Privacy Policy and Terms of Service

Privacy Policy:

Bird Yards (“Bird Yards“) operates BirdYards.com and may operate other websites. It is Bird Yards’ policy to respect your privacy regarding any information we may collect while operating our websites. We do comply with General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) (EU) 2016/679.

Website Visitors

Like most website operators, Bird Yards collects non-personally-identifying information of the sort that web browsers and servers typically make available, such as the browser type, language preference, referring site, and the date and time of each visitor request. Bird Yards’ purpose in collecting non-personally identifying information is to better understand how Bird Yards’ visitors use its website. From time to time, Bird Yards may release non-personally-identifying information in the aggregate, e.g., by publishing a report on trends in the usage of its website.

Information Collection And Use

We collect several different types of information for various purposes to provide and improve our Service to you.

Types of Data Collected

Personal Identifiable Information

While using our Service, we may ask you to provide us with – or gather automatically – certain personally identifiable information that can be used to contact or identify you (“Personal Data”). Personally identifiable information collected by Bird Yards includes:

Cookies and Usage Data
Your computer’s IP address
Your email address (if you’ve left a comment on the site)

Usage Data

We collect information about how our Service is accessed and used (“Usage Data”). This Usage Data may include information such as your computer’s Internet Protocol address (e.g. IP address), browser type, browser version, the pages of our Service that you visit, the time and date of your visit, the time spent on those pages, unique device identifiers and other diagnostic data.

Tracking & Cookies Data

We use cookies and similar tracking technologies to track the activity on our Service and hold certain information.

Cookies are files with small amount of data which may include an anonymous unique identifier. Cookies are sent to your browser from a website and stored on your device. Tracking technologies also used are beacons, tags, and scripts to collect and track information and to improve and analyze our Service.

You can instruct your browser to refuse all cookies or to indicate when a cookie is being sent. However, if you do not accept cookies, you may not be able to use some portions of our Service.

Examples of Cookies we use:

Session Cookies. We use Session Cookies to operate our Service.
Preference Cookies. We use Preference Cookies to remember your preferences and various settings.
Security Cookies. We use Security Cookies for security purposes.

IP Address

Any time you visit this website, a record of that visit is stored on this website’s servers. This data is used to identify any technical issues with the website and is stored by a 3rd party for 36 months.

Email Address

If you leave a comment on this website, you are required to include an email address. This email address is not displayed publicly but is available to the website administrator and stored on the website’s servers until such time as the comment is deleted. That information is used to determine whether future comments should be automatically approved or manually reviewed by the website administrator before the comment can be published in order to reduce spam.

You may request that your comment and email address stored on the website’s servers be deleted at any time by contacting the administrator using the form on this page: Contact Form.

Use of Data

Bird Yards uses the collected data for various purposes:

To provide and maintain the Service
To notify you about changes to our Service
To allow you to participate in interactive features of our Service when you choose to do so
To provide customer care and support
To provide analysis or valuable information so that we can improve the Service
To monitor the usage of the Service
To detect, prevent and address technical issues

Bird Yards only discloses logged in user and commenter IP addresses under the same circumstances that it uses and discloses personally-identifying information as described below, except that commenter IP addresses and email addresses are visible and disclosed to the administrators of the blog/site where the comment was left.

Visitors can always refuse to supply personally-identifying information, with the caveat that it may prevent them from engaging in certain website-related activities.

Transfer Of Data

Your information, including Personal Data, may be transferred to — and maintained on — computers located outside of your state, province, country or other governmental jurisdiction where the data protection laws may differ than those from your jurisdiction.

If you are located outside the United States and choose to provide information to us, please note that we transfer the data, including Personal Data, to the United States and process it there.

Your consent to this Privacy Policy followed by your submission of such information represents your agreement to that transfer.

Bird Yards will take all steps reasonably necessary to ensure that your data is treated securely and in accordance with this Privacy Policy and no transfer of your Personal Data will take place to an organization or a country unless there are adequate controls in place including the security of your data and other personal information.

Disclosure Of Data

Legal Requirements

Bird Yards may disclose your Personal Data in the good faith belief that such action is necessary to:

To comply with a legal obligation
To protect and defend the rights or property of Bird Yards
To prevent or investigate possible wrongdoing in connection with the Service
To protect the personal safety of users of the Service or the public
To protect against legal liability

Security Of Data

The security of your data is important to us, but remember that no method of transmission over the Internet, or method of electronic storage is 100% secure. While we strive to use commercially acceptable means to protect your Personal Data, we cannot guarantee its absolute security.

