You may know that there are laws about how businesses can collect and use information from their customers, app users, or anyone visiting their website. These laws set different requirements, but they all relate to the same idea, which is that you have the right to know what information you're sharing with us, what we're doing with it, and why. When the information that we collect identifies you or your household—or if it could identify you or your household—it's called "personal data." We want to and are required to protect your personal data. Our Privacy Policy explains how we try to do so, but it's a long document with a lot to discuss. So, you can:
Go to the section that has the topic you're interested in;
Use a keyword search for your topic; or
Get in touch with us to ask a question, ask us to show you the data we have about you, or ask us to delete your personal data.
1. General Statements
1.1 This is the Privacy Policy for Growthware, Inc., but we’ll refer to ourselves as “Growthware,” or “the Company.”
1.2 We have a Privacy Policy for a few reasons. First, it’s required by law. Second, and more importantly, we want you to understand how we use data so you can make an informed decision about how you share with us, what you share with us, and how we use your information. Finally, our Privacy Policy sets internal rules for how we use data and it holds us accountable: if we don’t tell you what we’re doing here, in the Privacy Policy, we won’t do it at all unless we specifically obtain your permission.
1.3 We want this Privacy Policy to be understandable on its own, but there are concepts, terms, and phrases that have specialized meaning because they come directly from privacy laws. You can look at the “Further Reading” section to get a clearer idea of what these terms mean. 1.4 We operate in more than one country and specific laws in many places require that specific things are included within a privacy policy. We believe that including all these requirements throughout a privacy policy makes it harder for normal people to read. As such, we made the decision to write this Privacy Policy in the clearest way that we can and included the specific international legal requirements in the “International Rights” section at the end of this Privacy Policy. 1.5 In some sections below we refer to “GDPR art.” and then mention some numbers and letters. Where we do this, we are referencing a specific article within the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (or GDPR) that permits us to collect and use your data in a specific way. We do this for two reasons: (1) because we are required to under GDPR and (2) because GDPR is generally considered to be the one of the highest standards of privacy law in the world and we want you to know that, irrespective of where you live, we are applying the highest standards when it comes to your personal data.
2. Information About Growthware and this privacy policy
2.1 This Privacy Policy outlines how Growthware collects and processes your personal data through your use of Growthware’s website, app, or any other services sponsored or controlled by Growthware (an in-person survey, for instance). In other words, if we’re collecting personal data in any form, this Privacy Policy applies.
2.2 Along those lines, Growthware is the “Controller” of the personal data it collects, which means we are the entity that decides how to collect, process, and use the personal data.
2.3 We’ll provide links to this Privacy Policy wherever we can – on our websites, in the app, on another website before you take a survey, etc. You should read this Privacy Policy, think about it, ask questions, and decide if you’re comfortable with it. Also read our Terms and Conditions, which control how we provide our services, and any other notices or policies we post, so that you can make an informed decision about interacting with us.
2.4 When we make a change to this Privacy Policy, we’ll post a notice for you to review. This Privacy Policy was last changed on 1 January, 2023.
2.5 We are not responsible, though, for links to third party sites that we present to you, either on this website or in the app. Once you access sites or apps via those links, our Privacy Policy no longer applies, and so you’ll need to read their privacy policies as well.
3. What Data Are We Collecting About You?
3.1 Not all data is “personal data” under the law, but a lot of it is, and more than you might think. Because we operate in more than one country, we’ve taken the approach that the broadest definition of personal data is best, because it allows us to explain what we collect more simply. And so, for Growthware’s purposes, personal data is: Any information that can, either alone or with other information, be used to identify an actual human person or their household.
3.2 These are the categories of personal data that we collect: • "Basic Data" means your name, your email address, your physical address, your phone number, your gender identification, and your verified age. Basic Data is collected only if you elect to provide it to Growthware in the course of using the Growthware website or Growthware app. You may be required to provide Basic Data to use some of Growthware’s services, such as completing purchases from Growthware’s website or entering promotions.
