Privacy Policy: American Killifish Association (AKA)
Last Updated: March 2026
At the American Killifish Association (AKA), we are committed to protecting the privacy of our members and site visitors. This policy outlines how we collect, use, and protect your information at https://aka.org.
1. Who We Are
The American Killifish Association is a non-profit organization dedicated to the study, preservation, and enjoyment of killifish. Our website address is: https://aka.org.
2. Member Information & The Member Roster
When you join the AKA, we collect specific personal information to facilitate your membership and community engagement.
- Member Roster: The AKA maintains a member roster to foster community. This roster is visible only to current, logged-in members.
- Privacy Controls: Members have the right to limit what information is displayed on the roster. You may update your visibility preferences through your user profile settings.
- Billing & Mailing Addresses: We retain your billing and mailing addresses for essential record-keeping. Your mailing address is used primarily to send you the Journal of the American Killifish Association (JAKA).
- Third-Party Processing: We may share your mailing address with third-party service providers solely for the purpose of printing and distributing the JAKA.
- Google Sign-In: If you use “Sign in with Google,” we collect your name and email address solely to create or access your account.
3. Interactions & Data Collection
Forum Comments
Only registered AKA members may leave comments on our forums. When members leave comments, we collect the data shown in the comments form, as well as the IP address and browser user agent string to assist in spam detection.
Website Forms
Any user—including both members and public visitors—may submit forms on our website (such as contact forms or registration inquiries). Data submitted via these forms is used solely to address the specific request or purpose of the form.
Media
If you upload images to the website, please avoid uploading images with embedded location data (EXIF GPS). Other users can download and extract location data from images on the site.
4. Cookies
- Member Convenience: If you leave a comment, you may opt-in to saving your name, email, and website in cookies. These last for one year.
- Login Status: If you visit our login page, a temporary cookie is set to see if your browser accepts cookies; it contains no personal data and is discarded when you close your browser.
- Session Management: When you log in, we set cookies to save your login info (2 days) and display choices (1 year). If you select “Remember Me,” your login persists for two weeks.
5. Data Retention & Your Rights
- Retention: Comments and their metadata are retained indefinitely to facilitate ongoing discussion. For registered members, we store the personal information provided in their user profile.
- User Rights: All users can see, edit, or delete their personal information at any time (with the exception of their username).
- Data Requests: If you have an account or have left comments, you can request an exported file of the personal data we hold about you. You can also request that we erase any personal data we hold, excluding data we are legally or administratively required to keep.
6. Contact Information
For questions regarding this policy or to request account/data deletion, please contact us at: webmaster@aka.org.