Hack Club Privacy Notice & Terms and Conditions

Hack Club's privacy policy and terms of service.

TL;DR:

  • Hack Club was started by privacy nerds - it's personal and non-negotiable for us. We do not (and never will) sell your personal data.
  • Our code is 100% open source and we have a security bounty program at https://security.hackclub.com.
  • Hack Club's core programs are for middle school and high school students (ages 13-18). Participants out of high school are considered alumni. HCB is available to people of all ages.

At Hack Club our approach to privacy follows a few fundamental principles:

  • We believe in data minimization and won't ask you for personal information unless we truly need it to provide you with the resources and learning experiences you sign up for. (We can't stand services that ask you for things like your gender or income level for no apparent reason.)
  • We never sell your personal information. We may share the personal information you provide us with 3rd party vendors or services needed to operate Hack Club, like Slack for communication or Stripe for payment processing.

Hack Club Privacy Notice

This Hack Club Privacy Notice applies to your use of hackclub.com, and any other websites, applications, services, or live (in‑person) events provided, owned, or operated by Hack Club (with its affiliates, "Hack Club") that link to this Privacy Notice (collectively, "Hack Club Services"). Hack Club is a U.S. 501(c)(3) nonprofit educational charity. We value the privacy of students, educators, volunteers, donors, members, and others who visit and use Hack Club Services (collectively or individually, "you" or "users") and want you to be familiar with how we collect, use, and disclose personal information from and about you. By visiting www.hackclub.com, setting up any accounts across Hack Club programs, or using Hack Club Services, you are accepting the practices described in this Privacy Notice, to the extent permitted by law.

If Hack Club is involved in a merger, consolidation, reorganization, or similar nonprofit change‑of‑control transaction, we reserve the right, in any of these circumstances, to transfer or assign the information that we have collected from users as part of that transaction, including in the course of diligence.

For purposes of data protection laws, Hack Club is located at 15 Falls Rd., Shelburne, VT 05482, USA, and is the "data controller" of your information collected in connection with Hack Club Services.

What We Collect

You may share personal information when using Hack Club Services. One example is when you provide information about yourself as part of setting up any accounts across Hack Club programs. Another is when you take actions on Hack Club Services that are public or intended to be public in nature, such as when you share a coding project, participate in a discussion forum, or post profile information. Given the social and educational nature of some Hack Club Services, that information may be collected, used, or disclosed by others who are part of that interaction. In addition, some features of Hack Club Services are designed to provide others with information about user activity, such as identifying the user who created a specific project. We encourage you to be mindful of this when considering your activity on Hack Club Services.

We obtain information about you through the means discussed below when we provide Hack Club Services. Please note that we need certain information to provide Hack Club Services to you. If you prefer not to provide it or would like it deleted, we understand — and will still offer you access to any Hack Club Services that don't need it to operate.

How We Collect It

User‑provided Information: When you register for Hack Club Services; upload, view, or download content or resources from Hack Club Services; enter challenges; register for or attend a live (in‑person) event; or otherwise use the features and functionality of Hack Club Services, you may provide a variety of information about yourself to us, such as your name, voice, or image (in any content you upload or participate in), email address, postal mailing address, telephone number, and identification documents.

Automatically Collected Information: When you access Hack Club Services or open one of our emails, we may automatically record and store certain information about your system by using cookies and other types of technologies. Cookies are small text files containing a string of alphanumeric characters that are sent to your browser. Examples of such information we may automatically collect include Internet Protocol address ("IP Address"), a unique user ID, device and browser types and identifiers, referring and exit page addresses, software and system type, and information about your usage of Hack Club Services. Examples of how Hack Club uses automatically collected information include to: (a) maintain and improve Hack Club Services; (b) remember your information so that you will not have to re‑enter it during your visit or the next time you access Hack Club Services; (c) provide relevant content and information about Hack Club programs; (d) monitor the effectiveness of outreach and communications; (e) monitor and store aggregate site usage metrics such as total number of visitors and pages accessed; and (f) track your entries, submissions, and status in challenges, hackathons, or other activities.

Hack Club Live (in‑person) Events: Hack Club holds live (in‑person) events - including hackathons, workshops, and community meetups - that may include creators, speakers, and exhibitors. These events will be photographed, recorded, and streamed, both by Hack Club and by others, and these materials may be used for Hack Club's educational mission.

How We Use It

Running Our Programs: Hack Club uses such information to operate, maintain, enhance, provide, create, and develop all of the features, functionality, and services (new or existing) found on Hack Club Services; provide security for our websites, products, software, applications, or live (in‑person) events; manage relationships with Hack Club program account holders and participants (e.g., program leads, club organizers, fiscal sponsorships); allow you to share projects and participate in educational challenges, hackathons, and events; prevent fraud and abuse (including preventing attempts to defraud Hack Club as a charity); and understand the usage trends of our users.

Communicating with You: We use your email address, telephone number, and/or mailing address to communicate with you regarding events and Hack Club updates or news.

