Privacy Policy
HPEC, Inc. (“HPEC,” “we” or “us”), a Delaware corporation, welcomes you to the Community and invites you to participate in the community by sharing knowledge with your peers and colleagues.
INTRODUCTION TO OUR PRIVACY POLICY
This privacy policy describes how we collect, use, protect and share information about you that we collect when you use any of our products and services, our websites, or apps or otherwise interact with us (“Services”).
We have set out below, an overview of how our privacy policies work. Depending on how you interact with us, we will collect and process your personal information as shown in the table below.
HOW WE COLLECT INFORMATION FROM YOU
Information that you give to us
In the course of providing you access to the Community, as well as Services, we collect and receive personal information in a few ways, for example, when you set up a HPEC account or make comments on our site. Often, you can choose what information to provide, but sometimes we require personal information from you to carry out certain activities such as account registration and verification of your identity and your professional credentials. This section details the ways in which we collect information from you and how that information is received.
Information we generate or collect automatically through your use of our Services
We use cookies, which are small text files that collect and track certain technical information, and similar technologies to help us operate and provide our Services to you.
This information includes:
- Information about the systems and device(s) you use to access our Services, including, IP address, browser type and version, time zone setting, operating system and platform, device type, and device identifiers;
- Information about your visits to our Website, including the full URL clickstream to, through and from the Website (including date and time);
- Information about your use of our mobile apps, including the information you view in our mobile apps and the date and time you view it;
- Information to facilitate your use of our Services (including to provide access to third-party websites and services), such as URL requests, destination IP addresses, or device configuration details; and
- Pages you view or search for, page response times, download errors, length of visits to certain pages, page interaction information (such as scrolling, clicks, and mouse-overs), your engagement with certain variable/dynamic elements of a page and methods used to browse away from the page.
Information we collect about you from third parties
In order to verify your identity, we provide third party identity verification providers with copies of your drivers license or other identity documentation that you have provided to us.
WHY WE COLLECT YOUR INFORMATION (PURPOSES)
This section explains why we collect your information and what we need it for (purposes). This is set out below, by reference to what the information is required for.
We collect and process your personal information in order to offer the Community, and to offer you our Services.
If you decline to provide us with personal information when we ask you, you may not be able to access all or some of our services and you may not be able to use the Community or Services. For example, if you do not provide us with your professional credentials or identity documentation, we will not be able to register you for our Community.
Account registration information
We need to collect your personal information for account registration purposes. This requires your legal name, an email address at which we can contact you, a drivers license or other government issues identification, proof of your professional credentials, a contact address and a password to help secure your personal information.
Profile information
When completing a public “profile”, whether it is for use with the Community or our Services, we may require you to share certain personally identifying information in required and optional profile fields. Other profile information may also be publicly displayed if you choose to complete certain elective components of the Account Registration options including, e.g., your display picture and professional experience and some information is publicly displayed and required, such as how long you have been a member. Similarly, you may elect to share additional information that is not required but this will be displayed publicly at your election.
Information we use to identify and authenticate you
We need this information to be able to recognize you, for example, when you access your accounts. It also helps us to protect your details and keep them secure.
Device and browser information received automatically
When you visit the Website or use our apps, we automatically receives and records information from your browser or mobile device, such as your Internet Protocol (IP) address or unique device identifier. Cookies and data about which pages you visit on our Network allow us to operate and optimize the Community or our Services. This information is stored in secure logs and is collected automatically. We may combine this browser information with other information we collect about you. This information is used to keep the Community or Services secure, to analyze and understand how the Community or Services are used and to optimize such usage and your user experience.
Location information
When you use the Community or our Services, we may collect location information about you including your IP address, your location, browser information, and how you came to the Community. This is the case for individuals who have registered for an account, and non-members who engage with HPEC by visiting our website(s) but who have not completed an account registration. This information is collected for various purposes, including analytics, security and site functionality.
WHO WE SHARE YOUR INFORMATION WITH
We may share personal information with third parties who provide services to HPEC, such as companies that verify identity documentation and email delivery services. When HPEC shares your personal information and other collected information with third party service providers, we require that they use your information only for the purpose of providing services to us and consistent with this privacy policy.
Analytics information
We use data analytics to ensure site functionality and to optimize our Service offerings to you. We use web browser and mobile analytics to allow us to understand Community and apps functionality. In doing so, we record information including, for example how often you visit the Community, how often you contribute content, Community and apps performance data, errors and debugging information, and the type of activity you engage in while on the Community or in your use of our Services. We may on occasion share this information with third parties for research or product and services optimization.
Legal basis for processing your information
We will only use your information where we have a legal basis for using it, for example, where we have your consent, or where we need to carry out processing to provide you with a service you have requested. This section describes the legal bases we rely on for processing your information, including when we share it with third parties.