"Purchase and Warranty Data" is all Basic Data plus credit card or payment information, age verification information and any ID you’ve used to verify your age, your ID, your Growthware ID, any claims or issues you've reported to us, and any other information related to your purchase of a service from us. Purchase and Warranty Data is collected only if you elect to provide it to Growthware in the course of using the Growthware website or customer support services. You may be required to provide Purchase and Warranty Data to use some of Growthware’s services, such as completing purchases from Growthware’s website, receiving customer support and making a warranty claim. • "Diagnostic Data" means all the basic information we collect about your use of a Growthware website or the Growthware app and how well they are working. This includes, for example, when you log into a Growthware service, features used, when you open or close any Growthware app, the app version that you have installed and the app features that you use. As Diagnostic Data is part of Product Data, Diagnostic Data is collected automatically if you download and use a Growthware app. Diagnostic Data does not include Usage Data.
"Technical Data" means any information we collect as we operate our websites and apps, like your IP address when you connect to our websites, your mobile device identifier, what browser you used to access our site and what operating system you're using, the movement of your mouse on the screen (mouse hovers and clicks, for example) the length of time you spend on our website or app, any extensions or apps you pair with ours. We don't use your IP address to track or record your specific location, just the country and city where your login occurred. That said, it's possible to pair even a generalized IP address with other information to identify someone, and so we treat IP addresses like personal data. As Technical Data is part of Product Data, Technical Data is collected automatically if you download and use the Growthware app or websites. Technical Data does not include Usage Data.
"Profile Data" means the more detailed Growthware profile information that you've set up and shared with us. Your profile data includes your account id, your password, your activity while logged in (including reviews, ratings, notes, submissions, comments, and feedback), social media posts, purchase activity and history. Profile Data is collected only if you elect to provide it to Growthware in the course of creating and using a Growthware account profile. You do not have to create or use a user account to have a great experience using a Growthware device
"Feedback and Marketing Data" means information that we collect to suggest new products or services that you might find interesting. This includes any surveys or questionnaires we conduct (whether they're in an email, on our website, in the app, or at a physical location). Feedback and marketing data also means all other forms of personal data, your preferences when it comes to how, when, and why we communicate with you about our products and services, and any interactions you have with our marketing materials (for instance, whether you opened a survey or responded to an in-store questionnaire). Feedback and Marketing Data is collected whenever you provide the types of feedback described in the section or interact with our marketing materials. We talk a lot more about marketing in the section below called "Marketing our Products."
“Third Party Data” means any personal data about you that we obtain – whether by purchasing it or simply receiving it – from anywhere outside of Growthware. We don’t control how those third parties get their data about you, but we won’t take any personal data about you from a third party unless they can prove to us that they had your data lawfully and properly in the first place and are permitted to share it with us. Oftentimes, but not always, this data is publicly available information like an address, business title, or social media profile.
“Commercial or Employment Data” means any personal data that we obtain about our partners, vendors, contractors, counterparties, or anyone that we do business with. This is not a category that includes data we collect about our customers, nor is it the data we collect about our employees (which is governed by our own internal privacy policy). Instead, this is the data we collect in the operation of our business, and includes any personal data that we collect and process in the course of dealing with non-customers in California. 3.3 As explained below, we may combine different kinds of personal data in the performance of our services or sale of products to you. We’ll also sometimes combine the personal data you’ve given us with non-personal data. For example, we might combine data about the time and location of your purchase with weather data to get an idea of whether rainy days change how customers decide to buy products. If the combined data can identify you, we’ll treat it like personal information, even though some parts of the combined data (like the weather) can’t identify you.
3.4 Unless you’ve provided us with informed consent of your willingness to participate in a survey or study, we will not solicit any sensitive categories of personal data about you. This includes details about your race or ethnicity, religious or philosophical beliefs, sex life, sexual orientation, political opinions, trade union membership, information about your health and genetic and biometric data, or information about criminal convictions or offenses.
4. Age or ID Verification
4.1 If, in some cases, it is necessary for us to obtain an age or ID verification in the course of our interactions with you, we will disclose that to you at the time and allow you to review all applicable terms of the verification process.
5. How We Collect Personal Data
We collect personal data in a variety of ways, depending on how you interact with us, including: 5.1 Direct interactions. You may give us your Basic, Purchase and Warranty, Product, Usage, Profile, or Feedback and Marketing Data, by interacting with us, as when you: • purchase our services; • create an account or profile; • download, update or use our app; • sign up to receive information, including marketing information, from us; • make a claim based on our services or communicate with us about the services you use; • contact customer support or request technical assistance; • access Growthware via social media accounts or Growthware’s website(s); • enter a promotion or survey; • engage in a commercial transaction or relationship with us as a business entity, contractor, vendor, or other third party; • give us feedback or reviews; or • apply and/or interview for a job with us.
