Privacy Policy  

Dear Visitor,  

We are very concerned about protecting your privacy and the safety of all our website visitors. Before you visit New Moon Girl Media's website or submit any personal information, please read the message below with your parents.  

Love, Luna

Notice of Information and Privacy Policy

AS OF MARCH 1, 2008, NEW MOON GIRL MEDIA HAS A NEW PRIVACY AND INFORMATION POLICY. PLEASE READ THIS POLICY CAREFULLY. USE OF ANY NEW MOON GIRL MEDIA WEB SITE OR ONLINE PRODUCT SIGNIFIES YOUR ACCEPTANCE OF THIS POLICY.

At New Moon, we care as much about girls’ online safety as you do. That’s why we make all of our web sites—www.newmoongirlmedia.com, www.newmoonmagazine.org, www.newmoonclub.com, and www.orb28.com—COPPA (Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act) compliant and work with you to ensure a fun, healthy, and safe online experience for girls. Before you visit any of New Moon Girl Media’s Web sites, or submit any personal information, please read the following information and privacy policy. If you are under the age of 18, please ask your parents or guardians to read this policy with you. Please ask them to explain anything you do not understand; and please get their permission before sharing any information, including your email address, with New Moon Girl Media or anyone on the Internet.

What is COPPA?

The Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act is a United States federal law that regulates the online collection, use and disclosure of personal information from children under the age of 13. It requires that parents give their consent before personal information is collected online or is publicly disclosed online from or by children under 13 years old. The law also sets out the acceptable ways of determining consent and providing transparency online.

How do New Moon’s Online Spaces Comply?

At New Moon we provide parental notice and when necessary seek verifiable parental consent before girls engage with any of our online products, whether the girl is under or over 13. We do this, not only to comply with COPPA’s standards, but also to ensure best practices for the safest possible online space, regardless of the girls’ ages.  

What Information We Collect, How We Use the Information and How We Obtain Parental Consent

In all of New Moon’s online products, we only collect the amount of personal information we deem reasonably necessary for participation in the particular product or online activity the information is being collected for. The personally identifiable information New Moon Girl Media collects online will never be posted, released, sold, or distributed to any third party outside of New Moon Girl Media or our fulfillment partners. Our fulfillment partners are bound by this privacy policy.  Our information collection and storage practices are detailed in Sections A thru H below.

A. E-newsletters and Contests

To sign up for our e-newsletters or sign up for a contest, we ask for the child’s first name and email address and the parent’s email.  We send an email to the parent to notify them that their child has signed up for the e-newsletter or contest and to allow the parent to opt their child out if they so desire. After three days, the child is considered confirmed for the newsletter subscription or contest entry if we have not heard back from the parent. In the event of online contests requiring New Moon Girl Media to directly contact a member, the information we collect will be used to contact or notify the member and will not be stored beyond the time reasonably necessary to carry out the contest and contact contest participants.

B. Membership in the NewMoonClub.com or orb28

Under COPPA, it is necessary to obtain “verifiable parental consent” in order to allow a child to engage in activities where they might share their personal information with others participating in an online activity. COPPA allows a website operator to process a credit card transaction in order to obtain verifiable parental consent. Since membership to the NewMoonClub.com or orb28 requires a paid subscription, the successful credit-card transaction provides for the verifiable component needed to process parental consent. At New Moon, we understand that we live in a day and age where many young people have access to credit cards, and making an online purchase with a card does not necessarily constitute parental knowledge or consent of the purchase. We also understand that it is possible for a third party to make a credit card purchase for a child without the child’s parents’ knowledge. That’s why we go a step further to ensure parents are aware of their child’s online actions, purchases made for a child, and the information we are collecting from that child. This process is detailed below in items 1 thru 3.