Meeting Legal Requirements: Some information is necessary for Hack Club to comply with applicable laws around the world (for example, in the country of your residence), or respond to a court order, judicial, or other government request, subpoena, or warrant in the manner legally required.

When and How We Share It

Sometimes we have to share information with service providers working on our behalf, such as website hosting, security services, and events logistics. We require that these parties process such information in compliance with this Privacy Notice and authorize them to use the information only for the purposes for which it is provided to them.

We may disclose information when it's necessary to protect the security and integrity of our platform, prevent fraud or abuse, defend against legal claims, or protect the safety of our users and community.

Third‑Party Websites and Services

Hack Club Services may link to third‑party websites or services. The privacy practices of those third parties are not governed by this Privacy Notice. We encourage you to review the privacy policies of these third‑party websites and services to understand their practices.

If you connect to a third‑party service (such as Slack or GitHub) through Hack Club Services or otherwise link your Hack Club account with a third‑party service, you are requesting and authorizing us to share or grant access to information on your behalf (such as your name, the fact that your connection originated from Hack Club Services, and other relevant usage and diagnostic information) with such third party.

Extensions and Applications

Hack Club Services may allow you to enable or interact with third‑party extensions, plug‑ins, applications, or integrations. Your use of those offerings is subject to the third party's terms and privacy policies. We may receive information from such third parties consistent with your settings and their policies, and we may share limited information with them as necessary to enable the integration. We are not responsible for the content, security, or privacy practices of those third parties.

Analytics Providers

We may work with analytics providers and similar partners to help us understand the usage of Hack Club Services and to improve them. These partners may set and read their own cookies or use similar technologies to collect information about your activities over time and across different services. Hack Club does not sell personal information.

Your Rights and Choices

You may decline to share certain information with Hack Club, which is totally fine. You can still use any of our services that don't need it.

For other requests to review, update, delete, or otherwise limit Hack Club's use of information that you have provided directly to Hack Club, please see https://forms.hackclub.com/t/qjFxdohV4Rus. To protect your privacy and security, we may take steps to verify your identity before granting you access or making corrections to your information. You are responsible for maintaining the secrecy of your unique password and account information at all times.

We will comply with valid requests to exercise your data subject rights in accordance with the applicable laws in your region:

  • Obtain access to or a copy of certain personal information we hold about you.
  • Update personal information that is out of date or incorrect.
  • Delete certain personal information we hold about you.
  • Restrict the way that we process and disclose specific personal information about you.
  • Transfer your personal information to a third‑party provider of services.
  • Revoke consent that you previously provided for the processing of your personal information.

For more information on how to exercise these rights, please see https://forms.hackclub.com/t/qjFxdohV4Rus. If applicable, you may make a complaint to the data protection supervisory authority in the country where you are based. Alternatively, you may seek a remedy through local courts if you believe your rights have been breached.

Please note that in some circumstances, we may need to keep processing your information to comply with a legal obligation.

Closing or Deleting Your Accounts

For Hack Club Services (including any accounts across Hack Club programs), you may request updates or deletion of information tied to your participation, or request that an account be closed, by completing https://forms.hackclub.com/t/qjFxdohV4Rus. If you close an account, Hack Club may retain certain information about you for the activities described in this Privacy Notice, or as required by applicable law.

Retention of Your Information

Hack Club maintains data related to your usage of Hack Club Services for as long as it is required in order to fulfill the relevant purposes described in this Privacy Notice, as may be required (or permitted) by law such as for tax and accounting purposes, or as otherwise communicated to you. Once you have asked us to close an account and delete profile information associated with it, we will delete all information that we are not required or permitted to retain by law.

Do Not Track

Some browsers transmit "Do Not Track" (DNT) signals. Because there is no industry standard for how to respond to DNT signals, Hack Club does not currently take action in response to these signals. We continue to review developments around DNT and related technologies.

Data Security

While we work diligently to protect your information, no security system can guarantee absolute protection against all potential threats. Like all online services, we cannot provide an unconditional guarantee.

Children's Privacy

IF YOU ARE UNDER 13 YEARS OF AGE, THEN YOU MAY NOT USE OR ACCESS HACK CLUB SERVICES AT ANY TIME OR IN ANY MANNER.

Protecting the privacy of young children is especially important. For that reason, Hack Club does not knowingly collect or maintain personal information (as defined by the United States Children's Online Privacy Protection Act) from persons under 13 years of age. If Hack Club learns that personal information of persons under 13 has been collected on or through Hack Club Services, Hack Club will take appropriate steps to delete this information.

If you are the parent or legal guardian of a child under 13 who has created an account on Hack Club Services, then please complete https://forms.hackclub.com/t/qjFxdohV4Rus to have that child's account terminated and personal information deleted.

For residents of countries and regions where the processing of personal information is based on consent, Hack Club will not knowingly engage in that processing for users under the age of consent established by applicable data protection law. If we learn that we are engaged in that processing with such users, we will halt such processing and will take reasonable measures to promptly remove applicable information from our records.

