1. INTRODUCTION

We understand how important the privacy of personal information is to our users. This is the privacy policy (“Privacy Policy”, “Policy”) that governs how Health Stories Project, LLC and our affiliated companies (“HSP”, “we”, “our” or “us”), use Personal Information (defined below) that we collect, receive and store about individuals in connection with the use of this website, applications, online media, and any offline methods under our operation and control (collectively the “Site”, “Web Site”, or “Services”). Please read this Policy carefully and share information with us only if you agree with these terms. Your use of this Web Site is subject not only to this Policy but also to this Site’s Terms of Use. By accessing and using our Web Site, and by providing us with your information, you agree to be bound by this Policy.

You may choose whether to provide or disclose Personal Information in connection with your use of the Site. If you choose not to provide the Personal Information we request, you may still visit and use parts of the Site but may be unable to access or use certain features, options, programs, and services. The Site may contain links to third-party websites and services that are not owned or controlled by HSP. We are not responsible for the privacy practices or the content of third-party websites, services, and advertisements, and you visit them at your own risk.

We are committed to respecting your privacy and recognize the need for appropriate protection and management of any Personal Information that is shared with us as part of using the Site. As used in this Privacy Policy, “Personal Information” means any information that may be used, directly or indirectly, either alone or in combination with other information, to personally identify an individual or individual’s household.

 

2. CHANGES TO THIS PRIVACY POLICY.

We reserve the right, at our discretion, to change the terms of this Privacy Policy at any time. You can see when this Privacy Policy was last updated by reviewing the “Last Updated” legend on the top of this page. We may provide you with notice of material changes to the Privacy Policy as appropriate under the circumstances. UNLESS OTHERWISE INDICATED, ANY CHANGES TO THIS PRIVACY POLICY WILL APPLY IMMEDIATELY UPON POSTING TO THE SITE. By accessing and using our Site after a change is made, you agree to be bound by the Privacy Policy as revised.

 

3. INFORMATION COLLECTED.

In order to better provide you with products and services offered on our Site, HSP may receive and/or collect Personal Information. When you register to become a member of the Site and in the course of using the Site, you may voluntarily submit Personal Information including, but not limited to, your name, email address, phone number, and online social media handles.

3.1 Personal Information we collect from you if you choose to opt-in to receive communications, request products or services, comment on our site or social media profiles, or participate in surveys, sweepstakes, contests or competitions. The categories of Personal Information we may collect include:

  1. Identifiers (e.g., name, address, telephone number, IP address, email address, account name, and other similar identifiers)
  2. Medical information
  3. Health insurance information
  4. Certain characteristics you voluntarily provide to us in forms and surveys (e.g., race, ethnic origin, gender status)
  5. Commercial information (e.g., records of personal property, products or services purchased, obtained or considered, purchasing or consuming history or tendencies)
  6. Internet or other electronic network activity (e.g., browsing history, search history, information regarding your interaction with our website)
  7. Geolocation data
  8. Audio, electronic, visual, thermal, olfactory, or similar information
  9. Education, employment, and employment history information
  10. Stated information in forms or surveys or Inferences drawn from any of this information to create a profile reflecting your preferences, characteristics, psychological trends, predispositions, behavior, attitudes, opinions, capabilities, intelligence, abilities, and aptitudes.
  11. Marketing and communications preferences
  12. Information about a spouse who has either given consent or whom you hold a legal power of consent for or a minor for whom you hold parental responsibility for
    • about your child under 18 years old: in some cases, you will be given the ability to complete a form or survey that may include information about a child under the age of 18, you must confirm that the child’s is under 18 years old and provide information about the child’s health condition. While participating, you may provide the child’s diagnosis treatment and other health-related information. You represent to us that you hold parental responsibility over the child and therefore you are entitled to consent on the child’s behalf to us processing his or her information, or that you have obtained consent from the child to share the child’s information on the Platform, where the applicable law requires the child’s consent. In the latter case, you represent that you have provided the child with a copy of this Privacy Policy and explained it to the child.
    • about your spouse [or other family member above 18 years old]: in some cases, you will be given the ability to complete a form or survey that may include information about the health condition of your spouse or adult family member. While participating, you may provide diagnosis, treatment, and other health-related information about your spouse or adult family members. You represent to us that you either have legal powers to consent on their behalf, or that you have otherwise obtained their consent to share their information with us, and in the latter case that you have provided them with a copy of this Privacy Policy.

