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Privacy Policy

Last Updated: 2021-10-08

Care2.com ("Care2") takes seriously the issue of safeguarding your privacy online. This privacy policy applies to the two websites owned and operated by Care2: Care2.com and ThePetitionSite.com. This privacy policy describes how Care2 collects and uses the personal information you provide when using either website.

Residents of the EU, UK and AU should see the Care2 EU/UK/AU-US GDPR Privacy Policy and/or the Care2 Swiss-US Data Transfer Policy.

SMS recipients should see the Care2 SMS Privacy Policy

This privacy policy provides you with the following information relating to how Care2 processes your personally identifiable information when you use either Care2.com or ThePetitionSite.com.

Questions regarding this privacy statement should be submitted to Care2 Customer Support using the Help Form.

Privacy Questions

Does Care2 ask for personal information?
Does Care2 receive my personal information?
How does Care2 use my personal information and what personal information does Care2 receive?
Will Care2 disclose any of my personal information?
Which of my personal information does Care2 disclose under the CCPA?
Which of my personal information does Care2 sell under the CCPA?
How can I opt-out or opt-in to the sale of my personal information?
Will I be discriminated against for opting out of the sale of my personal information?
How do I change or delete my personal information?
Will Care2 use my information for direct e-mailings?
Does Care2 use cookies and other Tracking Technologies?
Does Care2 sell e-mail addresses to advertisers?
How does Care2 secure your information and its data storage?
How does Care2 maintain security regulation compliance?
What is Care2's Data Retention Policy?
What else should I know about my privacy?
What happens if changes are made to the privacy policy?
For more information

Answers to Privacy Questions

Does Care2 ask for personal information?

Yes. Care2 asks for your name and other personal information when you use our websites.

How does Care2 receive my personal information?

Care2 may receive your personal information when you provide it directly to us as part of using our websites or from public information sources.

How does Care2 use my personal information and what personal information does Care2 receive?

Care2 has processed in the past 12 months, and may process in the future, the following categories of personal information:

Care2:

Care2's website processes biographical and contact information such as your name, email address, date of birth, street address, zip code and sometimes phone number. This personal information is used to set up your Care2 account, to respond to your requests and questions, and to allow you to use Care2 member services. Care2 may also ask for demographic information, including professional or employment related information and nonpublic education information, such as your education level, occupation and industry. Care2 does not knowingly collect information from children under 13; if Care2 later learns that a child under 13 is registered, steps will be taken to remove the child's information from the database. We also reserve the right to collect publicly available data about you, either obtained directly by us or through a 3rd party.

ThePetitionSite:

Care2 owns and maintains the nonpartisan petition tool, ThePetitionSite.com. Petition and Public Comment signers are required to provide certain personal information such as name, email address and often street address. This information is required to validate your petition signature / public comment. Care2 uses cookies and a signature database to provide data integrity and ease of use.

For pages you've signed or completed, we treat your name, city, state, country and comments as public information. For example, we may provide compilations of petitions, with your comments, to the President and legislators, other targets, or to the press. Unless you have requested to be included as "anonymous," this information will also be visible on the website. We will not make your street address publicly available, but we may transmit it to members of Congress, to other public officials, or to other targets as part of a petition to validate your signature. We may also make your comments, along with your first name, city, state and country, available to the press and public online.

For some petitions we provide an advocacy service allowing individuals to send individual e-mails to public officials, legislators, and other targets as well as public comments to government agencies, through our website. These messages are sent in your name, with your e-mail address as the return address and your full name and contact information is provided as part of the submission. These messages will only be sent out under your name as you approve them on an individual basis by signing an action. You are solely responsible for the specific message(s) you send using our email tool. Optional comments will be included in the body of the email message delivered to the petition target.

During the signing process, you may opt to receive certain newsletters and memberships, in which case Care2 will send your contact information, including email address, street address, and sometimes phone, to those third-party providers. However, unless you specifically opt to receive such offers or send your contact information to third parties during the signing process, Care2 will keep your email address information confidential. Note that for many campaigns, the default settings assume that you want to receive communications from the petition sponsor. If you do not wish to receive such communications, please uncheck the box next to the signup offer. Please note that when you join a third party we may use your petition activity to personalize the actions you see on the site and that we send to you by email.