1.         a. When a parent purchases a membership to one of our online products, we ask directly for the first and last name, credit card information, birth date, phone number, billing address, and email address of the credit-card holder. We use this information to create the membership and store this information securely. BY PLACING AN ORDER FOR THE NEWMOONCLUB.COM OR ORB28, THE CUSTOMER VERIFIES THEY HAVE READ THIS PRIVACY POLICY AND THE TERMS OF USE. THE SUCCESSFUL PROCESSING OF THE CREDIT CARD TRANSACTION PROVIDES NOTICE TO THE PARENT AND IS AN APPROVED METHOD FOR PROCESSING VERIFABLE PARENTAL CONSENT. A customer number is generated and emailed with log-in instructions to the parental email address.

b. When the intended user signs into the online product (the NewMoonClub.com or orb28) for the first time, she will be asked for her first name, age, state, and email address to complete her membership information and for regular receipt of communications regarding the product, her membership, and e-newsletters. This information is stored securely as part of the customer account. The name, age, and email address of the intended user will also be added to and stored in the respective product and e-newsletter mailing lists. At any time the user may opt out of email communications related to marketing or e-newsletters. However, the user’s email address will be retained and used for communications relating to the user’s membership and/or account. The user’s age, state, email address and a username of her choosing will also be requested any time she submits content to the NewMoonClub.com or orb28. This information will also be stored securely with her submission and used for communications regarding her submission. The submissions process is discussed further in section D below.

c. If in the future, we offer any features that require us to retain the child’s personal information (that is not part of a paid subscription), we will send the parent an email notifying them of the information that we need to collect related to the feature, and request the parent’s affirmative response to an email that has been sent by us.

2. When a girl requests membership to one of our online products, we ask only for her first name and her parents’ email address. An email explaining the product and that a membership has been requested is sent to that address. If the parent approves the product and their daughter’s participation, they may follow a link to the ordering page and purchase a subscripion. Information collection then occurs as outlined in item 1 above.

3.         a. If an adult other than the intended user’s custodial parent or legal guardian requests a purchase as a gift for a girl (the intended user), we ask directly for the first and last name, credit card information, birth date, phone number, billing address, and email address of the adult credit-card holder and the email address of the custodial parent or legal guardian of the intended user.  

b. An email to the intended user’s parental email address will be generated requesting consent to the membership. Since the credit card transaction will not be initiated by the intended user’s parent, the parent must give their verifiable consent to the membership and all forms of information collection stated herein by telephone call to our offices or by printing, completing, and mailing or faxing back to our offices a permission form that will be included in the email notification, or by email with a digital signature.  

c. The purchase will then be processed, and a customer number will be created and emailed to the parental email address. The credit-card and billing information of the original purchaser will be stored securely for purposes of future renewal. The parental email address will also be stored in the membership account. When the intended user signs on for the first time, her first name, age, state, and email address will be collected and stored in the manner and for the purposes stated in items 1.b. and 1.c. above.  

C. Members Sharing Information within the NewMoonClub.com or orb28

Once inside our online products (specifically the NewMoonClub.com and orb28), members have the opportunity to post information about themselves, including their age, state, likes, dislikes, hobbies, and dreams for other members to view. However, no last names, email addresses, or other personally identifiable information is ever permitted within our online products, so the posted information is never connected to members’ real identities or contact information. Members are also encouraged to create a username that is different from their first name for all online participation. These measures allow girls to participate in our online communities while remaining safe and anonymous.

D. Content Submissions to the NewMoonClub.com and orb28

Members and non-members have the opportunity to submit content, including but not limited to articles, opinions, artwork, fictional writing, videos and podcasts, of their own creation to the NewMoonClub.com and orb28. A username, age, state, and the user’s email address will be requested any time a member submits material to one of our online products. Parents give consent to this information gathering as part of the membership process detailed in section B above. The username, age, and state will appear with the submission if it is posted on one of our online products.  

When non-members submit online to the NewMoonClub.com or orb28, they are asked to include only first name, email address, and parents’ email address with their submission. If further information collection or storage is deemed necessary by New Moon Girl Media, the parental email address will be used to seek verifiable parental consent. If verifiable parental consent for further information gathering and storage is not obtained, the girl’s email address will be used for one-time response to her submission and then deleted.

All submissions to the NewMoonClub.com and orb28 are reviewed by a New Moon Girl Media staff member to ensure no personally identifiable information is included in the submission. Any personally identifiable information will be deleted from submissions before being posted to the NewMoonClub.com or orb28.

