Copyright 2009 FirstString, LLC. FirstString, Get off the Bench and the distinctive "FS" logo are trademarks and services marks of
FirstString, LLC. All Rights Reserved.
FirstString.com ("FirstString") is committed to protecting the privacy of personal information provided by each of our enrolled Users and other site Visitors. FirstString℠ is based on sharing information among athletes and their fans, friends, and recruiters, and each User has control of the information that is posted in their Profile on FirstString. Only confirmed friends and teammates of Athletes and any interested recruiters will have access to view all information in an Athlete’s Profile, including contact information, and to leave comments on the profile. Visitors can see only part of an Athlete’s Profile (and similar access restrictions apply to Friends and Recruiter Profiles). Each User can always manage the level of disclosure of posted information by visiting the privacy settings section of the site, which is located in the upper right corner of each page after a User has signed in. Visitors do not have any profiles or inboxes on FirstString.
FirstString does not disclose Users’ external email contact information, since each User will have his or her own FirstString inbox that will allow Users to send, receive, and delete email messages when logged in to FirstString.com. However, if you post your e-mail address on your profile, it will be made available to other FirstString Users.
Please read this privacy policy (“Privacy Policy”) carefully. Its purpose is to help you understand how we collect and use the information that you provide. By using FirstString, you signify that you understand and agree with the Privacy Policy. Otherwise, please do not use www.firstring.com.
Personal Information
When you register to become a User of FirstString, you provide certain required and optional personal and contact information, including your name, date of birth, e-mail address, gender, password, high school, graduation year, sport, and team. This information is used to identify you, to contact you, and to allow us to provide you with the appropriate User Profile.
Once you are given a User Profile, you will have the inbox features described above, and may post information about yourself that can be viewed on FirstString. This information includes, but is not limited to, position, sports statistics, photos, videos, ethnicity, education, screen name, interests, favorite athletes, awards, team record, team schedule, and committed recruits. FirstString does not verify the accuracy of any User-provided information, including schedules, statistics, and records. Providing this information is optional, and it is designed to enhance your FirstString experience and the experience of your fellow Users.
Use Information
We also collect information that does not identify any User or Visitor personally but that relates to your Internet and FirstString web site use, such as Internet Protocol (also known as an “IP”) address, browser types, referring/exit pages, pages viewed and the amount of time spent on each page.
We also use cookies to analyze traffic data such as total number of page views and visitors. There are two types of cookies. Session cookies terminate once the User leaves the site, but persistent cookies remain on your computer even after you close your browser. Pesistent cookies are used by your browser to store your User Name so that you can easily sign on to FirstString for future visits to the web site. Most browsers allow you to block cookies, and you can always delete them from your computer at a later time.
Other Information
We also keep track of any notices regarding alleged violations made by or against each User regarding posted content and related activities in order to enforce our Terms of Service, and such information may include User personal information.
We protect the privacy of your external e-mail address (unless you choose to display it on your Public Profile page) and your FirstString password, but any other information that you post on or provide to FirstString is or may be publicly viewable. This information can be collected and redistributed through the Internet and through other forms of media by FirstString, by other Users, and by web site Visitors. You may limit who can see your contact information, photos, videos, and comment board by altering your privacy settings, but it is important not to post any information that you wish to keep private or that you do not want others to see. You may update or remove from display on FirstString.com any information that you post at any time using the FirstString tools provided.
We will use the information that you provide to us to enable others to locate and follow User Athlete sports activities and interests, and to enhance the experience of FirstString for you and other Users. We may use your e-mail address for sending you FirstString-related notifications, such as when your account has been activated, when another User requests to be your friend, when you have received an e-mail to your FirstString inbox, when you have received a comment on your board, when another User requests to join your team, and if you are flagged as having posted content in violation of the Terms of Service. These features are solely intended to keep you connected to the FirstString community and to supplement your enjoyment of the site. You can manage your e-mail notification settings from the “Account Settings” tab once you are logged in to the site. You can turn off e-mail notifications, and “opt-out” of any email list you have joined, if you so choose, by following the instructions in the privacy settings page, but you may not turn off or opt-out of e-mail notifications about legal matters (such as material changes to this Privacy Policy or receiving notices about flagged content).
We will use your personally identifiable information as well as your non-personally identifiable usage data to improve the functionality and design of FirstString by studying User preferences and trends. For Users, we will use cookies and other data to provide personalized content, to allow ease of login by remembering your information, to track the effectiveness of any marketing campaigns, and for Users and Visitors, to monitor site statistics such as page views.
