Sparkfund Privacy Policy
Effective Date: November 26, 2018
Sparkfund Privacy Policy Summary
At Sparkfund, we respect your privacy and are committed to protecting your personally identifiable information that we may collect through your use of Sparkfund.com (“Sparkfund Site”). This privacy policy (“Policy”) describes what information we gather from you in connection with your use of the Sparkfund Site, how we use and disclose that information, and how you can control that use.
Please read on to learn more about our Policy. By using the Sparkfund Site, you agree to the information handling practices described in this Policy.
Information We Collect
You share information with us when you use the Sparkfund Site. Here are some examples:
- User-Provided Information: You may provide to Sparkfund what is generally called “personally identifiable information”. For example, when you register for access to Sparkfund services or contact us with inquiries this information includes contact information such as your name, email address, and mailing address. Any sensitive information provided will be treated as confidential and will only be used internally during credit assessment.
- “Cookies” Information: When you use the Sparkfund Site, we may send one or more cookies – small text files containing a string of alphanumeric characters – to your computer. Sparkfund may use both session cookies and persistent cookies. A session cookie disappears after you close your browser. A persistent cookie remains after you close your browser and may be used by your browser on subsequent visits to the Sparkfund Site. Persistent cookies can be removed. Your web browser “Help” file has information about the proper way to modify your cookie settings. Please note that if you delete (or choose not to accept) cookies from the Sparkfund Site, you may not be able to utilize the features of the Sparkfund Site to their fullest potential.
- “Automatically Collected” Information: When you use the Sparkfund Site or open one of our HTML emails, we may automatically record certain information from your web browser by using different types of technology, including standard log files, “clear gifs” or “web beacons,” including web beacons of third parties such as analytics companies. This “automatically collected” information may include Internet Protocol address, UDID, or other device address or ID, web browser and/or device type, the web pages or sites that you visit just before or just after the Sparkfund Site, the pages you view on the Sparkfund Site, and the dates and times that you visit the Sparkfund Site.
How We Use Your Information
Sparkfund uses the information collected to develop, operate, maintain, enhance and provide all of the features and services found on the Sparkfund Site, now and in the future, including (but not limited to) the following:
- Sparkfund may use your information to respond to you when you contact us.
- Sparkfund uses the information that you provide or that we collect to understand and analyze the usage trends and preferences of our users, and to provide, maintain, support, personalize, modify and improve the Sparkfund Site.
- Sparkfund may use your email address or other personally identifiable information to send messages about Sparkfund products and services, and for various Sparkfund marketing activities and the activities of third parties we work with. You have the ability to opt-out of receiving any such promotional communications, such as through links provided in the messages.
How We Share Your Information
Sparkfund is not in the business of selling your information. However, we may disclose your personally identifiable information in a variety of circumstances in connection with developing, providing, and maintaining the Sparkfund Site and operating our business, including:
Third-Party Service Providers. Sparkfund works with third party service providers in the U.S. and other jurisdictions that provide us with website development, hosting, maintenance, and support as well as other business services. These third parties may have access to and/or may process your personally identifiable information in connection with such activities. These disclosures are generally made on a confidential basis, and the recipients may only use the information for the purpose for which it was provided.
Other Third-Parties. Sparkfund may disclose automatically collected and other aggregate non-personally-identifiable information to interested third parties in order to assist such parties in understanding the usage, viewing, and demographic patterns for certain programs, content, services, advertisements, promotions, and/or functionality on the Sparkfund Site. This Policy does not cover such third parties’ use of the information.
Affiliates. We may disclose information we collect about you with a parent company, subsidiaries, joint ventures, or other companies under common control with us.
As Required by Law. Sparkfund may also disclose your information if required to do so by law or where Sparkfund determines that such action is necessary or useful to comply with applicable laws, to respond to a court order, judicial or other government subpoena or warrant, or to otherwise support or cooperate with judicial or law enforcement activity.
To Prevent Harm. Sparkfund works to promote safe and reliable service for all users. We reserve the right to disclose your information as we believe is appropriate or necessary to take precautions against liability; to protect Sparkfund and others from fraudulent, abusive, predatory, or unlawful uses or activity; to investigate and defend ourselves against any third party claims or allegations; to assist government enforcement agencies; to protect the security or integrity of the Sparkfund Site; or to protect or vindicate the rights, property, or personal safety of Sparkfund, our users, or others.