E. Chats and Blogs

All chats held with members of our online clubs are moderated by an adult staff member. The chat is password protected to allow in only those girls invited. Chat rooms are only open when a chat is in session and an adult New Moon Girl Media staff member is present. All chat messages by girls are read by the adult staff member before posting for the entire chat audience.

            New Moon Girl Media operates a number of public blogs. The maximum level of information that may be collected from individuals posting to any of New Moon Girl Media’s blogs is first name, age, gender, and state. Last name, email address, and any other personally identifiable information IS NOT collected from individuals posting to New Moon Girl Media blogs. The NewMoonClub.com Blog, the New Moon Parents’ Blog, and the New Moon Magazine Girls’ Blog are fully moderated. No comments are posted until they have been read by adult staff members for appropriateness and to make sure no personally identifiable information is contained in the post. If anything is deemed inappropriate, it will not be posted for public viewing. The orb28 Blog is monitored by adult staff members and any item deemed inappropriate immediately removed.

F. Online Application to New Moon’s Girl Boards

All of New Moon Girl Media’s products are developed, maintained, and improved through the input of Girl Boards. Girls Boards are groups of girls, chosen through an application process, of the product’s target age range. Users of NewMoonClub.com, orb28, and New Moon magazine, have the opportunity to apply for Girl Board membership. To apply for Girl Board membership, users can opt to download a printable application and consent form for their parents to sign allowing them to disclose their application information and have it stored by New Moon Girl Media. They must print, fill out, and mail these forms back to our offices. If chosen for one of our Girl Boards, additional parental consent will be sought for participation in Girl Board activities online and storage of the girl’s personal information.  

G. Online Purchases for Print Magazine Subscriptions

You must be 18 years of age or older to make an online purchase for our print publication, New Moon: The Magazine for Girls and Their Dreams. Adults will be connected directly to an online order form and copy of this Privacy Policy. When an individual performs an online purchase of a magazine subscription, we ask directly for the first and last name, credit card information, birth date, phone number, billing address, and email address of the credit-card holder. We also ask for the name and shipping address of the intended magazine recipient. We use this information to create the subscription and we store this information securely. If a girl under the age of 18 wishes to initiate an online purchase, she may submit her first name and parents’ email address. An automatic email is then generated to that address to begin the subscription process.  

H. Send to a Friend

On all websites operated by New Moon Girl Media, individuals have the option to send a notice to a friend informing the friend about New Moon Girl Media and our products. In this process, New Moon Girl Media collects the sender’s first name and the recipient’s email address. No personally identifiable information is collected from the sender. The recipient email address is used for a one-time email communication and is then deleted.

What other information does New Moon collect online?

New Moon’s web sites use “cookie” technology (where our servers deposit special codes on a visitor’s computer) to track non-personal information, such as the number of visitors who use each page of the website each day, what browser they use, and what part of the Internet they come to our site from. This information helps us improve our sites and does not include any specific information about individual visitors that would allow us to identify them.

What if I want to review the information my child has provided or don’t want my child’s personal information collected or stored?

Parents are always welcome and encouraged to review the information their child is sharing online, and are encouraged to be active participants in all of their child’s activities. At New Moon, we see parent involvement as a vital part of maintaining a safe and healthy online environment. If you wish to review your child’s information, you can mail, fax, or phone a request to our offices.  

 If you do not want your child’s personal information collected or stored by New Moon, you can let us know with a signed letter, fax, or phone call to our offices. Upon request, we will remove a child’s stored information from our databases within a reasonable amount of time, defined as the number of working hours or days needed to access and delete the targeted information and cancel the child’s membership or participation in other online activities.

Transfer of Information in the Event of Change of Ownership

New Moon reserves the right to transfer personally identifiable information in the event of a change of ownership of New Moon to another organization that would continue to run the website in the same manner.  Such transfer of data would be necessary to enable the new owner of New Moon to facilitate log-on for existing New Moon members and to fulfill membership benefits.

 

Who can I contact if I have questions about New Moon’s online information collection practices?

Please contact New Moon Girl Media at:

Phone: 218.728.5507

Fax: 218.728.0314

Mailing Address:

2 West First Street #101

Duluth, MN 55802

Email: newmoon@newmoongirlmedia.com