Service Providers

We may employ third party companies and individuals to facilitate our Service (“Service Providers”), to provide the Service on our behalf, to perform Service-related services or to assist us in analyzing how our Service is used.

These third parties have access to your Personal Data only to perform these tasks on our behalf and are obligated not to disclose or use it for any other purpose.

Analytics

We may use third-party Service Providers to monitor and analyze the use of our Service.

Google Analytics
Google Webmaster Tools/Google Search Console

Aggregated Statistics

Bird Yards may collect statistics about the behavior of visitors to its websites. Bird Yards may display this information publicly or provide it to others. However, Bird Yards does not disclose personally-identifying information other than as described above.

Protection of Certain Personally-Identifying Information

Bird Yards discloses potentially personally-identifying and personally-identifying information only to those of its employees, contractors and affiliated organizations that (i) need to know that information in order to process it on Bird Yards’ behalf or to provide services available at Bird Yards’ websites, and (ii) that have agreed not to disclose it to others. Some of those employees, contractors and affiliated organizations may be located outside of your home country; by using Bird Yards’ websites, you consent to the transfer of such information to them. Bird Yards will not rent or sell potentially personally-identifying and personally-identifying information to anyone. Other than to its employees, contractors and affiliated organizations, as described above, Bird Yards discloses potentially personally-identifying and personally-identifying information only in response to a subpoena, court order or other governmental request, or when Bird Yards believes in good faith that disclosure is reasonably necessary to protect the property or rights of Bird Yards, third parties or the public at large. If you are a registered user of an Bird Yards website and have supplied your email address, Bird Yards may occasionally send you an email to tell you about new features, solicit your feedback, or just keep you up to date with what’s going on with Bird Yards and our products. If you send us a request (for example via email or via one of our feedback mechanisms), we reserve the right to publish it in order to help us clarify or respond to your request or to help us support other users. Bird Yards takes all measures reasonably necessary to protect against the unauthorized access, use, alteration or destruction of potentially personally-identifying and personally-identifying information.

Business Transfers

If Bird Yards, or substantially all of its assets, were acquired, or in the unlikely event that Bird Yards goes out of business or enters bankruptcy, user information would be one of the assets that is transferred or acquired by a third party. You acknowledge that such transfers may occur, and that any acquirer of Bird Yards may continue to use your personal information as set forth in this policy.

Links To Other Sites

Our Service may contain links to other sites that are not operated by us. If you click on a third party link, you will be directed to that third party’s site. We strongly advise you to review the Privacy Policy of every site you visit.

We have no control over and assume no responsibility for the content, privacy policies or practices of any third party sites or services.

Ads appearing on any of our websites may be delivered to users by advertising partners, who may set cookies. These cookies allow the ad server to recognize your computer each time they send you an online advertisement to compile information about you or others who use your computer. This information allows ad networks to, among other things, deliver targeted advertisements that they believe will be of most interest to you. This Privacy Policy covers the use of cookies by Bird Yards and does not cover the use of cookies by any advertisers.

Privacy Policy Changes

Although most changes are likely to be minor, Bird Yards may change its Privacy Policy from time to time, and in Bird Yards’ sole discretion. Bird Yards encourages visitors to frequently check this page for any changes to its Privacy Policy. If you have a BirdYards.com account, you might also receive an alert informing you of these changes. Your continued use of this site after any change in this Privacy Policy will constitute your acceptance of such change.

Contact Information

If you have any questions about our privacy policy or data collection and usage, please contact the website administrator using the form on this page: Contact Form.

Terms of Service:

The following terms and conditions govern all use of the BirdYards.com website and all content, services and products available at or through the website (taken together, the Website). The Website is owned and operated by Bird Yards (“Bird Yards”). The Website is offered subject to your acceptance without modification of all of the terms and conditions contained herein and all other operating rules, policies (including, without limitation, Bird Yards’ Privacy Policy) and procedures that may be published from time to time on this Site by Bird Yards (collectively, the “Agreement”).

