Polity Privacy Policy
Last Modified August 22, 2022
Introduction
Hopstick, LLC. dba Polity (collectively, “Polity”,” we”, “our”, or “us”) respects your privacy and are committed to protecting it through our compliance with this Privacy Policy (“Policy”).
This Policy describes our practices for collecting, using, maintaining, protecting, and disclosing your information through https://polityinc.com/ (our “Website”) (together with the Site, the “Service” or “Services”).
Our mission is to provide local government organizations with specialized consulting services that are specific to public data. A core element of this mission is our commitment to protect your personal information and to be transparent about the data we collect about you, how it is used, and with whom it is shared.
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 terms, your choice is not to use our Services. By accessing or using this Website, you agree to this Privacy Policy. This Policy may change from time to time (see Changes to Our Privacy Policy). Your continued access of our Website or use of our Services after we make changes is deemed to be acceptance of those changes, so please check the Last Modified Date at the top of this Policy, to ensure that you are viewing the most current version of this Policy.
Children's Policy
The Service is general audience and intended for users 18 and older. We do not knowingly collect Personal Information from anyone younger than age 18.
Information We Collect About You and How We Collect It
We collect several types of information from and about users of our Services, such as your name and professional affiliation when you create an account. Other types of information we collect is information related to how you use our platform, which helps us improve our Services.
Information You Provide to Us
The categories of information we collect are:
- Professional Information: We may ask for your title, company name, professional affiliations, and other sector information related to your profession.
- Non-Identifying Information: We also may collect other information, such as zip codes, demographic data, information regarding your use of the Service, and general publicly available data (“Non-Identifying Information”).
Information Collected Automatically
As you navigate through and interact with our Website, We and our third-party service providers, including analytics and third-party content providers, may automatically collect certain information from you whenever you access or interact with the Service.
- Usage Information. Details of your visits to our Website, including which links you clicked on, content response times, location data, logs, and other similar communication data and statistics about your
- Device Information. Information about your computer and internet connection, including your Internet Protocol address, operating system, and browser type.
We may combine this automatically collected log information with other information we collect about you. We do this to improve services we offer you, and to improve marketing, analytics, and site functionality.
Cookies and Other Automatic Data Collection Technologies
Polity and its partners use cookies or similar technologies, which store certain information on your computer and allows us to, among other things, analyze trends, administer the Website, and to gather demographic information about our user base as a whole. The technology used to collect information automatically from Polity Users may include the following:
- Cookies: Like many websites, we and our marketing partners, affiliates, analytics, and service providers use “cookies” to collect information. A cookie is a small data file that we transfer to your computer’s hard disk for record-keeping We use both persistent cookies that remain on your computer or similar device (such as to track your compliance with the Polity Terms of Use) and session ID cookies, which expire at the end of your browser session (for example, to enable certain features of the Service, to better understand how Polity Users interact with the Service and to monitor aggregate usage by Polity Users and web traffic routing on the Service). 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 functionality of the Service. For further information on cookies and how they are used for the Service, please visit our Cookie Policy.
- Web Beacons: We and our marketing partners, affiliates, analytics, and service providers may also employ software technology known as “web beacons” and/or “tracking tags” to help us keep track of what content on our Service is effective and to serve relevant advertising to Web beacons are small graphics with a unique identifier that may be invisible to you, and which are used to track the online activity of Internet users. Web beacons are embedded in the web pages you review or email messages you receive. Web beacons or similar technologies may be used for a number of purposes, including, without limitation, to count visitors to our Service, to monitor how Polity Users navigate the Service, to count how many emails that were sent were actually opened, or to count how many particular articles or links were actually viewed.
- Embedded Scripts: We and our marketing partners, affiliates, analytics, and service providers may also employ software technology known as an Embedded An Embedded Script is programming code that is designed to collect information about your interactions with the Service, such as the links you click on. The code is temporarily downloaded onto your computer or other device and is deactivated or deleted when you disconnect from the Service.
