Last Updated: February 5, 2023
This privacy policy (“Privacy Policy”) describes the information collected by Baladi, LLC dba The Village (“we,” “us,” or “our”), how that information may be used, with whom it may be shared, and your choices about such uses and disclosures. By using our website, located at http://www.jointhevillage.io (“Website”), our mobile apps, and/or other services we provide (collectively, “The Village”), you agree to the practices set forth in this Privacy Policy.
Information collected automatically:
When you use The Village, we automatically collect and store certain information about your computer or mobile device and your activities. We may use this and other information described in this Privacy Policy to infer information, such as your interests. This information includes:
– Mobile Device ID. Your mobile device’s unique ID number (e.g., IMEI, AD ID).
– Geolocation. With your permission, your mobile device’s geographic location (GPS) when you first register for The Village through our mobile app or when you enable location services within the app.
– Device Information/Specifications. Technical information about your computer or mobile device (e.g., type of device, web browser or operating system, IP address) to analyze trends, administer the site, prevent fraud, track visitor movement in the aggregate, and gather broad demographic information.
– Usage Information. How long and in what manner you use The Village, which services and features you use and any content that you generate through and post on The Village. This includes browsing and search history (including profiles you have viewed). We link your subscriber information with your activity on The Village across all your devices using your email, phone number or similar information.
– Cookies: We and our service providers and business partners use “cookies” to keep track of some types of information while you are visiting The Village or using our services. “Cookies” are very small files placed on your computer, and they allow us to count the number of visitors to our Website and distinguish repeat visitors from new visitors. They also allow us and third parties we work with to save user preferences, track user trends, and advertise to you. We use both session and persistent cookies on our Website; session cookies expire at the end of a particular visit to our Website, while persistent cookies (also called stored cookies) remain active until you disable them through your browser settings, or until a pre-set expiration date. We rely on cookies for the proper operation of The Village; therefore if your browser is set to reject all cookies, The Village may not function properly. Without this information, we will not be able to provide you with all of the requested services, and any differences in services are related to your information.
– Web Beacons: “Web beacons” (also known as “clear gifs” and “pixel tags”) are small transparent graphic images that are often used in conjunction with cookies in order to further personalize The Village for our users, collect a limited set of information about our visitors, and advertise to our users. We may also use web beacons in email communications in order to understand the behavior of our customers, such as whether an email has been opened or acted upon.
Information we obtain from other sources:
Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn. In order to register with certain The Village apps, you may be asked to sign in using your Facebook, Instagram, or LinkedIn login. If you do so, you are authorizing us to access and process certain Facebook, Instagram, or LinkedIn account information, including information about you and your Facebook, Instagram, or LinkedIn friends who might be common Facebook, Instagram, or LinkedIn friends with other The Village users. By allowing us to access your Facebook, Instagram, or LinkedIn, you understand that we may obtain and process certain information from your Facebook, Instagram, or LinkedIn account, including your name, email address, birthday, work history, education history, current city, pictures stored on Facebook, Instagram, or LinkedIn, and the names, profile pictures, relationship status, and information about your Facebook, Instagram, or LinkedIn friends. We only obtain information from your Facebook, Instagram, or LinkedIn account that you specifically authorize and grant us permission to obtain.
Third-Party Services: We may receive the information described in this Privacy Policy from third party services, such as analytics providers and advertising partners.
Other users. Users of The Village may provide us with information about you, including through customer support inquiries.
Information you choose to provide:
Information You Provide to Us. When you register with certain The Village apps, you must provide certain information, including your username and password, email address, zip code, birthday, gender, and gender preference. We will also ask you to upload photos for your profile and may collect any information (including location metadata and inferred characterizations or data) contained in these files. You may provide additional information about yourself (such as your school, occupation, current city, etc.) in order to build your The Village profile. You may also provide “special categories of personal data” under applicable law, such as your race, ethnicity, religion, philosophical or political views, and information relating to your sex life or sexual orientation. By affirmatively providing The Village with this information, you explicitly consent to our use of it for the purpose of fine tuning your match criteria with other villagers. Any information that you provide in the non-personally identifiable section of your profile will be viewable by your match. When using The Village, you may also provide payment information (where required for the purpose of payment). We collect and process your messages with other users as part of the operation of The Village. If you use our video chat feature, you will need to provide the The Village app with access to your camera and microphone. We and others you video chat with may collect the content and information you make available using our video chat feature.
Referring Your Friends: We encourage you to refer your friends to The Village by sending us your friends’ email addresses or phone numbers. We will keep this information in our database, and enable you to send these friends a one-time email or text message from your device containing your name and inviting them to visit our site. This email will also include instructions on how to opt out and unsubscribe from our email list. You agree that you will not abuse this feature by entering the email addresses or phone numbers of those individuals who would not be interested in The Village.
