Privacy Policy

This is the Privacy Policy (“Policy”) for the website research.baps.org and its sub-domains, together with our mobile applications for iOS and Android, including the ‘BAPS Research’ app (collectively, the ‘Services’), which are run and provided by the Akshardham Centre for Applied Research in Social Harmony (“AARSH”, “we”, “us”, “our”).

We will use and process the personal data collected through these Services as set out in this policy. Below you will find information on how we use your personal data, for which purposes your personal data is used, with whom it is shared and what control and information rights you may have.

1. Summary of Our Processing Activities

1.1 The following summary provides you with a quick overview of the processing activities undertaken by our Services. You will find more detailed information under the indicated sections below.

  • When you use Services without setting up an account, only limited personal data will be processed to provide the Services (see section 3).
  • When you register for one of our online services (e.g., discussion forums, online activities, degree certificate programs, blogs, media portals or journal services) or subscribe to our newsletter, further personal data, including your name, e-mail address, contact number, contact address, and other relevant information, will be collected and processed for the function, support and development of such services.
  • Furthermore, your personal data will be used to provide you with information about our Services and for statistical analysis that helps us improve our Services. Additionally, we may share your personal data with third parties to improve your experience of these Services.
  • Your personal data may be disclosed to third parties that might be located outside your country of residence, where different data protection standards may potentially apply.
  • We have implemented adequate safeguards to secure your personal data and retain it only as long as necessary.

2. Definitions

  • ‘AARSH’ refers to the Akshardham Centre for Applied Research in Social Harmony.
  • ‘Personal Data’ refers to any information relating to a natural person who can be identified, directly or indirectly, by reference to an identifier such as a name, e-mail address, identification number, location data or an online identifier.
  • ‘Processing’ refers to any operation performed on Personal Data, such as collection, recording, organization, structuring, storage, analysis, adaptation, transfer or any disclosure or other use.
  • Intellectual Property (IP): Intellectual Property is a category of property that includes intangible creations of the human intellect. Intellectual Property includes but is not limited to text, course materials, photographs, video, audio and graphics, goods, designs, information, applications, software, music, audio files, articles, directories, guides, trademarks, service marks, trade names, trade dresses, copyrights, logos, domain names, code, and patents.
  • ‘Third-Party’: refers to any individual, organization, sole proprietor, association, partnership, company, corporation, subsidiary, affiliate, or a combination thereof, including joint venture or any other entity.

3. Informational Use of our Services

3.1 When you use Services for informational reasons, i.e., without registering for any of our services and without providing us with Personal Data in any other form, we may automatically collect additional information about you which will contain, only in limited cases, Personal Data and which is automatically recognized by our server. This collected information includes:

  • the website from which you have been directed;
  • the date and time of your requests;
  • your device type, screen resolution and browser version;
  • your internet service provider, location and IP address;
  • information on your operating system, including your language settings; and
  • information on the offers you have visited on our Services.

3.2 We use such information only to provide an effective service (e.g., to adapt our Services to your device’s needs or allow you to use the Services effectively) and to collect broad demographic information for anonymized, aggregated use.

3.3 Mobile Application Permissions

In addition to the data described above, our mobile applications may request your permission to access certain features of your device. Where you grant these permissions, we may collect and process: precise device location (GPS) to provide location-relevant content and features; access to your camera and photo library when you take or select a photo to attach to a form, submission, or profile within the application; access to files on your device to save documents, downloads, and offline content, and to attach files you choose to submissions; and push notification tokens to deliver notifications you have consented to receive. Granting these permissions is optional; if you decline, the application will continue to function, but the associated features will not be available. You may revoke any of these permissions at any time from your device settings.

Our mobile application does not collect advertising identifiers (such as the IDFA on iOS or the Android Advertising ID) and does not use them to track your activity across other apps or websites.

