Effective January 8, 2007

About Shoutmouth

Shoutmouth is a music news community website. Shoutmouth exists to share and discuss music news. Shoutmouth members can create user profiles, communicate with other members, comment on news stories, and post news stories on Shoutmouth. To improve our members' experience, we request and display some personal information to other members and visitors, which allows our users to identify each other and expand their network of friends.

But when you share information through a service like Shoutmouth, it’s important to remember that you are potentially sharing it with the entire world. The information you submit to Shoutmouth may be accessible to anyone who visits Shoutmouth (including people who are not registered Shoutmouth users).

We take your privacy seriously and so should you. This privacy policy discusses how personal information is collected and disclosed through Shoutmouth, as well as tools available to help you control your information.

User Consent

By submitting Personal Information through our Website, you agree to the terms of this Privacy Policy and expressly consent to the processing of your Personal Information according to this Privacy Policy.

Information Collected by Shoutmouth

Shoutmouth may collect certain information from you as described below. Shoutmouth uses the information it collects for authentication purposes, to fulfill your requests for products and services, to improve our services, and to communicate with you as part of the Shoutmouth service.

Registration - Required Information

When you register for a Shoutmouth account, Shoutmouth requires you to provide the following information:

Username - a unique nickname or handle that acts as your primary identifier to other Shoutmouth users and visitors. You cannot change your username and it is always publicly displayed, so please choose carefully.

Password - required for signing into your Shoutmouth account. Your password provides access to all of the information in your account, so never share your password with anyone except a parent or guardian.

Email Address – an email address is required so that Shoutmouth can contact you about your account. In addition, Shoutmouth has several features through which information may be forwarded to this email address - including messages or invitations from other Shoutmouth users, alerts, or logs of activity related to your account. You can control whether you receive certain of these emails by using the settings inside your Shoutmouth account.

Your email address is never publicly displayed on Shoutmouth. But when you email someone through Shoutmouth, your email address will be revealed to them (e.g. as the “from” or “reply to” address on the email you send through Shoutmouth).

Profile Information

After you have registered for a Shoutmouth account, you are given the opportunity to fill out information on our profile pages. Filling out the profile pages is optional - you are not required to fill out any of the profile information. If you choose to fill out the profile information, please note that this information will be posted on your Shoutmouth profile (See “Information Submitted to Your Shoutmouth Site”) and will potentially be accessible to the entire world.

Children Under Age 13

Shoutmouth is intended for users age 13 or older. Shoutmouth’s registration process is intentionally designed for such an audience. Because of this age limit, this privacy policy makes no provision for children's use of Shoutmouth.

Shoutmouth does not knowingly collect or solicit personal information from anyone under the age of 13 or knowingly allow such persons to register. If you are under 13, please do not send any information about yourself to us, including your name, address, telephone number, or email address. No one under age 13 is allowed to provide any personal information to or on Shoutmouth. In the event that we learn that we have collected personal information from a child under age 13 without verification of parental consent, we will delete that information as quickly as possible. If you believe that we might have any information from or about a child under 13, please notify us.

Note to Parents

If your child is under 13 and has become a Bolt member using a false age, please notify us and we will immediately close the account and nullify all personally identifiable information provided by them.

Children Between the Ages of 13 and 18

We recommend that minors over the age of 13 ask their parents for permission before sending any information about themselves to anyone over the Internet.

Note to Parents

If your child is under the age of 18 and you would like to know more about our site, information practices, stored information on your child, or how to close your child's account, please notify us.

Other Information Collected by Shoutmouth

Browser Information

Every time you visit a page on the Internet, your web browser sends specific information to the web site you are visiting. Shoutmouth's servers automatically collect and store this information, including your IP address, specific type of browser software, the pages you visit at Shoutmouth, and information from Shoutmouth cookies (see below).

Cookies

Shoutmouth may set and access Shoutmouth cookies on your computer.