 

 

3.2. Personal Information You Provide To Third Parties On the Site.

Please note that we use certain third-party service providers and business partners on the Site to enhance your experience or deliver certain products or services. These third parties may collect Personal Information in performing their services and/or functions on the Site or we may collect the information on their behalf and require consent for us to pass your Personal Information to them. For a list of the third parties, the services they provide to us, and to learn about their privacy practices, please email us at  team@healthstoriesproject.com.

 

3.3. Information Provided By Third Parties.

We may collect information about you through non-affiliated third parties. For example, you may be able to access the Site through a social networking account. If you access the Site through your social media account, you may allow us to have access to certain Personal Information in your social media profile. If you access our Site from another website that provides Personal Information about you in accordance with their privacy policy, then we may collect such Personal Information. You can revoke our access to the information you provide in this way at any time by amending the appropriate settings from within your account settings on the applicable social networking site.

 

3.4. Information Collected Automatically.

Certain information on the Site is collected automatically by means of various software tools. We have a legitimate interest in using such information to assist in log-in, systems administration purposes, information security and abuse prevention, to track user trends, and to analyze the effectiveness of the Site and our marketing efforts. Alone or in combination with other information, such automatically collected information may constitute Personal Information under applicable data protection laws (including countries in the European Economic Area and the United Kingdom).

Some of our third-party service providers and business partners (described in Section 3.2 above) may use cookies or other automatic methods to gather information regarding your use of the Site. For additional information about cookies, please see Section 3.4(b). Business partners may use these cookies or other tracking methods for their own purposes by relating information about your use of the Site with any of Personal Information about you that they may have. The use of such information by a third party depends on the privacy policy of that third party.

Such automatically collected information may be obtained through:

a) Log Files On The Site. The information inside the log files includes internet protocol (“IP”) addresses, type of browser, Internet Service Provider (ISP), date/time stamp, referring/exit pages, clicked pages and any other information your browser may send to us.

b) Cookies. We use cookies to make interactions with our Site easy and meaningful. When you visit our Site, our servers may send a cookie to your computer. Standing alone, cookies do not personally identify you; they merely recognize your web browser.

We may use cookies that are either session-based or persistent. Session cookies exist only during one session. They disappear from your computer when you close your browser software or turn off your computer. Persistent cookies remain on your computer after you close your browser or turn off your computer. Please note that if you disable your web browser’s ability to accept cookies, you will be able to navigate our Site, but you may not be able to successfully use all of the features of our Site.

The following sets out how we may use different categories of cookies and your options for managing cookies’ settings:

 

Type of Cookies

Description

Performance cookies

These cookies collect information about how you use our Site, including which pages you go to most often and if you receive error messages from certain pages. These cookies do not collect information that individually identifies you. All information these cookies collect is aggregated and anonymous. It is only used to improve how our Site functions and performs. From time-to-time, we may engage third parties to track and analyze usage and volume statistical information from individuals who visit our Site. We may also utilize Flash cookies for these purposes. The acceptance and management of performance cookies is done using your browser settings.

Functionality cookies

Functionality cookies allow our Site to remember information you have entered or choices you make (such as your username, language, or your region) and provide enhanced, more personal features. If you have chosen to identify yourself to us, we use cookies to uniquely identify you and in some cases allow you to access to specific content only available to you.

Targeting or Advertising cookies

From time to time, we may track and analyze usage and volume statistical information from individuals who visit our Site. We sometimes use our own cookies as well as cookies delivered by third parties such as Google or Facebook to track the performance of advertisements. For example, these cookies remember which browsers have visited our Site. The information provided to third parties does not include Personal Information, but this information may be re-associated with Personal Information after we receive it. By way of example, as you browse our Site, cookies may be placed on your computer so that we can understand what you are interested in. Our advertising partners then enable us to present you with retargeted advertising on other sites based on your previous interaction with our Site. We also contract with third-party advertising networks and similar partners that collect IP addresses and other information from web beacons (see below) on our Site, from emails, and on third-party sites. Ad networks follow your online activities over time by collecting website navigational information through automated means, including through the use of cookies. They use this information to provide advertisements about products and services tailored to your interests. You may see these advertisements on other websites. This process also helps us manage and track the effectiveness of our marketing efforts. Third parties, with whom we partner to provide certain features on our Site or to display advertising based upon your web browsing activity, use Flash cookies to collect and store information. Flash cookies are different from browser cookies because of the amount of, type of, and how data is stored.