Please read this Agreement carefully before accessing or using the Website. By accessing or using any part of the web site, you agree to become bound by the terms and conditions of this agreement. If you do not agree to all the terms and conditions of this agreement, then you may not access the Website or use any services. If these terms and conditions are considered an offer by Bird Yards, acceptance is expressly limited to these terms. The Website is available only to individuals who are at least 13 years old.

Your BirdYards.com Account and Site. If you create a blog/site on the Website, you are responsible for maintaining the security of your account and blog, and you are fully responsible for all activities that occur under the account and any other actions taken in connection with the blog. You must not describe or assign keywords to your blog in a misleading or unlawful manner, including in a manner intended to trade on the name or reputation of others, and Bird Yards may change or remove any description or keyword that it considers inappropriate or unlawful, or otherwise likely to cause Bird Yards liability. You must immediately notify Bird Yards of any unauthorized uses of your blog, your account or any other breaches of security. Bird Yards will not be liable for any acts or omissions by You, including any damages of any kind incurred as a result of such acts or omissions.
Responsibility of Contributors. If you operate a blog, comment on a blog, post material to the Website, post links on the Website, or otherwise make (or allow any third party to make) material available by means of the Website (any such material, “Content”), You are entirely responsible for the content of, and any harm resulting from, that Content. That is the case regardless of whether the Content in question constitutes text, graphics, an audio file, or computer software. By making Content available, you represent and warrant that:
- the downloading, copying and use of the Content will not infringe the proprietary rights, including but not limited to the copyright, patent, trademark or trade secret rights, of any third party;
- if your employer has rights to intellectual property you create, you have either (i) received permission from your employer to post or make available the Content, including but not limited to any software, or (ii) secured from your employer a waiver as to all rights in or to the Content;
- you have fully complied with any third-party licenses relating to the Content, and have done all things necessary to successfully pass through to end users any required terms;
- the Content does not contain or install any viruses, worms, malware, Trojan horses or other harmful or destructive content;
- the Content is not spam, is not machine- or randomly-generated, and does not contain unethical or unwanted commercial content designed to drive traffic to third party sites or boost the search engine rankings of third party sites, or to further unlawful acts (such as phishing) or mislead recipients as to the source of the material (such as spoofing);
- the Content is not pornographic, does not contain threats or incite violence towards individuals or entities, and does not violate the privacy or publicity rights of any third party;
- your blog is not getting advertised via unwanted electronic messages such as spam links on newsgroups, email lists, other blogs and web sites, and similar unsolicited promotional methods;
- your blog is not named in a manner that misleads your readers into thinking that you are another person or company. For example, your blog’s URL or name is not the name of a person other than yourself or company other than your own; and
- you have, in the case of Content that includes computer code, accurately categorized and/or described the type, nature, uses and effects of the materials, whether requested to do so by Bird Yards or otherwise.
By submitting Content to Bird Yards for inclusion on your Website, you grant Bird Yards a world-wide, royalty-free, and non-exclusive license to reproduce, modify, adapt and publish the Content solely for the purpose of displaying, distributing and promoting your blog. If you delete Content, Bird Yards will use reasonable efforts to remove it from the Website, but you acknowledge that caching or references to the Content may not be made immediately unavailable.

