Privacy Policy

Date of last revision: August 26, 2024

This privacy notice for HBCU Community, Inc. ("HBCU Community," "we," "us," or "our"), describes how and why we might collect, store, use, and/or disclose ("process") your information when you use our Service ("Service"), such as when you:

  1. Visit our website at http://thehbcu.community, or any website of ours that links to this privacy notice; and/or
  2. Engage with us in other related ways, including any sales, marketing, or events.

Summary of Key Points

This summary provides key points from our privacy notice, but you can find out more details about any of these topics by clicking the link following each key point or by using our table of contents below to find the section you are looking for. You can also click here to go directly to our table of contents.

What personal information do we collect? When you visit, use, or navigate our Service, we may collect personal information depending on how you interact with HBCU Community and the Service, the choices you make, and the products and features you use.

Do we receive any personal information from third parties? We do not receive any personal information from third parties. However, we may receive information about you from other users of the Service.

Why do we collect personal information? We collect, use, and disclose personal information to provide, improve, and administer our Service, communicate with you, for security and fraud prevention, for marketing purposes, and to comply with law. We do not sell your personal information. We may also collect, use, or disclose personal information for other purposes with your consent.

In what situations and with which types of parties do we disclose personal information? We may disclose information in specific situations and with specific categories of third parties.

How do users disclose information on HBCU Community? Your public profile, which is customizable, is available to other users on the platform. Additionally, you may optionally choose to disclose other information to certain users by posting content on the platform.

How do we protect personal information? We have organizational and technical processes and procedures in place designed to protect your personal information. However, no electronic transmission over the internet or information storage technology can be guaranteed to be 100% secure, so we cannot promise or guarantee that hackers, cybercriminals, or other unauthorized third parties will not be able to defeat our security and improperly collect, access, steal, or modify your information.

What are your rights? Depending on where you are located geographically, the applicable privacy law may mean you have certain rights regarding your personal information.

How can you exercise your rights? The easiest way to exercise your rights is by contacting us using the details listed in the “How Can You Contact Us About This Notice” section below.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

1. WHAT INFORMATION DO WE COLLECT?

Personal information you disclose to us.

In Short: We collect personal information that you provide to us.

We collect personal information that you voluntarily provide to us when you register on the Service, express an interest in obtaining information about us or our Service, when you participate in activities on the Service, or otherwise when you contact us.

Personal information provided by you. The personal information that we collect depends on the context of your interactions with us and the Service, the choices you make, and the features you use. The personal information we collect may include the following:

  1. Service usage
  2. Email(s)
  3. Name(s)
  4. Social media handles
  5. Education history
  6. Employment history

All personal information that you provide to us must be true, complete, and accurate, and you must notify us of any changes to such personal information.

Information automatically collected.

In Short: Some information — such as your Internet Protocol (IP) address and/or browser and device characteristics — is collected automatically when you use our Service.

We automatically collect certain information when you visit, use, or navigate the Service. This information does not reveal your specific identity (like your name or contact information) but may include device and usage information, such as your IP address, browser and device characteristics, operating system, language preferences, referring URLs, device name, country, location, information about how and when you use our Service, and other technical information. This information is primarily needed to maintain the security and operation of our Service, and for our internal analytics and reporting purposes.

We may collect this information through cookies and similar technologies.

The information we collect includes:

  1. Log and Usage Data. Log and usage data is service-related, diagnostic, usage, and performance information our servers automatically collect when you access or use our Service and which we record in log files. Depending on how you interact with us, this log data may include your IP address, device information, browser type, and settings and information about your activity in the Service (such as the date/time stamps associated with your usage, pages and files viewed, searches, and other actions you take such as which features you use), device event information (such as system activity, error reports (sometimes called "crash dumps"), and hardware settings).
  2. Device Data. We collect device data such as information about your computer, phone, tablet, or other device you use to access the Service. Depending on the device used, this device data may include information such as your IP address (or proxy server), device and application identification numbers, location, browser type, hardware model, internet service provider (ISP) and/or mobile carrier, operating system, and system configuration information.
  3. Location Data. We collect location data, including information about your device's location, which can be either precise or imprecise. How much information we collect depends on the type and settings of the device you use to access the Service. For example, we may use GPS and other technologies to collect geolocation data that tells us your current location (based on your IP address). You can opt out of allowing us to collect this information either by refusing access to the information or by disabling your Location setting on your device. However, if you choose to opt out, you may not be able to use certain aspects of the Service.