Emails: We require an email address from you when you register with certain The Village apps. We use your email for both “administrative” (e.g., confirming your registration, notifying of matches) and “promotional” (e.g., newsletters, new product offerings, special discounts, event notifications, special third-party offers) purposes. Email messages we send you may contain code that enables our database to track your usage of the e-mails, including whether the e-mail was opened and what links (if any) were clicked. You may opt-out of receiving promotional emails and other promotional communications from us at any time via the opt-out links provided in such communications, or by e-mailing contact@jointhevillage.io with your specific request. However, we reserve the right to send you certain communications relating to The Village such as service announcements, security alerts, update notices, or other administrative messages) without affording you the opportunity to opt out of receiving such communications.
SMS Messages: By providing your phone number to The Village, you consent to The Village sending you SMS messages with security codes.
Online Survey Data: We may periodically conduct voluntary member surveys. We encourage our members to participate in such surveys because they provide us with important information regarding the improvement of The Village.
How we use the information
Pursuant to the terms of this Privacy Policy, we may use the information we collect from you for the following business purposes:
Use for Research. In addition to the uses outlined above, by using The Village, you agree to allow us to anonymously use the information from you and your experiences to continue our research into successful relationships, including how to create and foster these relationships, so that we may continue to improve the The Village experience. This research may be published in our blogs or interviews. However, all of your responses will be kept anonymous, and we assure you that no personal information will be published.
Sharing Your Information
The information we collect is used to provide and improve the content and the quality of The Village, and without your consent we will not otherwise share your personal information to/with any other parties except: (a) to provide The Village, (b) when we have your permission, or (c) or under the following instances:
Other Users. We may share your profile information with other The Village users to facilitate matches in accordance with the functionality of our services. In addition, you may choose to share additional information with users of The Village once you have matched with them.
Service Providers and Business Partners. We may share your information with our third-party service providers and business partners that help us to accomplish certain business purposes (e.g., marketing and analytics providers, security and technology providers, advertising partners, and payment processors).
Legal Disclosures and Business Transfers. We may disclose any information without notice or consent from you: (a) in response to a legal request, such as a subpoena, court order, or government demand; (b) to investigate or report illegal activity; or (c) to enforce our rights or defend claims. We may also transfer your information to (a) any affiliate of our corporate group or (b) another company in connection with a merger, financing due diligence, corporate restructuring, sale of any or all of our assets, or in the event of bankruptcy.
Third-Party Services You Interact With. If you access third-party services, such as Facebook to login to The Village, these third-party services may be able to collect information about you, including information about your activity on The Village, and they may notify your connections on the third-party services about your use of The Village, in accordance with their privacy policies.
Aggregate Data. We may aggregate or de-identify the information described in this Privacy Policy. Aggregated or de-identified data is not subject to this Privacy Policy.
Unless otherwise stated in this Privacy Policy, The Village does not sell personal information to third parties. The Village does permit third parties to collect the personal information described above through our service and shares personal information with third parties for business purposes as described in this Privacy Policy, including but not limited to providing advertising outside of our service based on users’ online activities over time and across different sites, services, and devices (so-called “interest-based advertising”). The information practices of these third parties are not covered by this Policy.
Updating or Removing Account Information
You may review or edit your profile as you wish, by logging into your The Village account using the information supplied during the registration process. If you would like to have us delete your account information, we may do so by deactivating your account first and then permanently deleting your account. Notwithstanding the foregoing, we may continue to contact you for the purpose of communicating information relating to your request for The Village services, or to respond to any inquiry or request made by you, as applicable. To opt out of receiving messages concerning, The Village you must cease requesting and/or utilizing services from The Village, and cease submitting inquiries to The Village, as applicable.
Your Privacy Rights
In accordance with applicable law, you may have the right to:
If you would like to exercise any of these rights, please contact us as set forth below. We will process such requests in accordance with applicable laws.
Third Party Sites
The Village may contain links to other websites and services. If you choose to click on a third party link, you will be directed to that third party’s website or service. The fact that we link to a website or service is not an endorsement, authorization or representation of our affiliation with that third party, nor is it an endorsement of their privacy or information security policies or practices. We do not exercise control over third party websites or services. These third parties may place their own cookies or other files on your computer, collect data or solicit personal information from you. Other websites and services follow different rules regarding the use or disclosure of the personal information you submit to them. We encourage you to read the privacy policies or statements of the other websites and services you visit.
Data Retention
The Village retains the personal information we receive as described in this Privacy Policy for as long as you use our services or as necessary to fulfill the purpose(s) for which it was collected, provide our services, resolve disputes, establish legal defenses, conduct audits, pursue legitimate business purposes, enforce our agreements, and comply with applicable laws.
Securing Your Personal Information
We take steps to ensure that your information is treated securely and in accordance with this Privacy Policy. Unfortunately, the Internet cannot be guaranteed to be 100% secure, and we cannot ensure or warrant the security of any information you provide to us. To the fullest extent permitted by applicable law, we do not accept liability for unintentional disclosure.
