Privacy Policy


Last Updated: 2023.12.18


TABLE OF CONTENTS

  • Privacy Policy
  • Third-Party Disclosure
  • What Personal Information Do We Collect
  • When Do We Collect
  • How Do We Use Your Information
  • Your Choices
  • How Do We Protect Your Information
  • Do We Use Cookies
  • Third-Party Links
  • SMS/Texting
  • CALOPPA
  • "Do Not Track" Signals
  • Third-Party Tracking
  • COPPA
  • Fair Information Practices Principles
  • CAN-SPAM Act
  • State-Specific Disclosures


PRIVACY POLICY

This privacy policy has been compiled to better serve those who are concerned with how their Personally Identifiable Information (“PII”) is being used online. PII, as used in U.S. privacy law and information security, is information that can be used on its own or with other information to identify, contact, or locate a single person, or to identify an individual in context. Please read this Privacy Policy carefully, to get a clear understanding of how we collect, use, protect, or otherwise handle your PII.


THIRD-PARTY DISCLOSURE

We do not sell, trade, or otherwise transfer to outside parties your PII, unless we provide you with advance notice and receive your consent to do so. This does not include website hosting partners and other parties who assist us in operating the Website, conducting our business, or servicing you, so long as those parties agree to keep this information confidential. We may also release your information when we believe release is appropriate to comply with the law, enforce our site policies, or protect ours or others' rights, property, or safety. We may ask if you would like us to share your information with other unaffiliated third parties who are not described elsewhere in this Privacy Policy. If you would like more information concerning the categories of PII (if any) we share with third parties or affiliates, please contact us here. However, non-personally identifiable visitor information may be provided to other parties for marketing, advertising, analytical, or other uses.


WHAT PERSONAL INFORMATION DO WE COLLECT FROM THE PEOPLE THAT VISIT OUR BLOG, WEBSITE OR APP?

When ordering or registering on our Website, as appropriate, you may be asked to enter your name, email address, mailing address, phone number, credit card information or other details to help you with your experience.


WHEN DO WE COLLECT INFORMATION?

We collect information from you when you surf the Website, use site features, register, enter the Competition, place a vote, purchase a vote, make a purchase, respond to a survey or marketing communication, fill out a form, or enter information on our Website.


HOW DO WE USE YOUR INFORMATION?

We may use the information we collect from you in the following ways:

  • To personalize user's experience and to allow us to deliver the type of content and product offerings in which you are most interested;
  • To improve our website to better serve you;
  • To allow us to better service you in responding to your customer service requests;
  • To administer a contest, promotion, survey, or other Website feature;
  • To quickly process your transactions;
  • To send periodic emails or text messages regarding your order or other products and services;
  • To conduct analytics;
  • To send marketing and promotional materials, including information relating to our services and promotions;
  • For internal administrative purposes, as well as to manage our relationship with you; and/or
  • To protect against malicious, deceptive, fraudulent, or illegal activity.


YOUR CHOICES

You can make the following choices regarding your PII:

Promotional Emails and Texts. You may choose to provide us with your email address and cellular phone number for the purpose of allowing us to send free newsletters, surveys, offers, and other promotional materials to you. You can stop receiving promotional emails or texts by following the unsubscribe instructions in e-mails and texts that you receive. If you decide not to receive promotional emails or texts, we may still send you transactional communications, such as those about your account, or other service-related communications.

Changes to Your Personal Information. We rely on you to update and correct your personal information. Our website allows you to modify your account profile. Note that we may keep historical information in our backup files as permitted by law.

Access to Your Personal Information. You may request that we provide you access to personal information that we store about you. If required by law, upon request, we will grant reasonable access to the personal information that we hold about a user. You can request access to your personal information by contacting us.

