Privacy Policy
Your personal privacy and the privacy of your data is of first and foremost concern to us at Hard Times Media, Inc., d/b/a YPRA, and HARD TIMES MEDIA, INC. subsidiaries and affiliates (collectively, “we”, “our”, or “Hard Times Media, Inc.”). Below is our Privacy Policy which clearly explains our practices relating to your Personal Data.
PRIVACY BILL OF RIGHTS
We are uncompromising about trust, respect and integrity and process your Personal Data in accordance with the following principles:
Collection of Your Personal Data
The types of Personal Data we collect about you depend on how you interact with us. “Personal Data” refers to data that identifies, relates to, describes, or can be associated with you. The following are categories and specific types of Personal Data we may collect about you:
How We Collect Your Personal Data
We collect your Personal Data in the following ways, as permissible under applicable law:
Purpose of Processing Your Personal Data
YPRA uses and processes Personal Data, including special Personal Data, to provide you with services you request from us, including using and processing Personal Data for the following purposes:
Legal Basis of Processing Your Personal Data
We process your information for the purposes described in this Privacy Policy, based on the following legal grounds:
Provision of your Personal Data is both a contractual and statutory obligation.
Disclosure of Your Personal Data
We may disclose Personal Data to third parties for our business and commercial purposes in the following ways:
Cookies and Other Tracking Technologies – Where and Why
YPRA’s Use of Tracking Technology
We don’t track you to sell your data to third parties, and we don’t track you to manipulate your newsfeed and we don’t track you when you are not on YPRA. To ensure the safety and security of our users, we track how members use our site. We collect your log data, usage activity, email, phone number, cookie data, and device/network information, to verify accounts; combat harmful conduct; detect and prevent spam; and to maintain the integrity of YPRA.
We may disclose and match your information against databases or with third parties bound by confidentiality who specialize in identifying trolls, bots, scammers, spammers, fake accounts, stalkers, or illegal activity. We may also use pattern tracking to identify and remove disruptive elements such as trolls, bots, scammers, spammers, fake accounts, stalkers, etc.
We monitor how users use our site in general so that we can make it better. We are monitoring traffic, usage activity, feature popularity and site performance, and we use general analytic tools so that we can improve your experience.
YPRA’s Use of Cookies and Related Tracking Technologies
We use essential and analytics cookies on YPRA to make your experience better. We NEVER use cookies for third-parties to target you or market to you.
Essential cookies are cookies that the services need in order to function, and that enable you to move around and use the services and features. Without these essential cookies, the services will not perform as smoothly for you as we would like them to and we may not be able to provide the services or features you request. For example, cookies on YPRA let you log in and out of YPRA without needing to retype your login and password.
Analytics cookies, alternatively, allow us to understand more about how visitors interact with our services. Although analytics cookies allow us to gather specific information about the pages that you visit and whether you have visited our services multiple times, we cannot use them to find out details such as your name or address. Analytics cookies on YPRA tell us how many people use a certain feature, how they use it and with what frequency, and whether people open an email we send. These cookies are also another way we protect you from security risks. We use cookies to remember your settings and preferences, like the language you prefer and your privacy settings. We use cookies or similar technologies to identify your log data. We use cookies to detect when someone might be trying to hack your YPRA account or spam the YPRA community.
How to Opt-Out of the Use of Cookies and Related Tracking Technologies
Most web browsers automatically accept cookies, but you can usually change your browser settings to prevent this. If you disable cookies, your ability to use some features of the services may be limited. For mobile devices, you may be able to manage certain cookies using your built-in mobile device settings and controls, or the settings within your mobile application, where applicable. Choices are browser- and/or device-specific. If you clear your cookies from your browser on any of your devices, your choices will need to be reset. You should check how to do this on your device(s) and operating systems.
In addition, depending on your location and applicable laws, we may give you the option of adjusting your preferences with regard to the categories of cookies we use. When this option is available, you can configure your personal settings on our Cookies Banner under “Settings” or via other options that may be available on the relevant Service. If you use a different device to access the same services, you may need to manage your settings for each separate device you use.
Do Not Track
We do not use behavioral advertising cookies on our site to collect Personal Data about you. For that reason, we do not respond to "Do Not Track" settings or other related mechanisms, such as opt-out preference signals, at this time.
Use of Log Data
When you use our services, we may receive information (“Log Data”) such as your IP address, browser type, operating system, the referring web page, pages visited, location, your mobile carrier, and device information (including device and application IDs). We receive Log Data when you interact with our Services, for example, when you visit our websites, sign into our services, interact with our email notifications, use your account to authenticate to a third-party website or application. We may also receive Log Data when you click on, view or interact with links on our services, including links to third-party applications, such as when you choose to install another application through YPRA. YPRA uses Log Data to provide, understand, and improve our Services. We either delete Log Data or remove any common account identifiers, such as your username, full IP address, or email address, after a maximum of 12 months.