4. Registration to Our Services and Online Activities

4.1 Our website offers a media portal, access to online activities, degree certificate programs, digital content, the option to obtain newsletters and special author and trainer services. You may be asked to set up an account to use these services. Concerning the registration of an account and its subsequent use, we process:

  • Information (such as your legal name and e-mail address) that is provided during registration;
  • Data in connection with an account sign-in facility (e.g., login and password details);
  • Communications sent by you (e.g., via e-mail or communication forms within our Services).

4.2 Other data processing processes (e.g., purchasing a publication or a course) may be undertaken by us whenever you complete transactions using our Services.

4.3 We will process the Personal Data you provide to:

  • Identify you at sign-in
  • Provide you with the services and information offered through our Services
  • Administer your account
  • Process fees and payments
  • Communicate with you

4.4 Using your Personal Data for behavioral profiling is done in the legitimate interest to improve your experience of using our Services.

4.5 In the absence of exceptions within the specific services mentioned below, your Personal Data is retained for as long as your user account is used. After the deletion of your account, your Personal Data will be blocked and erased. Statutory storage obligations or the need for legal actions that may arise from misconduct within the services or payment problems can lead to a longer retention of your Personal Data.

4.6 Using your Personal Data for behavioral profiling is done in the legitimate interest to improve your experience of using our Services.

5. Information About the Specific Uses that Require Registration

To use the following services, you must set up an account. Your account retains your Personal Data for future interactions and other activities.

5.1 Online Purchasing

AARSH reserves the right to charge fees for access to portions of our Services or any associated IP. This includes, but is not limited to, AARSH’s subscription services, courses, online activities, degree certificate programs, audio streaming/downloads, or video viewing/downloads. AARSH allows you to pay for such services using a credit card or other methods through a third-party payment processing service provider. Please note that our service provider, not AARSH, collects and processes your financial information. By subscribing to our services and making payment, you expressly agree for the payment service provider to process your Personal Data, including any financial information.

5.2 Course and Activity Services

If you desire to participate in any course or activity, you will be asked to provide us with certain information necessary to conduct such a course or activity. This information may include but is not limited to your legal name, e-mail address and basic personal information.

If you participate in a course or activity, we may collect certain user-generated content, such as the assignments or responses you submit. We also collect course data, such as responses to quizzes, exams, and surveys. You should not include any Personal Data or other information of a personal or sensitive nature, whether relating to you or another person, on assignments, quizzes, exams, or surveys, except when required.

We use Personal Data we collect from you when you participate in a course or activity through the website for processing purposes, including, but not limited to, tracking attendance, progress, and completion of a course or activity.

5.3 Other Services

We need your login data to identify you, deliver stored results, and enable certain save functionality and a better user experience for our Services.

6. Newsletter and Mailing List Services

To use the following services, you must set up an account. Your account retains your Personal Data for future interactions and other activities.

6.1 You can subscribe to our newsletter or mailing list service with your e-mail address, which provides you with the latest news about events and services if you consent to receiving such newsletters. These communications may also contain topic-specific advertisements. Your e-mail address and relevant contact information will be retained when you subscribe to these services.

6.2 You may freely unsubscribe from these services at any time by following the instructions provided.

6.3 At the time of signing up to our Services, you accept that we will use this as your consent to be able to monitor your engagement with our Services and any communications sent across to you.

7. Automated Decision Making

7.1 We do not use your Personal Data for automated decision-making that produces legal effects concerning you or similarly significantly affects you.

8. Education and Research by AARSH

8.1 Our researchers, research collaborators and service providers may collect, use and share your Personal Data as part of a research study in which you have agreed to participate as a research subject, or in which your existing data are used.

8.2 If Personal Data is collected for research purposes, as a research subject, you will be provided with a consent and/or authorization form relating to the specific research project that explains the types of data collected and the purposes for which such data will be processed and shared.

8.3 We and our third-party vendors collect your Personal Data when you apply or register for online education offerings. We also collect Personal Data when you participate in online activities and programs. In some cases, our collection of Personal Data from you in connection with online education activities takes place as part of a “hybrid” program in which you may also participate in person, or as part of remote learning in a course or program that is ordinarily conducted in person.