When you access the Community and use the Services we offer, we collect, display, store, share, transmit, and process your information in the manner described in this policy. In order to carry out these activities, we may rely on the following legal bases in order to process your personal data:
- Where you have given us consent to process the information, which you can withdraw at any time.
- Where the processing is necessary:
- to carry out the contractual obligations in the Terms of Service or to provide the Services you have requested
- to comply with a legal obligation or to defend legal claims
- to protect the public interest or vital interest of others
- Where it is in our legitimate interests, or that of a third party to carry out the processing.
Whenever we rely on legitimate interests for processing, we ensure that we consider and balance our interests against the individual’s interests before processing. We do not use your personal data on the basis of legitimate interest for activities where individuals’ interests override our interests.
Where we process your information on the basis of legitimate interests, we do so in order to:
Secure your personal data and information
We are committed to the safety and security of your personal data and the information that you share with us and with the public. We treat your personal data and safety from harassment as top organizational priorities. We consider it necessary to pursue these legitimate interests in order to keep our community, you and your information safe from spam, harassment, intellectual property infringement, identity theft, and the scraping and unlawful collection of your information.
Provide and optimize products and services
We use your information to provide and improve our the Community and Services, for identification, verification, to provide support, for online and offline marketing including through third party tools such as Google Analytics, and for general research and analytics reporting. In doing so, we may learn which of our Services you are using most, what you’re interested in, and to better enable you to use and access our Services. As a core part of our business, we have a legitimate interest in enabling and customizing your experience of our Services offerings.
Engage in commercial transactions
As part of providing our core Services, we may charge you for the use of some Services, or certain features within these Services. In order to process your payment, and to secure your financial information, we may facilitate the sharing of your information with third parties. We share your information only with third parties who have met strict security standards and consider the secure processing of your financial information to be a strict and legitimate business necessity.
Comply with regulatory and legal obligations
We have a legitimate interest in complying with certain legal obligations and interests which, from time to time, may require the disclosure of your personal information. We will not disclose your personal information to legal authorities except where such disclosure is by lawful request, including to meet legitimate national security or law enforcement demands (including a subpoena, court order, or other lawful legal demand by a legal authority with lawful jurisdiction). In some cases, we may also release your personal information to defend our legitimate legal interests. We consider our obligation to protect our community from imminent physical harm to be both a legitimate business interest as well as to be within the public interest and may disclose your personal information if we believe you or another individual may be in imminent danger of harm to yourself or to another.
Marketing and product communications
From time to time, we may communicate with you about OUR Services offerings. In doing so, we provide you with an opportunity to opt-out of such messages at any time you choose via your account settings. WE will not sell your personal information to enhance our marketing opportunities or profitability (except as may relate to a corporate event such as a sale or merger). We engage in such activities as a legitimate business interest in order to promote key Service offerings and provide you with every opportunity to unsubscribe from such communications or to further limit their scope and frequency. In short, while we want to communicate some key commercial communications with you and have determined it to be a legitimate interest for us to be able to do so, you have the final say in whether or not you would like to receive such commercial communications from us. You can review or change your permissions in your Profile Settings.
Core business operations
We may engage with third parties in business transactions including the buying and selling of assets, the auditing of our business practices and financials, and to engage in business development opportunities. These core activities may involve the processing and/or disclosure of some limited personal information which may be necessary and within our legitimate interests to develop our business. If we transfer any personal information in pursuing such a business transaction, we will always ensure that strict confidentiality measures are in place to protect your privacy interests.
YOUR CHOICE AND CONTROL OF THE INFORMATION WE COLLECT ON YOU
We provide you with the ability to control how your information is stored, and what information is collected. You may change or correct your account settings and choose not to share certain information. Additionally, much of the data we collect is voluntary and your choice entirely to provide us or not. You may also remove certain optional information that you no longer wish to be publicly displayed, such as your photo, or professional history. You have the right to cancel your account. However, we retain the right to maintain your information for our archival purposes.
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION WE COLLECT ON YOU WHEN YOU USE SPECIFIC SERVICES
Children
By definition, we do not knowingly collect personal data pertaining to children.
Cookies
In order to provide the Community along with the Services described in this policy, we may place cookies on you as well as partner with third parties including advertising partners, who may use cookies or other similar technologies to provide you with advertising based on your browsing activities and interests.
WHERE WE PROCESS YOUR INFORMATION (LOCATION)
We will process your information solely within the United States.
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION FOR CALIFORNIA CONSUMERS
Under the California Consumer Privacy Act (“CCPA”), we are required to notify California consumers about our collection, use, and disclosure of their personal information (whether collected through this website or offline). Please see more information about this in the Legal section of our website.
PRIVACY POLICY AMENDMENTS
We may amend or update this policy from time to time and will notify you of any material changes to this policy.
CONTACT US
Should you have any questions regarding these Terms you may contact us at support@hpec.io or HPEC, Inc 13727 SW 152nd Street, Miami FL 33177
Effective Date: June 17, 2021.