CLWA Legal
Privacy Policy
How CLWA collects, uses, protects, and shares information across our website and online services.
Last Updated: August 7, 2026
1. Introduction
The Chebacco Lake & Watershed Association ("CLWA," "we," "us," or "our") respects the privacy of our members, residents, visitors, volunteers, donors, website users, and community participants.
This Privacy Policy explains how CLWA collects, uses, stores, protects, and shares information through chebaccolake.org and CLWA's related online services. It does not generally govern unrelated third-party websites or services that may be linked from our website.
2. Information We Collect
The information CLWA collects depends on how you interact with us.
Account and profile information
If you create an account or profile, we may collect your name, email address, telephone number, town, relationship to Chebacco Lake, lake area, profile photograph, biography, communication preferences, account and security information, membership status, community roles, and other information you choose to add.
Privacy settings may allow you to control whether certain profile information or Community activity is publicly visible. Email addresses, telephone numbers, private mailing addresses, payment information, and other internal account information are not automatically made public through a Community profile.
Membership, donation, and financial information
If you join CLWA, renew a membership, make a donation, or otherwise make a payment, we may maintain your contact information, membership level and year, household or membership relationships, donation or payment amount, transaction date and status, recurring payment or renewal status, contribution or campaign information, payment reference information, and Stripe customer, payment, invoice, checkout, or subscription identifiers.
CLWA uses Stripe to process online payments. CLWA does not store your full payment-card number; payment-card information is collected and processed by Stripe in accordance with Stripe's own terms and privacy practices.
Community content
We may collect and store posts, comments, fishing reports, wildlife and environmental observations, hazard reports, lost-and-found posts, marketplace or classified listings, photographs, videos, audio, documents, reactions, reports, event-related content, and other information you voluntarily submit. Content selected for publication may be visible to other users or the public depending on the feature and privacy settings.
Events and volunteering
Event records may include registration information, attendance or RSVP status, guest information, check-in information, event submissions, registration responses, and historical event participation. Volunteer records may include name, contact information, town, interests, skills, equipment, languages, availability, relationship to the lake, activity preferences, comments, and emergency-contact information voluntarily provided.
Contact and form information
When you use a CLWA contact form or another website form, we may collect the information you provide, including your name, email, telephone number, town, subject or topic, message, preferred contact method, submitted files or attachments, and information necessary to route, review, respond to, or resolve the request.
3. Location Information
Certain CLWA features allow users to voluntarily provide an exact map or GPS location, an approximate location, a named lake area, a location description, or no public location.
Where a feature supports location privacy, CLWA may maintain an exact private location separately from the approximate or generalized location displayed publicly. Exact private locations are restricted to the submitting user and authorized CLWA moderators and Board personnel with an appropriate operational need.
CLWA may use an exact location when reasonably necessary for moderation, public safety, environmental or scientific investigation, stewardship activities, legal compliance, or similar legitimate CLWA purposes. Selecting an approximate or hidden public location does not necessarily mean that CLWA deletes an underlying exact location that was voluntarily submitted and is required for the feature.
CLWA may remove or disregard embedded metadata, including embedded GPS or EXIF information in uploaded media, when technically feasible and appropriate.
4. Association, Historical, and Property Records
CLWA maintains internal association records that may have been collected before a person creates a website account or obtained from sources other than information entered directly through the website. These records may originate from historical CLWA membership and donation records, prior association databases or files, event and attendance records, existing CLWA contacts, public records, municipal assessor or geographic information systems, property information, organizational records, and other legitimate association sources.
A website account may be linked to an existing CLWA membership, household, contact, donation, or other association record when CLWA has sufficient information to make that connection reliably.
CLWA may maintain internal property, assessor, geographic, septic, and inspection-related information for watershed stewardship, membership administration, organizational planning, environmental analysis, outreach, and other legitimate association purposes. Individual CLWA property and septic records are subject to strict authorization controls and are not published by CLWA as public individual-property records through the website, although some underlying information may independently be available from municipal or governmental public-record sources.