The Personal Data collected by us, or on our behalf, is used for the primary purposes of providing you with online education, and, if applicable, evaluating your qualification for related certificates or credit. In such a case, the description of the collection and use of your Personal Data provided in the consent and/or authorization form will replace the information provided here. The Personal Data collected by our researchers, research collaborators, and service providers, or on their behalf, are used for the primary purpose of furthering the particular research project and, more generally, for supporting research and understanding in fields of academic study.

Examples of Personal Data that may be collected for research purposes are listed below. Of course, a single research study will rarely collect all these types of data. If you have questions about the processing of your data in connection with a research study, you should contact the AARSH e-mail below, who are conducting the research or the contact persons named in any consent form you signed when you joined the study. We may process your Personal Data for research in accordance with the purposes of the particular research projects, and also:

  • To further research and understanding in fields of academic study;
  • To enroll you in a particular research study as a research subject;
  • To administer the study;
  • To make reports to project funders and other project participants;
  • To satisfy legal compliance requirements; or

8.4 The legal basis for us processing your Personal Data for the purposes described above is based on our legitimate interests (for example, conducting research); to process transactions requested by you and meet our contractual obligations (e.g., paying faculty, employees, research collaborators and research subjects); as necessary for compliance with a legal obligation (for example, to report adverse events to regulatory authorities; as necessary for the performance of tasks we carry out in the public interest (for example, to further research and understanding in fields of academic study); where processing is necessary for scientific or historical research purposes and performed consistent with required data protection safeguards; or based on your consent, where applicable.

9. Online Advertising

9.1 This website may use online advertising services to present you with ads that meet your interests. Respective advertisements are labeled with the provider’s name, e.g., “Google-Ad”. Such service helps us to improve our Services. To effectively present advertisements that aggregate your experience with our Services, we collect statistical information about you that the advertisement provider will use to process them. This processing represents our legitimate interest in improving your experience with our Services and in promoting our products and services.

10. Cookies, Web-beacons and other Tracking Technologies

10.1 Service Providers (“Providers”) will be automatically informed about your use of our Services. A web beacon is used to place a cookie on your computer for such a purpose.

10.2 Please note that we neither have control of the extent of Personal Data collected by the respective plug-in provider(s) nor do we know the processing’s purpose or the period your Personal Data will be retained. Depending on the Provider, your Personal Data may be transferred to and processed in other countries. For further information on the potential risks of cross-border data transfers, please see the Provider’s privacy policy.

10.3 A Provider may disclose your Personal Data to its business partners, third parties or authorities.

10.4 You can prevent the installation of such cookies, web-beacons and other tracking technologies

  • by a respective setting of your browser that blocks the installation of third-party cookies,
  • by deactivating the provider’s interest-related advertising under the link mentioned in the provider details,
  • by generally blocking cookies under, e.g., http://www.google.com/settings/ads/plugin
  • or using applicable tracker blocking services.

10.5 The Providers’ privacy policies provide further information about the processing of your Personal Data in their course of operation. You may acquire additional information regarding your rights and privacy settings by reviewing these policies.

10.6 Mobile Applications

Our mobile applications are hybrid: some functionality is delivered through native code on your device, and other functionality is delivered by loading pages from our website within an embedded browser view (a “WebView”) inside the application. Sections 10.1 to 10.5 above apply to any content you access through such WebView sessions, including cookies, web-beacons and similar tracking technologies set by those pages and by their third-party providers. In addition to the technologies described in sections 10.1 to 10.5, the applications themselves use a persistent installation identifier (a random identifier generated when the application is installed on your device or when you complete login or enroll in activities, distinct from any advertising identifier, and removed when you uninstall the application or logout from such Services), authentication tokens stored securely on your device to keep you signed in between sessions, local storage on the device, and third-party software development kits (“SDKs”) — including Firebase for analytics and delivery of push notifications, together with, where deployed, similar crash-reporting tools — to enable core functionality, deliver notifications you have consented to receive, and collect crash logs and diagnostic data that help us improve the application.

