Privacy

NOTICE CONCERNING CHILDREN

Our Site and services are available for use by those over the age of majority in their jurisdiction of residence or minors with the consent of a parent, legal guardian or other person as permitted under applicable law. If a parent or guardian believes that this Site unknowingly collected Personal Information of a minor without the required consent, please contact us at once at privacy@rootandseed.com and we will do our best to immediately remove any and all such information from our database

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WHAT IS PERSONAL INFORMATION?

Privacy laws in Canada generally define “Personal Information” as any information about an identifiable individual.  This includes information that we can reasonably use on its own, or with other information we have, to directly or indirectly identify an individual. Personal Information generally does not include business contact information, including your name, title, or business contact information.  Personal Information also generally does not include information that has been anonymized in a manner that removes all direct and indirect identifiers so that the information can no longer be associated with an identifiable individual (“Anonymous Information”).

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WHAT INFORMATION DO WE COLLECT AND HOW?

In operating the Site, we collect Personal Information from you in the following ways:

1. When you voluntarily choose to create an account and/or join our email list, we collect your name and email address. Any and all communications sent from us or our Site will clearly state who the email is from, what it is for, and will have a clear method for contacting the sender. You can unsubscribe from marketing and promotion emails at any time by using the link provided in every email. If you have any trouble unsubscribing, email privacy@rootandseed.com and request to be removed. Note that even after you have unsubscribed, we will continue to send you emails with transactional or account information or information regarding updates to our Privacy Policy or Terms of Use. Once you have created an account you can proceed with using the application and engaging with family members in discussing your family roots and seeds.

2. If you choose to contact us via the “contact” page, you will be required to provide us with your name and email address. We reserve the right to retain the content of your email messages along with your email address and our responses so that we may effectively address your question or concern.

3. If you leave a comment on a blog post or podcast episode, you may be asked for a name, email address, and other information.  You can control what Personal Information you choose to divulge in your comments, keeping in mind that this information is publicly available to other users of the Site.

4. If you decide to use the audio and video recording option in our application, the recordings will not be shared by us, unless we receive your explicit consent. We may use artificial intelligence and machine learning to convert your audio and video recordings into text. Such converted recordings will be used to personalize your experience and allow us to tailor our services to better suit your preferences as a user of our Site. You, as the registered user and recorder of the audio or video, are responsible for informing others in the conversation that they are being recorded. Once a recording is downloaded by the recorder, we do not have any control over its distribution. Once you delete your account and cease application use, the recordings you have created will also be deleted.

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The legal basis for this processing Personal Information is your consent and our legitimate interests, namely the proper administration of our Site and business. You are not required to provide us with Personal Information to visit our Site, however, your use of the Site or our services may be limited.

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Transactional Data

We may process information relating to transactions, including purchases of goods and services, that you enter into with us and/or through our Site (“Transactional Data”). The Transactional Data may include your contact details, your card details and the transaction details. Transactional Data may be processed for the purpose of supplying the purchased goods and services and keeping proper records of those transactions. Payment processing on our Site is handled by our ecommerce and payment services providers, WIX. We will share Transactional Data with our payment services providers only to the extent necessary for the purposes of processing your payments, refunding such payments and dealing with complaints and queries relating to such payments and refunds. You can find information about the payment services providers' privacy policies and practices at https://www.wix.com/about/privacy.

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Internet-Based Advertising

This Site is affiliated with WIX for the purposes of placing advertising on the Site, and WIX will collect and use certain data for advertising purposes. To learn more about WIX’s data usage, click here: https://www.wix.com/about/privacy.

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Technical Information

When you visit our Site, we automatically collect the following information, which we refer to as “Technical Information”. Technical Information is generally used on an aggregate and anonymized basis as Anonymous Information, but if we can or do use your Technical Information to identify you, we treat such Technical Information as Personal Information in accordance with this Privacy Policy. We use WIX and Google Analytics to analyze the use of our website, and Google Firebase SDK for user authentication and analytics. [NTD: Review and revise the following list as appropriate to reflect your actual practices – only include the technical information that is actually collected.]

• Usage details. We may automatically collect certain details of your access to and use of our Site, including traffic data, location data, logs and other communication data and resources that you interact with on or through the Site, such as individual pages or products that you view and what websites or search terms referred you to the Site. The information gathered relating to our Site is used to create reports about the use of our Site.

