Privacy Policy

 

Preamble

This Master Privacy Policy (“Privacy Policy”) explains the collection, use, and disclosure of “personal information” by Burgess Companies (“Burgess”), a Texas Corporation. Unless otherwise noted on a particular site or service, this Privacy Policy applies to your use of all websites that Burgess Companies operate, including http://www.burgess-inc.com, http://qa.burgess-in.com, http://qastage.burgess-inc.com, and https://m.burgess-inc.com (the “BurgessGo Website”), (collectively, the “Websites”), as well as the products, information, and services provided through the Websites (together the “Services”). This Privacy Policy does not apply to any of the websites operated by affiliates of Burgess Companies.

 

In addition, supplemental Privacy Policy terms (“Supplemental Privacy Policy Terms”) may apply to a particular Service.

 

This Privacy Policy also explains our commitment to you with respect to our use and disclosure of non personal browsing and site usage data that Burgess Companies collects as the provider of the Services. That commitment is contained in a “Data Usage Policy,” below.

 

As used in this policy, “personal information” means information that would allow a party to identify you such as, for example, your name, address or location, telephone number, or email address.

 

By accessing or using any of the Services, you are accepting and agreeing to the practices described in this Privacy Policy.

 

Our Principles

Burgess Companies is committed to handling responsibly the information and data we collect about you through our Services, whether personal information or non personal browsing and site usage data. We have designed our Privacy Policy and our Data Usage Policy consistent with the following principles (the “Principles”):

 

1. Privacy policies and data collection and use policies should be human readable, comprehensive, and easy to locate;

2. Only the minimum amount of information reasonably necessary to provide you with services should be collected and maintained, and only for so long as reasonably needed or required;

3. Information you provide through our Services, or that we gather as a result of your use of our Services, should not be used for marketing or advertising purposes, nor should it be provided voluntarily (without your permission) to anyone else unless required; and

4. If Burgess Companies is required to provide a third party with your personal information (whether by subpoena or otherwise), then provided we have collected and retained an email address for you, Burgess Companies will use reasonable means to notify you promptly of that event, unless prohibited by law or Burgess is otherwise advised not to notify you on the advice of legal counsel.

 

Personal Information Burgess Collects

We may collect personal information through our Services, including without limitation:

 

• in connection with your selection of one of our licenses or legal tools including CC0 or the Public Domain Mark;

• when you provide us with your personal information such as by sending an email to us or signing up to receive updates from Burgess Companies;

• when you subscribe to one of our email discussion lists;

• when you purchase merchandise;

• when you create a BurgessGo account;

• when you join and use the Burgess Companies network through our BurgessGo Website, and/or establish a Burgess Companies Web Site Login; and

• when you provide personal information in connection with your participation in any of the forums we make available through our Services.

 

What Burgess Does with Personal Information

Emails and Newsletters. We use the personal information you provide to us when you send us emails or sign up to receive updates from Burgess Companies in order to respond to your request – for example, to reply to your email or to send you communications about Burgess Companies news and campaigns.

 

Events: If you sign up for an event hosted or run by Burgess Companies, we may share your personal information with vendors and third party contractors solely for the purpose of organizing and running the event.

 

BurgessGo Website

When you joined BurgessGo, you provided personal information to create your account and establish a password and profile, and to create an Web Site Login. We use that personal information to establish and maintain your accounts, provide you with the features we provide for account holders, to act as your Web Site Login service provider, and for the purpose of contacting you about upcoming news and events relevant to Burgess Companies.

 

Disclosures of Personal Information

In general, it is not Burgess Companies’ practice to disclose personal information to third parties. We may share your personal information in two instances:

 

First, Burgess Companies may share personal information with our contractors and service providers in order to maintain, enhance, or add to the functionality of the Services, or to organize and run an event you signed up to attend.
 

Second, we may disclose your personal information to third parties in a good faith belief that such disclosure is reasonably necessary to (a) take action regarding suspected illegal activities; (b) enforce or apply our Master Terms of Use and Privacy Policy; (c) comply with legal process, such as a search warrant, subpoena, statute, or court order; or (d) protect our rights, reputation, and property, or that of our users, affiliates, or the public. If Burgess Companies is required to provide a third party with your personal information (whether by subpoena or otherwise), then provided we have collected and retained an email address for you, Burgess Companies will use reasonable means to notify you promptly of that event, unless prohibited by law or Burgess is otherwise advised not to notify you on the advice of legal counsel.