2. WHY DO WE USE PERSONAL INFORMATION?

In Short: We use personal information to provide, administer, and improve our Service, communicate with you, for security and fraud prevention, to conduct research and development, and to comply with law. We may also process your information for other purposes with your consent.

We use personal information:

  1. To operate and administer our Service.

We will use your personal information to operate and administer our Service in accordance with our contractual terms and conditions or to take steps to enter into a contract with you at your request. Depending on how you interact with our Service, we will use your personal information to provide, operate, and maintain our Service and business, including to facilitate account creation, authentication maintenance, and to otherwise manage user accounts.

  1. To communicate with you about our Service.

To perform our contractual obligations, or when it is in our legitimate business interests, we will use personal information to respond to your requests, provide customer support, and communicate with you about our Service, including by sending announcements, updates, security alerts, and support and administrative messages.

  1. To improve, monitor, personalize, and protect our Service

It is in our legitimate business interests to improve and keep our Service safe for our users, which includes:

  1. To understanding your needs and interests, and personalize your experience with the Service and our communications;
  2. troubleshooting, testing and research and to keep the Service secure; and
  3. investigating and protecting against fraudulent,harmful, unauthorized, or illegal activity.
  1. For marketing and advertising.

We and our advertising partners may collect and use your personal information for marketing and advertising purposes, as permitted by law. You may opt out of our marketing communications, as described in Section 9 below. We do not sell your personal information.

Except where consent is required, we undertake such marketing and advertising on the basis of our legitimate business interests. Where we seek your consent, you may withdraw your consent at any time.

  1. To measure the effectiveness of advertising campaigns to promote our Service.

Except where we rely on your consent, it is in our legitimate interests to use your personal information to track the effectiveness of advertising campaigns.

  1. For compliance and protection.

We may use your personal information to comply with legal obligations, and to defend us against legal claims or disputes, including to:

  1. protect our, your or others’ rights, privacy, safety or property (including by making and defending legal claims);
  2. audit our internal processes for compliance with legal and contractual requirements and internal policies;
  3. enforce the terms and conditions that govern the Service;
  4. prevent, identify, investigate, and deter fraudulent, harmful, unauthorized, unethical or illegal activity, including cyberattacks and identity theft; and
  5. comply with applicable laws, lawful requests, and legal process, such as to respond to subpoenas or requests from government authorities.
  1. For research and development.

We may create and use de-identified information in our legitimate business interests, including to analyze the effectiveness of ourService, to improve and add features to our Service, and to analyze the general behavior and characteristics of users of our Service. We may use this anonymous, aggregated, or de-identified data and disclose it to third parties for our lawful business purposes.

3. WHEN AND WITH WHOM DO WE SHARE YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION?

In Short: We may disclose information in specific situations described in this section and/or with the following categories of third parties.

Vendors, Consultants, and Other Third-Party Service Providers. We may disclose personal information to third-party vendors, service providers, contractors, or agents (“third parties”) who perform service for us or on our behalf and require access to such information to do that work. We have contracts in place with our third parties, which are designed to help safeguard your personal information. This means that they cannot use or disclose your personal information, except to provide service to us or on our behalf, unless we have instructed them to do so.

The categories of third parties to which we may disclose personal information include the following:

  1. Testing tools
  2. User account registration & authentication service
  3. Product engineering & design tools
  4. Data storage service providers
  5. Data analytics and advertising technology service
  6. Communication & collaboration tools
  7. Performance monitoring tools

Professional advisors. We may disclose personal information to professional advisors, such as lawyers, auditors, bankers, and insurers, where necessary in the course of the professional service that they render to us.

Authorities and others. We may disclose personal information to law enforcement, government authorities, and private parties, as we believe in good faith to be necessary or appropriate for the compliance and protection purposes described above.

We also may need to disclose your personal information in the following situations:

  1. Business Transfers. We may disclose or transfer your information in connection with, or during negotiations of, any merger, sale of company assets, financing, or acquisition of all or a portion of our business to another company.

