Privacy Policy.

What we collect

Information you give us directly

The personal information we collect depends on how you interact with the website:

• Contact form — name, email address, the topic you selected, and your message.
• Membership application — applicant and spouse names, date of birth, home and cell phone numbers, email address, mailing address, emergency contact name + relationship + phone, membership tier (new / renewal / lifetime), digital rules acknowledgment, digital waiver signature, and PayPal transaction reference. You provide this through the online application flow at /apply/.
• Member portal — when you sign in to the member portal you can update the same fields captured at application time.
• Email sign-in — to access the member portal or admin console you provide an email address. We send a one-time sign-in link to that address.

Information we collect automatically

• IP address — captured once, only when you acknowledge the SMSC Standard Operating Procedures during the membership application. We retain it on your application record as legal evidence of when and where the acknowledgment was made.
• Authentication cookies — when you sign in, our authentication provider (Firebase Auth) sets functional cookies in your browser to keep you signed in. These are first-party, are not shared with advertisers, and exist only to make sign-in work.
• Server logs — like every website, our hosting platform (Cloudflare) keeps short-term request logs for security and abuse-prevention purposes. We don't query these for marketing or analytics.

How we use it

We use the information you provide to:

• Process your membership application, including the quiz, waiver, and payment steps.
• Maintain your member record (gate-badge issuance, renewal tracking, board communications).
• Send transactional emails — application confirmations, renewal notices, range-closure alerts, admin sign-in links. We do not send marketing or promotional email.
• Contact you about your application or membership when needed.
• Comply with legal record-keeping (signed waivers, rules acknowledgments).

Who we share it with

We use the following third-party services to operate the website. Each one only receives the data necessary for its role:

We do not share your personal information with advertisers, data brokers, or any party not listed above.

We may disclose information when legally required to do so — for example, in response to a subpoena, court order, or other valid legal process — or to defend the club's rights, prevent fraud, or protect the safety of members and the public.

How long we keep it

• Membership records are retained for the duration of your membership and may be retained afterward to maintain historical records of the club.
• Signed waivers and rules acknowledgments are retained indefinitely as legal records.
• Contact-form messages are kept in the membership inbox per the club's normal email retention practice.
• Sign-in links expire after a short window (typically an hour) and are not retained after use.

Your rights

You have the right to:

• Access the personal information we hold about you. Members can view their own record at /member/; non-members can email us for any contact-form submissions.
• Correct information that's inaccurate. Members can edit most fields directly in the member portal; for anything you can't edit, email us.
• Request deletion of your personal information, subject to legal record-keeping obligations (signed waivers may need to be retained even after membership ends).
• Withdraw consent for ongoing communications by replying to any of our emails or contacting us directly.

To exercise any of these rights, email membership@smsclub.org. We'll respond within a reasonable time.

Security

We protect your information using industry-standard measures: encrypted HTTPS connections for everything served from smsclub.org, encrypted-at-rest storage at Google Cloud Firestore, and authentication through Firebase Auth. Admin access is restricted to board-authorized accounts using one-time magic-link sign-in.

That said, no method of transmission over the internet or method of electronic storage is 100% secure. While we use commercially reasonable measures to protect your information, we cannot guarantee its absolute security.

Children's privacy

SMSC's website is not directed at children under 13, and we do not knowingly collect personal information from anyone under 13. Junior members and youth program participants are signed up by a parent or guardian who provides the necessary information on their behalf and consents to its use as described in this policy. If you believe a child under 13 has provided us information directly, please contact us and we will delete it.

Changes to this policy

If we make material changes to this policy, we'll update the "Last updated" date at the top and, when appropriate, notify members by email. Continued use of the website after a change indicates acceptance of the updated policy.