11. Analysis

For statistical analyses, we use web analytics services to collect information about the use of this site.

11.1 General Tracking Information

Our Services use tools to collect information, such as:

  • your device and browser information (operating system information, Mobile device identifier, mobile operating system, etc.);
  • your IP address;
  • the page(s) you access;
  • your URL click stream (the chronological order of our internet sites you visited);
  • your geographic location;
  • your time of visit and duration of visit;
  • the referring site, application, or service from which you visited to use our Services.

We use this information to determine which information is most helpful to you and to improve and optimize our Services.

11.2 Depending on the Provider, the information generated about your use of our Services may be transferred to and processed in other countries. Our Services use tools to collect the IP address assigned to you at the date and time you visited this site. The provider will use this information to evaluate your use of our Services, compile reports on activity within our Services, and provide other services relating to the use of our Services and internet use to us.

12. Purposes of Processing and Legal Bases

12.1 In this section, AARSH has set out the purposes for which we may process Personal Data and the legal bases of the processing.

  • Operations – We may process your data to operate our Services, fulfill orders, provide our services, supply our goods, and generate invoices, bills, and other payment-related documentation. The legal basis for this processing is our legitimate interests, namely the proper administration of our Services.
  • Publications – We may process data to publish such data on our Services and elsewhere through our services by your express instructions. The legal basis for this processing is our legitimate interests, namely the publication of content in the ordinary course of our operations.
  • Relationships and Communications – We may process contact data, account data, transaction data, and communication data to manage our relationships, communicate with you (excluding sharing for direct marketing) by e-mail, SMS, post, fax, and/or telephone, provide support services, and handle complaints. The legal basis for this processing is our legitimate interests, namely communications with our Services’ visitors, users, individual customers and customer personnel, the maintenance of relationships, and the proper administration of our Services and business.
  • Direct Marketing – We may process contact data, account data, and transaction data to create, target, and send direct marketing communications by e-mail, SMS, post, fax, and telephone. The legal basis for this processing is our legitimate interests, namely promoting our Services and its services and communicating marketing messages and offers to our Services’ visitors and users.
  • Research and Analysis – We may process usage and transaction data to research and analyze the use of our Services and other interactions with our business. The legal basis for this processing is legitimate interests, namely monitoring, supporting, improving and securing our Services and business generally. Further details are specified in Appendix 1.
  • Record Keeping – We may process your Personal Data to create and maintain our databases, backup copies of our databases, and our business records generally. The legal basis for this processing is our legitimate interests, namely ensuring that we have access to all the information we need to properly and efficiently run our Services in accordance with this policy.
  • Security – We may process your Personal Data for security and the prevention of fraud and other criminal activity. The legal basis of this processing is our legitimate interests, namely the protection of our Services and activities, and the protection of others.
  • Insurance and Risk Management – We may process your Personal Data where necessary for obtaining or maintaining insurance coverage, managing risks, and obtaining professional advice. The legal basis for this processing is our legitimate interests, namely the proper protection of our Services against risks.
  • Legal Claims – We may process your Personal Data where necessary to establish, exercise or defend legal claims, whether in court proceedings or an administrative or out-of-court procedure. The legal basis for this processing is our legitimate interests, namely the protection and assertion of our legal rights, your legal rights and the legal rights of others.
  • Legal Compliance and Vital Interests – We may also process your Personal Data where such processing is necessary for compliance with a legal obligation to which we are subject or to protect your vital interests or the vital interests of another natural person.

13. Third-Party Content and Social Media Plug-ins

13.1 We may potentially use third-party products and or/services for integration with AARSH’s services, including but not limited to social media plug-ins such as Facebook, YouTube, Google+, Twitter or services such as Vimeo (collectively, “Third-Party Services”).

13.2 Third-Party Services allow you to communicate with such products and post likes or comments from our Services. Third-Party Services enable direct communication between your device and the third-party provider’s servers, allowing the provider to communicate with you and collect information about your use of our Services.

