Bay Area Air Quality Management District
Online Privacy Policy
Version 2.0
September 12, 2002

Introduction

Through this web site, The Bay Area Air Quality Management District (Air District) offers informative, entertaining, and reliable air quality related content for young people. Our mission is to educate children about Bay Area air quality and the harmful effects of air pollution through a variety of engaging content and activities.

We recognize that parents and guardians are concerned about privacy, especially about the privacy of their children online. The Air District, its staff, contractors, and others who help us operate our Web site follow this policy on privacy practices for online activities of the Air District.

Anyone can access the web content on www.sparetheair.org/teachers/index.htm. It is free and Clean Air Crew registration is not required.

The Bay Area Air Quality Management District follows FTC guidelines for compliance with the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act and Rule. Verifiable parental permission is required prior to the collection of any personal information about children under the age of 13.

No personal information provided to The Air District by its registered Clean Air Crew Members and online newsletter subscribers is sold or rented to any third parties.

Newsletter registration
Anyone can sign up to receive the Kaila's Corner e-mail newsletter, even if they aren't registered as a Clean Air Crew Member. The newsletter contains informative tips, quizzes, games and more. To sign up, children under the age of 13 are required to provide their e-mail address and their parent's e-mail address. The parent's e-mail address is only used to notify parents that their child has registered for the newsletter and to give parents the chance to delete their child's e-mail address from the mailing list. The child's e-mail address is only used to send them the Kaila's Corner newsletter via e-mail. A child or their parent can delete the child's e-mail address from the newsletter mailing list at any time by following the unsubscribe instructions included in all newsletters.

Clean Air Crew registration
Who needs to register?
Clean Air Crew registration is not required to explore of the Air District's kids web site. Registering for the Clean Air Crew is only required for kids who want to receive a Clean Air Crew Membership Card, Kaila comic books, bookmark or other free promotional items, participate in contests and be included in other special activities and promotions. The Air District does not require, as a condition of participation, any Clean Air Crew Member to disclose more information than is reasonably necessary for them to participate in an activity.

What information is collected?
When a child wants to become a registered Clean Air Crew Member, we ask their parents to provide the following information on the parental permission form:

• Child's first and last name
• Child's age
• Child's e-mail address
• Child's mailing address
• Parent's name
• Parent's e-mail address
• Parent's Signature

The Air District uses this information to create and maintain separate Clean Air Crew registration records for each child. E-mail addresses are used to communicate with Clean Air Crew Members and their parents about our newsletter, activities on the site and other features. None of this information is sold or rented to any third parties.

We encourage parents to be involved with all of their child's online activities.

All personal information collected on our web site is done so directly from the parent or child.

Disclosure Policy
We do not sell or rent our lists to anyone. However, some data may be used from time to time by outside vendors or Web site consultants, and others hired by the Air District to assist in carrying out Internet operational activities. We permit these uses only when necessary to manage the Web site and its records or for another specific purpose consistent with this privacy policy. All Air District consultants, as discussed above, must agree in advance to safeguard personal information, to use it only for an authorized purpose, and to return it or destroy it upon completion of the activity. The Air District might be required to disclose personal information in response to a valid legal process. This includes a public records act request, search warrant, subpoena, or court order. In this respect, we are no different from any other record keeper. Disclosures may also be appropriate to protect the safety of a child, during emergencies if physical safety is believed to be at risk, to protect the security or integrity of our Web site, or to take precautions against liability. We will take reasonable steps to limit the scope of any of these disclosures.

Does Spare The Air Kids use cookies?

What is a cookie?
A cookie is a small file that Web sites place on your computer to keep track of some information. We do not use cookies on our web site.

How can parents or guardians update and delete their children's information?
Clean Air Crew Members and parents can view, correct, update and delete personal information provided in the Clean Air Crew registration process at any time. They will need the registered child's first name, last name, and e-mail address. Visit the Clean Air Crew registration update page at http://sparetheair.iarchitects.com/join.cfm for more information.

To change the e-mail address used to subscribe to the Kaila's Corner newsletter, unsubscribe the current address at http://sparetheair.iarchitects.com/unsubscribe.cfm and re-subscribe to the newsletter with your new e-mail address at http://sparetheair.iarchitects.com/join.cfm.

Parents or guardians can prevent the collection or use of their child's personal information by deleting that child's registration on the Clean Air Crew registration update page at http://sparetheair.iarchitects.com/unsubscribe.cfm or by unsubscribing the child from the Kaila's Corner newsletter by following the directions contained in the newsletter.

Who can parents or guardians contact if they have more questions?
If you have additional questions or concerns, please contact the Bay Area Air Quality Management District, located at 939 Ellis Street, San Francisco, California, 94109. Our telephone number is 415-749-4900. Our E-mail address is cleanaircrew@baaqmd.gov.

Back to Kaila's Corner