You may opt-out of the automated collection of information by third-party ad networks for the purpose of delivering advertisements tailored to your interests, by visiting the consumer opt-out page for the Self-Regulatory Principles for Online Behavioral Advertising at http://www.aboutads.info/choices/.

 

C) Other Tracking Technologies. When you visit the Site, we may collect your IP address to track and aggregate information. For example, we may use IP addresses to monitor the regions from which you navigate the Site. We may also use web beacons alone or in conjunction with cookies to compile information about your usage of the Site and interaction with emails from us. Web beacons are clear electronic images that can recognize certain types of information on your computer, such as cookies, when you viewed a particular site tied to the web beacon. For example, we may place web beacons in marketing emails that notify us when you click on a link in the email that directs you to our Site. We may also use web beacons to operate and improve our Site and email communications.

 

D) Analytics Software Tools. We use analytics software such as Google Analytics on our Site to help us analyze the traffic on our Site. For more information on Google Analytics’ processing of Personal Information, please see http://www.google.com/policies/privacy/partners/. By using a browser plugin http://www.google.com/ads/preferences/plugin/ provided by Google, you can opt-out of Google Analytics.

 

3.5 Health Stories Project Mobile Application

You may have been directed to this Site and our Privacy Policy because you have elected to share your health story on behalf of one of our partners through a video or other content you will create.  In some cases, you may receive an email communication from us providing you with information about the mobile application and the video content you may create.  If you have any questions, you may contact the person from whom you received an email communication or you may contact us at  team@healthstoriesproject.com.  If you do create video or other content on behalf of one of our business partners, we do not consider the business partner to be a third party under this policy, and we may share your personally identifiable information, including videos and other content you may create, with that partner. The partner will not have access to your Personal Information without your express permission. Neither HSP, nor the partner will share your personally identifiable information with any other third parties for marketing purposes.

 

4. THE PURPOSES FOR WHICH WE USE PERSONAL INFORMATION.

If you submit or we collect Personal Information through the Site, then such Personal Information may be used in the following ways:

To provide, analyze, administer, improve, and personalize the Site and its content;

To communicate with you in connection with the Site, notifications, events, programs or offerings that you may have registered for;

To fulfill a product or service you have requested from us or our partner(s);

To send you updates and promotional materials;

To provide personalized advertising to you;

To identify and authenticate your access to the parts of the Site that you are authorized to access;

For recruiting;

For research and development relating to the Site and the products and services we provide to you;

For electronic direct marketing in compliance with applicable laws; and

To protect our rights and/or our property and to ensure the technical functionality and security of the Site.

 

5. LEGAL BASIS FOR PROCESSING PERSONAL INFORMATION (EEA AND UK VISITORS ONLY).

If you are a resident in the European Economic Area or the United Kingdom, our legal basis for collecting and using your Personal Information will depend on the Personal Information concerned and the specific context in which we collect it.

However, we will normally collect Personal Information from you only where we have your consent to do so, where we need the Personal Information to perform a contract with you, or where the processing is in our legitimate interests and not overridden by your data protection interests or fundamental rights and freedoms.  In some cases, we may also have a legal obligation to collect Personal Information from you or may otherwise need the Personal Information to protect your vital interests or those of another person.

If we ask you to provide Personal Information to comply with a legal requirement or to perform a contract with you, we will make this clear at the relevant time and advise you whether the provision of your Personal Information is mandatory or not (as well as of the possible consequences if you do not provide your Personal Information).

Similarly, if we collect and use your Personal Information in reliance on our legitimate interests (or those of any third party), we will make clear to you at the relevant time what those legitimate interests are.

If you have questions about or need further information concerning the legal basis on which we collect and use your Personal Information, you may contact us at team@healthstoriesproject.com.

 

6. HOW WE DISCLOSE PERSONAL INFORMATION.

We do not sell, lease, rent, or otherwise disclose the Personal Information collected on and through the Site to third parties unless otherwise stated below or with your consent.

We may, however, provide other companies with aggregated data about our Members that does not contain contact or other individually identifiable Personal Information. For example, we may inform a health association of the number of Members we have on this Service, or the number of Members registered for our Service in a particular geographical region.

 

6.1. Our Third-Party Providers.

We may transfer Personal Information to our third-party service providers and business partners to perform tasks on our behalf and to assist us in providing the Site, as discussed in Section 3.2 and Section 4 above. We use commercially reasonable efforts to only engage or interact with third-party service providers and business partners that post a privacy policy governing their processing of Personal Information. Notwithstanding the foregoing, we will comply with applicable laws regarding Personal Information transfers.

