Privacy & Cookie Policy
Introduction
The Heartfulness Institute, a non-profit organisation registered in Hyderabad, India and each of its affiliates (“Company,” “We” or “Us”) respects your privacy and is committed to protecting it through our compliance with this policy.
This policy describes the types of information we may collect from you or that you may provide when you visit the website located at www.heartfulness.org, any of our social media sites, mobile apps or any other online site hosted or managed by us (our “Site”) and our practices for collecting, using, maintaining, protecting, and disclosing that information.
This policy applies to information we collect on this Site and in email, text, and other electronic messages between you and this Site.
It does not apply to information collected by us offline or through any other means, including on any other website operated by us or any third party or by any third party that may link to or be accessible from or on the Site.
Please read this policy carefully to understand our policies and practices regarding your information and how we will treat it. If you do not agree with our policies and practices, do not use the Site. By accessing or using this Site, you agree to the terms of this privacy policy. This policy may change from time to time as described below. Your continued use of this Site after we make changes is deemed to be acceptance of those changes, so please check the policy periodically for updates.
1. Information We Collect
We collect several types of information from and about users of the Site, including:
● Information that is about you but individually does not identify you, such as information collected through our use of cookies which is described in more detail below;
● If you engage in email, text, and other electronic messages with this Site, information by which you may be personally identified, such as name, e-mail address, telephone number, and any other information which you provide to us; and
● When enrolling in workshops, classes or other Services, we may collect certain personal information from you, such as your name, address, email address and other information that you submit to us (the above, collectively, “personal information”).
We collect this information:
● Automatically as you navigate through the Site, which information may include usage details, IP addresses, and other information collected through cookies, web beacons, and other tracking technologies described below.
● Directly from you when you provide it to us.
Information We Collect Through Automatic Data Collection Technologies
As you navigate through and interact with the Site, we may use automatic data collection technologies to collect certain information about your equipment, browsing actions, and patterns, including:
● Details of your visits to the Site, such as traffic data, location data, logs, and other communication data and the resources that you access and use on the Site; and
● Information about your computer and internet connection, including your IP address, operating system, and browser type.
We also may use these technologies to collect information about your online activities over time and across third-party websites or other online services (behavioral tracking).
The information we collect automatically is only statistical data. It helps us to improve the Site and to deliver a better and more personalized service, including by enabling us to:
● Estimate our audience size and usage patterns;
● Store information about your preferences;
● Speed up your searches; and
● Recognize you when you return to the Site.
Information You Provide to Us
If you contact us on or through the Site, the information we may collect may include personal information such as name, e-mail address, telephone number, and any other information you provide to us, including records and copies of your correspondence.
2. How We Use Your Information
We use information that we collect about you or that you provide to us, including any personal information:
● To assist trainers in conducting training in person or remotely;
● To present the Site and its contents to you;
● To provide you with information that you request from us;
● To fulfill any other purpose for which you provide it; and
● For any other purpose with your consent.
3. Disclosure of Your Information
We may disclose aggregated information about our users, and information that does not identify any individual, without restriction.
We may disclose personal information that we collect or you provide as described in this privacy policy:
● To a buyer or other successor in the event of a merger, divestiture, restructuring, reorganization, dissolution, or other sale or transfer of some or all of our assets, whether as a going concern or as part of bankruptcy, liquidation, or similar proceeding, in which personal information held by us about the Site users is among the assets transferred;
● To fulfill the purpose for which you provide it; and
● With your consent.
We may also disclose your personal information:
● To comply with any court order, law, or legal process, including to respond to any government or regulatory request;
● To enforce or apply our Terms of Use and
● If we believe disclosure is necessary or appropriate to protect the rights, property, or safety of us, our customers, or others.
4. Our Use of Tracking Technologies
The technologies we use for this automatic data collection may include:
● Cookies (or browser cookies). A cookie is a small file placed on the hard drive of your computer. When you visit the Site, we send one or more cookies to your computer or other device. We use cookies to improve the quality of our service, including for storing user preferences, improving search results and ad selection, and tracking user trends, such as how people search. We may also use cookies to help advertisers and publishers serve and manage ads across the web and on our services. You can opt out of interest-based advertising entirely by cookie settings or permanently using a browser plugin.
● Flash Cookies. Certain features of the Site may use local stored objects (or Flash cookies) to collect and store information about your preferences and navigation to, from, and on the Site. Flash cookies are not managed by the same browser settings as are used for browser cookies. For information about managing your privacy and security settings for Flash cookies, see “Your Privacy Rights” below.