Newsletters:

Care2 offers a variety of newsletters. If you no longer wish to receive our newsletter and promotional communications, you may opt-out of receiving them by following the unsubscribe instructions included in each newsletter, or by going to your My Subscriptions page to change your subscription preferences.

Facebook Connect:

You can log in to our site using sign-in services such as Facebook Connect. These services will authenticate your identity and provide you the option to share certain personal information with us such as your name and email address to pre-populate our sign up form. Services like Facebook Connect give you the option to post information about your activities on this Web site to your profile page to share with others within your network.

Links to 3rd Party Sites:

Our Site includes links to other Web sites whose privacy practices may differ from those of Care2.com. If you submit personal information to any of those sites, your information is governed by their privacy policies. We encourage you to carefully read the privacy policy of any Web site you visit.

Will Care2 disclose any of my personal information?

Care2 will share your personal information with third parties only in the ways that are described in this privacy policy. Please see the section above about The Petition Site to learn how your petition signature information is shared. In certain situations, Care2 may be required to disclose personal data in response to lawful requests by public authorities, including to meet national security or law enforcement requirements. Care2 will only disclose your personal information when we believe in good faith that disclosure is necessary to protect our rights, protect your safety or the safety of others, investigate fraud, or respond to a government request, such as to comply with a subpoena, or similar legal process, or to protect the rights or property of Care2, or as necessary to provide personalized Care2 member services. If Care2 is involved in a merger, acquisition, or sale of all or a portion of its assets, you will be notified via email and/or a prominent notice on our Web site of any change in ownership or uses of your personal information, as well as any choices you may have regarding your personal information. Care2 may also disclose your personal information, including name and contact information in some limited circumstances such as when you specifically opt to receive a 3rd party newsletter. We may also provide information to trusted partners who work on behalf of or with Care2 under confidentiality agreements. These companies may use your personal information to communicate with you about offers from Care2 and our marketing partners. However, these companies do not have any independent right to share this information or use for any other purposes other than to provide these services to us. If you do not want us to share your personal information with these companies, contact us through our Help Request Form. Under confidentiality agreements, Care2 may also match user information with third-party data. Also, Care2 does disclose aggregated user statistics (for example, X% of our users are female) in order to describe our services to prospective partners, advertisers, and other third parties, and for other lawful purposes.

The above excludes text messaging originator opt-in data and consent; this information will not be shared with any third parties without user consent.

Which categories of my personal information does Care2 disclose under the CCPA?

In the preceding twelve (12) months, Care2 has disclosed the following categories of personal information for a business purpose:
- Identifiers (biographical and contact information), such as your name, email address, date of birth, street address, zip code, and sometimes phone number.
- Professional or employment related information, such as your occupation and industry.
- Nonpublic education information, such as your education level.

Which categories of my personal information does Care2 sell under the CCPA?

In the preceding twelve (12) months, Care2 has sold the following categories of personal information for a business purpose:
- Identifiers (biographical and contact information), such as your name, email address, date of birth, street address, zip code, and sometimes phone number.
- Professional or employment related information, such as your occupation and industry.
- Nonpublic education information, such as your education level.

We reserve the right to use, transfer, sell, and share aggregated, anonymous data for any legal business purpose. Such data does not include any personal information. The purposes may include analyzing usage trends or seeking compatible advertisers, sponsors, and customers.

How can I opt-out or opt-in to the sale of my personal information?

If you are 16 years of age or older, you have the right to direct us to not sell your personal information at any time (the "right to opt-out"). We do not sell the personal information of consumers we actually know are less than 16 years of age, unless we receive affirmative authorization (the "right to opt-in") from either the consumer who is between 13 and 16 years of age, or the parent or guardian of a consumer less than 13 years of age.

Consumers who opt-in to personal information sales may opt-out of future sales at any time. To exercise the right to opt-out, you (or your authorized representative) may submit a request to us by contacting Care2 support and asking to opt-out of personal information sales: Care2 Support Request Form.

Once you make an opt-out request, we will wait at least twelve (12) months before asking you to reauthorize personal information sales. However, you may change your mind and opt back in to personal information sales at any time by contacting Care2 support and asking to opt-in to personal information sales: Care2 Support Request Form.

Will I be discriminated against for opting-out of the sale of my personal information?

