Effective Date: September 29, 2026
Last Updated: September 29, 2026
Who We Are
Must Be Ink is an online publication and community focused on tattoo art, artists, studios, culture, history, events, reviews, and the tattoo community.
Our website address is https://www.mustbeink.com.
For purposes of this Privacy Policy, “Must Be Ink,” “we,” “us,” and “our” refer to Must Be Ink and the business entity that operates the website.
This Privacy Policy explains what information we collect, how we use it, when we disclose it, and the choices available to you.
Information We Collect
We may collect information that you voluntarily provide to us, including your:
- Name
- Email address
- Username and account information
- City, state, or general location
- Tattoo interests and preferences
- Artist, studio, writer, enthusiast, or industry affiliation
- Business name and business contact information
- Social media or website links
- Profile information
- Photographs, artwork, portfolios, and other uploaded media
- Reviews, comments, article submissions, and other content
- Newsletter, membership, directory, or promotional preferences
- Communications you send to us
Artists, tattoo studios, writers, organizations, and other businesses may also provide information for public profiles, listings, portfolios, event listings, or directory entries.
When you voluntarily submit information for a public profile or directory listing, you understand that the information designated as public may be viewed, indexed, quoted, linked to, or otherwise accessed by visitors and search engines.
Information Collected Automatically
When you visit MustBeInk.com, we and our service providers may automatically collect certain technical information, including:
- IP address
- Browser and device type
- Operating system
- Referring website
- Pages viewed
- Date and time of visits
- Approximate geographic location derived from an IP address
- Cookie and similar technology identifiers
- Interactions with articles, advertisements, links, and website features
We may use this information for website operation, analytics, security, audience measurement, advertising, and improvement of our services.
How We Use Your Information
We may use personal information to:
- Operate, maintain, and improve MustBeInk.com
- Create and manage user accounts and profiles
- Publish artist, studio, contributor, or business listings
- Display portfolios, reviews, comments, and submitted content
- Deliver newsletters and other communications you request
- Recommend articles, artists, businesses, events, or content
- Analyze readership and website performance
- Conduct surveys and audience research
- Detect fraud, spam, abuse, and security threats
- Respond to questions and support requests
- Promote Must Be Ink and its services
- Develop advertising, sponsorship, partnership, and other commercial opportunities
- Comply with legal obligations
- Carry out other purposes disclosed to you when information is collected
Artist, Studio, and Business Directory
Must Be Ink may maintain public directories of tattoo artists, studios, events, organizations, writers, and other members of the tattoo community.
Information submitted for publication in a directory or public profile may be publicly displayed. Depending on the listing, this may include an artist or business name, professional name, general location, website, social media links, business contact information, portfolio images, specialties, biographies, and other information the submitting party chooses to make public.
Private account information that is not designated for publication will not automatically become part of a public directory listing.
Commercial Use, Advertising, and Partner Sharing
Must Be Ink may generate revenue through advertising, sponsorships, affiliate relationships, business partnerships, directory services, market research, and other commercial activities.
We may disclose information to advertising, marketing, research, and industry partners when you have authorized us to do so or when otherwise permitted by applicable law.
Where we receive monetary or other valuable consideration in exchange for personal information, applicable privacy laws may characterize that activity as a sale of personal information, even when no money is paid directly for a particular individual’s information.
Where required by law, Must Be Ink will provide the ability to opt out of the sale or sharing of personal information.
Information We May Make Available to Commercial Partners
With appropriate notice and consent where required, information made available to commercial partners may include:
- Name
- Email address
- General geographic area
- Whether you identify yourself as an artist, enthusiast, studio owner, writer, or other industry participant
- Tattoo-related interests and preferences you voluntarily provide
- Business or professional information
- Advertising and marketing preferences
- Aggregated or audience-segment information
We may also create aggregated or de-identified audience information, such as readership trends, geographic distributions, interests, or demographic patterns. Information that cannot reasonably be associated with an identifiable individual may be used for advertising, research, business development, and other purposes.
Information We Do Not Intend to Sell
Must Be Ink does not intend to sell or commercially disclose:
- Account passwords
- Government identification numbers
- Financial account credentials
- Private messages
- Precise GPS location
- Information knowingly collected from children
- Other highly sensitive personal information unless specifically disclosed and legally permitted
Your Consent to Partner Marketing
Where Must Be Ink offers an opportunity to participate in partner promotions or commercial data sharing, we may ask for your affirmative consent separately from ordinary newsletter or account registration.
You may withdraw that consent or opt out of future commercial disclosures as described in this Privacy Policy.
Unsubscribing from a Must Be Ink newsletter and opting out of the sale or commercial sharing of personal information are separate choices.
Email and Newsletter Communications
If you subscribe to a Must Be Ink newsletter, we may use your email address and related subscription information to send you articles, updates, event information, promotions, and other content you requested.
You may unsubscribe from marketing emails at any time using the unsubscribe link contained in the message.
Transactional communications concerning your account, security, submissions, or requested services may still be sent when necessary.
Comments
When visitors leave comments on the site, we collect the information shown in the comment form as well as the visitor’s IP address and browser user-agent information to assist with spam detection, moderation, and security.