Information Received from Third Parties
We also may receive information about you from third parties. For example, we may supplement the information we collect with outside records or third parties may provide information in connection with a co-marketing agreement or at your request. If we combine the information we receive from others with information we collect through the Service, we will treat the combined information as described in this Privacy Policy. In addition, we and our marketing partners, affiliates, analytics, and service providers may use a variety of other technologies (such as tags) that collect similar information for security and fraud detection purposes and we may use third parties to perform these services on our behalf.
Do Not Track Signal
Do Not Track (DNT) is a privacy preference that users can set in some web browsers, allowing users to opt out of tracking by websites and online services. We do not honor browser requests not to be tracked online (known as “Do Not Track”), but our cookie policy below describes how you can opt out of receiving cookies.
How We Use Your Information
We use information that we collect about you or that you provide to us, including any personal information:
- To provide and improve our Services.
- Address your inquiries.
- To tailor content we display to you and offer we may present to you, both on the Service and elsewhere online.
- To communicate with you and process your requests.
- To administer and develop our business relationship with you and, if applicable, the corporation or other legal entity you represent.
- To communicate and promote to you products, services, offers, and events offered by Polity
- To comply with legal requirements and assist law enforcement.
- To investigate fraud and to enforce our Terms of Use
- To protect the property rights of Polity or a third party.
- To protect the safety of the public or any person.
- To stop any activity we may consider to be, or to pose a risk of being, illegal, fraudulent, unethical or a legally actionable activity.
- For the purposes disclosed at the time you provide your information, and
- As otherwise permitted with your consent.
How We Disclose and Share Your Information
We may share information we receive about you as follows or as otherwise described in this Privacy Policy:
- With other users on Polity
- The information you voluntarily provide on our Site will be publicly accessible unless otherwise indicated.
- With our service providers and operational partners:
- We may employ third party companies and individuals to facilitate our Service, to provide the Service on our behalf, to perform Service-related services (e.g., without limitation, maintenance services, database management, web analytics and online advertising, fraud detection and improvement of Polity’s features) or to assist us in analyzing how our Service is used. These third parties may have access to your Personal Information in order to perform these tasks on our behalf.
- Polity works with (or may in the future work with) network advertisers, ad agencies, analytics service providers and other vendors to provide us with information regarding traffic on the Service, including pages viewed and the actions taken when visiting the Service; to serve our advertisements on other websites, within mobile apps and elsewhere online; and to provide us with information regarding the use of the Service and the effectiveness of our advertisements. These advertising companies may collect and use information (not including your name, address, e-mail address or telephone number) about your visits to the Website and other websites not owned and operated by us, and may also combine this information with other data about your purchases and interests from other online and offline sources, in order to provide advertisements about goods and services that may interest you (as inferred from your online activity).
- We also share usage information about Users of the Website with these companies for the purpose of managing and targeting advertisements and for market research analysis on the Website and other websites. For these purposes, we and our third party advertising companies may note some of the pages you visit on the Website through the use of GIFs. In the course of serving advertisements to the Websites, our third party advertisers may place or recognize a unique ‘cookie’ on your computer. The Websites may post banner ads and other forms of advertisements, and/or links to the websites of affiliate entities or of advertisers or sponsors who are companies that are not owned or operated by us, or our affiliates or subsidiaries. These entities may independently solicit and collect personal information, or send their own cookies and/or clear GIFs to our Users. The data collected is used in order to provide advertisements about goods and services that may be of interest to Users of the Websites and other interactive media and may be used to keep track of user response to each advertisement. We also work with third-party data analytics and online targeting companies. Some of these companies may use non-personal information (not including your name, address, email address or telephone number) about your visits to the Websites and other websites in order to provide data and targeting recommendations based on which we may provide advertisements about goods and services of interest to you.