Without limiting any of those representations or warranties, Bird Yards has the right (though not the obligation) to, in Bird Yards’ sole discretion (i) refuse or remove any content that, in Bird Yards’ reasonable opinion, violates any Bird Yards policy or is in any way harmful or objectionable, or (ii) terminate or deny access to and use of the Website to any individual or entity for any reason, in Bird Yards’ sole discretion. Bird Yards will have no obligation to provide a refund of any amounts previously paid.
Payment and Renewal.
- General Terms.
  By selecting a product or service, you agree to pay Bird Yards the one-time and/or monthly or annual subscription fees indicated (additional payment terms may be included in other communications). Subscription payments will be charged on a pre-pay basis on the day you sign up for an Upgrade and will cover the use of that service for a monthly or annual subscription period as indicated. Payments are not refundable.
- Automatic Renewal.
  Unless you notify Bird Yards before the end of the applicable subscription period that you want to cancel a subscription, your subscription will automatically renew and you authorize us to collect the then-applicable annual or monthly subscription fee for such subscription (as well as any taxes) using any credit card or other payment mechanism we have on record for you. Upgrades can be canceled at any time by submitting your request to Bird Yards in writing.
Services.
- Fees; Payment. By signing up for a Services account you agree to pay Bird Yards the applicable setup fees and recurring fees. Applicable fees will be invoiced starting from the day your services are established and in advance of using such services. Bird Yards reserves the right to change the payment terms and fees upon thirty (30) days prior written notice to you. Services can be canceled by you at anytime on thirty (30) days written notice to Bird Yards.
- Support. If your service includes access to priority email support. “Email support” means the ability to make requests for technical support assistance by email at any time (with reasonable efforts by Bird Yards to respond within one business day) concerning the use of the VIP Services. “Priority” means that support takes priority over support for users of the standard or free BirdYards.com services. All support will be provided in accordance with Bird Yards standard services practices, procedures and policies.
Responsibility of Website Visitors. Bird Yards has not reviewed, and cannot review, all of the material, including computer software, posted to the Website, and cannot therefore be responsible for that material’s content, use or effects. By operating the Website, Bird Yards does not represent or imply that it endorses the material there posted, or that it believes such material to be accurate, useful or non-harmful. You are responsible for taking precautions as necessary to protect yourself and your computer systems from viruses, worms, Trojan horses, and other harmful or destructive content. The Website may contain content that is offensive, indecent, or otherwise objectionable, as well as content containing technical inaccuracies, typographical mistakes, and other errors. The Website may also contain material that violates the privacy or publicity rights, or infringes the intellectual property and other proprietary rights, of third parties, or the downloading, copying or use of which is subject to additional terms and conditions, stated or unstated. Bird Yards disclaims any responsibility for any harm resulting from the use by visitors of the Website, or from any downloading by those visitors of content there posted.
Content Posted on Other Websites. We have not reviewed, and cannot review, all of the material, including computer software, made available through the websites and webpages to which BirdYards.com links, and that link to BirdYards.com. Bird Yards does not have any control over those non-Bird Yards websites and webpages, and is not responsible for their contents or their use. By linking to a non-Bird Yards website or webpage, Bird Yards does not represent or imply that it endorses such website or webpage. You are responsible for taking precautions as necessary to protect yourself and your computer systems from viruses, worms, Trojan horses, and other harmful or destructive content. Bird Yards disclaims any responsibility for any harm resulting from your use of non-Bird Yards websites and webpages.
Copyright Infringement and DMCA Policy. As Bird Yards asks others to respect its intellectual property rights, it respects the intellectual property rights of others. If you believe that material located on or linked to by BirdYards.com violates your copyright, you are encouraged to notify Bird Yards in accordance with Bird Yards’ Digital Millennium Copyright Act (“DMCA”) Policy. Bird Yards will respond to all such notices, including as required or appropriate by removing the infringing material or disabling all links to the infringing material. Bird Yards will terminate a visitor’s access to and use of the Website if, under appropriate circumstances, the visitor is determined to be a repeat infringer of the copyrights or other intellectual property rights of Bird Yards or others. In the case of such termination, Bird Yards will have no obligation to provide a refund of any amounts previously paid to Bird Yards.
Intellectual Property. This Agreement does not transfer from Bird Yards to you any Bird Yards or third party intellectual property, and all right, title and interest in and to such property will remain (as between the parties) solely with Bird Yards. Bird Yards, BirdYards.com, the BirdYards.com logo, and all other trademarks, service marks, graphics and logos used in connection with BirdYards.com, or the Website are trademarks or registered trademarks of Bird Yards or Bird Yards’ licensors. Other trademarks, service marks, graphics and logos used in connection with the Website may be the trademarks of other third parties. Your use of the Website grants you no right or license to reproduce or otherwise use any Bird Yards or third-party trademarks.
Advertisements. Bird Yards reserves the right to display advertisements on your blog unless you have purchased an ad-free account.
Attribution. Bird Yards reserves the right to display attribution links such as ‘Blog at BirdYards.com,’ theme author, and font attribution in your blog footer or toolbar.