 

6.2. Business Partners.

From time to time, we may partner with other companies to jointly offer products or services. If you purchase, request, or specifically express interest in a jointly-offered product or service from us, we may share Personal Information collected in connection with your purchase or expression of interest with our joint promotion partner(s). We do not control our business partners’ use of Personal Information we collect, and their use of the information will be in accordance with their own privacy policies.

 

6.3. In the Event of Merger, Sale, or Change of Control.

We may transfer or assign this Privacy Policy and any Personal Information to a third-party entity that acquires or is merged with HSP as part of a merger, acquisition, sale, or other change of control. If so, we will seek to obligate the acquiring company to use any Personal Information transferred by this Site in a manner consistent with this Privacy Statement but cannot guarantee that it will be able to impose that requirement, or that the acquiring company will comply.

 

6.4. Social Media Plugins.

The Site uses social media plugins (e.g. Facebook) to enable you to easily share information with others. When you visit the Site, the operator of the social plugin can place a cookie on your device, enabling that operator to recognize individuals who have previously visited the Site. If you are logged into the social media website (e.g. Facebook, Twitter) while browsing the Site, the social media plugins allow that social media website to share Personal Information about your activities on the Site with other users of their social media website. For example, Facebook Social Plugins allow Facebook to show your Likes and comments on our pages to your Facebook friends. Facebook Social Plugins also allow you to see your friends’ Facebook activity on the Site. We do not control any of the content from the social media plugins. For more information about social plugins from other media websites, you should refer to those sites’ privacy and data/information sharing statements/policies.

 

6.5. Links to Other Sites.

There are links to other websites and pages provided by third parties on this Site. It’s important to remember that HSP does not have control over the privacy policies of third-party websites. A third party may receive the information you enter into a form or survey contained in a link or request. Any Personal Information you enter is provided directly to that third party and is subject to that third party’s privacy policy.

 

6.6. Other Disclosures.

We may disclose Personal Information about you if we have a good faith belief that disclosure of such information is helpful or reasonably necessary to: (i) comply with any applicable law, regulation, legal process or governmental request; (ii) enforce our terms of use, including investigations of potential violations thereof; (iii) detect, prevent, or otherwise address fraud or security issues; or (iv) protect against harm to the rights, property or safety of HSP, our users, or the public.

 

7. RETENTION OF PERSONAL INFORMATION.

We reserve the right to retain any Personal Information for as long as the Personal Information are needed to: (i) fulfill the purposes that are described in this policy, and (ii) comply with applicable law.

When we have no ongoing business need to process your Personal Information, we will either delete or anonymize it or, if this is not possible (for example, because your Personal Information has been stored in backup archives), then we will securely store your Personal Information and isolate it from any further processing until deletion is possible.

 

8. YOUR RIGHTS.

8.1 Rights Relating to Personal Information.

You may review, change, or terminate your account at any time. Subject to applicable data protection laws, we may permit you: (i) to request access and obtain a copy of your Personal Information, (ii) to request rectification or erasure; (iii) to restrict the processing of your Personal Information; and (iv) if applicable, to export your Personal Information (e.g., data portability). In certain circumstances, you may also have the right to withdraw your consent or object to the processing of your Personal Information.

Subject to applicable law, if you would like to otherwise access, amend, correct, delete, export, object to the processing of Personal Information collected in and through the Site, or withdraw your consent (as applicable), you may submit a request to  team@healthstoriesproject.com or write to us at:

Attention: Privacy Officer
Health Stories Project
701 Pike Street, Suite 2000
Seattle, WA 98101

We will promptly review all such requests in accordance with applicable laws. We may not accommodate a request to change or remove information if we believe the change would violate any law or legal requirement or cause the information to be incorrect. Information that has been de-identified, anonymized, and/or aggregated may not be retrievable or traced back for destruction, deletion or modification.

If we are relying on your consent to process your Personal Information, you have the right to withdraw your consent at any time. Please note however that this will not affect the lawfulness of any information processing before the handling of your withdrawal of consent.

Upon your request to terminate your account, we will deactivate or delete your account and Personal Information from our active database or anonymize it. Some information may be retained in our files to prevent fraud, troubleshoot problems, assist with any investigations, enforce our Terms of Use and/or comply with legal requirements.

Depending on where you live, you may have a right to lodge a complaint with a regulatory agency if you believe that we have violated any of the rights concerning Personal Information about you. We encourage you to first reach out to us at team@healthstoriesproject.com  so we have an opportunity to address your concerns directly before you do so.