5. Technical and Security Information
When you use the website, CLWA and its service providers may automatically receive technical information such as browser type, operating system, device type, approximate geographic information, IP address or derived security identifiers, timestamps, requested pages, referring pages, session information, application errors, performance information, security events, and similar information needed to operate and protect the service.
6. Analytics and Website Performance
CLWA uses website analytics and diagnostic technologies to understand how the website is used, improve usability, monitor performance, identify technical problems, and evaluate the effectiveness of CLWA content. Services may include Google Analytics, Google Tag Manager, Google Search Console, Microsoft Clarity, Bing Webmaster Tools, Vercel performance or website analytics tools, and Sentry error and application monitoring.
These services may process page visits, sessions, approximate location, browser or device information, referral sources, search performance, clicks, scrolling behavior, engagement, navigation patterns, errors, and performance metrics. Microsoft Clarity may use interaction information to create session-replay and usability analytics.
CLWA configures Clarity with sensitive-data masking or blocking protections and excludes identified sensitive areas of the website, including protected account, Board, authentication, payment, and other sensitive application areas. CLWA does not intentionally use Clarity to record passwords, payment-card information, private Board information, or other sensitive form contents.
Cookies and similar technologies may be used by analytics providers to distinguish sessions or users and measure website usage. Users may use browser settings, browser extensions, or provider-supported controls to restrict certain cookies or analytics technologies, although doing so may affect some functionality.
7. Automated Content Moderation and Artificial Intelligence
To help protect the CLWA Community and reduce spam, abuse, unsafe material, and policy violations, CLWA may use automated systems supplied by OpenAI to evaluate Community posts, Community comments, photographs and videos, event submissions, and article comments.
Automated systems may analyze submitted content, assign a risk or moderation score, flag content for review, automatically approve content that does not appear to present a concern, or temporarily hold content before publication or while awaiting review.
Automated systems do not make CLWA's final decision to reject or permanently remove submitted content. A human moderator makes rejection and removal decisions. Automated moderation systems may make mistakes, and a user who believes content was incorrectly held or moderated may contact CLWA through the Contact Us page to request review.
Content processed through an automated moderation provider may be transmitted to and processed by that provider for purposes of providing the moderation service.
8. Newsletter and Communications Services
CLWA may use third-party email communication providers, including Mailchimp and Sender, to manage mailing lists, newsletter subscriptions, unsubscribe requests, and association communications. Information processed for these purposes may include email address, name, mailing-list status, communication preferences, membership-related mailing eligibility, subscription or unsubscribe status, and delivery or engagement information supplied by the provider.
Users may unsubscribe from optional newsletter or promotional communications using the unsubscribe mechanism provided with those communications. CLWA may still send necessary account, transaction, security, membership, or service-related communications where appropriate.
9. How CLWA Uses Information
CLWA may use information to:
- create and maintain accounts and administer membership;
- process donations, payments, renewals, and membership records;
- operate Community features and publish content selected for public display;
- manage events, attendance, and volunteer programs;
- provide contact, support, and authorized communications;
- moderate content and prevent spam, fraud, abuse, and security threats;
- protect users and CLWA systems;
- manage association records and support watershed stewardship;
- analyze and improve website performance and usability;
- maintain organizational and historical records;
- comply with legal requirements and establish, exercise, or defend legal rights; and
- perform other legitimate activities reasonably related to CLWA's nonprofit mission and operations.
10. Public Information and User-Submitted Media
Depending on the feature and privacy settings, information intended for public display may include a display name, profile photograph, biography, town, Community role, selected profile information, Community posts and comments, photographs or other submitted media, fishing or wildlife reports, event submissions, public reactions or activity, and locations when expressly selected for public sharing.
Users should not submit another person's private information without permission. Once information has been made public, other people may copy, save, photograph, share, or redistribute it outside CLWA's control.
Users retain ownership of original content they submit. As described in the Terms of Service, CLWA may feature submitted photographs, videos, stories, or other material in CLWA-operated channels such as the website, newsletters, social-media accounts, annual reports, educational and stewardship materials, event materials, fundraising or membership communications, and other CLWA publications. CLWA may provide attribution when appropriate and practical, but attribution is not guaranteed in every use.