Partner Products. By activating a partner product (e.g. theme) from one of our partners, you agree to that partner’s terms of service. You can opt out of their terms of service at any time by de-activating the partner product.
Domain Names. If you are registering a domain name, using or transferring a previously registered domain name, you acknowledge and agree that use of the domain name is also subject to the policies of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (“ICANN”), including their Registration Rights and Responsibilities.
Changes. Bird Yards reserves the right, at its sole discretion, to modify or replace any part of this Agreement. It is your responsibility to check this Agreement periodically for changes. Your continued use of or access to the Website following the posting of any changes to this Agreement constitutes acceptance of those changes. Bird Yards may also, in the future, offer new services and/or features through the Website (including, the release of new tools and resources). Such new features and/or services shall be subject to the terms and conditions of this Agreement.
Termination. Bird Yards may terminate your access to all or any part of the Website at any time, with or without cause, with or without notice, effective immediately. If you wish to terminate this Agreement or your BirdYards.com account (if you have one), you may simply discontinue using the Website. Notwithstanding the foregoing, if you have a paid services account, such account can only be terminated by Bird Yards if you materially breach this Agreement and fail to cure such breach within thirty (30) days from Bird Yards’ notice to you thereof; provided that, Bird Yards can terminate the Website immediately as part of a general shut down of our service. All provisions of this Agreement which by their nature should survive termination shall survive termination, including, without limitation, ownership provisions, warranty disclaimers, indemnity and limitations of liability.
Disclaimer of Warranties. The Website is provided “as is”. Bird Yards and its suppliers and licensors hereby disclaim all warranties of any kind, express or implied, including, without limitation, the warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose and non-infringement. Neither Bird Yards nor its suppliers and licensors, makes any warranty that the Website will be error free or that access thereto will be continuous or uninterrupted. You understand that you download from, or otherwise obtain content or services through, the Website at your own discretion and risk.
Limitation of Liability. In no event will Bird Yards, or its suppliers or licensors, be liable with respect to any subject matter of this agreement under any contract, negligence, strict liability or other legal or equitable theory for: (i) any special, incidental or consequential damages; (ii) the cost of procurement for substitute products or services; (iii) for interruption of use or loss or corruption of data; or (iv) for any amounts that exceed the fees paid by you to Bird Yards under this agreement during the twelve (12) month period prior to the cause of action. Bird Yards shall have no liability for any failure or delay due to matters beyond their reasonable control. The foregoing shall not apply to the extent prohibited by applicable law.
General Representation and Warranty. You represent and warrant that (i) your use of the Website will be in strict accordance with the Bird Yards Privacy Policy, with this Agreement and with all applicable laws and regulations (including without limitation any local laws or regulations in your country, state, city, or other governmental area, regarding online conduct and acceptable content, and including all applicable laws regarding the transmission of technical data exported from the United States or the country in which you reside) and (ii) your use of the Website will not infringe or misappropriate the intellectual property rights of any third party.
Indemnification. You agree to indemnify and hold harmless Bird Yards, its contractors, and its licensors, and their respective directors, officers, employees and agents from and against any and all claims and expenses, including attorneys’ fees, arising out of your use of the Website, including but not limited to your violation of this Agreement.
Miscellaneous. This Agreement constitutes the entire agreement between Bird Yards and you concerning the subject matter hereof, and they may only be modified by a written amendment signed by an authorized executive of Bird Yards, or by the posting by Bird Yards of a revised version. Except to the extent applicable law, if any, provides otherwise, this Agreement, any access to or use of the Website will be governed by Cleveland/OH/USA, excluding its conflict of law provisions, and the proper venue for any disputes arising out of or relating to any of the same will be the state and federal courts located in Lake County, OH. Except for claims for injunctive or equitable relief or claims regarding intellectual property rights (which may be brought in any competent court without the posting of a bond), any dispute arising under this Agreement shall be finally settled in accordance with the Comprehensive Arbitration Rules of the Judicial Arbitration and Mediation Service, Inc. (“JAMS”) by three arbitrators appointed in accordance with such Rules. The arbitration shall take place in Cleveland/OH/USA, in the English language and the arbitral decision may be enforced in any court. The prevailing party in any action or proceeding to enforce this Agreement shall be entitled to costs and attorneys’ fees. If any part of this Agreement is held invalid or unenforceable, that part will be construed to reflect the parties’ original intent, and the remaining portions will remain in full force and effect. A waiver by either party of any term or condition of this Agreement or any breach thereof, in any one instance, will not waive such term or condition or any subsequent breach thereof. You may assign your rights under this Agreement to any party that consents to, and agrees to be bound by, its terms and conditions; Bird Yards may assign its rights under this Agreement without condition. This Agreement will be binding upon and will inure to the benefit of the parties, their successors and permitted assigns.

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