- Many of the third-party companies we work with are members of the Network Advertising Initiative (NAI), a cooperative on online marketing and analytics companies committed to building consumer awareness and establishing responsible business and data management practices. The NAI has developed a tool that allows consumers to opt out of targeted advertising delivered by NAI members’ ad networks. To learn more about opting out of targeted advertising or to use the tool, go to http://optout.networkadvertising.org/.
- For corporate transactions
- Polity may share information, including Personal Information, with any current or future subsidiaries or affiliates, primarily for business and operational purposes. We may sell, transfer, or otherwise share some or all of our assets, including your Personal Information, in connection with a merger, acquisition, reorganization or sale of assets (including, in each case, as part of the due-diligence process with any potential acquiring entity) or in the event of bankruptcy.
- When required by law
- Polity will share information with government agencies as required by law in response to lawful requests by public authorities, including to meet national security or law enforcement requirements and, including without limitation, in connection with reporting We cooperate with government and law enforcement officials and private parties to enforce and comply with the law. We will disclose information about you to government or law enforcement officials or private parties as we, in our sole discretion, believe necessary or appropriate to respond to claims and legal process (including but not limited to subpoenas), or, at the request of governmental authorities or other third parties conducting an investigation where we determine in our sole discretion the disclosure is necessary to (a) protect the property and rights of Polity or a third party, (b) protect the safety of the public or any person, or (c) prevent or stop activity we may consider to be, or pose a risk of being, illegal, fraudulent, unethical or legally actionable activity. We may also use Device Identifiers to identify Polity Users, and may do so in cooperation with third parties at our discretion.
- With your Consent
- What Happens If You Consent to Receive Information from Third Parties or Request that We Share Your Information: You may be presented with an opportunity to receive information and/or marketing offers from one or more third parties. If you consent at that time to have your Personal Information shared, your Personal Information will be disclosed to that third party (or parties) and will be subject to the privacy policy and practices of that third party. We are not responsible for the privacy policies and practices of third parties, and, if you later decide that you no longer want to receive communications from a third party, you will need to contact that third party directly. You also may request, sometimes through your use of an SNS or similar interactive feature or third party application, that we share information about you with a third party and we will typically do so under those circumstances.
- Sweepstakes, Contests, and Promotions: We may offer sweepstakes, contests, and other promotions (any, a “Promotion”) that may require registration. By participating in a Promotion, you consent to the official rules that govern that Promotion, which may contain specific requirements of you, including, except where prohibited by law, allowing the sponsor(s) of the Promotion to use your name, voice, likeness, or other indicia of persona in advertising or marketing associated with the Promotion. If you choose to enter a Promotion, your Personal Information may be disclosed to third parties or the public in connection with the administration of such Promotion, including, without limitation, in connection with winner selection, prize fulfillment, and as required by law or permitted by the Promotion’s official rules, such as on a winner’s list.
Your Rights and Choices Regarding Your Information
You have one way to exercise control over your information:
- Communications: You also may opt-out of receiving marketing emails from us by following the opt-out instructions provided in those emails. Please note that we reserve the right to send you certain communications relating to your account or use of the Service (for example, administrative and service announcements) via email and other means and these transactional account messages may be unaffected if you opt-out from receiving marketing communications.
California Residents - Your California Privacy Rights
We do not sell personal information to third parties.
The California Consumer Privacy Act of 2018 (CCPA) grants California resident several rights respecting their personal information:
- Right to Access and Delete:
- You may contact us at the contact information provided below to (1) request access to the personal information that we have collected and maintained about you (along with information regarding its use and disclosure) over the past twelve (12) months upon appropriate verification, and (2) have such information deleted, subject to certain exceptions. To exercise any of these rights, please email us at info@polityinc.com for
- Upon request Polity will provide you with information about whether we hold any of your personal information. You are responsible for maintaining the accuracy of the information you submit to us, such as your contact information. You may access, correct, or request deletion of your personal information by making updates to that information through your online account. If you request to access all personal information you’ve submitted, we will respond to your request to access within 30 days or as otherwise required by law. If your information is deleted, then your account may become deactivated.
