Burning Man Privacy Policy

WHAT THIS POLICY COVERS

This privacy policy describes the information that Burning Man Project (“us,” “our,” or “we”) collects when you visit or use the burningman.org website and/or affiliated websites or online applications operated by us (collectively, “our Site”), and how we store, process, share, and protect this information. By visiting our Site, you are accepting the practices described in this privacy policy, so please read it carefully.

We use the term “Personal Information” to mean information that can be used to identify someone as an individual, such as their name, mailing address, email address, phone number, images, or audio or video recordings, whether used alone or in combination with other personal or identifying information that is linked or linkable to a specific individual. 

If you are under 13, you must ask your parent or legal guardian for their permission before sending any Personal Information to us or asking us to email you. If you are under 13 and visit our Site and/or send any Personal Information to us, you are confirming that your parent or legal guardian has consented to you doing so.

INFORMATION YOU KNOWINGLY GIVE TO US

We collect Personal Information and other information you actively send us or enter on our Site. You knowingly provide such information when you interact with our Site in a number of different ways, including without limitation:

  • Creating a Burner Profile;
  • Contributing to the ePlaya online community, image Galleries, Spark connection tool, Rideshare board, Playa Events calendar, Burning Man Hive, or other public areas of our Site;
  • Submitting an online questionnaire, application, or other form;
  • Signing up for our newsletters or other mailing lists;
  • Posting comments on the Burning Man Journal;
  • Sending us emails;
  • Making online donations to Burning Man Project;
  • Registering for ticket sales or events;
  • Purchasing tickets to Burning Man events or other items via our Site; and/or
  • Making Burner Express bookings.

INFORMATION THAT IS AUTOMATICALLY COLLECTED BY OUR SYSTEM

Whenever you visit our Site, we may automatically collect certain types of information from your device, including without limitation:  

  • The type and version of your web browser, device, operating system, and platform;
  • Your IP address and internet service provider;
  • The date and time of your visit;
  • Information about how you use our Site, including the links you click, the pages you view, and how you navigate the Site;
  • The search terms you use on our Site or to locate our Site from external search engines; and
  • How our Site performs when you visit it. 

We and third parties that provide content or functionality on our Sites may use cookies and similar technologies to automatically collect this information. For more information about cookies and similar technologies, please see the “Cookies and Similar Technologies” section below. 

INFORMATION WE OBTAIN FROM THIRD PARTIES 

We may maintain pages for Burning Man Project on social media and publishing platforms, such as Facebook, Instagram, X, and Medium. When you visit or interact with our pages on those platforms, the platform provider’s privacy policy will apply to your interactions and their collection, use, and processing of your Personal Information. We will treat the information obtained from the platforms in accordance with this Privacy Policy. 

We may also receive personal information about you from third-party sources, such as service providers, other participants, and publicly-available sources.

HOW WE USE YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION

We use the Personal Information that we receive to operate our Site, to produce Burning Man events, and to promote and  support our mission as a nonprofit  Our mission is to facilitate and extend the culture that has issued from the Burning Man event into the larger world. Your Personal Information may be stored on our systems and shared among Burning Man Project’s subsidiaries and affiliates. We do not rent or sell your personal information to any other entity. We do not share your personal information with any other person or entity, except when:

  • We have your permission;
  • We engage an authorized third-party vendor or service provider to help us with specialized services, such as payment processing, ticketing, email deployment, event promotion, fundraising campaigns, communication about our mission, website performance monitoring, hosting, and/or data processing and security; 
  • We must respond to a subpoena, court order, law enforcement request, legal claim, government inquiry, or other legal process;
  • We must exercise our legal rights, protect our property, defend against legal claims, or otherwise comply with the law; 
  • We reorganize, consolidate, restructure, merge, or dissolve any of Burning Man Project’s legal entities and transfer assets in connection therewith; or
  • We believe it is appropriate in order to investigate, prevent, or take action regarding suspected illegal activities, fraud, threats to personal safety, or violation of our Site’s terms of use.

When we share your Personal Information as set forth above, your Personal Information will remain subject to the version of this privacy policy in existence at the time of sharing to the fullest extent permissible by law.

Donations, ticket orders, and purchases made via our Site are processed in collaboration with third-party service providers. Similarly, Burning Man Project relies on third-party service providers to offer certain social functionality on our Site, send emails, and conduct surveys. The Personal Information you provide in connection with these transactions and other uses is also governed by the privacy policies of those providers. We will use reasonable efforts to notify you of those policies at the time your Personal Information is collected by those providers. 

Burning Man Project and/or our affiliates may at times contact you at your email address to keep you informed about events, news, our mission, fundraising, and other Burning Man-related opportunities and information. Should you not wish to receive such communications, you may opt out by following the instructions in the communication. 