• Device information. We may collect information about your device and internet connection, including the device’s unique device identifier, IP address, MAC address, operating system, browser type, mobile network information, and the device’s telephone number (where applicable).

• Stored information and files. The Site also may, with your authorization, access metadata and other information associated with other files stored on your device. This may include, for example, text, photographs, audio and video clips, personal contacts, and address book information.

• Location information. If you permit us to identify your location when using the Site, we will have access to your location and time zone.  We do not collect real-time information about the location of your device. Any location information collected will be anonymized.

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The technologies we use for this automatic data collection may include:

• Cookies (or mobile cookies). Cookies are data files that are placed on your device or computer and often include an anonymous unique identifier. For more information about cookies, and how to disable cookies on your browser, visit https://www.allaboutcookies.org/. When using an app, it may be possible to refuse to accept mobile cookies by activating the appropriate setting on your smartphone. However, if you disable browser cookies or refuse to accept mobile cookies, you may be unable to use certain features or access certain parts of the Site. We use cookies for the following purposes:

  • authentication: we use cookies to identify you when you visit our Site and as you navigate our Site;

  • status: we use cookies to help us to determine if you are logged into our Site;

  • personalization: we use cookies to store information about your preferences and to personalize the Site for you;

  • security: we use cookies as an element of the security measures used to protect user accounts, including preventing fraudulent use of login credentials, and to protect our Site and services generally;

  • advertising: we use cookies to help us to display advertisements that will be relevant to you; and

  • analysis: we use cookies to help us analyze the use and performance of our Site and services.

• Log files. Log files track actions occurring on the Site, and collect data including your IP address, MAC address, browser type, Internet service provider, referring/exit pages, and date/time stamps.

• Web beacons. Small electronic files known as web beacons (also referred to as clear gifs, pixel tags, and single-pixel gifs) permit us, for example, to count users who have visited certain pages and other related statistics (for example, recording the popularity of certain content and verifying system and server integrity).

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HOW DO WE USE YOUR INFORMATION?

Personal Information

We collect and use Personal Information primarily for the following purposes: 

• to fulfill the purposes for which you provided it or that were described when it was collected, or any other purpose for which you consented;

• to provide, personalize and improve our services;

• to allow you to set up a user account and profile;

• to allow other users with whom you have invited to share recordings with to contact or communicate with you;

• to respond to your communications and inquiries;

• to provide you with marketing and promotional material (if we have your consent in accordance with applicable law);

• to meet legal, regulatory and security requirements under applicable laws; and

• to investigate any violations of, and enforce compliance with, our Terms of Use.

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We do not collect more Personal Information than we require for the purposes for which Personal Information is being collected, unless we are required or permitted by law to collect additional information. We will notify the individual from whom the information is collected of the purposes for which we are collecting the information.  This notice will be provided at or before the time that we collect the Personal Information.  Depending on the way in which Personal Information is collected, this may be done orally or in writing.  Other than as required or allowed by law, your Personal Information will not be used for any other purpose without your consent.

• We retain your Personal Information for as long as necessary to fulfill the purposes for which we collected the information or as required by law. We maintain a records retention and destruction program to destroy Personal Information when it is no longer needed or required.

• We may use both manual and automated systems, such as machine learning and artificial intelligence, to: analyze your Personal Information and Technical Information to improve our Site; personalize your experience; automate certain aspects of the Site; aggregate, de-identify or anonymize your information; provide you certain features; and protect the safety and security of our Site.

 

Technical Information

Technical Information is used for the following purposes:

• for Site and system administration purposes;

• to improve the Site;

• to conduct internal reviews of the number of visitors to the Site;

• to help us better understand how users interact with our Site;

• to respond to specific requests from users; and

• to protect the security or integrity of our Site when necessary.

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CHOICES YOU HAVE

You can always opt not to disclose Personal Information to us, but keep in mind some Personal Information may be needed to register for our services or to take advantage of some of our special features.

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You are always in control of which users you share your Personal Information with. When you share a recording with another user / share a private link, they do not have full access to all of your recordings if you share only one recording with them. In addition, you can, at any point, remove a user from a recording you’ve shared with them. This will revoke their ability to have access to the Personal Information that you have chosen to share within that particular recording. We are not responsible for media or information that has been recorded, kept, or used in any way by a user through screenshots, recording devices or other third-party software. We can only stop sharing a recording with a person on our Site and we do not manage any information or media that has been copied from our Site into another application or third-party software.

