1. To be a dynamic resource of information about the Family of Love (a.k.a Children of God and other pseudonyms)
   
2. To provide tools which enable convenient access to that information
   
3. To help current and ex members to process their past to move on and create their future

exFamily.org Policies & Disclaimer

Your privacy on exFamily.org

1. To be a dynamic resource of information about the Family of Love (a.k.a Children of God and other pseudonyms)
   
2. To provide tools which enable convenient access to that information
   
3. To help current and ex members to process their past to move on and create their future

• Indirect information
  ...is routinely collected in log files - this is the standard practice on all Internet web servers - anywhere you surf on the Internet, webservers will log your information. This information does not readily identify you nor constitute an invasion of your privacy.
  
  Two examples of this information:
  
  1. the type of Internet browser your computer is using
  2. the Internet number (IP no.) you have been temporarily or permanently assigned by your (ISP) Internet Service Provider.
     
  
  There are technical and legal reasons as to why the collection of this information is necessary - for example for a web page to be delivered to your computer an Internet address (IP no.) is required.
  
  
• Note: We do NOT currently use cookies - in the event of any changes in this regard, this page will be updated for your information.
  
  
We do not store your information indefintely - most irrelevant old log data is purged and deleted routinely every month.


• Direct Information
  ...is what you volunteer in a number of ways, some of which we describe in this Privacy Statement.
  
  
  • Volunteered Personal Information
    ...is what you voluntarily submit to us when we provide the opportunity to register for an event, a subscription or to participate in an online survey. When we collect this type of information, we will notify you as to why we are asking for information and how this information will be used. It is completely up to you whether or not you want to provide it.
    
    
  • Published Personal Information
    ...is any personal information you may provide through publishing on our online public forums such as: publishing your personal pages on our site, creating a voluntary profile of yourself in our Who's Who section, or through speaking about yourself on our bulletin boards and/or chat rooms. It is completely at your own discretion what you choose to publish through our site.
    
    
  • Volunteered and/or Published 3rd party information
    This section deals with your privacy as a user of this site. For our policy on providing and publishing information about 3rd parties, please see our Advisory and Policy on Naming Names.
    
  
  
  

Advisory & Policy on Naming Names

1. "Family" names, the Biblical names used in the COG/FOL/Family, are understood to be pseudonyms created and used, among other things for the very purpose of disassociating and disconnecting a (ex)member from his/her true legal identity. It is therefore (with exception to points 3 to 5 below) the position of exFamily.org that the mention of such "Family" identities do not constitute a breach of privacy and may be used freely on our site.
   
   Allowances must however be made for the occasional unintentional connection between Family and legal identities, in cases where a person's Family and legal identities are the same, similar, interchangeable and/or overlapping. exFamily allows the mention of Family identities in good conscience (with exception to points 3 to 5 below) where an (ex)member's legal identity is not intentionally revealed.
   
   
2. Unless the information is volunteered by the individual himself/herself, (with exception to points 3 to 5 below) legal names may not be connected in the same post or article to the individual's "Family" identity/identities.
   
   With exception to point 3 - 5 below, due to the free flow of information exFamily.org will not be held liable nor intervene in the event both a named individual's Family and legal identities appear separately (not in the same post or article) on our site with no intentional cross referencing.
   

3. NOTE: The standard Family/COG/FOL practice was/is to protect the identities of the uppermost leadership, while exposing the identities of its followers - as an example of this the faces of top leaders are routinely re-worked in photographs featured in their own publications.
   
   exFamily.org intends to reverse that practice, because it is the upper echelons of the Family/COG/FOL leadership which are responsible for gathering reports, issuing directives and implementing policies which directly influence their members; they are the ones who are responsible for a large part of the conditions and events occurring in the lives of their individual adherents; they are especially responsible for the well-being of individuals and children who trust or have trusted them with guidance/leadership (as many will testify): the trust and the allegiance demanded and exacted of them was/is to the point of forsaking their own thinking and suspending their own decision-making mechanisms. It is further the opinion of exFamily.org that the upper leadership of the Family/COG/FOL has (also by their own admission) at times affected its followers for the worse.
   
   exFamily.org therefore acknowleges that there is a distinction between followers and leaders, and victims and perpetrators. In view of this distinction, and in our interest in providing reliable factual information to researchers and recourse to victims of abuse, we consider it permissible and sometimes necessary to name Family/COG/FOL leaders and perpetrators by their legal names.
   
   Furthermore, exFamily.org in good conscience understands it is well within its rights because according to the Freedom of Information Act updates:
   
   
   • "the fact that persons have placed themselves in the public eye may indeed lessen their expectations of privacy" [1];
     
     
   • there may indeed be "exceptional interests" we deal with, which "militate in favor of disclosure" of sensitive information [2];
     
     
   • the public interest for disclosure outweighs factors favoring nondisclosure [3] regarding key public figures and corporations related to the Family/COG/FOL;
     
     
   • in regards to key corporations of the Family/FOL/COG "personal privacy protection ... cannot be invoked to protect the interests of a corporation or association", including if not especially non-profit organizations; [4]
     
     Note: "While corporations have no privacy, personal financial information is protected, including information about small businesses when the individual and corporation are identical." [5]
     
     
   • there are no rights to privacy for deceased individuals [6]
     
     Note: exFamily.org in good conscience gives due consideration to the extension if any, of rights of privacy to surviving relatives and/or close associates.
     
     
4. If names have been made public by court documents, legal authorities, or through the individuals own actions, or through the Family/FOL/COG's own public relations material, or through publicly available legal documents, they may be used with caution and consideration on the exFamily.org site.
   
   
5. If accusations of wrong-doing are made and legal and/or Family name(s) is/are mentioned in accordance with the above paragraphs 3 and 4, the individual posting this information bears the responsibility of proving the accusations to be true, and should have personal firsthand testimony to the incident(s) (if you were present and/or it happened to you) and/or documented evidence of the same which can hold up in court.
   
   Those who take it upon themselves to name names connected to any accusations wrong-doing:
   
   
   • only truthfully state what they have experienced first-hand
     
     
   • do so at their own behest and risk
     
     
   • agree that exFamily.org is not a co-signatory to their claims - exFamily.org does not take on the responsibility of determining the truth or accuracy of such information
     
     
   • must be ready to answer for their accusations in a court of law - exFamily.org may be required to assist in providing information which will lead to the person(s) submitting such posts
     
     
   • agree that exFamily.org's sole role is to provide the medium and welcomes the rebuttal of the persons named.
     
     
   • agree to defend, indemnify save and hold harmless exFamily.org and other users from any and all demands, liabilities, losses, costs and claims (including attorney's fees)
     
     
   • agree that exFamily.org may not be liable for any claims of actual, compensatory and/or consequential damages which may be suffered as a result of such actions which are the responsibility of the original writer, the actual publisher of such information
     
     
   
   exFamily.org will intervene by deleting and/or barring if it deems that a person naming names has embarked on deliberately tortuous conduct by intentionally inflicting emotional distress, providing unnecessary personal information (such as the address of the named person accused of wrong-doing which should be strictly reserved for law enforcement authorities), failing to provide purely factual and rational firsthand information, and/or threatening or encouraging any actions other than legal actions against the named person accused of wrong-doing.
   
   

• slight changes in wording were made to paragraph 6 of the section titled "exFamily.org Policies & Disclaimer".
  
  
• in the section titled: "AREAS OF USER INPUT WHICH CONCERN THE ISSUE OF PRIVACY" ammendments were made, to include an area of input by the public: Responses to articles.