PRIVACY POLICY

At Steamspark News, accessible from our website, we are committed to protecting the privacy of our visitors, particularly the youth, students, young creators, and educators who engage with our platform. This Privacy Policy outlines the types of information we collect, how it is used, and the steps we take to safeguard your personal data.

1. Information We Collect

We collect information to deliver relevant STEAM insights, news, and opportunities:

• Submission Portal Content: When young writers or creators submit tech articles or project summaries via our Submission Portal, we collect the submitted text, creator name, contact details, and project media for review and potential publication.

• Interactive Community Features: Participation in features like the "Poll of the Week" or interactive widgets collects aggregated, non-personally identifiable response data.

• Automated Technical Data: Like most online publications, our servers automatically log standard technical data, including IP address, browser type, operating system, referring pages, and timestamp data.

• RSS & Third-Party Widgets: Our platform utilizes RSS feed widgets (such as rss.app) to aggregate external news streams; these embedded third-party services may process technical connection data in accordance with their respective privacy policies.

2. Youth & Child Privacy

Because our primary audience includes students and young creators, protecting youth privacy is central to our operational principles:

• Parental Consent for Submissions: Any submission made by a minor through our Submission Portal requires parental or legal guardian consent before being publicly featured.

• Minimal Data Collection: We only request personal information that is absolutely necessary to fulfill specific requests, such as article attribution.

• Data Removal: If a parent or legal guardian discovers that a minor has provided personal information without consent, please contact us immediately to have the data removed.

3. How We Use Your Information

We use collected information for the following operational and educational purposes:

• To review, edit, and publish youth-submitted tech articles and project spotlights across Steamspark News.

• To analyze general readership trends, such as popular news categories and article read times, to refine our content offerings and website layout.

4. Information Sharing

Steamspark News operates as a dedicated educational news platform, and we limit who has access to your data:

• Third-Party Service Providers: We work with trusted third-party service providers (such as website analytics providers and RSS feed integrators) who assist in running our website under strict data security obligations.

• Legal & Compliance Obligations: We may disclose personal information if required to do so by law or in response to valid requests by public authorities.

• No Data Sales: We do not sell, rent, or trade personal identification information to external commercial parties.

5. Cookies and Tracking Technologies

Steamspark News uses cookies and similar session technologies to optimize website navigation and user experience:

• Essential Cookies: Necessary for core functionality, such as maintaining layout preferences and navigation states.

• Performance & Analytics Cookies: Help us understand how visitors interact with our masonry-style news grid, competition countdown timers, and article layouts.

• Managing Cookies: You can choose to disable or block cookies through your individual web browser settings at any time.

6. Data Security & Retention

We implement standard administrative, technical, and physical security measures to safeguard personal information against unauthorized access, loss, or alteration. Personal data is retained only for as long as necessary to fulfill article publication, feature requests, or legal compliance obligations.

7. Your Data Rights

Depending on your jurisdiction (including rights under the New Zealand Privacy Act and global privacy standards), you have the right to:

• Request access to, correction of, or deletion of your personal data held by Steamspark News.

• Withdraw consent regarding student publication profiles or community spotlight features at any time.

8. Contact Us

For questions regarding this Privacy Policy, data privacy requests, or youth submission permissions, please contact our team:

• Email: privacy@steamspark.news

• Publisher: Steamspark News Editorial Team

• Version: September 25, 2026