We will not discriminate against you for exercising any of your CCPA rights. Unless permitted by the CCPA, we will not:
- Deny you goods or services;
- Charge you different prices or rates for goods or services, including through granting discounts or other benefits, or imposing penalties;
- Provide you a different level or quality of goods or services; or
- Suggest that you may receive a different price or rate for goods or services or a different level or quality of goods or services.

How do I change or delete my personal information?

Please contact Care2 using the Help Request Form.

Will Care2 use my information for direct e-mailings?

Care2 offers e-mail subscriptions describing action alerts, petition success stories, new site features, and more, including commercial and non-commercial offers. If you do not want to receive any of our optional mailings, simply opt out of them when registering to become a member or during other subscription opportunities, or click the "unsubscribe" link at the bottom of any Care2 email that you receive.

If you sign a petition on ThePetitionSite.com, you will automatically receive emailed news updates about the petition and other important causes.

Regardless of the above, Care2 may send occasional emailed messages, such as critical service announcements or other correspondence, to all registered members. To stop all such announcements, you must delete your account. You may do so by following this link.

Care2 also offers optional mailings from our partner nonprofit organizations and from commercial entities. If you elect to receive any of these newsletters, some personal information, including your name and email address, will be sent to the respective nonprofit or commercial entity delivering the newsletter. In these cases, Care2 would no longer be able to track and control the user information. The user would be able to contact the newsletter publishers in order to control subscription preferences.

Does Care2 use Tracking Technologies?

Yes, cookies and other tracking technologies are used on Care2 in several ways.

  • As is true of most web sites, Care2.com gathers certain information automatically. This information may include Internet protocol (IP) addresses, browser type, Internet service provider (ISP), referring/exit pages, operating system, date/time stamp, and/or clickstream data. We do link this automatically collected data to other information collected about site visitors.
  • Care2 and its partners use cookies or similar technologies to analyze trends, administer the website, track users' movements around the website, and to gather demographic information about our user base as a whole. You can control the use of cookies at the individual browser level, but if you choose to disable cookies, it may limit your use of certain features or functions on our website or service. To manage Flash cookies, please click here.

Does Care2 sell e-mail addresses to advertisers?

We would only provide user email addresses to nonprofit or advertising partners with the user's direct permission. We respect your privacy and despise spam.

As mentioned above, in some cases you may opt to receive nonprofit partner newsletters or other commercial offers. When you opt to receive such an offer via Care2, we will send your email address and other necessary contact information to the newsletter publisher. Depending on the newsletter, this may result in a fee paid to Care2. Care2 will never offer newsletter subscriptions from, or reveal your address information to, organizations known to be spammers, casinos, or adult-content providers.

Why then do some people receive spam at an email address they have only used on Care2? In many cases, spammers create a "dictionary attack" by combining common names and initials to create a list of email addresses that might or might not work. In many cases, Care2 members send email from a Care2 account's email address to a friend or family member whose computer gets a virus or whose email account is hacked, resulting in private email addresses being revealed to the spammer. In other cases, two people have similar addresses, perhaps differing by only 1-2 characters, and one user makes a typographic mistake that results in the other user's address. The bottom line is that if you receive spam, it did not come from or through Care2. We despise spam, and we do not associate ourselves with spammers.

With regards to e-mail communication with us, we read every message sent to us and do our best to respond quickly. We do save messages that might be needed if the sender contacts us again, but we absolutely do not sell, rent, give, or share e-mail addresses to other companies, unless you have specifically opted to receive such communications.

How does Care2 maintain security regulation compliance?

In compliance with the applicable laws, Care2 commits to resolve complaints about our collection or use of your personal information. EU and Swiss individuals with inquiries or complaints regarding our Privacy Shield policy should first contact our support team by email at support@care2team.com. Care2 has further committed to refer unresolved Privacy Shield complaints to Verasafe, an alternative dispute resolution provider located in the United States. If you do not receive timely acknowledgment of your complaint from us, or if we have not addressed your complaint to your satisfaction, please visit https://www.verasafe.com/about-verasafe/contact-us/ for more information or to file a complaint. The services of Verasafe are provided at no cost to you.