Deletion of Your Personal Information. You may request that we delete your personal information. If required by law, we will delete your personal information after such a request is made. You can request that your personal information be deleted by contacting us. We may also decide to delete your data if we believe that the data is incomplete, inaccurate, or that our continued use and storage are contrary to our obligations to other individuals or third parties. When we delete personal information, it will be removed from our active database, but it may remain in archives where it is not practical or possible to delete it. You should note that there are some situations in which we may decline to delete your personal information. For example, we retain the information that we collect to, among other things, detect security incidents, comply with our legal obligations, enforce any part of our agreement, and protect against malicious, deceptive, fraudulent, or illegal activity.


HOW DO WE PROTECT VISITOR INFORMATION?

We protect your information the following ways:

  • The Website is scanned on a regular basis for security holes and known vulnerabilities to make your visit to our Website as safe as possible.
  • We use regular Malware Scanning.
  • Your personal information is contained behind secured networks and is only accessible by a limited number of persons who have special access rights to such systems and are required to keep the information confidential. In addition, all sensitive/credit information you supply is encrypted via Secure Socket Layer (SSL) technology.
  • We implement a variety of security measures when a user places an order, enters, submits, or accesses their information, to maintain the safety of your personal information.


DO WE USE 'COOKIES'?

Yes. Cookies are small files that a site or its service provider transfers to your computer's hard drive through your Web browser (if you allow it), that enables the site's or service provider's systems to recognize your browser and capture and remember certain information. For instance, we use cookies to help us remember and process the items in your shopping cart. They are also used to help us understand your preferences based on previous or current site activity, which enables us to provide you with improved services. We also use cookies to help us compile aggregate data about site traffic and site interaction, so that we can offer better site experiences and tools in the future.

In addition, we use cookies to:

  • Understand and save user's preferences for future visits;
  • Keep track of advertisements; and
  • Compile aggregate data about site traffic and site interactions to offer better site experiences and tools in the future.

We may also use trusted third-party services that track this information on our behalf.

You can choose to have your computer warn you each time a cookie is being sent, or you can choose to turn off all cookies. You do this through your browser (like Internet Explorer) settings. Each browser is different, so look at your browser’s Help menu to learn the correct way to manage and modify your cookies.

If you disable cookies, certain features will be disabled. Disabling cookies will turn off features that make your site experience more efficient, and all our services will not function properly.


THIRD-PARTY LINKS

Occasionally, at our discretion, we may include or offer third-party products or services on the Website. These third-party sites have separate and independent privacy policies. We therefore have no responsibility or liability for the content and activities of these linked sites or how they choose to share your PII, assuming you provide it to them. Nonetheless, we seek to protect the integrity of our site and welcome any feedback about these sites.


SMS/TEXTING POLICY

When you provide us with your mobile phone number, you agree that we may contact you via auto-dialer, prerecorded message, or text message. In the case of a text message, you will receive a confirmation text message, and you will need to reply as instructed. Message and data rates apply. Reply “STOP”, to cancel text messages at any time, or by contacting us here, to revoke consent to be contacted via auto-dialer, prerecorded message, or text message, at any time.


CALIFORNIA ONLINE PRIVACY PROTECTION ACT (CALOPPA)

CalOPPA requires commercial websites and online services to post a ’conspicuous Privacy Policy on its website stating exactly the information being collected and those individuals with whom it is being shared, and to comply with this Policy. – See more here.

According to CalOPPA we agree to the following:

  • Users can visit our site anonymously.
  • Once this Privacy Policy is created, we will add a link to it on our home page, or at a minimum on the first significant page after entering our website.
  • Our Privacy Policy link includes the word ‘Privacy’ and can easily be found on the page specified above.
  • Users will be notified of any Privacy Policy changes by the updating of this Policy available on the Website.
  • On our Privacy Policy page users can change their personal information by emailing us, or by contacting us here.


HOW DOES OUR SITE HANDLE "DO NOT TRACK" SIGNALS?

We honor ‘Do Not Track’ signals and do not track, plant cookies, or use advertising when a Do Not Track (DNT) browser mechanism is in place.


DOES OUR WEBSITE ALLOW THIRD-PARTY BEHAVIORAL TRACKING?