Like most sites that have interactive features, Shoutmouth uses cookies to recognize you when you return to Shoutmouth and to keep track of when you are signed in (so you don't have to re-sign in every time you visit a new page at Shoutmouth).

Most browsers come with the ability to restrict cookies from specific or unknown sources. Please review your browser’s documentation for more information. Please be aware, however, that many Shoutmouth features will not be available to you if you block the placement of our cookies on your computer.

Error Logs

If an error occurs in Shoutmouth’s systems while you are using the service, Shoutmouth’s servers may automatically collect and store information relating to that error, including your browser information, information from Shoutmouth cookies, and other information that you may have input at the time the error occurred (e.g. information you had written into any web forms). Shoutmouth uses this information solely to investigate the error and help prevent future errors.

Your Email Address

Shoutmouth requires that you provide an email address when registering for a Shoutmouth account. You can edit this email address by using the controls inside your Shoutmouth account, but it must always be an email address that belongs to you and is controlled by you.

Your email address is never publicly displayed on Shoutmouth.

Shoutmouth has several features through which information may be forwarded to your email address - including messages or invitations from other Shoutmouth users, alerts, or logs of activity related to your account. You can control whether you receive certain of these emails by using the settings inside your Shoutmouth account.

Email Choice & Opt-out

Members who wish to opt out of receiving updates or notifications may choose not to by selecting 'Do not send me notification emails' in the My Account section of My Profile. Users who wish to opt out of receiving Shoutmouth newsletters may choose not to by selecting 'Do not send me Shoutmouth newsletters' in the My Account section of My Profile.

My Email Alerts

Members who no longer wish to receive artist-specific email alerts may choose not to by de-selecting their 'Email News Alerts' in the 'Customize' section of 'My News' here.

Links

Shoutmouth contains links to sites. Shoutmouth is not responsible for the privacy policies and/or practices on other sites. When linking to another site a user should read the privacy policy stated on that site. Our privacy policy only governs information collected on Shoutmouth.

Correcting/Updating or Removing Information

Shoutmouth users may modify or remove any of their personal information at any time by logging into their account and accessing features such as Edit Profile and Account Info.

Confidentiality and Security

Your Shoutmouth account is protected by a password you create. Shoutmouth implements features reasonably designed to protect the security of any non-public information that is stored in our database, such as your password. We cannot, however, guaranty the security of your non-public account information. Hacking, software or hardware failure and other unauthorized access to our premises and systems may compromise the security of Shoutmouth members’ information.

Changes to this Privacy Policy

From time to time we may update this policy. We will notify you about significant changes in the way we treat personal information by sending a notice to the primary email address specified in your Shoutmouth account or by placing a prominent notice on our site. Please note that your continued use of the Shoutmouth service after the date of any changes to this policy (which will appear as the “Effective” date listed on the policy) will constitute your acceptance and agreement to be bound by those changes. You should visit this page on a regular basis to view any changes to this privacy policy.

Canceling Membership

You always have the option to cancel your membership at any time. If you are a member and no longer wish to participate on Shoutmouth, please notify us.

Non-US Residents

If you are not a US resident, your use of Shoutmouth shall constitute consent to the transfer, storage, use and disclosure of your personally identifiable information in the US in the manner described in this Privacy Policy.

Terms of Use, Notices and Revisions

If you choose to visit Shoutmouth, your visit and any dispute over privacy is subject to this Privacy Policy and our Terms of Use, including limitations on damages, arbitration of, and application of law of the state of Delaware. We reserve the right to change our Privacy Policy and our Terms of Use at any time. Non-material changes and clarifications will take effect immediately, and material changes will take effect within 30 days of their posting on this site. If we make changes, we will post them and will indicate at the top of this page the policy's effective date. We therefore encourage you to refer to this policy on an ongoing basis so that you understand our current privacy policy. Unless stated otherwise, our current privacy policy applies to all information that we have about you and your account.

Questions or Suggestions

For any questions or suggestions regarding this Privacy Policy, please contact us.