We may engage in “retargeting,” which is the display of targeted advertisements and/or promoted content on third-party websites and social media platforms to fundraise and build support for our nonprofit mission. These practices help us reach people who are interested in Burning Man and communicate more effectively with participants. To learn more, review the section on “Cookies and Similar Technologies” below. 

You can contact us at the address provided below to request access to the Personal Information in your Burner Profile and other accounts you register on our Site. You can edit Personal Information in your Burner Profile by logging in and manually editing your account. You can also delete your Burner Profile and other accounts you register on our Site, either directly within the accounts or by sending a message through the “Contact Us” link on our Site (https://burningman.org/network/about-us/contact/) that specifies the account or other Personal Information that you would like deleted. For technical reasons, the information that you have voluntarily shared in public submissions to our Site may remain visible to users of our Site even after the deletion of the associated account.

INTERNATIONAL DATA TRANSFERS

We are headquartered in the United States and your Personal Information may be transferred outside of your state, province, or country to the United States or other locations where privacy laws may not be as protective as those in your state, province, or country.

COOKIES AND SIMILAR TECHNOLOGIES

Like many other websites, Burning Man Project uses cookies on our Site. A cookie is a small file that is automatically placed on your computer or device when you visit our Site. Our site may use both session cookies (which expire once you close your browser) and persistent cookies (which stay on your computer or mobile device until you delete them). 

Pixel tags are very small pieces of data embedded in images that appear on our Site or in our emails, also known as “web beacons” or “clear GIFs.” Pixel tags can recognize certain information from your computer or device, including the cookies that have been placed there and information about your use of our Site. 

We use cookies and similar technologies to enable the efficient operation of our Site, to enhance the ease of use of our Site, to gather statistics on how you use our Site, and to engage in “retargeting” on third-party websites and social media platforms. By using our Site, you consent to our use of cookies and similar technologies. You may opt out of cookies and similar technologies, but please understand that certain functionalities on our Site may no longer function for you if you choose to do so. To find out more about cookies, including how to see what cookies have been set and how to manage and delete them, use your browser’s help feature or visit www.allaboutcookies.org.

You may opt out of retargeting on websites through members of the Network Advertising Initiative by clicking here or the Digital Advertising Alliance by clicking here. Please note that we also may work with companies that may not participate in these opt-out mechanisms and may offer their own opt-out mechanisms. If you reside in certain states in the United States, you may have the right to opt out of the use of your Personal Information for targeted advertising. To submit a request, email privacy@burningman.org in which case we will respond to your request in accordance with applicable law. 

GOOGLE ANALYTICS

We use a tool called “Google Analytics” to collect information about the use of our Site. Google Analytics collects information such as how often users visit our Site, what pages they visit, and what other sites they used prior to coming to our Site. We use the information we get from Google Analytics only to maintain and improve our Site’s technical performance. Google Analytics collects the IP address assigned to you on the date you visit our Site, rather than your name or other identifying information. Google’s ability to use and share information collected by Google Analytics about your visits to our Site is restricted by the Google Analytics Terms of service, available at http://www.google.com/analytics/terms/us.html, and the Google Privacy Policy, available at http://www.google.com/policies/privacy/.

You can prevent Google Analytics from recognizing you on return visits to our Site by disabling cookies in your browser.

CONFIDENTIALITY AND SECURITY

The only people and/or entities who have access to Personal Information and other information collected on our Site have a legitimate purpose to know this information and are bound by nondisclosure agreements and this privacy policy. We have physical, electronic, and procedural safeguards in place to protect the Personal Information and other information that we collect and store. However, security risk is inherent in all internet and information technologies and we cannot guarantee the security of your personal information.

You understand, however, that whenever you submit expressive content to certain areas of our Site — such as the Galleries, Spark, ePlaya, Playa Events calendar, theme camp and art project listings, Burning Man Journal, and Burning Man Hive — your submission may be made public on the Site. We are not responsible for the use of any Personal Information that you or others choose to post publicly. You may be identified as the author of any posted expressive content unless you instruct us otherwise.

We will identify your public submissions to our Site by the handle you register and will not disseminate any other registration information without your authorization. If you contact other users of our Site by email, your Personal Information may be included in the header, as with any email.

In general, we cannot guarantee your anonymity whenever you interact with our Site.

Please note that our Site may contain links to third-party websites. These third-party websites may send their own cookies to collect data and solicit Personal Information. Therefore, we cannot guarantee your privacy when visiting such third-party sites, nor the accuracy or acceptability of any services provided by such third parties.

CHANGES TO THIS PRIVACY POLICY

We may update this policy from time to time to reflect changes to our privacy practices or for other operational, legal, or regulatory reasons. When any significant changes are made to this policy, we will post a notification in a prominent place on this website so that you may be made aware of the changes. This notification will appear the first time you log on to this website following a significant change in this policy.

CONTACTING US

If you have questions about this privacy policy, please email privacy@burningman.org.

EFFECTIVE DATE

This policy is effective as of January 30, 2024.