FirstString allows Users to easily manage their profiles and to control the information that is viewable by third parties. Your confirmed friends will have access to your complete profile unless you change your privacy settings to hide specific information from other Users. In addition, all Recruiters will be allowed to view Athlete Users’ entire profiles. Athletes may manage their privacy settings to block other Athletes or Fans from viewing their profiles, but they may never restrict Recruiters’ access to their profiles. Athletes that have not been confirmed as friends, Athletes outside of a User’s conference, and Visitors will have varying degrees of limited access to your profile. See the Terms of Service Section 4(d) for more information about display of User profiles.
We will only share your personal information with third parties in limited circumstances, namely when:
FirstString may contain links to third party web sites. This Privacy Policy only applies to the information collected at FirstString.com. FirstString is not responsible for the privacy practices of any other web site. Before providing any personal information, make sure that you read the privacy policy of any site that you visit.
FirstString may offer the opportunity to participate in contests and e-mail services provided by non-affiliated third parties. These companies may obtain information that Users voluntarily provide to them. We do not provide this information to these companies, and FirstString does not have any control over information that they acquire directly from you.
FirstString has technical, physical, and administrative security measures in place to protect against the unauthorized access, loss, misuse, and alteration of the information that you provide to us. We periodically review our security procedures in order to consider appropriate new technology and methods to protect your information. However, no security measures are impenetrable, and we cannot and do not guarantee that the information you provide to us will not be viewed by unauthorized persons.
Users should also take the necessary personal precautions to safeguard their personal information. It is important to make sure that you log off of FirstString when you are finished, and be sure that no one else has access to your computer or Internet device, or to your FirstString User Name and Password. You should also consider using a firewall when accessing the Internet.
FirstString does not knowingly collect or solicit personally identifiable information from children under the age of 13. If you are under 13, please do not use FirstString and do not send us any information about yourself, including your name, address, telephone number, or e-mail address.
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 are a minor over the age of 13, we recommend that you ask your parents for permission first before using FirstString and before sending any personal information over the internet.
Parents: If you believe that your child has gained access to our web site without your consent, please e-mail us at abuse@firststring.com.
FirstString allows Users to easily edit and remove information from their profiles. Users can simply log into their account and use the editing tools to alter the Profile information that is viewable to other Users of the FirstString community.
You can deactivate your account at any time as explained in the Terms of Service. Other Users will no longer be able to view information about a deactivated User once the account is terminated. However, FirstString may store personal and other information about any former User on its servers for up to one year in the event that the former User wants to reopen their account at a later date.
We may make available to Users chat, message boards, and other messaging features and other community tools. Any information that you disclose using these features becomes public information for other Users to see and for display and use on Firststring.com and by FirstString in print, audio, video and other media. Of course, be careful in disclosing any personal information using any public communications feature, because others could use your publicly available posted information.
Membership in FirstString is limited to United States residents. If you access FirstString from outside of the United States, your connection will be through and to servers located in the United States. All of the information that you provide will be maintained in our servers in the United States. By using FirstString, you authorize the export of personal information to the United States and its storage and use as provided in this Privacy Policy.
We make no representations that this Privacy Policy is in compliance with the privacy or data protection laws or regulations of any country from which you access or use FirstString. By using FirstString, you consent to our collection, use, and disclosure of your personal information consistent with the terms of this Privacy Policy, including transfer of your personal information to any location at which our servers and/or databases may be currently located or relocated to. Those who choose to access FirstString from locations outside the United States are responsible for compliance with all local laws.
FirstString reserves the right to update or change this Privacy Policy. The top of this page will display the date of the most recent changes. Please check this page often for updates, because your continued use of the site signifies your acceptance of this policy. If we make any material changes to this policy, we will attempt to give you notice of the specific changes by posting the information prominently on the FirstString home page or by e-mailing you at the address that you have provided to us.
Unless stated otherwise, our Privacy Policy applies to all information that we have about you and your account.
This Privacy Policy and our legal obligations are subject to the laws of the State of New York and to the laws of the United States. Any claims against FirstString regarding this Privacy Policy must be filed in New York, NY within one year.
Any disputes arising from your use of FirstString.com are subject to the FirstString Terms of Service and its dispute resolution provisions, including arbitration and limitation on damages.
If you have any questions about this privacy policy, please contact us at TalkToUs@firststring.com or by mail at:
FirstString
PO Box 69612
West Hollywood, CA 90069
Copyright 2009 FirstString, LLC. FirstString, Get off the Bench and the distinctive "FS" logo are trademarks and services marks of
FirstString, LLC. All Rights Reserved.