Privacy Policy

Last updated: July 2025

Welcome to The Tidepool! This Privacy Policy describes how jointhetidepool.com (“Site”), operated by The Tidepool (“we,” “us,” or “our”), collects, uses, shares, and protects your personal information. It also explains your choices regarding your information and how you can exercise your privacy rights.

By accessing or using our Site and Services, you acknowledge that you have read and understood this Privacy Policy. If you do not agree with our practices, please do not use our Services.

1. Information We Collect

We collect information from you in various ways, including when you provide it to us directly, automatically as you use our Site, and sometimes from third parties.

a. Information You Provide Directly To Us:

  • Account Information: When you register for an account, we collect your username, email address, and password.
  • Creator Profile Information: If you register as a Content Creator (Model), we collect information necessary to create your profile, including your gender, specific disability information (as listed on our sign-up form), photos, bio, and links to your external websites or social media. We may also collect age verification video clips to verify your age and identity.
  • Communications: When you send messages to other users through our platform, or communicate with our support team (including our AI support agent, Star, or via email), we collect the content of those communications.
  • Subscription Information: Details you provide when purchasing a subscription, though sensitive payment information itself is handled directly by our third-party payment processor, Stripe (see Section 3.b).

b. Information Collected Automatically:

As you navigate and interact with our Site, we may use cookies and other tracking technologies to automatically collect certain information about your equipment, Browse actions, and patterns. This information may include:

  • Usage Data: Information about how you use our Site, such as the pages you visit, the time spent on those pages, the features you use, and your interactions with other users or content.
  • Technical Data: Your Internet Protocol (IP) address, browser type and version, operating system, device type, and other diagnostic data.
  • Cookie Data: Information from cookies stored on your device. Please see our Cookie Policy for detailed information on the types of cookies we use and your choices regarding them.

c. Information from Third Parties:

  • Payment Processor: We receive confirmation from our payment processor, Stripe, about your subscription status, but we do not receive or store your full payment card details.
  • Analytics and Advertising Partners: We may receive aggregated or anonymized data from analytics and advertising partners, but this typically does not identify you personally.

2. How We Use Your Information

We use the information we collect for various purposes, including:

  • To Provide and Maintain Our Services: To operate our website, manage your account, facilitate your access to the Creator Directory, and enable private messaging between users.
  • To Personalize Your Experience: To tailor the content and features you see, such as showing relevant creator profiles based on search filters.
  • To Improve Our Services: To understand how users interact with our Site, troubleshoot issues, develop new features, and enhance overall user experience.
  • To Communicate with You: To respond to your inquiries, provide customer support (including through our AI agent), send important updates, or inform you about changes to our services or policies.
  • For Security and Fraud Prevention: To protect our Site and users from fraudulent, unauthorized, or illegal activities, and to enforce our Terms of Service. This includes verifying age and identity for Creators.
  • For Analytics and Advertising: To analyze traffic, measure the effectiveness of our content, and, with your consent, deliver personalized advertisements.
  • To Comply with Legal Obligations: To meet our legal and regulatory requirements, respond to lawful requests from government authorities, or protect our legal rights.

3. How We Share Your Information

We may share your information with certain third parties under specific circumstances:

a. With Other Users:

  • Your Creator profile information (username, photos, bio, disability type, external links) is visible to other registered users of The Tidepool through the Creator Directory.
  • When you engage in private messaging, the content of your messages is shared with the recipient(s).

b. With Service Providers:

We work with third-party service providers who help us operate and maintain our Services. These providers are contractually obligated to protect your information and only use it for the purposes for which we disclose it to them. Examples include:

  • Payment Processing: Stripe handles your subscription payments.
  • Hosting and Infrastructure: Providers that host our website and data.
  • Analytics Services: Services like Google Analytics that help us understand website usage.
  • Customer Support Tools: Tools that power our support functions, including the AI support agent.

c. For Legal Reasons and Law Enforcement:

We may disclose your information if required to do so by law or in the good faith belief that such action is necessary to:

  • Comply with a legal obligation or valid governmental request (e.g., subpoena, court order).
  • Protect and defend the rights or property of The Tidepool.
  • Prevent or investigate possible wrongdoing in connection with the Services.
  • Protect the personal safety of users of the Services or the public.
  • Protect against legal liability.

d. Business Transfers:

In the event of a merger, acquisition, asset sale, or other corporate restructuring, your personal information may be transferred as part of the transaction. We will notify you before your personal information is transferred and becomes subject to a different Privacy Policy.

e. With Your Consent:

We may share your information for any other purpose with your explicit consent.

Important Note on Off-Platform Interactions: This Privacy Policy only applies to information collected by The Tidepool on our Site. We are not responsible for the privacy practices of other websites or for any information you choose to share during off-platform interactions, communications, or transactions with other users.

4. Your Privacy Rights (California Residents)

If you are a California resident, you have specific rights regarding your personal information under the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) and the California Privacy Rights Act (CPRA). These rights include:

  • Right to Know: You have the right to request that we disclose to you the categories and specific pieces of personal information we have collected about you, the categories of sources from which we collected it, the purposes for collecting or selling/sharing it, and the categories of third parties with whom we share it.
  • Right to Delete: You have the right to request the deletion of personal information that we have collected from you, subject to certain exceptions.
  • Right to Correct/Rectify: You have the right to request the correction of inaccurate personal information we maintain about you.
  • Right to Opt-Out of Sale/Sharing: We do not sell your personal information in the traditional sense. However, if our use of cookies and tracking for targeted advertising is considered “sharing” for “cross-context behavioral advertising” under California law, you have the right to opt-out. You can exercise this right through our Cookie Consent tool or by visiting our “Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information” link (to be provided).
  • Right to Limit Use and Disclosure of Sensitive Personal Information: We collect disability information from Creators, which is considered Sensitive Personal Information. You have the right to limit our use and disclosure of this information for purposes other than those necessary to provide our Services or as otherwise permitted by law.
  • Right to Non-Discrimination: We will not discriminate against you for exercising any of your CCPA/CPRA rights.

How to Exercise Your Rights:

To exercise your rights, please contact us at: [email protected]. We may need to verify your identity before fulfilling your request.

5. Cookie Policy

Our Site uses cookies and similar tracking technologies to enhance your Browse experience, provide specific functionalities, and analyze traffic. Some cookies are necessary for the website to function, while others (like analytics and advertising cookies) require your consent.

For detailed information about the cookies we use, their purpose, how to manage your preferences, and how to opt-out of non-essential cookies, please refer to our dedicated Cookie Policy.

6. Data Security

We implement reasonable security measures designed to protect your personal information from unauthorized access, use, alteration, and disclosure. However, no method of transmission over the Internet or electronic storage is 100% secure. Therefore, we cannot guarantee the absolute security of your personal information.

7. Data Retention

We retain your personal information for as long as necessary to fulfill the purposes for which it was collected, including for the purposes of satisfying any legal, accounting, or reporting requirements. When your information is no longer needed, we will securely delete or anonymize it.

8. Children’s Privacy

Our Services are not intended for individuals under the age of 18. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 18. If we become aware that we have inadvertently received personal information from a user under the age of 18, we will delete such information from our records immediately.

9. Changes to This Privacy Policy

We may update our Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes in our practices or for other operational, legal, or regulatory reasons. We will notify you of any changes by posting the new Privacy Policy on this page and updating the “Last Updated” date at the top. We encourage you to review this Privacy Policy periodically for any changes.

10. Contact Us

If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy or our privacy practices, please contact us:

Email: [email protected]