By providing personal information to us, you agree that we may communicate with you electronically regarding security, privacy, and administrative issues relating to your use of The Village. If we learn of a security system’s breach, we may attempt to notify you electronically by posting a notice on the Site or sending an e-mail to you. You may have a legal right to receive this notice in writing.
Your Choices
Cookies. You may be able to refuse or disable cookies by adjusting your browser settings. Because each browser is different, please consult the instructions provided by your browser. If you choose to refuse, disable, or delete cookies, some of the functionality of The Village may no longer be available to you. Without this information, we are not able to provide you with all the requested services, and any differences in services are related to your information.
You can manage third-party advertising preferences for some of the third parties we work with to serve advertising across the Internet by clicking here and by utilizing the choices available at http://www.networkadvertising.org/managing/opt_out.aspand www.aboutads.info/choices.
SMS Messages. You may opt out of receiving SMS messages from us by following the instructions in the SMS message or by otherwise contacting us.
Mobile Devices. We may send you push notifications through our mobile application. You may opt out from receiving these push notifications by changing the settings on your mobile device. Your mobile device may include a feature that allows you to opt out of some types of targeted advertising (“Limit Ad Tracking” on iOS and “Opt out of Interest-Based Ads” on Android). You can switch off GPS location information functionality on your mobile device if you do not wish to share GPS information.
“Do Not Track.” Some browsers transmit “do-not-track” signals to websites. Because of differences in how browsers incorporate and activate this feature, it is not always clear whether users intend for these signals to be transmitted, or whether they even are aware of them. We currently do not take action in response to these signals.
Supplemental Notice for California Residents
This Supplemental California Privacy Notice only applies to our processing of personal information that is subject to the California Consumer Privacy Act of 2018 (“CCPA”). The CCPA provides California residents with the right to know what categories of personal information The Village has collected about them and whether The Village disclosed that personal information for a business purpose (e.g., to a service provider) in the preceding twelve months. California residents can find this information below:
Sensory Data
| Category of Personal Information Collected by The Village | Categories of Third Parties Personal Information is Disclosed to for a Business Purpose |
| Identifiers |
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| Personal information categories listed in Cal. Civ. Code § 1798.80(e) |
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| Protected classification characteristics under California or federal law |
|
| Commercial information |
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| Internet or other electronic network activity |
|
| Geolocation data |
|
|
|
Professional or employment
|
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| Inferences drawn from other personal information to create a profile about a consumer |
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The categories of sources from which we collect personal information and our business and commercial purposes for using personal information are set forth above.
Additional Privacy Rights for California Residents
“Sales” of Personal Information under the CCPA. For purposes of the CCPA, The Village does not “sell” personal information, nor do we have actual knowledge of any “sale” of personal information of minors under 16 years of age.
Nondiscrimination. California residents have the right not to receive discriminatory treatment by us for the exercise of their rights conferred by the CCPA.
Authorized Agent. Only you, or someone legally authorized to act on your behalf, may make a verifiable consumer request related to your personal information. To designate an authorized agent, please contact us as set forth below.
Verification. When you make a request, we will ask you to provide sufficient information that allows us to reasonably verify you are the person about whom we collected personal information or an authorized representative, which may include confirming the email address associated with any personal information we have about you.
If you are a California resident and would like to exercise any of your rights under the CCPA, please contact us as set forth below. We will process such requests in accordance with applicable laws.
“Shine the Light” requests. You have the right to request and obtain from us once a year at no charge a list of all third parties, if any, to which we have disclosed your personal information during the preceding calendar year for those third parties’ direct marketing purposes. If you would like such a list, please contact us at contact@jointhevillage.io. For all such requests, you must put the statement “Shine the Light Request” on your request, as well as your name, street address, city, state, and zip code. Please note that we will not accept these requests by telephone or fax, and are not responsible for notices that are not labeled or sent properly, or that do not have complete information.
Using The Village from outside the United States
If you are visiting The Village from outside the United States, please be aware that your information may be transferred to, stored, and processed globally, including in the United States where our servers are located and our central database is operated. By using our services, you understand and agree that your information may be transferred to our facilities and those third parties with whom we share it for processing as described in this Privacy Policy. Where required by law, international transfers of personal information will be supported by an adequacy mechanism.
Changes to this Privacy Policy
We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. If there are any material changes to this Privacy Policy, The Village will notify you by email or as otherwise required by applicable law. When we post changes to this Privacy Policy, we will revise the “last updated” date at the top of this Privacy Policy. We recommend that you check our Website from time to time to inform yourself of any changes in this Privacy Policy or any of our other policies.
How to Contact Us
If you have any questions about our privacy practices, this Privacy Policy, or how to lodge a complaint with the appropriate authority, please contact us by email at contact@jointhevillage.io or by mail at Baladi, LLC, Northwest Registered Agent, 8 The Green, Suite B, Dover DE, 19901.