● Web Beacons. Pages of the Site may contain small electronic files known as web beacons (also referred to as clear gifs, pixel tags, and single-pixel gifs) that permit us, for example, to count users who have visited those pages and for other related website statistics (for example, recording the popularity of certain website content and verifying system and server integrity).
When you visit the Site, we may place one or more cookies in your browser. These are required to enable to hold session information as you navigate from page to page within the Site. In addition, we use cookies on the Site to understand visitor and user preferences, improve their experience, and track and analyze usage, navigational and other statistical information.
5. Our Retention of Your Information
We will only keep your personal information for as long as it is necessary for the purposes set out in this privacy policy, unless a longer retention period is required or permitted by law (such as tax, accounting or other legal requirements). When we have no ongoing legitimate 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.
6. Our Protection of Your Information
We have implemented appropriate technical and organizational security measures designed to protect the security of any personal information we process. However, please also remember that we cannot guarantee that the internet itself is 100% secure. Although we will do our best to protect your personal information, transmission of personal information to and from the Site is at your own risk. You should only access the Site within a secure environment.
7. Your Privacy Rights
If you are resident in the European Economic Area and you believe we are unlawfully processing your personal information, you also have the right to complain to your local data protection supervisory authority. You can find their contact details here: http://ec.europa.eu/justice/data protection/bodies/authorities/index_en.htm
Based on the laws of some countries, you may have the right to request access to the personal information we collect from you, change that information, or delete it in some circumstances. To request to review, update, or delete your personal information, please send an email to the email address included below. We will respond to your request within 30 days. We offer no assurance that your information will be totally removed from the applicable databases if such information is required to comply with applicable law and regulations.
Upon your request to delete information we have stored about you, we will delete your information. However, 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.
8. International Transfers of Your Information
If you are located in the European Union, your personal information will be transferred to and processed by our teams located in the United States under the terms of the EU Commission’s model contracts for the transfer of personal data to third countries (i.e., the standard contractual clauses), pursuant to Decision 2004/915/EC. Please contact us through the contact information provided below if you would like to see a copy of the model contracts.
If you otherwise live outside the US and India, or wish to attend our classes, workshops or other services outside those countries, your information will be passed to our selected partner organizations authorized to provide those services and they may contact you in connection with the services, and hold your information. Our partner organizations are responsible for how they use your information and you should consult their own privacy policies in that regard. We and our partner organizations may host your information in, and transfer your information to, countries outside your country of residence, including to the US and India and you consent to that transfer.
9. Notices for California Residents
CALIFORNIA’S “SHINE THE LIGHT” LAW.
Companies that collect personally identifiable information (“PII”) from California residents and disclose such information to third parties (including affiliated entities) for marketing purposes must, in response to a request by a consumer, either (1) provide a list detailing the categories of information shared and the entities to which such information was provided, or (2) provide a mechanism by which a consumer may opt-out of having their information shared with third parties. We have elected the second option and you may request that your PII not be shared with third parties by sending your request, including your full name, email address and postal address to the email address provided below.
In addition, under California Civil Code Section 1789.3, California users are entitled to the following consumer rights notice: If you have a question or complaint regarding the Site, please send an email to the email address provided below. California residents may reach the Complaint Assistance Unit of the Division of Consumer Services of the California Department of Consumer Affairs by mail at 1625 North Market Blvd., Sacramento, CA 95834, or by telephone at (916) 445-1254 or (800) 952-5210.
CALIFORNIA’S ONLINE PRIVACY PROTECTION ACT.
We do not track customers over time and across third party websites to provide targeted advertising and, therefore, we do not respond to Do Not Track (DNT) signals. However, some third party sites may keep track of your browsing activities when they serve you content, which enables them to tailor what they present to you. If you are visiting such sites, your web browser allows you to set the DNT signal so that third parties (particularly advertisers) know you do not want to be tracked.
10. Updates to this Policy
We may update this privacy policy from time to time. The updated version will be indicated by an updated “Last updated” date below and the updated version will be effective as soon as it is accessible. If we make material changes to this privacy policy, we may notify you either by prominently posting a notice of such changes or by directly sending you a notification. We encourage you to review this privacy policy frequently to be informed of how we are protecting your information.
11. Contacting Us
If you have questions regarding this privacy policy or wish to obtain additional information, please send an e-mail to our Protection Team at privacy@heartfulness.org.