International Data Transfers

Information collected by Hack Club may be stored and processed in your region, in the United States, or in any other country where Hack Club or its affiliates, subsidiaries, partners, or service providers are located or maintain facilities. We require that these parties process such information in compliance with this Privacy Notice and authorize them to use the information only for the purposes for which it is provided to them. We comply with all applicable laws and/or regulations when it comes to international transfers.

Changes and Updates to This Privacy Notice

Hack Club reserves the right to change, modify, add, or remove portions of this Privacy Notice at any time (for example, to reflect updates to Hack Club Services or to reflect changes in the law). Please check this Privacy Notice periodically for those changes. Your continued use of Hack Club Services after the posting of changes constitutes your binding acceptance of such changes.

We will not materially change our policies and practices to make them less protective of personal information collected in the past under a prior version of the Privacy Notice without the consent of affected individuals.

Hack Club Contact Information

Please contact Hack Club with any questions or comments about this Privacy Notice at https://forms.hackclub.com/t/qjFxdohV4Rus

Our Data Protection Officer (DPO) can also be contacted through the form above. We will respond to your inquiry within 30 days of its receipt. If you are a California resident, you may have information emailed to you by sending a letter to the below address with your email address and your request for information.

Postal address:

Hack Club
8605 Santa Monica Blvd #86294
West Hollywood, CA 90069

Additional Information for Certain Jurisdictions

Depending on where you live, local laws may provide you with additional rights or require additional disclosures. Those rights and disclosures apply to you to the extent required by law and are in addition to the rights described in this Notice. To exercise any jurisdiction‑specific rights, please contact us at https://forms.hackclub.com/t/qjFxdohV4Rus.

Hack Club Standard Terms And Conditions

These terms and conditions ("Terms") apply to all challenges, contests, promotions, events or similar projects ("Challenges") conducted by Hack Foundation d/b/a Hack Club or any of its fiscally sponsored projects ("Hack Club") in furtherance of its charitable, educational, and scientific purposes ("Purposes"), including by encouraging participants ("Participants") to participate in certain activities ("Activities") that Hack Club has determined will advance its Purposes. In the event of any conflict between these Terms and any other communication or agreement by Hack Club, or its employees, agents, volunteers, or affiliates (collectively, "Hack Club Parties"), in connection with a Challenge, these Terms shall prevail.

All Awards Subject To Availability And Hack Club's Sole Discretion

AWARDS: Some Challenges may include an advertisement of potential goods, services, experiences, or other benefits ("Awards") to encourage participants to complete a Challenge. While Hack Club intends to fulfill these Awards, none of these representations create a binding obligation to provide the Award. Without limitation, Hack Club may determine it necessary to cancel or suspend a Challenge, modify or retract an Award, remove some or all Participants from eligibility for an Award or participation in a Challenge, or take any other action to modify the Challenge before, during, or after its completion. By participating in a Challenge, each Participant agrees that Hack Club, in its sole discretion, has the right to cancel, suspend, or otherwise modify its Challenges to include, exclude, or modify any Award and to include, exclude, or modify the involvement of any Participant, without any liability from a Hack Club Party to a Participant under any circumstances.

Without limiting the foregoing, the following additional terms apply to all Challenges and Awards:

  • No purchase is ever necessary to participate in any Challenge or receive any Awards.
  • Any and all expenses associated with participating in the Challenge or receiving an Award, or any tax consequences associated with the Award, shall be the sole responsibility of the Participant, and Hack Club has not provided any advice in this regard.
  • Hack Club intends, but is not required, to substitute an Award of similar value if the original Award becomes unavailable. However, Hack Club is not required to make such substitution nor is it obligated to provide equal value or any compensation for perceived or actual loss of value.

CHALLENGES: Hack Club proposes Challenges based on Activities that Hack Club has determined will advance the Purposes (e.g. engaging in coding challenges that will develop individual skills or developing a program that will have public benefit). Other than alignment with its Purposes, these Challenges are not for Hack Club's benefit and do not create an employment, contractor, agency, or any other relationship between a Hack Club Party or the Participant.

In participating in a Challenge, a Participant agrees to observe Hack Club's Code of Conduct. In addition to the broad discretion with respect to Awards and Challenges described above, Hack Club may also, for any violations of the Code of Conduct by a Participant or for any other conduct Hack Club deems in its sole discretion to be contrary to the spirit of such Code of Conduct or the Purposes, Hack Club may deduct, for purposes of evaluating the Participant's performance of the Challenge, any markers of Participant's progress (e.g. tickets, points, etc.), refuse to issue an Award for the Participant, bar Participant's participation in the Challenge or future Challenges, or take any other disciplinary actions available to Hack Club with respect to the Challenge or future Challenges.

By participating in any Challenge, the Participant fully and unconditionally agrees to and accepts these Terms. A minor may only participate in a Challenge with the consent of a parent or guardian. By participating in any of our online Challenges, you're agreeing to these Terms. If you're under 18, make sure you have your parent or guardian's permission first because when you join in, you (and your parent/guardian if you're a minor) are letting us know you're good with these Terms. Our in-person events require signed parental consent.