 

Security of Personal Information Collected via the Services

Burgess Companies has implemented reasonable measures to protect against unauthorized access to and unlawful interception or processing of personal information that Burgess Companies stores and controls. However, no website can fully eliminate security risks. Third parties may circumvent our security measures to unlawfully intercept or access transmissions or private communications. We will post a reasonably prominent notice to the Websites if any such security breach occurs.

 

Web Site Login, including Burgess Companies Web Site Login services, and the BurgessGo account system have security risks in addition to those described above. Among other things, Web Site Login and BurgessGo are vulnerable to DNS attacks, and using Web Site Login and BurgessGo may increase the risk of phishing.

 

Data Usage Policy: Non Personal Browsing and Site Usage Information
Our Data Usage Policy covers how we maintain and use information about you that is collected by our Services, including when you log into a website using your Burgess Companies Web Site Login or BurgessGo.

 

Non Personal Browsing Information We Collect

When you use the Services, our servers (which may be hosted by a third party service provider) may collect information indirectly and automatically (through, for example, the use of your “IP address”) about your activities while visiting the Websites and information about the browser you are using, including for example, through use of Google Analytics. In addition, whenever you use your Burgess Companies Web Site Login or BurgessGo to log into a website, our servers (which, again, may be hosted by a third party service provider) keep a log of the websites you visit and when you visit them.

 

No Linking

We do not intentionally link browsing information or information from our Web Site Login or BurgessGo server logs to the personal information you submit to us. We use this information for internal purposes only, such as to help understand how the Services are being used, to improve our Services, and for systems administration purposes. Burgess may use a third party analytics provider to help us collect and analyze non personal browsing information through operation of our Services for those same purposes.

 

In connection with Burgess Search, you may tag content, create lists of favorite content, and do other things to personalize your experience. This information will be retained by Burgess Companies in connection with your BurgessGo.

 

No Selling or Sharing

Except in the unique situations identified in this Privacy Policy, Burgess Companies does not sell or otherwise voluntarily provide the non personal browsing information we collect about you or your website usage to third parties.
 

No Access

As an Web Site Login and BurgessGo service provider, Burgess could technically access your web-based account tied to our Web Site Login or BurgessGo service, and could log in on behalf of any of its Web Site Login or BurgessGo users to any of the accounts they have accessed using their Burgess Companies Web Site Login or BurgessGo. Burgess Companies will never use this technical login ability for any purpose unless otherwise required by law.

 

No Retention

Burgess Companies discards non personal browsing information from our Web Site Login and BurgessGo server logs once we have used the information for the limited purposes noted above, under “No Linking.”

 

Notice

If Burgess Companies is required to provide a third party with your non personal browsing information or to log in on behalf of an Web Site Login or BurgessGo user (whether by subpoena or otherwise), then Burgess will use reasonable means to notify you promptly of that event, unless Burgess is prohibited by law from doing so or is otherwise advised not to notify you on the advice of legal counsel.

 

Any other non-personal information that we collect which is not described specifically in this Privacy Policy will only be collected and used in accordance with the Principles.

 

Reorganization or Spin-Offs

Burgess Companies may transfer some or all of your personal and/or non personal browsing information to a third party as a result of a reorganization, spin-off, or similar transaction. Upon such transfer, the acquirer’s privacy policy will apply. In such event, Burgess Companies will use reasonable efforts to notify you and to ensure that at the time of the transaction the acquirer’s privacy policy complies with the Principles.
 

Children

The Services are not directed at children under the age of 13. Consistent with the federal Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act of 1998 (COPPA), we will never knowingly request personal information from anyone under the age of 13 without requiring parental consent. Our Master Terms of Use specifically prohibit anyone using our Services from submitting any personally identifiable information about persons under 13 years of age. Any person who provides their personal information to Burgess through the Services represents that they are 13 years of age or older.

 

Third-Party Sites

The Services may include links to other websites. You should consult the respective privacy policies of these third-party sites. This Privacy Policy does not apply to, and we cannot control the activities of, such other websites.

 

Special Note to International Users

The Services are hosted in the United States. Please note that your personal data may be located on servers in the United States. By providing your personal data you consent to the use of your personal data for the uses identified above in accordance with the Privacy Policy.

 

Changes and Updates to this Privacy Policy

We may occasionally update this Privacy Policy. When we do, we will also revise the Effective Date below. We encourage you to periodically review this Privacy Policy to stay informed about how we are protecting the personal information we collect. Your continued use of the Services constitutes your agreement to this Privacy Policy and any updates.

 

Using this Privacy Policy for Your Own Purposes Questions?

If you have questions about this Privacy Policy, please contact us by email at legal@burgess-inc.com

 

Effective Date: 2017-10-1 (October 1st 2017).