5.2 Through automated technologies or interactions. As you interact with our website, we automatically collect Product Data about your equipment, browsing actions and patterns. We collect this personal data by using cookies, server logs and other similar technologies. We may also receive Product Data about you if you visit other websites employing our cookies. Please see our cookie policy for further details.
5.3 From third parties or publicly available sources. We may receive personal data about you from various third parties and public sources. That includes, among others, our third-party vendors for: • completing sales; • verifying your age.
6. Why (and How) We Use Personal Data
6.1 As mentioned above, there are several lawful justifications for Growthware using your personal data in certain situations. Our promise to you is that we will only use personal data when we have a lawful justification for doing so. In some situations, the only lawful justification for using your personal data is when you provide us with your consent to use your personal data. If you ever give us your consent to use your personal data, don’t worry, you are not giving that consent forever. We will always give you the option to change your mind and withdraw your consent at any time.
6.2 The following list sets out how we use personal data, and the lawful basis for doing so: • Completing a transaction. We need Basic Data and Purchase and Warranty Data so you can transact for one of our services, pay for it, and for us to provide it to you. We need Commercial data to operate our business and transact with others. We need this information to be able to fulfill our part of our contract with you, and so collecting this data is necessary to the performance of our contract with you (GDPR art. 6(1)(b)). • Providing customer service. Depending upon what you contact us for and request, we will use any and all categories of personal data we have in order to provide you with customer service. For instance, if you call us to discuss a problem with your service, we’ll use Basic Data, Purchase and Warranty Data, and likely also Product to be able to respond to your query. We need this information to be able to fulfill our part of our contract with you (GDPR art. 6(1)(b)), and because we have a legitimate interest in being able to respond to your questions (GDPR art. 6(1)(f)). • Product safety, failure diagnosis and correction. We want our services to operate in the best way possible for you. The more we know about the basic operation and workings of our services, the more quickly we can understand that there is a problem and fix that problem. More importantly if there was ever an issue that impacted Growthware users, we would want to discover it and take corrective steps ASAP. We use Product Data for this purpose because we have a legitimate interest in ensuring consumer safety and resolving product issues (GDPR art. 6(1)(f)). • Marketing to you and others. See section 7 below, “Marketing our Products.” • Managing our website and apps. We’ll use Basic Data, Technical Data, Purchase and Warranty Data, and Profile Data to keep our website and app operating properly (fraud detection and prevention, site maintenance and updates, app maintenance and updates, IP logs). We use this data because we have a legitimate interest in administering/improving our site and apps, running IT services, ensuring network security, and preventing fraud (GDPR art. 6(1)(f)), and because we need to demonstrate our compliance with data security obligations both as a legal matter and if we are involved in a business reorganization (a merger or acquisition) (GDPR art. 6(1)(c), GDPR art. 6(1)(f)). • Creating insights and analysis. We’ll use Basic Data, ProductProduct Data, Usage Data, Profile Data, and Feedback and Marketing Data to analyze how customers use our products, how they use, review or rate other products and services related to ours (like pods, for instance), how we might be able to build better products and to understand general trends in the market. We may share or sell those analyses or data points to third parties, but we want to be clear: we’re not selling your name, address, personal usage, or anything that directly identifies you. • Internally managing our company and engaging with third parties. We use Commercial and Employment Data in the course of operating our business, just as any company would do. We don’t use this data for any purposes other than those for which it was originally given (for instance, we don’t use Commercial Data to market to an independent contractor who performed a task for the Company.). To the extent that a contract, agreement, or other document sets out different uses for Commercial or Employment Data in a manner that is different to what is set out here, that document will control. • Creating and managing your profile. When you create a profile on our website or in our app, you agree to share Basic Data, Product Data, Usage Data and Profile Data with us so that we can provide you with a tailored, custom experience (use metrics, recommendations, trends, etc). We need this information to be able to fulfill our part of our contract with you, and so collecting this data is necessary to the performance of our contract with you (GDPR art. 6(1)(b)). We also use this information to create our own internal user profile for you, which we use to market products to you, deliver content that we think is relevant to you, to advertise to you, to learn about you in particular and our customers more generally, and to create an analysis of our business, our customers, and our market. We have a legitimate interest in doing these things to grow our business and learn about our industry (GDPR art. 6(1)(f)), but we will only process this information in this way if you have agreed (consented) to us doing so, and you can withdraw your consent at any time (GDPR art. 6(1)(a)). 6.3 We will only keep your personal data for as long as necessary under the circumstances in which we collected it, including our obligation to hold onto it for legal, regulatory, or accounting purposes. If we are able to make data completely anonymous (that is, it can’t be used to identify you), we may keep that data indefinitely for statistical or analytic purposes.
