes your personal information — including credit card number, name, and address — as it travels over the Internet so that all transactions are secure. If you prefer, you may also place your festival badge and ticket orders via phone with the Brattle Theatre: 617-876-8021.
When you browse our website, we also automatically receive your computer’s internet protocol (IP) address, browser and operating system, the referring site that brought you to our website, the pages you visit on our website, and the date and duration of your visit. See below (“Information Collected Automatically”) for additional information.
Payment
If you choose a direct payment gateway to complete your purchase, then the third-party company stores your credit card data. It is encrypted through the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI-DSS). Your purchase transaction data is stored only as long as is necessary to complete your purchase transaction. After that is complete, your purchase transaction information is deleted. All direct payment gateways adhere to the standards set by PCI-DSS as managed by the PCI Security Standards Council, which is a joint effort of brands like Visa, MasterCard, American Express and Discover. PCI-DSS requirements help ensure the secure handling of credit card information by our store and its service providers.
Third-Party Services
In general, the third-party providers used by us will only collect, use and disclose your information to the extent necessary to allow them to perform the services they provide to us. However, certain third-party service providers, such as payment gateways and other payment transaction processors, have their own privacy policies in respect to the information we are required to provide to them for your purchase-related transactions. For these providers, we recommend that you read their privacy policies so you can understand the manner in which your personal information will be handled by these providers. In particular, remember that certain providers may be located in or have facilities that are located a different jurisdiction than either you or us. So if you elect to proceed with a transaction that involves the services of a third-party service provider, then your information may become subject to the laws of the jurisdiction(s) in which that service provider or its facilities are located. As an example, if you are located in Canada and your transaction is processed by a payment gateway located in the United States, then your personal information used in completing that transaction may be subject to disclosure under United States legislation, including the Patriot Act. Once you leave our website or are redirected to a third-party website or application, you are no longer governed by this Privacy Policy or our website’s Terms of Service. When you click on links on our store, they may direct you away from our site. We are not responsible for the privacy practices of other sites and encourage you to read their privacy statements.
Information Collected Automatically
BUFF does automatically collect some anonymous “non-personally identifiable” aggregate information about visitors when pages are requested through a browser. This information is used for statistical purposes, to help us monitor how guests navigate our site, allowing us to tailor our services for specific groups of visitors. Non-personally identifiable information may refer to information about our visitors’ browsers (e.g., Google Chrome or Internet Explorer), operating systems (e.g., Windows or Macintosh), Internet Service Providers (e.g., AOL, Earthlink, Verizon, Comcast, etc.), and other similar information.
Cookies are pieces of information that a Web site sends to your computer while you are viewing the Web site. These pieces of information allow the Web site to remember important information that will make your use of that site more useful. BUFF and other Internet companies use cookies for a variety of purposes.
You can choose to have your computer warn you each time a cookie is being sent, or you can choose to turn off all cookies. You do this through your browser (like Google Chrome or Internet Explorer) settings. Each browser is a little different, so look at your browser Help menu to learn the correct way to modify your cookies. If you turn cookies off, you won’t have access to many BUFF features that make your Web experience more efficient — like the features mentioned above — and some of our services may not function properly.
How does BUFF use the personally identifiable information that has been collected?
BUFF uses personally identifiable information in a limited number of ways. We use the information to complete transactions. For instance, if you contact us for help we will use the information to contact you. We use information collected to notify you if you’ve won a game or contest. Information we collect is used to send you e-mail updates and newsletters about our sites. We may also use the information you provide to send you BUFF e-mail promotions and special offers from our third-party sponsors and affiliate companies.
We aren’t in the business of selling information about our Guests. We will absolutely not share your information with other parties without your consent. BUFF occasionally sends e-mail promotions out to our Guests on behalf of third-party sponsors. In this instance, we don’t share your name with the third party — we do the mailing for them. Again, we only send these promotions to you if you’ve given your permission to receive communications from us.
Opt-Out
If for any reason you do not wish to receive further email from BUFF, please follow the instructions for unsubscribing included within the body of the message that was sent to you.
Links to Other Sites
Users may find content on BUFF’s website that links to the sites and services of our partners, sponsors, or other third parties. In many cases, these links represent cooperative projects or are established with persons or entities that have a significant connection to or relationship with our site. Although every effort is made to ensure that any referrals are to reputable and relevant sources, BUFF does not control the content or links that appear on these sites. In addition, these sites or services, including their content and links, may be constantly changing. These sites and services may have their own privacy policies and customer service policies, or no policy at all. BUFF maintains a policy against the nonconsensual collection or sharing of personal information and encourages visitors to review the privacy policies of any sites they visit to ensure their personal information is being protected.
Organizations That Help Protect the Security and Safety of our Guests and our Sites
We will give out personal information as required by law, for example, to comply with a court order or subpoena; to enforce our Terms of Service, or site or game rules; or to protect the safety and security of Guests and our sites.
Children Under 12
BUFF does not solicit personal information from children. Visitors 12 years of age and under should remember that they are required to obtain an adult’s permission before submitting personal information to this or any other website.
Photography and Video
Your presence at BUFF (including the Brattle Theatre and all official venues) acknowledges that you have been informed of the potential to be documented as part of a video or photo release, and that you grant permission for your likeness to be included in publication of any footage.
Revisions to This Privacy Policy
Please note that BUFF may revise its privacy policy at any time. Such revisions may arise in response to changes in the law, policy, or other factors. We encourage you to periodically visit this page to review our most current policy.
Acceptance of Terms
By using any of BUFF’s websites, you signify your acceptance of our Privacy Policy. If you do not agree to this policy, please do not use our sites. Your continued use of any BUFF site following the posting of changes to these terms will indicate your acceptance of those changes.