Yes. It is also important to note that we allow third-party behavioral tracking.


CHILDREN ONLINE PRIVACY PROTECTION ACT (COPPA)

When it comes to the collection of personal information from children under thirteen (13) years of age, the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) puts parents in control. The Federal Trade Commission, the nation's consumer protection agency, enforces the COPPA Rule, which spells out what operators of websites and online services must do to protect children's privacy and safety online.

We do not specifically market to children under thirteen (13) years of age.


FAIR INFORMATION PRACTICES PRINCIPLES

The Fair Information Practices principles form the backbone of privacy law in the United States and the concepts they include have played a significant role in the development of data protection laws around the globe. Understanding the Fair Information Practices principles and how they should be implemented is critical to comply with the various privacy laws that protect personal information.

To be in line with Fair Information Practices principles, we will take the following responsive action, should a data breach occur:

  • We will notify the users via email, within seven (7) business days;
  • We will notify the users via in-site notification, within seven (7) business days; and
  • We also agree to the individual redress principle, which requires that individuals have a right to pursue legally enforceable rights against data collectors and processors who fail to adhere to the law. This principle requires not only that individuals have enforceable rights against data users, but also that individuals have recourse to courts or a government agency to investigate and/or prosecute non-compliance by data processors.


CAN-SPAM ACT

The CAN-SPAM Act is a law that sets the rules for commercial email, establishes requirements for commercial messages, gives recipients the right to have emails stopped from being sent to them, and spells out tough penalties for violations.

We collect your email address to:

  • Send information, respond to inquiries, and/or other requests or questions;
  • Process orders and to send information and updates pertaining to orders;
  • Send you additional information related to your product and/or service; and
  • Market to our mailing list or continue to send emails to our clients after the original transaction has occurred.

To be accordance with the CAN-SPAM Act we agree to the following:

  • To NOT use false, or misleading subjects or email addresses;
  • Identify the message as an advertisement in some reasonable way;
  • Include the physical address of our business or site headquarters;
  • Monitor third party email marketing services for compliance, if one is used;
  • Honor opt-out/unsubscribe requests quickly; and
  • Allow users to unsubscribe by using the link at the bottom of each email.

If at any time you would like to unsubscribe from receiving future emails, you can follow the instructions at the bottom of each email, and we will promptly remove you from ALL correspondence.


STATE-SPECIFIC DISCLOSURES

These additional State-Specific Disclosures, which serve as a “Notice at Collection” under the California Privacy Rights Act, are required by the California Privacy Rights Act, Colorado Privacy Act, Connecticut Data Privacy Act, Utah Consumer Privacy Act, and Virginia Consumer Data Protection Act:

Categories of personal information collected. The personal information that we collect, or have collected from consumers in the twelve (12) months prior to the effective date of this Privacy Policy, may fall into the following categories established by the California Privacy Rights Act, depending on how you participate in the Competition (as an Entrant, Competitor, Voter, or Winner):

  • identifiers such as your name, alias, address, phone numbers, IP address, your Competitor account log-in information (if applicable);
  • personal information, such as a credit card number or other payment information;
  • commercial information, such as purchase/donation/voting activity;
  • geolocation data, such as the location of your device or computer, which may in some cases constitute precise geolocation information; and
  • inference data, such as information about your voting preferences/tendencies.

Categories of personal information disclosed for a business purpose. The personal information that we may disclose to the third parties identified in the "Third-Party Disclosure" section of the Privacy Policy about consumers for a business purpose in the twelve (12) months prior to the effective date of this Privacy Policy falls into the following categories established by the California Privacy Rights Act, depending on how you participate in the Competition (as an Entrant, Competitor, Voter, or Winner):

  • identifiers such as your name, address, phone numbers, IP address, or a government identifier, for example if we use a third-party service to verify your identity;
  • personal information, such as a credit card number or other payment information, for example if we use a third-party payment processor; and
  • internet or other electronic network activity information, such as if we use a service provider to help us gather crash reports for analyzing the health of our devices and services.