7. Marketing our Products
A general note on marketing data: We advertise because we want people to buy, and like, our products, and because we want our business to succeed. That means we place ads, send emails, run promotions, send out questionnaires, take surveys, conduct interviews, and do everything else that a marketing department does to try to create a brand. We’re telling you this bluntly so that you have an easier time understanding what we mean when we talk about marketing: it’s our effort to help our business grow. Part of that growth is understanding what our existing customers like, what they don’t like, and what they might like in the future. We want to know why our users bought a device, or a particular pod. We think that knowing what our customers like will help us improve our existing products and services and design and deliver new, better ones in the future. The most important part in all of this: you have absolute control over how, and if, we market to you. The basis upon which we use this information is your consent (GDPR art. 6(1)(a)) and you can withdraw that consent at any time.
7.1 Promotional offers We use your Basic, Product, Usage, Profile, and Feedback and Marketing Data to create a marketing profile for you so that we can send you information about what devices, products, services, or other goods you may find interesting. If you’ve opted-in to receive communications, we’ll send you emails, texts, or other communications in the format you’ve chosen. We may ask you to opt-in to marketing communications via email, on our website, in the app, or in a physical location like a store or a festival.
7.2 Third-party marketingWe may use third-party vendors to help us identify who our customers are when they visit our site. We share data with them so that it's easier for us to track what our customers are doing on our websites -- figuring out what they're browsing through, what images they click on, what their activity is like on the site if they've forgotten to log into their account, etc. This is about us getting a clearer idea of what our customers do online, but only on Growthware sites. And we use this information only for internal marketing purposes: we don't sell any of the insights or data we get about our customers to anyone else. Some third-party vendors may also have access to this data, and we don't control what they do with it (though they still can only use it for lawful purposes).
7.3 Opting outYou can ask us or third parties to stop sending you marketing messages at any time by contacting us. Where you opt-out of receiving these marketing messages, this will not apply to personal data provided to us as a result of a product/service purchase, warranty registration, product/service experience or other transactions.
7.4 CookiesCookies are small files that track your activity online. Some of them are purely functional (they allow websites to load faster) and some of them are for marketing (tracking how you interact with websites). We use cookies for both purposes, but you can read more about cookies (and how to block them) in our cookie policy.
7.5 Change of purposeWe only use your personal data in the ways we’ve outlined in this Privacy Policy, unless we think there is a reason that we can use it for another purpose that 1) is fair, and 2) is compatible with the original reason we collected it. We’ll tell you if we need to use your personal data for a purpose other than the original purpose for which we collected it If we need to use your personal data for an unrelated purpose, we will notify you and we will explain the legal basis which allows us to do so.
7.6 Data retentionWe delete or anonymize your personal data as soon as it is no longer required for the purposes we have collected, unless we are legally required to continue processing of your personal data. The one primary exception here is that, if you ask us to delete your data and “forget” you, or ask us not to contact you, we’ll keep your email address on our master do-not-contact list as proof that we followed you request and so that we can avoid contacting you in the future. For more information on the different categories of personal data and their retention periods, please contact privacy@Growthware.com. 7.7 Automated DecisionsWe don’t use an automated decision-making system (an algorithm or machine learning tool) to make decisions about you. We’ll use a system that makes recommendations for what we think you’ll like, but acting on those recommendations is always in your hands, not ours.
Growthware
1299 Farnam St, Omaha NE 68102