4. HOW DO USERS DISCLOSE THEIR INFORMATION?

In Short: Your public profile information, which is customizable, is available to other users on the platform.

Your public profile is configurable by you. The profile contains a name and optionally includes other information such as a profile picture, bio, social media handles, education history, work history, and your skills and interests. This public profile is available to be viewed by other users on the platform. Your contact information is only visible to you and is never displayed to other users, unless you explicitly disclose it.

In some cases, hosts are event sponsors or marketing partners – if you choose to RSVP to their events, you will disclose your public profile and any questionnaire responses you choose to provide. Hosts may use the information you disclose to them for their own purposes, subject to the limitations in our Terms & Conditions.

The Terms & Conditions prohibit our hosts, event sponsors and marketing partners from downloading any information from HBCU Community for marketing purposes, or contacting users outside our platform.

5. HOW LONG DO WE KEEP YOUR INFORMATION?

In Short: We keep your information for as long as necessary to fulfill the purposes outlined in this privacy notice unless otherwise required by law.

Where required under applicable laws, we retain personal information only for as long as is necessary to fulfill the purposes for which it was collected and processed, in accordance with applicable laws and regulatory obligations or until you withdraw your consent (where applicable).

To determine the appropriate retention period for personal information, we consider the amount, nature, and sensitivity of the personal information, the potential risk of harm from unauthorized use or disclosure of personal information, the purposes for which we use personal information and whether we can achieve those purposes through other means, and the applicable legal and regulatory requirements.

6. HOW DO WE PROTECT PERSONAL INFORMATION?

In Short: We aim to protect your personal information through a system of organizational and technical security measures.

We have implemented technical and organizational security measures designed to protect the security of any personal information we process. However, despite our safeguards and efforts to secure your information, no electronic transmission over the Internet or information storage technology can be guaranteed to be 100% secure, so we cannot promise or guarantee that hackers, cybercriminals, or other unauthorized third parties will not be able to defeat our security and improperly collect, access, steal, or modify your information. Transmission of personal information to and from our Service is at your own risk. You should only access the Service within a secure environment.

7. DO WE COLLECT INFORMATION FROM MINORS?

In Short: We do not knowingly collect data from or market to children under 18 years of age.

We do not knowingly solicit data from or market to children under 18 years of age. By using the Service, you represent that you are at least 18 or that you are the parent or guardian of such a minor and consent to such minor dependent’s use of the Service. If we learn that personal information from users less than 18 years of age has been collected, we will deactivate the account and take reasonable measures to promptly delete such data from our records. If you become aware of any data we may have collected from children under age 18, please contact us at hello@thehbcu.community.

8. MANAGING YOUR ACCOUNT

If you would at any time like to review or change the information in your account or terminate your account, you can:

  1. Contact us using the contact information provided in the “How Can You Contact Us About This Notice” section below.

Upon your request to terminate your account, we will deactivate or delete your account and information from our active databases. However, we may retain some information in our files to prevent fraud, troubleshoot problems, assist with any investigations, enforce our legal terms, and/or comply with applicable legal requirements.

9. YOUR PRIVACY RIGHTS AND CHOICES

Personal information requests. We also offer you choices that affect how we handle the personal information that we control. Depending on your location and the nature of your interactions with our Service, you may request the following in relation to personal information:

  1. Information about how we have collected and used personal information. We have made this information available to you without having to request it by including it in this Privacy Policy.
  2. Access to a copy of the personal information that we have collected about you. Where applicable, we will provide the information in a portable, machine-readable, readily usable format.
  3. Correction of personal information that is inaccurate or out of date.
  4. Deletion of personal information that we no longer need to provide the Service or for other lawful purposes.
  5. Withdrawal of consent, where we have collected and processed your personal information with your consent. Withdrawing your consent will not affect the lawfulness of any processing we conducted prior to your withdrawal, nor will it affect processing of your personal information conducted in reliance on lawful processing grounds other than consent.
  6. Additional rights, such as to object to and request that we restrict our use of personal information.

