The IndieWiki movement is founded on a simple, but powerful principle: we can do more together than any of us can do alone. We cannot work collectively without gathering, sharing, and analyzing information about our users as we seek new ways to make the IndieWiki Sites more usable, safer, and more beneficial.
We believe that information-gathering and use should go hand-in-hand with transparency. This Privacy Policy explains how the IndieWiki Collective, the non-profit organization that hosts the IndieWiki Sites, like Indiewiki.org, collects, uses, and shares information we receive from you through your use of the IndieWiki Sites. It is essential to understand that, by using any of the IndieWiki Sites, you consent to the collection, transfer, processing, storage, disclosure, and use of your information as described in this Privacy Policy. That means that reading this Policy carefully is important.
We believe that you should not have to provide nonpublic Personal Information to participate in the free knowledge movement. You do not have to provide things like your real name, address, or date of birth to sign up for a standard account or contribute content to the IndieWiki Sites.
We do not sell or rent your Personal Information, nor do we give it to others to sell you anything. We use it to figure out how to make the IndieWiki Sites more engaging and accessible, to see which ideas work, and to make learning and contributing more fun. Put simply: we use this information to make the IndieWiki Sites better for you.
After all, it is people like you, the champions of free knowledge, who make it possible for the IndieWiki Sites to not only exist, but also grow and thrive.
Definitions
We recognize that not everyone is familiar with technical terms like “tracking pixels” and “cookies” used in the Privacy Policy.
Whether you are brand new to privacy terminology or you are an expert who just wants a refresher, you might find our Glossary of Key Terms helpful.
Because everyone (not just lawyers) should be able to easily understand how and why their information is collected and used, we use common language instead of more formal terms throughout this Policy. To help ensure your understanding of some particular key terms, here is a table of translations:
When we say… …we mean:
“the IndieWiki Collective” / “the Collective” / “we” / “us” / “our” The IndieWiki Collective, Inc., the non-profit organization that operates the IndieWiki Sites.
“IndieWiki Sites” / “our services” IndieWiki websites and services (regardless of language), including our main projects, such as Indiewiki.org and IndieWiki Commons, as well as mobile applications, Application Programming Interfaces (APIs), emails, and notifications; excluding, however, sites and services listed in the “What This Privacy Policy Does Not Cover” section below.
“you” / “your” / “me” You, regardless of whether you are an individual, group, or organization, and regardless of whether you are using the IndieWiki Sites or our services on behalf of yourself or someone else.
“this Policy” / “this Privacy Policy” This document, entitled the “IndieWiki Collective Privacy Policy”.
“contributions” Content you add or changes you make to any IndieWiki Sites.
“Personal information” Information you provide us or information we collect that could be used to personally identify you. To be clear, while we do not necessarily collect all of the following types of information, we consider at least the following to be “personal information” if it is otherwise nonpublic and can be used to identify you:
(a) your real name, address, phone number, email address, password, identification number on government-issued ID, IP address, user-agent information, payment account number;
(b) when associated with one of the items in subsection (a), any sensitive data such as date of birth, gender, sexual orientation, racial or ethnic origins, marital or familial status, medical conditions or disabilities, political affiliation, and religion.
“third party” / “third parties” Individuals, entities, websites, services, products, and applications that are not controlled, managed, or operated by the IndieWiki Collective. This includes other IndieWiki users and independent organizations or groups who help promote the IndieWiki movement such as IndieWiki chapters, thematic organizations, and user groups as well as volunteers, employees, directors, officers, grant recipients, and contractors of those organizations or groups.
What This Privacy Policy Does and Does Not Cover
Except as explained below, this Privacy Policy applies to our collection and handling of information about you that we receive as a result of your use of any of the IndieWiki Sites. This Policy also applies to information that we receive from our partners or other third parties. To understand more about what this Privacy Policy covers, please see below.