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Any Personal Information you voluntarily disclose online on a public forum or public comments becomes publicly available, and can be collected and used by others. You should think carefully about what you make public, especially if it is sensitive information.

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AFFILIATE LINKS AND LINKS TO OTHER WEBSITES

We have affiliate links throughout our Site where we deem appropriate and we will earn a commission if you purchase products through those links. We use many of the products and recommend them but we certainly don’t own and have not used all of the products. Please let us know if you have any questions about any products or affiliate links you encounter on our Site by contacting hello@rootandseed.com.

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Our Site may contain links to other websites of interest. However, once you have used these links to leave our Site, you should note that we do not have any control over other websites and they are not governed by this Privacy Policy. Therefore, we cannot be responsible for the protection and privacy of any information which you provide while visiting such websites. We encourage you to familiarize yourself with the privacy statement applicable to the website in question.

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DISCLAIMERS

Sale of Business or Assets

In the event that the Site or substantially all of its assets is sold or disposed of as a going concern, whether by merger, sale of assets or otherwise, or in the event of an insolvency, bankruptcy or receivership, the information we have collected about you may be disclosed in connection with a prospective and completed transaction, in accordance with applicable law.

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Changes to the Privacy Policy

We may change this Privacy Policy from time to time. The most recent version of the Privacy Policy will always be posted on the Site, with the “Effective Date” posted at the top of the Policy. We may revise and update this Privacy Policy if our practices change, as technology changes, or as we add new services or change existing ones. If we make any material changes to our Privacy Policy or how we handle your Personal Information, or we are going to use any Personal Information in a manner that is materially different from that stated in our Privacy Policy at the time we collected such information, we will give you a reasonable opportunity to consent to the change. If you do not consent to the revised Privacy Policy, you should stop using our Site and services. By using our Site or services after the Effective Date, you are deemed to consent to our then-current Privacy Policy.

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Privacy Policy for People Outside of Canada

This Privacy Policy is governed by the federal laws of Canada and applicable provincial laws. By submitting Personal Information to us, you understand that your Personal Information will be subject to the federal laws of Canada and applicable provincial laws.

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Storage of Data Outside of Canada

Your Personal Information may be processed or stored by us or our service providers outside of Canada. We require that our service providers safeguard your Personal Information in manners consistent with Canadian privacy laws. However, if your Personal Information is processed or stored outside of Canada, it will also be subject to the laws of the country in which it is used or stored and may be accessible without notice to you by the courts, law enforcement and national security authorities of such country.

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You can obtain more information about our policies and practices with respect to the use of non-Canadian service providers by contacting us as described below under the “Contacting Us” heading. 

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How We Protect Your Personal Information

We take administrative, technical and physical measures to safeguard your Personal Information against unauthorized access, use or disclosure, and loss, theft or misuse. This includes limiting access of employees to, and the use of, your Personal Information through the use of passwords and graduated levels of clearance. We take physical and technological precautions to ensure that the computer servers on which your Personal Information is stored and archived are secure and that access to such servers is protected. We educate our employees with respect to their obligations to protect your Personal Information and we require any third-party service providers to take comparable steps to ensure the protection of any of your Personal Information that is shared with them.

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Your Rights Under the GDPR

As we value your privacy, we only collect your Personal Information that we have a purpose and lawful basis for doing so. Under the GDPR you have the following data protection rights that you can exercise free of charge;

• Access – the right to be provided with a copy of your Personal Information (the right of access).

• Rectification – the right to require us to correct any mistakes in your Personal Information.

• To be forgotten – the right to require us to delete your Personal Information - in certain situations.

• Restriction of processing – the right to require us to restrict processing of your Personal Information – in certain circumstances (e.g. if you contest the accuracy of the data).

• Data portability – the right to receive the Personal Information you provided to us, in a structured, commonly used and machine-readable format and/or transmit that data to a third party – in certain situations.

• To object – the right to object 1) at any time to your Personal Information being processed for direct marketing (including profiling) and 2) in certain other situations to our continued processing of your Personal Information (e.g. processing carried out for the purpose of our legitimate interests).

• Not to be subject to automated individual decision-making – the right not to be subject to a decision based solely on automated processing (including profiling) that produces legal effects concerning you or similarly significantly affects you.

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If you would like to exercise any of these rights, please see below our contact information. Let us know what right you want to exercise and the information to which your request relates.