An anonymized string created from your email address, sometimes called a hash, may be provided to the Gravatar service to determine whether you use that service. After approval of a comment, a Gravatar profile image may be publicly visible in connection with the comment.
Media and Uploaded Images
If you upload photographs or other images to MustBeInk.com, you should avoid uploading images containing embedded location information, including EXIF GPS information, unless you intend that information to be available.
Visitors may be able to download publicly displayed images and extract metadata contained in those files.
By uploading artwork or photographs, you do not transfer ownership merely because the content is uploaded. Separate website Terms of Use may address the license you give Must Be Ink to display, reproduce, promote, and distribute submitted content.
Cookies and Similar Technologies
Must Be Ink uses cookies and similar technologies to operate the website, remember preferences, analyze website traffic, improve performance, provide advertising, and understand how visitors interact with our content.
Cookies may include:
Essential cookies, which are necessary for website functionality, security, account login, and preferences.
Analytics cookies, which help us understand traffic and website usage.
Advertising and marketing cookies, which may be used to measure campaigns, personalize advertising, or understand activity across websites or services.
Third-party cookies, which may be placed by services embedded in or integrated with MustBeInk.com.
Where required, visitors will be provided with a cookie consent tool that allows them to accept, reject, or manage non-essential cookies.
Your cookie choices can generally be changed later through the website’s cookie settings.
Embedded Content From Other Websites
Articles and pages may contain embedded content such as videos, images, social-media posts, maps, advertisements, or other material provided by third-party websites.
Embedded content may behave as though you visited the third-party website directly. Those services may collect information about you, use cookies, conduct tracking, and monitor your interaction with their content according to their own privacy practices.
Service Providers
We may disclose information to service providers that perform functions on our behalf, including providers of:
- Website hosting
- Email delivery
- Analytics
- Spam prevention
- Content management
- Cloud storage
- Cybersecurity
- Advertising technology
- Customer relationship management
- Payment processing
- Business administration
These providers may access information only as reasonably necessary to perform services for Must Be Ink and subject to their applicable contractual or legal obligations.
Disclosure to a service provider working on our behalf is different from selling information to an independent third party.
Legal and Safety Disclosures
We may disclose information when we reasonably believe disclosure is necessary to:
- Comply with applicable law, regulation, subpoena, court order, or legal process
- Protect the rights or property of Must Be Ink
- Protect users, artists, businesses, contributors, or the public
- Investigate fraud, abuse, intellectual-property violations, or security incidents
- Enforce our agreements and website policies
Business Transfers
If Must Be Ink or the business operating MustBeInk.com is involved in a merger, acquisition, financing transaction, restructuring, sale of assets, or similar transaction, information maintained by the business may be transferred as part of that transaction, subject to applicable law.
How Long We Retain Information
We retain personal information for as long as reasonably necessary for the purposes described in this Privacy Policy, including to maintain accounts and directory listings, provide requested services, maintain publication records, satisfy legal or accounting obligations, resolve disputes, prevent abuse, and enforce agreements.
Comments and their associated metadata may be retained indefinitely so that follow-up comments can be recognized and moderated.
Public articles, reviews, contributor credits, photographs, and other editorial material may also remain in Must Be Ink’s historical publication archive after an account has been closed when retention serves legitimate editorial, archival, legal, or public-interest purposes.
Your Privacy Choices and Rights
Depending on where you live and the laws applicable to Must Be Ink, you may have the right to request that we:
- Tell you what personal information we maintain about you
- Provide a copy of certain information
- Correct inaccurate information
- Delete certain personal information
- Stop sending marketing communications
- Withdraw consent previously given
- Opt out of certain advertising activities
- Opt out of the sale or sharing of personal information
- Limit certain uses of sensitive personal information
We may need to verify your identity before fulfilling certain requests.
We will not discriminate against an individual for exercising privacy rights provided by applicable law.
California Privacy Rights
California residents may have additional privacy rights when applicable law applies to Must Be Ink.
These rights may include the right to know what personal information is collected and how it is used, request deletion, request correction, opt out of the sale or sharing of personal information, and limit certain uses of sensitive personal information.
If and when applicable, Must Be Ink will provide a Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information mechanism as required by law.
Children’s Privacy
Must Be Ink is intended for a general audience and is not designed to collect personal information from children.
We do not knowingly sell or share personal information belonging to children where prohibited by law.
If you believe a child has provided personal information to us improperly, please contact us.
Data Security
We use reasonable administrative, technical, and organizational safeguards intended to protect information against unauthorized access, misuse, alteration, disclosure, and destruction.
No internet transmission or storage system can be guaranteed to be completely secure.
Third-Party Websites
MustBeInk.com may link to websites or services operated by third parties.
We are not responsible for the privacy practices, security, accuracy, or content of websites we do not control. You should review the privacy policies of those services before providing information to them.
Changes to This Privacy Policy
We may update this Privacy Policy periodically to reflect changes in our services, technology, business practices, or legal obligations.
When material changes are made, we will update the “Last Updated” date and may provide additional notice when appropriate.
Contact Us
Questions, privacy requests, deletion requests, corrections, or opt-out requests may be submitted to:
Must Be Ink
Email: privacy@mustbeink.com
Website: https://www.mustbeink.com
Mailing Address:
Arellano Ventures LLC
1441 Woodmont Lane NW
Atlanta, GA 30318