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Examples of What This Privacy Policy Covers
For the sake of clarity, this Privacy Policy covers, regardless of language:
• such as Indiewiki.org, including user pages, discussion pages, and noticeboards.
• Our blogs and APIs (unless we have provided a separate policy for those services).
• Official IndieWiki Collective mobile applications.
• Emails, SMS, and notifications from us or sent to us from you.
This Privacy Policy, however, does not cover some situations where we may gather or process information. For example, some uses may be covered by separate privacy policies (like those of the IndieWiki Shop) or sites or services run by third parties (such as third-party developer projects on IndieWiki Cloud Services). To understand more about what this Privacy Policy does not cover, please see below.
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More on what the IndieWiki Collective Privacy Policy does not cover
This section is part of the Privacy Policy and is meant to explain in detail which situations are not covered by our Privacy Policy.
IndieWiki Sites and Tools with alternative policies
Some IndieWiki Collective websites or tools have alternative privacy policies or provisions that differ from this Privacy Policy. These websites include:
• Such as our social media sites which are covered by their own privacy policy
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• The Indiewiki.org Reading Lists Browser Extension, which is governed by a separate Privacy Policy. This separate policy will also be made available where the Extension can be downloaded.
If a IndieWiki Collective website is governed by an alternative privacy policy, it will link to such policy. When an IndieWiki Collective tool is governed by an alternative privacy policy, the page where the tool may be downloaded or enabled will include a link to that policy.
Community members
The IndieWiki Sites are collaborative labors of love that are constantly maintained and updated by a global community of volunteers. This global community of volunteers may sometimes have access to personal Information in order to ensure the functioning of the IndieWiki Sites.
• Administrative volunteers, such as CheckUsers or Stewards. These are volunteers who enforce IndieWiki Site policies and ensure the safety of the IndieWiki Sites. When these administrators access Personal Information that is nonpublic, they are required to comply with our Access to nonpublic personal data policy, as well as other, tool-specific policies.
• Tool providers. We support platforms for third-party developers to experiment and develop new tools and sites, such as wmflabs.org. When you use one of the tools developed by these volunteers, you may transfer information to them. When these volunteers access nonpublic information or Personal Information, they are required to comply with the terms governing the particular platform the tool is available on.
• Other users. We provide several tools that allow users to communicate with each other. The communications may be covered by this Policy while they pass through our systems, but the users who receive these communications, and what they do with the communications once they receive them, are not covered by this Policy. Examples include:
• posting to Collective-hosted email lists;
• requesting support from volunteers through our online contact form to indiewiki@yahoo.com.
• emailing other users through the IndieWiki Sites (for example, by using the “Email this user” feature); and
• chatting on IRC (such as on the #indiewiki.org channel).
Third parties
This Privacy Policy only covers the way the IndieWiki Collective collects, uses and discloses Personal Information and does not address the practices of third parties. For example, this Privacy Policy does not address the practices of:
• Websites run by other organizations, like websites linked to from the “References” sections of Indiewiki.org , or run by IndieWiki chapters or other movement organizations. These organizations may receive information from you if you visit their websites after using one of the IndieWiki Sites. They are governed by their own privacy policies.
• Mobile applications provided by other organizations or individuals. These organizations or individuals may receive information from you if you use those applications to access the IndieWiki Sites or IndieWiki Site content. They are governed by their own privacy policies.
Sometimes, volunteers may place a data-collecting tool, such as a script, gadget, tracking pixel, or share button, on an IndieWiki Site without our knowledge. This Policy does not cover how third parties handle the information they receive as a result of such a tool. If you come across such a third-party tool, and you believe it violates this Policy, you can remove the tool yourself, or report it to indiewiki@yahoo.com so we can investigate.
Where community policies govern information, such as the CheckUser policy, the relevant community may add to the rules and obligations set out in this Policy. However, they are not permitted to create new exceptions or otherwise reduce the protections offered by this Policy.
Last updated July 9, 2024