11. How We Share Information
CLWA does not sell personal information. CLWA may provide information to service providers that support website hosting, databases and file storage, authentication, payment processing, email communications, analytics, website diagnostics and error monitoring, automated content moderation, mapping, security, and other technical or operational services.
CLWA may preserve, access, or disclose information when reasonably necessary to comply with applicable law or legal process, investigate fraud, abuse, security incidents, or unlawful activity, protect the rights or property of CLWA or another person, address a substantial safety concern, protect lake or watershed resources where disclosure is reasonably necessary, or establish, exercise, or defend legal rights.
CLWA may also share information when a user asks us to do so or otherwise gives appropriate permission.
12. Advertising and Sale of Information
CLWA does not sell personal information and does not currently use personal information for targeted or behavioral advertising, remarketing, or advertising-profile programs. CLWA may promote its own membership opportunities, events, fundraising activities, programs, publications, or services.
If CLWA materially changes its advertising practices in the future, this Privacy Policy will be updated and any controls required by applicable law will be implemented.
13. Data Retention
CLWA does not apply one universal retention period to all information. Information may be retained for as long as reasonably necessary for the purpose for which it was collected or for legitimate organizational purposes, including membership administration, financial and accounting records, nonprofit recordkeeping, association history, event history, volunteer administration, Community operations, moderation and abuse prevention, security, audit records, dispute resolution, legal compliance, stewardship and environmental analysis, and organizational archives.
Some information may therefore remain after an account is closed or deleted. Third-party service providers may maintain information according to their own retention schedules and contractual requirements. CLWA periodically may delete, archive, aggregate, or de-identify information that is no longer reasonably needed.
14. Account Deletion and Privacy Requests
Users may request access to, correction of, or deletion of information associated with their website account by submitting a request through the Contact Us page. CLWA may need to verify the identity of the person making the request.
When an account deletion request is approved, CLWA may delete or de-identify the authentication account and account-specific profile information where reasonably possible. Certain information may be retained when reasonably necessary for membership history, financial or donation records, tax or accounting obligations, audit trails, security records, moderation history, fraud prevention, legal compliance, dispute resolution, event or organizational history, or other legitimate nonprofit recordkeeping purposes.
Public Community content may be removed, anonymized, de-identified, or retained depending on the nature of the content, associated discussions, legal requirements, and legitimate historical or moderation needs. Account deletion does not necessarily require deletion of records that have an independent organizational, historical, legal, financial, security, or public-content purpose.
15. Security
CLWA uses administrative, technical, and organizational safeguards intended to protect information against unauthorized access, use, alteration, disclosure, or destruction. Safeguards may include authentication controls, role- and permission-based access, private storage, encryption, protected administrative systems, logging and auditing, access restrictions, secure payment processing, security monitoring, and other safeguards appropriate to the information and system involved. No method of electronic transmission or storage can be guaranteed to be completely secure.
16. Children
CLWA's website accounts and interactive online Community services are not intended for children under thirteen (13), and CLWA does not knowingly collect online personal information from children under 13 through account or Community features.
Youth may participate in appropriate CLWA events, activities, or volunteer opportunities with parent or guardian involvement where required. If CLWA learns that personal information from a child under 13 was improperly collected through an online account or Community feature, CLWA may take steps to delete or otherwise appropriately address the information.
17. Third-Party Websites and Services
The CLWA website may contain links to third-party websites, maps, social networks, payment services, public agencies, resources, or other services. CLWA does not control the privacy practices of those independent third parties. Users should review the privacy practices of third-party services they choose to use.
18. Changes to This Privacy Policy
CLWA may update this Privacy Policy as our website, technology, services, legal obligations, or organizational practices change. The current version will be posted on the CLWA website with its last-updated date. Continued use of CLWA's website after an updated policy becomes effective constitutes acknowledgment of the revised policy to the extent permitted by law.
19. Contact CLWA
Questions, correction requests, privacy requests, and account-deletion requests may be submitted through the Contact Us page on chebaccolake.org.
Chebacco Lake & Watershed Association
P.O. Box 2344
South Hamilton, MA 01982
United States