Privacy Policy

1. Who we are

SF Bay Notes is a personal visitor journal about the piers, ferries, and islands of San Francisco Bay. It is not a company storefront, not a ticket desk, and not affiliated with any tour operator or the National Park Service. We do not sell tickets and never process payments.

2. Information we collect

Information you give us

If you use the contact form or write to [email protected], we receive:

• your name;
• your email address;
• the text of your message;
• the date and time you sent it.

We use that information only to understand your note and to reply. We do not add you to a mailing list. We do not run a newsletter. We do not sell, rent, or trade contact details.

Information collected automatically

When you load a page, our web server (and, if you reach us through a content-delivery network, that network) may record ordinary technical logs for security and to keep the site working. Those logs can include:

• IP address;
• date and time of the request;
• page or file requested;
• referrer URL, if your browser sends one;
• browser type, language, and a basic device description;
• general location derived from IP (city or region, not a street address).

We do not use these logs to build advertising profiles. We do not run Google Analytics, Meta Pixel, TikTok Pixel, or similar advertising tags on this journal.

3. How we use information

We use personal information to:

• reply to messages you send;
• operate, secure, and debug the website;
• comply with law if we are legally required to keep or disclose a record;
• protect the site against abuse, spam, and attacks.

We do not use personal information for paid advertising, remarketing, or automated decision-making that produces legal or similarly significant effects.

4. Cookies and similar technology

This site uses one strictly necessary session cookie so the contact form and basic page session can work. We do not set advertising cookies. Details are on the Cookies Policy.

5. Sharing

We do not sell personal information. We do not share it with advertisers. We may share a limited amount with:

• Hosting and infrastructure providers that store this website and its logs, under contracts that limit their use of the data to providing the service;
• Authorities if the law requires it, or to protect someone from serious harm;
• a person you ask us to copy, if you write and explicitly request that.

Messages sent through the contact form are not forwarded to any tour operator. If you need a booking, refund, or schedule change, please write to the operator yourself. We will point you toward official channels; we will not broker the conversation.

6. How long we keep information

Server logs are rotated on a rolling basis and are typically discarded within 30 to 90 days unless we need a record to investigate abuse. Contact-form messages are kept in a personal inbox for as long as we reasonably need to remember the conversation, then deleted. You can ask us to delete a message sooner.

7. Security

We use HTTPS for this site and ordinary access controls on the server. No method of transmission over the internet is completely secure. Please do not send payment-card numbers, government ID images, or passwords through the contact form. We have no reason to receive them: this site does not process payments.

8. Children

This journal is written for adults planning a visit. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13, and we do not target children. If you believe a child has sent us information, write to [email protected] and we will delete it.

9. California privacy rights (CCPA / CPRA)

If you are a California resident you have the right to know what personal information we have collected about you, to request deletion, to correct inaccurate information, and to opt out of the “sale” or “sharing” of personal information for cross-context behavioral advertising. We do not sell personal information and we do not share it for cross-context behavioral advertising. We do not offer a financial incentive for data.

To make a request, email [email protected] with the subject line “California privacy request” and tell us which right you want to exercise. We will verify the request using the email address you used to contact us, and we will respond within the time the law allows (generally 45 days). You will not be discriminated against for exercising these rights.

We have not sold or shared personal information in the preceding 12 months. Categories we may have collected if you wrote to us: identifiers (name, email) and the contents of your communication.

10. Visitors outside the United States

The site is hosted and edited in the United States. If you write to us from another country, your information will be processed in the United States, which may have different data-protection rules than your home country. Do not send the form if you are not comfortable with that.

11. Photographs on this site

Editorial photographs are used to illustrate places described in the journal. Some images are the publisher’s own; others are credited to Wikimedia Commons or similar public collections under their original licenses. Photo credits appear under each image. Using a photograph of a public place is not an endorsement of any operator.

12. Changes

If we change this policy we will post the updated text on this page and change the “Last updated” date. Material changes will stay on this URL so you can read them. There is no mailing list to notify.

13. Contact

Privacy questions: [email protected] or the contact page. Postal mail: Tom W., 847 Filbert Street, Apt 4, San Francisco, California 94133.