13.3 Third-Party Services may collect Personal Data whether you have an account with the provider or not. We try to use Third-Party Services that share our high standards and respect for privacy. However, we are not responsible for the content or privacy practices employed by Third-Party Services. We do not control the privacy policies of other websites, and this Policy does not apply to the privacy practices of different websites. Please note that we neither have control of the extent of Personal Data collected by the respective Third-Party Services nor do we know the processing’s purpose or the period your Personal Data will be retained.

13.4 AARSH does not review, approve, monitor, endorse, warrant, or make any representations with respect to Third-Party Services. Your access and/or use of all such Third-Party Services is at your own risk. We will not be responsible for any of your Personal Data collected by such Third-Party Services. You should use discretion and caution while disclosing your Personal Data to such Third-Party Services.

13.5 We may disclose your data for indemnity purposes or to our advisors insofar as reasonably necessary to obtain or maintain insurance coverage, manage risks, and obtain professional advice.

13.6 Our payment services provider, Razorpay or any other payment services provider as may be appointed by us, may handle financial transactions relating to our Services. We will share transaction data with our payment services provider only to the extent necessary for processing your payments, refunding such payments, and dealing with complaints and queries relating to such payments and refunds. You can find information about the payment services provider’s privacy policies and practices at https://razorpay.com/privacy/.

13.7 In addition to the specific disclosures of Personal Data set out in this section, we may disclose your Personal Data where such disclosure is necessary for compliance with a legal obligation to which we are subject or to protect your vital interests or the vital interests of another natural person. We may also disclose your Personal Data where such disclosure is necessary to establish, exercise, or defend legal claims, whether in court proceedings or an administrative or out-of-court procedure.

13.8 Further information about the processing of your Personal Data in the provider’s course of operation is provided via their respective privacy policies.

14. Information Sharing

14.1 Your Personal Data will only be disclosed to a third party, including but not limited to BAPS Swaminarayan Sanstha and/or its volunteers to the extent necessary to fulfill our contractual relationship (if at all) and/or to provide better guidance and help to the persons enrolled with our Services for various online activities, and services and/or for any other legitimate reasons.

14.2 We may disclose anonymous aggregate statistics about users of our Services to describe our services to prospective partners, advertisers and other reputable third parties and for other lawful purposes.

14.3 If you participate in an activity such as homework, quizzes, exams, projects, assignments, courses, online activities, diplomas and events through our Services, we may also disclose your Personal Data general data (including content submission and your performance in any given activity) and demographic data with activity administrators, who are involved in the creation, modification, or operation of the activity, and our affiliated partners.

14.4 Information sharing will be based on data processing agreements. Therefore, our contractors will use your Personal Data only to the extent necessary to perform their functions and will be contractually bound to process it in accordance with our requests.

14.5 If we undergo re-organization, any Personal Data we hold about you may be transferred to that re-organized entity or third party in compliance with applicable laws.

14.6 We may disclose your Personal Data if required to do so by law or in response to a court order or direction of any authority or if, in our good faith judgment, such legal disclosure is reasonably necessary to comply with legal processes or respond to any claims.

15. Cross Border Data Transfers

15.1 Within the scope of our information sharing activities set out above, your Personal Data may be transferred to other countries with different data protection standards from your country of residence. Please note that data processed in a foreign country may be subject to foreign laws and may be accessible to foreign governments, courts, law enforcement, and regulatory agencies.

16. International Transfers of Your Personal Data

16.1 In this section, we provide information about the circumstances in which your Personal Data may be transferred to a third country under India, UK and EU data protection laws, which will serve as standard terms across other jurisdictions, save that any local laws which are jurisdiction-specific will prevail.