 

8.2. Opting-Out of Promotional Emails.

You may choose not to receive future promotional or advertising emails from us by selecting an unsubscribe link at the bottom of each promotional email that you receive from us, or by responding to the emails directly and requesting removal if such a link is not available. Additionally, you may send a request specifying your communications preferences to team@healthstoriesproject.com. Please note that even if you opt-out of receiving promotional and advertising emails, we may still respond to any “Contact Us” requests as well as send administrative, maintenance and operational emails (for example, in connection with a password reset request).

 

9. DATA SECURITY.

The security of Personal Information is important to us. We follow generally accepted industry standards to protect the Personal Information submitted to us, both during transmission and once we receive it. For example, we have implemented an information security program that contains administrative, technical and physical controls that are designed to reasonably safeguard Personal Information from unlawful use, unauthorized access, or disclosure. However, no method of transmission over the Internet, or method of electronic storage, is 100% secure. Therefore, while we strive to use commercially acceptable means to protect Personal Information, we cannot guarantee its absolute security.

In addition to the steps taken by HSP, you should also take measures to safeguard your Personal Information. You should not share your email address or any passwords with anyone. When accessing online accounts from a public or shared computer, you should use caution so that others are not able to gain access to your email address, view or record your password, or your other information. Please notify HSP immediately of any unauthorized access or use of your email address, our site or the loss or unauthorized use of your account information (e.g., email, username, or password).

 

10. TRANSFERS OF PERSONAL INFORMATION FROM THE EEA, THE UK, OR SWITZERLAND TO THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.

Our servers are located in the United States of America (“USA”). If you are accessing our Sites from outside the USA, please be aware that your information will be transferred to, stored, and processed by us in our facilities and by those third parties with whom we may share your Personal Information (see “How We Disclose Personal Information” above).

If you are a resident in the European Economic Area, the United Kingdom, or Switzerland, then we may not have data protection or other laws as comprehensive as those in your country. We will, however, take all necessary measures to protect your Personal Information in accordance with this Privacy Policy and applicable law.

 

11. CHILDREN’S PRIVACY.

The Site is not intended for children under the age of 18. Accordingly, we do not intend to collect Personal Information directly from anyone we know to be under 18 years of age. If you believe the information of anyone under the age of 18 has been provided to HSP without proper consent and you are the parent or guardian of that individual, you may contact us to request that we delete any such information, at team@healthstoriesproject.com.

 

12. HOW WE RESPOND TO DO NOT TRACK SIGNALS.

As explained above in Section 3.4, the technologies used on the Site may be used to track Site users over time and across third-party websites to provide targeted advertising. How browsers communicate user preferences related to the Do Not Track signal is not yet uniform, so a standard technological response has not yet been developed. For this reason, the Site may not respond to Do Not Track signals at this time.

 

13. YOUR CALIFORNIA PRIVACY RIGHTS.

California Civil Code Section 1798.83, also known as the “Shine The Light” law, permits our users who are California residents to request and obtain from us, once a year and free of charge, information about categories of Personal Information (if any) we disclosed to third parties for direct marketing purposes and the names and addresses of all third parties with which we shared Personal Information in the immediately preceding calendar year. If you are a California resident and would like to make such a request, please submit your request in writing to us using the contact information provided below:

Attention: Privacy Officer
Health Stories Project
701 Pike Street, Suite 2000
Seattle, WA 98101

In addition, California Civil Code Section Title 1.81.5, also known as the “California Consumer Privacy Act of 2018”, permits individuals who reside in California to request and obtain from us, twice per year and free of charge, information about: the categories of Personal Information we have collected about you; the categories of sources from which your Personal Information is collected; the purpose for collecting your Personal Information; the categories of third parties with whom we share your Personal Information; the specific Personal Information that we have collected about you.

If you are a California resident and would like to make sure a request, please contact us by phone at (800) 481-8753.  You can also submit a request through our website https://healthstoriesproject.com/privacy-policy/ccpa-request/ , or by sending a written request to 701 Pike Street, Suite 2000, Seattle, WA 98101. Written requests should state that the request is being made under the California Consumer Privacy Act.

 

14. Contacting Health Stories Project

If you have any questions about this Privacy Statement, the practices of this Site, or your dealings with this Site, you can contact team@healthstoriesproject.com.

If you are a resident of the European Economic Area or the United Kingdom, the data controller of your Personal Information is Health Stories Project LLC.

Last updated May 6, 2020