Privacy Policy

EFFECTIVE DATE: January 1, 2019

The Council on Franchise Transparency (“CFT”, “we”, “us”, or “our”) operates, hosts, and manages a website, http://www.franchisetransparency.org ( “Website”). This Privacy Policy describes, among other things, the types of information we collect, how we use it, and how we share the information.  Any terms not defined in this Privacy Policy are defined in our Terms of Use (“Terms”).

PLEASE READ THIS PRIVACY POLICY CAREFULLY BECAUSE IT, ALONG WITH OUR TERMS, FORMS A LEGALLY BINDING AGREEMENT BETWEEN YOU AND US.  IF YOU DO NOT AGREE WITH THIS PRIVACY POLICY, YOU MAY NOT USE OUR WEBSITE.

INFORMATION WE COLLECT AND HOW WE USE IT

We use the term “Personal Information” to refer to any information you provide in connection with your use of any of our Website by which you can be personally identified. Personal Information may include such things as your name, street address, telephone number, date of birth, e-mail address and any other information which might reasonably be used to identify you.  We obtain Personal Information from you when you submit it to us. We may use your Personal Information to register or subscribe you for certain features, functions, services, activities, games, promotions and content on our Website (these are referred to as “Content” in our Terms). You may also email us with a question or for more information and we will use your contact information (which includes Personal Information such as an email address) to respond to your question or request.  If you provide or submit your Personal Information to our Website, we will give you the right to review, update and/or delete your Personal Information, subject to our obligations to comply with legal, regulatory our internal audit and record-keeping requirements. We may also use your Personal Information to notify you of updates, promotional offers, or important information about our Website and services.

As part of an SMS/text message service that we provide in connection with a particular campaign, we may collect your cell phone number, your carrier’s name, and the date, time and content of your messages, as well as other information that you provide. We may use this information to contact you and to provide the services you request from us.

When you access or visit our Website, we and our operational service providers may use technology that can recognize, collect and/or transmit information that is associated with your device.  Although the term “cookie” specifically refers to a small text file that is stored on a user’s computer for record-keeping purposes, we will use the term “cookie” to refer generically to any technology that can recognize, collect and/or transmit information about your visits to our Website.  This type of information includes such data as the Internet or web domain that referred you, the type of operating system and browser you are using, the date and time of your visit,data relating to activities on our Website (e.g., so-called ‘click stream’ data) and other technological attributes about your visit to our Website.  This information may be used by us, among other purposes, to analyze trends, administer our Website, track user movements on our Website, and gather aggregate demographic information about visitors so we can continually improve our Website.

We may also use cookies on our Website to recognize a user’s device each time it is used to visit a particular Website and to keep count of how often you return. Cookies can also track how you use our Website, your preferences for features and functions and, for Website that have registration or similar features, cookies can store information such as your user name and password so you don’t have to re-enter them each time you return to visit.

You can disable or turn the cookie feature off by changing the settings on your Internet browser and you can also change the settings to stop your browser from automatically accepting cookies.  Changing these settings may also require you to re-enter certain information each time you visit or attempt to use our Website.

We or our advertising service providers also use data from companies to analyze certain information about your activities on our Website and non-affiliated sites, such as pages visited and search keywords entered, to help determine advertising content that may be of interest to you. This is also referred to as Online Behavioral Advertising (“OBA”).  You may choose not to participate in OBA by opting out through the tools provided by the Digital Advertising Alliance (“DAA”) or by controlling the placement or reading of identifiers that track your data, resetting the identifiers, or, in some cases, deleting the existing cookies placed on your web browser. To opt out through the DAA, please visit http://www.aboutads.info/choices and opt out of online behavioral advertising by other companies. When you choose to use these controls, an opt-out cookie will be placed on the browser you are using. If you use multiple devices or browsers you will need to opt-out on each one. If you choose to use a browser’s setting to delete cookies from that browser, you will delete any opt-out cookie associated with that browser and will need to opt-out again. Opting out does not mean you will no longer receive online advertising. It means that the companies from which you opted out will no longer customize ads based on data on your interests and web usage patterns.