16.2 The hosting facilities for our Services are situated in India, the UK, and the United States. The competent data protection authorities have made adequate determinations regarding the data protection laws of each of these jurisdictions. Transfers to each of these jurisdictions will be protected by appropriate safeguards, namely the use of standard data protection clauses adopted or approved by the competent data protection authorities, information which you may obtain by contacting: [email protected]

16.3 You acknowledge that Personal Data that you submit for publication through our Services may be available, via the internet, around the world. We cannot prevent others from using (or misusing) such Personal Data.

17. Storage of Personal Data

17.1 We will store the information you provide, once received, in commercially reasonably secure operating environments that are not accessible by the public. We will store the information you provide in compliance with applicable laws, including the Information Technology (Reasonable Security Practices and Procedures and Sensitive Personal Data or Information) Rules, 2011 (“Sensitive Personal Data Rules”) issued under the Information Technology Act, 2000 (“IT Act”), for such time as is necessary to respond to your requests or provide you services you are/have enrolled in.

18. Security

18.1 We will take all reasonable efforts to ensure the confidentiality of Personal Data, uploaded information, etc. and make reasonable efforts to ensure that the information received from you is not misused.

18.2 We have security measures to protect against the loss, misuse and alteration of Personal Data under our control and in accordance with the applicable laws. Our security and privacy policies are periodically reviewed and enhanced as necessary to ensure that only authorized personnel have access to our users’ Personal Data. Whilst we cannot guarantee that loss, misuse or alteration of information will never occur, we make reasonable efforts to prevent it.

18.3 You understand, agree and acknowledge that submitting information over the internet is never entirely secure. We cannot guarantee the security of the information you submit. Data related to our Services, whilst it is in transit over the internet, and any submission is at your own risk. Therefore, your posting of Personal Data information while using our Services constitutes your acceptance of this risk. By posting information, you waive any right to seek legal relief from these Services due to any misuse, loss or inadvertent disclosure of your data.

19. Data Retention

19.1 We strive to keep our processing activities concerning your Personal Data as limited as possible. In the absence of specific retention periods set out in this policy, your Personal Data will be retained only for as long as we need it to fulfill the purpose for which we have collected it and, if applicable, as required by statutory retention requirements. These may include retention periods mandated by legal, contractual, or similar obligations; for resolving, preserving, enforcing, or defending our legal and contractual rights; for maintaining adequate and accurate financial records; or for how you access, update, or delete your data, etc.

Users located in the following jurisdictions:

  • United Kingdom; and
  • European Union

(each an “Additional Jurisdiction” and together, the “Additional Jurisdiction”).
If you are located within any specific jurisdictions and require further information about how we process and manage your data, please contact: [email protected]

20. Your Rights

Your principal rights under data protection law are:

  • the right to access – you can ask for copies of your Personal Data;
  • the right to rectification – you can ask us to rectify inaccurate personal data and to complete incomplete Personal Data;
  • the right to erasure – You have a right to request that your stored Personal Data be erased. This, however, means that you will not be able to use any of the services and will be required to re-enroll onto future services and activities by providing consent.
  • the right to complain to a supervisory authority – you can complain about our processing of your data; and
  • the right to withdraw consent – to the extent that the legal basis of our processing of your Personal Data, you can withdraw that consent. In such circumstances, you will be withdrawn from all services and activities in their entirety. Please note any fees paid in respect of such services are non-refundable.

21. Contacting Us

Please submit any questions, concerns, or comments about this privacy policy or any requests concerning your Personal Data by contacting us at [email protected]

When contacting us, the information you provide will be collected and processed to handle your request.

22. Consent and Amendments to this Policy

By accessing, browsing, and using our Services, you acknowledge that you have read, understood, and consented to be bound by this Policy. We reserve the right to change, modify, add, or remove portions of this Policy from time to time. We encourage you to regularly visit our website and review this Policy to stay informed of any changes.