To make a request, please email us as provided in the “How Can You Contact Us About This Notice” section below. We may ask for specific information from you to help us confirm your identity. Depending on where you reside, you may be entitled to empower an authorized agent to submit requests on your behalf. We will require authorized agents to confirm their identity and authority, in accordance with applicable laws. You are entitled to exercise the rights described above free from discrimination.

In some instances, your choices may be limited, such as where fulfilling your request would impair the rights of others, our ability to provide a service you have requested, or our ability to comply with our legal obligations and enforce our legal rights.

Right to complain. Depending on where you reside, such as if you reside in the European Economic Area ("EEA”) orUnited Kingdom ("UK”), you may have the right to complain to a data protection regulator where you live or work, or where you feel a violation has occurred.

Online tracking opt-out. There are a number of ways to opt out of having your online activity and device data collected through our Service, which we have summarized below:

  1. Opt out. You can opt out of third-party cookies as described in our Cookie Policy.
  2. Blocking cookies in your browser. Most browsers let you remove or reject cookies. To do this, follow the instructions in your browser settings. Many browsers accept cookies by default until you change your settings. For more information about cookies, including how to see what cookies have been set on your device and how to manage and delete them, visit www.allaboutcookies.org.
  3. Using privacy plug-ins or browsers. You can block our Service from setting cookies by using a browser with privacy features, like Brave, or installing browser plugins like Privacy Badger, DuckDuckGo, Ghostery or uBlockOrigin, and configuring them to block cookies/trackers.

Note that because these opt-out mechanisms are specific to the device or browser on which they are exercised, you will need to opt out on every browser and device that you use.

If you have questions or comments about your privacy rights, you may email us at hello@thehbcu.community

10. INTERNATIONAL DATA TRANSFERS

You will provide personal information directly to our Service in the United States. We may also transfer personal information to our affiliates and service providers in theUnited States and/or other jurisdictions. Please note that such jurisdictions may not provide the same protections as the data protection laws in your home country.

When we engage in cross-border data transfers, we will ensure that relevant safeguards are in place to afford adequate protection for personal information, and we will comply with applicable data protection laws, in particular by relying on an EU Commission or UK government adequacy decision or on contractual protections for the transfer of personal information.

For more information about how we transfer personal information internationally, please contact us as set out in the “How Can You Contact Us About This Notice” section below.

11. CONTROLS FOR DO-NOT-TRACK FEATURES

Most web browsers and some mobile operating systems and mobile applications include a Do-Not-Track ("DNT") feature or setting you can activate to signal your privacy preference not to have data about your online browsing activities monitored and collected. At this stage, no uniform technology standard for recognizing and implementing DNT signals has been finalized. As such, we do not currently respond to DNT browser signals or any other mechanism that automatically communicates your choice not to be tracked online. If a standard for online tracking is adopted that we must follow in the future, we will inform you about that practice in a revised version of this privacy notice.

12. JOB APPLICANTS

When you visit the "Jobs" tab of the website, we collect the information that you provide to us in connection with your job application. This includes business and personal contact information, professional credentials and skills, educational and work history, and other information of the type that may be included in a resumé or CV. This may also include diversity information that you voluntarily provide. We use this information to facilitate our recruitment activities and process employment applications, such as by evaluating a job candidate for an employment activity, to monitor recruitment statistics, and to respond to surveys. We may also use this information to provide improved administration of the Service, and as otherwise necessary (a) to comply with relevant laws or to respond to subpoenas or warrants served on us; (b) to protect and defend our or others’ rights or property; (c) in connection with a legal investigation; and/or (d) to investigate or assist in preventing any violation or potential violation of the law, this Privacy Notice, or our Terms of Service.

13. DO WE MAKE UPDATES TO THIS NOTICE?

In Short: Yes, we will update this notice as necessary to stay compliant with relevant laws.

We may update this privacy notice from time to time. The updated version will be indicated by an updated "Date of last revision" and the updated version will be effective as soon as it is accessible. If we make material changes to this privacy notice, we may notify you either by prominently posting a notice of such changes or by directly sending you a notification. We encourage you to review this privacy notice frequently to be informed of how we are protecting your information.

14. HOW CAN YOU CONTACT US ABOUT THIS NOTICE?

If you have questions or comments about this notice, you may email us at hello@thehbcu.community.