Message Disappearance
You have the ability to send certain types of messages through our services that automatically disappear. If you send such disappearing messages through our services they will be automatically deleted once they have been viewed or have expired.
You should understand that users who see your messages can always save them, either by taking a screenshot or by using some other image-capture technology (whether that be software or even something as old-fashioned as a camera to take a photo of your device’s screen). The same common sense that applies to the Internet at large applies to YPRA as well: Don’t send messages that you wouldn’t want someone to save or share.
In most cases, once we detect that all recipients have viewed a message, we automatically delete it from our servers. And again in most cases, the services are programmed to delete the message from the recipients’ device as well. There are, however, exceptions to this general rule:
Linking to Third Party Sites: These Are Your Decisions And Responsibilities
As an optional convenience for you, YPRA offers you the opportunity to link to and/or connect to third party websites, advertisers, vendor products, services, etc., including and not limited to social network sites like Twitter. When you click-through, connect or link to these third party sites, products, services, etc., you are no longer protected by YPRA's Privacy Policy. If you share to any third party social site from YPRA, they will not be able to see back into your YPRA account. Your sharing of any YouTube content is covered by YouTube’s privacy policy, which can be found here: Google Privacy Policy. We encourage you to read the privacy policies of these third parties, as they differ from YPRA's privacy practices as set forth in this Privacy Policy. YPRA is not liable for wrongful use, loss, or disclosure of your personally-identifying information related to your use of any third party.
Security and Retention
We do our best to protect your Personal Data and be respectful of the law. We maintain physical, electronic, and procedural safeguards to protect the confidentiality and security of your Personal Data and other information transmitted to us. For example, we encrypt your Personal Data, and most, if not all requests from you to the server are created over a secure connection (HTTPS). However, no data transmission over the Internet or other network can be guaranteed to be 100% secure. Therefore, we cannot guarantee the security of your Personal Data, and we recommend that you do not share your log-in credentials or other details that may compromise the security of your access to YPRA services.
How long we retain your Personal Data depends on the context in which, and purpose for which, we collected it. We generally retain Personal Data for as long as necessary to achieve the purpose for which it was collected or processed, unless a different retention period is required by applicable law.
Transfers of Your Personal Data
The recipients of Personal Data identified in this section may be located inside or outside the European Economic Area ("EEA") or the United Kingdom ("UK"). Recipients located outside the EEA or UK may be located in countries that do not offer an adequate level of data protection from an EEA or UK data protection law perspective. To the extent required by applicable law, YPRA will: (i) address applicable requirements to assure an adequate level of data protection before transferring Personal Data by assuring the execution of appropriate data transfer agreements or confirming other controls; and (ii) establish that Personal Data will be made available to individuals within the recipient entities on a need-to-know basis only for the relevant purposes described above. YPRA may also disclose your Personal Data as required or permitted by applicable law to government authorities, courts, external advisors, and similar third parties. You can request a copy of the appropriate safeguards by contacting us as set out in the Questions section below.
Children's Privacy
Our services are not intended for use by minors under the age of 18. We do not knowingly collect Personal Data from children under the age of 18. If we become aware that we have inadvertently received Personal Data from a child under the age of 16, we will delete such information from our records.
Your Rights
Depending on where you live, you may have certain rights with respect to your Personal Data. As noted above, if you choose to utilize the Frequency Blockchain option, then we will be unable to process requests relating to the rights below regarding any Personal Data published or stored on the Frequency Blockchain. For example, under local applicable laws, including the EEA and the UK, you may have the following rights:
If you choose to assert any of these rights under applicable laws, we will respond within the time period prescribed by applicable law. Please note that many of the above rights are subject to exceptions and limitations. If we are not able to provide the requested information or make the change you requested, you will be provided with the reasons for such decisions. Under local law, you may be entitled to lodge a complaint with your local supervisory authority.
Your rights and our responses will vary based on your state or country of residency. Please note that you may be located in a jurisdiction where we are not obligated, or are unable, to fulfill a request. In such a case, your request may not be fulfilled.
Notifications: We’d Like To Keep You Up To Date
If you are a registered user of YPRA you may receive notifications and updates while using our service. Additionally, if you have supplied your email address, YPRA may want to tell you about new features, solicit your feedback, and keep you up to date about the privacy and integrity issues we care most about and how our company is working to support them. You can opt-out of these email notifications by following the instructions within the email.
Privacy Policy Changes: Immediate Notification & Easy Opt Out
If YPRA materially changes this Privacy Policy, we will notify you with a link to the changes so you can review and understand them, and provide you with an easy way to opt out of our service and delete your account if you wish.
Effective: July 27, 2024