Advertising. As explained in our Privacy Policy, we may share limited information in order to help ensure you receive more useful and relevant ads and to measure their effectiveness. Any PII we may have shared for the purpose of cross-context behavioral advertising, as that term is defined by the California Privacy Rights Act, in the twelve (12) months prior to the effective date of this Privacy Policy falls into the following categories:

  • identifiers such as a cookie, a device identifier, or a code derived from applying irreversible cryptography to other information like an email address; we never share your name or other information that directly identifies you.
  • internet or other electronic network activity information, such as whether you have registered to compete as a Competitor or other measures of ad effectiveness; for example, if you have already registered, we will share an advertising identifier and data about that event so that you will not be served an ad to register again.
  • inference data; while we do not share your specific purchase/donation/voting history, we may share an advertising identifier and an estimate of the value of the ads they show you on our behalf so they can serve you with more effective and relevant ads.

The categories of third parties with whom we may share PII for the purpose of cross-context behavioral advertising are identified in the Third-Party Disclosure section of this Privacy Policy. We also may process PII for the purposes of targeted advertising as that term is defined under the Virginia Consumer Data Protection Act, Colorado Privacy Act, Connecticut Data Privacy Act, and Utah Consumer Privacy Act.

Your Data Rights. You may have certain data rights under state-specific privacy laws, including to request information about the collection of your personal information, to access your personal information in a portable format, and/or to correct or delete your personal information. If you wish to do any of these things, please contact us here. Additionally, you may have the right to opt out of the processing of your personal data for targeted advertising, as defined by the Colorado Privacy Act, Connecticut Data Privacy Act, Utah Consumer Privacy Act, and Virginia Consumer Data Protection Act, or the sharing of your personal information/PII for cross-context behavioral advertising, as defined by the California Privacy Rights Act. To do so, please contact us here. If you enact the Global Privacy Control (GPC) opt-out signal on your browser, we will honor your opt-out preference accordingly. Customers under 16 years-old must opt in to receive cross-context behavioral advertising. We do not serve cross-context behavioral ads in customers' child profiles.

You may also have the right to appeal the denial of any of these rights by submitting a form that will be provided to you if we deny a data request. Depending on your data choices, certain services may be limited or unavailable. To ensure the accuracy and validity of your request, we will generally ask you to verify your request using the contact information you have previously provided.

No sale of personal information. In the twelve (12) months prior to the effective date of this Privacy Policy, we have not sold any PII of consumers, as those terms are defined under the California Privacy Rights Act.

California Privacy Rights Act Sensitive Personal Information Disclosure. The categories of data that we may collect and disclose for a business purpose do not include "sensitive personal information" as defined under the California Privacy Rights Act. We do not use or disclose sensitive personal information for any purpose not expressly permitted by the California Privacy Rights Act.

California Privacy Rights Act Retention Disclosure. We may keep your PII to enable your continued use of the Services (as defined in the Terms of Use), for as long as it is required in order to fulfill the relevant purposes described in the Terms of Use and/or this Privacy Policy, as permitted or as may be required by law, or as otherwise communicated to you. For example, we retain your vote transaction history so that we can review voting activity to ensure accuracy of Competition voting.

California Privacy Rights Act Non-discrimination Statement. We will not discriminate against any consumer for exercising their rights under the California Privacy Rights Act.

California Privacy Rights Act, Colorado Privacy Act, Connecticut Data Privacy Act, Utah Consumer Privacy Act, and Virginia Consumer Data Protection Act De-identified Data Disclosure. We may use de-identified data in some instances. We either maintain such data without attempting to re-identify it or treats such data as personal data subject to applicable law.

Colorado Privacy Act Profiling Disclosure. We do not engage in profiling of consumers in furtherance of automated decisions that produce legal or similarly significant effects, as those terms are defined under the Colorado Privacy Act.