Here is exactly what we collect, and what we refuse to.

Last updated August 29, 2026. Fishing Friends Network LLC, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

We wrote this in plain English on purpose. If any part of it is unclear, email us and we will explain it. We are not going to hide anything from you in a wall of legal text.

What we collect and why

Right now Fishing Friends Network is a website with sign-up forms. Full member accounts are still being built. These are the only things we ask for today.

• Your name. So we know who we are talking to.
• Your email. So we can tell you when accounts open and let you know about tournaments and events in your area.
• Your birthday. Only to decide whether you get an adult account, a youth account, or whether we need to stop and talk to a parent instead. It is never displayed to anyone.
• Your town or county. So we know where to start building. We do not ask for a street address.
• Volunteer interest. If you raise your hand to help, we ask what you would like to help with.
• A phone number, in some cases. Optional for general volunteers. Required if you apply to become a mentor, so we can reach you quickly about your background check. A parent contacting us about an under-13 child may also leave a phone number if they want a faster callback, but it is never required.

We do not use tracking pixels, advertising cookies, or third-party analytics on this site.

Children under 13

The Children's Online Privacy Protection Act, known as COPPA, says a website cannot collect personal information from a child under 13 without a parent's verifiable permission first. The FTC's updated rule came into full effect on April 22, 2026, and we built to it.

Our approach is to not collect it in the first place. The sign-up form asks for a date of birth before it asks for anything else. If that birthday is under 13, the name and email fields switch off and disappear. Nothing about the child is stored, sent, or written down anywhere.

Instead we ask for a parent or guardian's name and email, and only theirs. A person from FFN contacts that parent directly and walks them through what a youth account includes. No account is created for a child until a parent agrees to it in writing.

If you believe a child under 13 has given us information anyway, email us and we will delete it. We do not need you to prove anything first. We will just delete it.

How long we keep it

We keep what you give us only as long as we actually need it.

• Sign-up and interest lists: kept while you are on the list. Ask us to remove you and we remove you.
• Parent contact requests: kept up to 12 months, then deleted, unless the family becomes a member.
• Anyone who asks to be deleted: gone within 30 days.

We do not keep data forever just because storage is cheap.

Who else sees it

Nobody buys it, because it is not for sale. We use a small number of ordinary service providers to run the site, such as our web host and form handler, and they process the information on our behalf only. We do not share your information with third parties for advertising or marketing.

We would only hand information over if a court or law enforcement legally required it, or if we believed someone was in real danger.

How we protect it

Information submitted through this site travels over an encrypted connection. Access to sign-up records is limited to the people who actually need it to run FFN. Any records that hold real names, phone numbers, or addresses are locked to administrator access only.

Your choices

You can ask us at any time to tell you what we have on you, correct it, or delete it. Parents can do the same on behalf of their child, and can tell us to stop collecting anything further. You do not need a reason and there is no form to fill out. Just email us.