- We will use commercially reasonable efforts to honor your requests for deletion; however, certain residual information may actively persist on the Service even if you close your In addition, the rights described above may be limited, for example, if fulfilling your request would reveal personal information about another person, or if you ask us to delete information we are required by law to keep or have compelling legitimate interests in keeping (such as for fraud prevention purposes). Your Personal Information may remain in our archives and information you update or delete, or information within a closed account, may persist internally for our administrative purposes, to the extent permitted by law. It is not always possible to completely remove or delete information from our databases. In addition, we typically will not remove information you posted publicly through or on the Service. Bear in mind that neither you nor Polity can delete all copies of information that has been previously shared with others on the Service.
If you are a California resident and you have questions about our practices with respect to sharing information with third parties for their direct marketing purposes and your ability to exercise choice, please contact us at: info@polityinc.com. You must put the statement “Your California Privacy Rights” in the subject field of your email. We are not responsible for notices that are not labeled or sent properly, or do not have complete information.
Security
We use physical, technical and organizational measures designed to protect your information against unauthorized access, theft and loss. We restrict access to your personal information to those employees who need to know that information to service your account or perform their job functions.
Although we take precautions intended to help protect information that we process, no system or electronic data transmission is completely secure. Any transmission of your personal data is at your own risk and we expect that you will use appropriate security measures to protect your personal information.
You are responsible for maintaining the security of your account and the information in your account. We may suspend your use of all or part of the Services without notice if we suspect or detect any breach of security. You understand and agree that we may deliver electronic notifications about breaches of security to the email address on record on your account.
Data Retention
Unless you request that we delete certain information (see Your Rights and Choices Regarding Your Information), We will retain your personal information for the period necessary to fulfill the purposes outlined in this Privacy Policy unless a longer retention period is required or permitted by law.
The criteria used to determine our retention periods include:
- The length of time we have an ongoing relationship with you and provide services to you (for example, for as long as you have an account with us or keep using the Website);
- Whether there is a legal obligation to which we are subject (for example, certain laws require us to keep records of your transactions for a certain period of time before we can delete them)
- Whether retention is advisable; and considering our legal position (such as, for statutes of limitations, litigation or regulatory investigations).
Links to Other Sites
The Services may include links to third-party websites and services that are not operated by us. When you click these links, you will be directed away from the Services. A link to a third-party website or service does not mean that we endorse it or the quality or accuracy of information presented on it. If you decide to visit a third-party website or service, you are subject to its privacy practices and policies, not ours. This Privacy Policy does not apply to any personal information that you provide to these other websites and services.
Social Networking Services
When you connect with us through a social media platform, we may, depending on your privacy settings, receive some information from your social media account, and what we collect depends on your privacy settings with that social networking service. The Service may also allow you to “like” or share content with social networking services.
You may register to join the Service directly via the Service or by logging into your account with a third party social networking service (“SNS”) via our Service (e.g., Twitter, Google, LinkedIn and other third party services that let you sign in using your existing credentials with those services). If you choose to register via an SNS, or to later link your account with the Service to your account with an SNS, we will use the Personal Information you have provided to the SNS (such as your name, email address, gender and other information you make publicly available via the SNS) to create your account. Note that the information we collect from and through an SNS may depend on the privacy settings you have set with the SNS and the permissions you grant to us in connection with linking your account with the Service to your account with an SNS. Other than what we may share with the SNS as described below, the Personal Information an SNS has about you is obtained by the SNS independent of our Service, and Polity is not responsible for it.
Changes to This Policy
Polity may update this Privacy Policy at any time and any changes will be effective upon posting. In the event that there are material changes to the way we treat your Personal Information, we will update the Last Modified date at the top of this Policy upon becoming effective. We may also notify you by email, at our discretion.
How to Contact Polity
If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy, please contact us at info@polityinc.com