Care2 complies with the EU-U.S. Privacy Shield Framework and Swiss-U.S. Privacy Shield Framework as set forth by the U.S. Department of Commerce regarding the collection, use, and retention of personal information transferred from the European Union and Switzerland to the United States. Care2 has certified to the U.S. Department of Commerce that it adheres to the Privacy Shield Principles. If there is any conflict between the terms in this privacy policy and the Privacy Shield Principles, the Privacy Shield Principles shall govern. To learn more about the Privacy Shield program, and to view our certification, please visit https://www.privacyshield.gov. The EU-U.S. Privacy Shield Framework and Swiss-U.S. Privacy Shield Framework are no longer considered legitimate data transfer mechanisms for personal information from the EU and Switzerland to the U.S. respectively, however Care2 will continue to maintain its EU-U.S. Privacy Shield and Swiss-U.S. Privacy Shield certifications, because we want to continue to honor our commitments to our EU, Swiss and UK clients, because we want to continue to honor our commitments to the U.S. Department of Commerce, and because these frameworks are based on sound data privacy principles which help to protect the personal information of our clients, data subjects and individuals in Switzerland.

Further to our adherence to the EU-U.S. and Swiss-U.S. Privacy Shield Principles, our Data Processing Addendum, available for any of our clients and vendors to sign, includes the Standard Contractul Clauses (SCCs), which the Schrems II court upheld as a valid data transfer mechanism for transfers of personal information from the EU to the U.S. In terms of EU-U.S. personal information transfers, we will proactively take any future measures necessary to ensure that the SCCs continue to function for transfers of EU personal data to Care2. In terms of both EU-U.S. and Swiss-U.S. personal information transfers, we are also monitoring new guidance on EU-U.S. personal information transfers from the EU supervisory authorities and the European Data Protection Board in order to stay abreast of any recommended modifications to the SCCs or our data protection practices, as well as new guidance from the Swiss supervisory authority in terms of Swiss-U.S. personal information transfers.

Care2 is committed to keeping your personal information safe and secure and we have appropriate and proportionate security policies and organisational and technical measures inplace to help protect your information.

This includes corporate policies and staff training regarding how your personal information should be handled, as well as physical security, encryption, and network security for IT infrastructure. Your personal information is only accessible by appropriately trained staff.

Care2 has self-certified with the US Department of Commerce that it adheres to the seven Privacy Shield principles. Care2 is subject to the investigatory and enforcement powers of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). Under certain conditions an individual has the right to invoke binding arbitration. Care2 acknowledges liability in cases of onward transfers to third parties.

How does Care2 secure your information and its data storage?

We follow generally accepted standards to protect the personal information submitted to us, both during transmission and once we receive it. Care2's servers are located at a world-class co-location facility in California, USA. The facility has some of the most powerful physical security systems in the business, from advanced smoke detection and fire suppression systems to 24/7 secured access with motion sensors, video camera surveillance, and security breach alarms. Only qualified Care2 data operation engineers are given access to the building.

Access to the database is restricted. All servers are protected by a firewall and secure data lines. Server access is restricted to qualified Care2 employees, on an as-needed basis to maintain the operation of the website.

Although we maintain strict policies and procedures to safeguard our servers and our customers' data, it is not possible to guarantee security due to the inherent risks of transmitting data over the Internet.

What is Care2's data retention policy?

We may retain your information for as long as your account is active or as needed to provide you services, comply with our legal obligations, resolve disputes, and enforce our agreements.

What else should I know about my privacy?

Please keep in mind that whenever you voluntarily disclose personal information online that information can be collected and used by others. In short, by posting personal information online that is publicly accessible, you may receive unsolicited messages from other parties in return. Furthermore, while we strive to protect your personal information, Care2 cannot ensure or warrant the security of any information you transmit to us over the Internet, and you do so at your own risk. You are solely responsible for maintaining the secrecy of your passwords and/or any account information. Please be careful and responsible whenever you are online.

What happens if changes are made to the privacy policy?

Care2 reserves the right to change the privacy policy, but will notify users of such changes through email and/or by posting a notice on the site. In the event of any material change, this notification will be prior to that change becoming effective. If the change involves the use of a user's personally identifiable information then the notice to users will contain directions on how users can opt-out of the change.

For more information:

Electronic Frontier Foundation - a civil liberties organization working to protect your rights on-line.

Electronic Privacy Information Center - established to focus public attention on emerging civil liberties issues relating to the National Information Infrastructure.

Care2 Customer Support - Care2 attempts to respond to all inquiries within 48 hours.

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Corporate contact information: Care2.com, Inc., 3141 Stevens Creek Blvd. #40394, San Jose, CA 95117. Phone: 650-622-0860

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