22.1 Grievance Officer

In accordance with the Sensitive Personal Data Rules, as prescribed under the IT Act, the contact details of the Grievance Officer are provided below:

Name: Ravi Dabgar
E-mail: [email protected]

If you have questions or concerns regarding your privacy, or would like to be removed from our mailing lists or change your preferences about the information you receive from us, or would like to delete or amend your personal information, please get in touch with AARSH directly at: [email protected]

22.2 Governing Law and Jurisdiction

This Privacy Policy shall be governed by and construed by the laws of India. You unconditionally and irrevocably agree that the appropriate courts of competent jurisdiction at Ahmedabad, Gujarat alone shall have the sole and exclusive jurisdiction to entertain, try and adjudicate any disputes arising between the parties in respect of or under this Policy.

22.3 Changes to this Policy

We may amend this Privacy Policy from time to time. Any such changes will be posted on this page.

22.4 Effective Date

The Effective Date of this Policy is 31 May 2022.

Appendix 1

ADDITIONAL JURISDICTIONS

The United Kingdom and the European Union

These Disclosures also provide information about the collection, use, processing and sharing of data about individuals in the United Kingdom.

In these Disclosures,

  • ‘GDPR’ means the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation, as adopted in the United Kingdom following their departure from the European Union;
  • ‘Personal Data’ means information relating to an identified or identifiable individual; an identifiable individual can be identified, directly or indirectly, by use of an identifier or factor specific to that individual; and
  • ‘GDPR Processing Activities’ means the collection, use, processing or sharing of Personal Data when those activities are within the scope of the GDPR.

These disclosures apply only to Personal Data in GDPR Processing Activities. These Disclosures apply to GDPR Processing Activities, including hardcopy (such as paper applications or forms) and electronic means (such as websites and mobile applications).

How We Collect and Use Personal Data

We collect several categories of Personal Data in circumstances that may involve GDPR Processing Activities, including data you provide, data collected automatically (potentially including location data), and data we obtain from third-party sources.

We use the Personal Data that we collect to carry on various institutional and educational activities. As described in more detail below, we rely on several legal bases to process your Personal Data lawfully.

The ways we collect and use your data depend on your relationship with us. The following sections of these Disclosures describe how we collect and use Personal Data in various circumstances that may involve GDPR Processing Activities.

Personal Data We Collect

Websites and Mobile Applications

As is true of most digital platforms, we automatically collect certain data when you use one of our websites or mobile applications, such as your IP address, browser type, and device type. Certain web forms also collect Personal Data you provide, for example, when you enter data into form fields. We also process data through our websites or mobile applications for one of the activities described below. In that case, those descriptions will provide additional information about how that data is collected and used. Our third-party vendors use this Personal Data to conduct analytics, improve our websites, respond to your requests, and provide you with relevant information.

What Personal Data Do We Collect?

We and our third-party vendors collect Personal Data through websites and mobile applications, often as a result of users voluntarily providing their data. We and our third-party vendors may collect:

  • Contact Information: for example, your name, home address, e-mail address, phone number and social media usernames;
  • Log Files: Information collected automatically when you are interacting with websites or mobile applications, for example, IP address, browser type, internet service provider, pages visited (including referring/exit pages), operating system, date/time stamp and clickstream data;
  • Cookies and Similar Technologies: Information is collected automatically through cookies and similar technologies. For more information regarding our use of cookies and similar technologies, see the “Cookies and Similar Technologies” section below;
  • Location Information: We may use your IP address to identify the general geographic area from which you are accessing our Services. Our mobile applications may collect more precise location information about you to provide functions specified in the application, such as a map feature; and
  • Mobile Device Sensor Information: Some of our mobile applications may use various sensors and components of your mobile device (e.g., your camera or microphone) to collect information to provide additional functions and features.

What is the Purpose of Processing?

We process your Personal Data collected on our websites and mobile applications:

  • To facilitate our online interactions with you, for example, by responding to your requests;
  • To operate, maintain and improve our websites and mobile applications, for example, by conducting analytics to improve and manage our websites and mobile applications, analyze user trends, and create custom audience lists;
  • To collect data about you and your activities online over time and across different websites and social media channels for marketing purposes, including delivering relevant marketing communications to you; or
  • To engage in other activities described under “Additional Uses of Personal Data” below.