Investors. We may disclose information we collect about you with investors of Sparkfund. These disclosures are generally made on a confidential basis, and such investors may only use the information for the purpose for which it was provided.
Corporate Structure. In the event that all or a portion of Sparkfund or its assets are acquired by or merged with a third party entity, or if we undergo bankruptcy or liquidation, we reserve the right in any of these circumstances to transfer or assign the information that we have collected from users, including personal information and user data in connection with such event.
With your Consent. We may request your permission to share your information for a specific purpose. We will notify you and request consent before you provide the information or before the information you have already provided is shared for such purpose.
Aggregate and De-Identified Information. We may share information in a manner that does not identify you. For example, we may share aggregate or de-identified information about users with third parties for marketing, advertising, research or similar purposes.
Third Party Services
The Sparkfund Site may contain links to Web sites and services provided by third parties. Any personally identifiable information you provide on third party sites or services is provided directly to that third party and is subject to that third party’s policies, if any, governing privacy and security. We are not responsible for the content or privacy and security practices and policies of third-party sites or services to which links are displayed on the Sparkfund Site. We encourage you to learn about third parties’ privacy and security policies before providing them with personally identifiable information.
Children’s Privacy
The Sparkfund Site is not intended for use by children. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under the age of 13 years. Please contact privacy@sparkfund.com if you believe we may have collected personal information from your child through the Sparkfund Site and we will work to delete it.
Do Not Track Signals
The Sparkfund Site is not currently configured to respond to Do Not Track signals.
International Visitors
The systems underlying the Sparkfund Site are located within the United States, and this Policy is governed by United States law. If you choose to use the Sparkfund Site from other jurisdictions with laws governing data collection and use that differ from United States law, then be aware that you are transferring your personally identifiable information to the United States for storage and processing, and by providing your personally identifiable information on the Sparkfund Site you consent to such transfer, storage, and processing. As a result, your data may be subject to access by law enforcement and other government entities, including courts and tribunals in accordance with laws applicable in such jurisdictions.
Data Retention
We will retain your data for as long as needed to provide you services, and as necessary to comply with our legal obligations, resolve disputes, and enforce our agreements. Where possible (and subject to the foregoing), we will remove your data from active user databases promptly upon request, but a longer period may be required to delete other copies stored on our servers. Note that we do not delete from our servers files that you have in common with other users, and that we may retain archival copies of all of your data stored in connection with routine information technology backups.
Data Security
Sparkfund employs certain physical, technical, and managerial safeguards designed to improve the integrity and security of your personally identifiable information. Nevertheless, no physical or technical system, process, transmission, or storage mechanism is 100% secure or immune from outages, losses, attacks, and human error. Therefore, we cannot ensure or warrant that information you transmit to Sparkfund will not be compromised.
If Sparkfund learns of a security systems breach, then we will attempt to notify you electronically, for example, by posting a notice through the Sparkfund Site in addition to sending an email to the address we have on file for you, so that you can take appropriate protective steps. Depending on where you live, you may have a legal right to receive notice of a security breach in writing. To receive a free written notice of a security breach, or if you believe you have identified a security breach or exploit, you should notify us at privacy@sparkfund.com.
Changes and Updates to this Policy
Please revisit this page periodically to stay aware of any changes to this Policy, which may be revised from time to time at Spark’s sole discretion. If we modify the Policy, we will make it available through the Sparkfund Site, and indicate the date of the latest revision. We will not use your previously collected personally identifiable information in a manner inconsistent with the Policy in effect when we collected that information without your consent. If you do not agree with any changes to the Policy, you may cease use of the Sparkfund Site. Your continued use of the Sparkfund Site after any revised Policy has become effective indicates that you have read, understood and agreed to the current version of the Policy.
Sparkfund Contact Information
Please contact Sparkfund with any questions or comments about this Policy, your personally identifiable information, our use and disclosure practices, or your consent choices by email to privacy@sparkfund.com.