You can opt out from receiving targeted advertising based on data collected via your mobile applications by following your mobile device maker’s most current published instructions, such as the examples below (current as of the date of this version of our Privacy Policy):

Android

  • Open the Google Settings app on your device
  • Select Ads

iOS

  • Devices with iOS 6 and above use Apple’s Advertising Identifier. To learn more about limiting ad tracking using this identifier, visit the Settings menu on your device as follows:
  • iOS 7 or higher – Choose Settings > Privacy >Advertising
  • iOS 6 – Choose Settings > General > About> Advertising

SPONSORS, ADVERTISERS AND OTHER THIRD PARTIES

Our Website may contain or display information from sponsors, advertisers, operational service providers or others (each, a “Third Party” and collectively, “Third Parties”). These Third Parties may make information, goods or services available on our Website, provide opportunities to participate in promotions on our Website, or engage in activities that link or redirect your browser to their website. We may also use Third Parties to display or serve advertising on our Website, as well as for distributing our online, email, messaged or web-based newsletters and other information. Third Parties often also employ cookies, action tags, and other code that may collect people’s information to measure advertising effectiveness and deliver targeted advertising. You should be aware that even if you encounter an advertisement, link or reference to a Third Party website on one of our Website and even if we have a relationship with them, we are not responsible for the practices or policies of their website or any rules they have regarding the use of cookies or collection, or the use or disclosure of your information (including Personal Information).  These practices are within their control and not ours. As such, in such instances, their privacy policies will govern and apply.

This site is being monitored by one or more third-party monitoring software(s), and may capture information about your visit that will help us improve the quality of our service. You may opt-out from the data that https://smartpixl.com is collecting on your visit through a universal consumer options page located at https://smartpixl.com/Unsub/unsub.html

DISCLOSURE TO THIRD PARTIES

Our policy is to not sell, rent, lease, provide or otherwise disclose your Personal Information to unaffiliated entities unless otherwise described in this Privacy Policy. Notwithstanding the foregoing, we may disclose your Personal Information to any Third Party we engage for the purpose of administering, operating, configuring site design, maintaining and providing internal support for our Website and Content. These Third Parties are called “operational service providers,” and they provide internal support to operations and activities and/or for Site design, development, hosting and operations.

We also reserve the right to make your Personal Information available:

  • When we are compelled by a governmental agency, law, regulation, a court or other legal process;
  • If we believe you are, have or may violate or in order to enforce any law, regulation, our Terms;
  • If we believe you are or may be a threat to safety, property, interests or rights of us or others;
  • In order to investigate, respond to or resolve problems or inquiries or defend our interests;
  • In a merger, acquisition, change of control, joint venture or other business combination; or
  • When you otherwise consent

SECURITY

We maintain reasonable standards of security and confidentiality. We also try to limit information access to individuals who need to have such access to perform their responsibilities associated with our Website and the Content. While we strive to protect your Personal Information,we cannot guarantee the security of your Personal Information and your communications when using our Website.

YOUR CHOICES

In general, we provide you with the ability to correct or update your Personal Information. In some instances, some Personal Information may not be changed or deleted by you and requires you to contact us for verification (e.g., birth date, email address, name). In general, we offer you the ability to opt out of receiving commercial emails and other commercial communications from us in the future. Our Website and/or email communications will provide you with instructions and the procedures you can use to opt out when applicable.

YOUR CALIFORNIA PRIVACY RIGHTS

California law permits our customers who are California residents to request and obtain from us information about the personal information (if any) we disclosed to third parties for their direct marketing purposes in the preceding calendar year. If applicable, this information would include a list of the categories of personal information that was shared and the names and addresses of all third parties with which we shared information in the immediately preceding twelve calendar months.  At this time, we do not disclose your personal information with third parties for their direct marketing purposes so this requirement does not apply to us.

CHILDREN

You may not submit your personal information unless you are at least 13 years old.  Children under the age of 13 that have registered with this Website are in violation of our Terms.  If you believe that your child under the age of 13 has provided his or her personal information to us, please notify us immediately by contacting us at [email protected].  You may be required to provide verifiable identification that you are the child’s parent or legal guardian.

CHANGES TO PRIVACY POLICY

We may edit, amend, modify and update our Privacy Policy at any time by posting updated text on or links to our Website.  When we make material changes to our Privacy Policy, we will notify you by posting a notice on our Website. We display the Effective Date at the top of our Privacy Policy so that you will know when there has been a change.  Your continued use of our Website after any such changes constitutes your acceptance to the modified terms and conditions set forth herein.

CONTACT US

For questions about our Privacy Policies please email us at [email protected].

Copyright ©2019 The Council on Franchise Transparency. All Rights Reserved

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