PRIVACY DISCLOSURES FOR CALIFORNIA RESIDENTS

These disclosures supplement the information contained in our privacy policy and applies solely to residents of the State of California (“consumers” or “you”). We provide these disclosures to comply with the California Consumer Privacy Act of 2018 (“CCPA”) and any terms defined in the CCPA have the same meaning when used in these disclosures.

Effective Date: January 1, 2019
Last Reviewed: July 7, 2022

CATEGORIES OF PERSONAL INFORMATION COLLECTED BY US

Our website located at https://theVertusgroup.com (“Site”)collects information that identifies, relates to, describes, references, is capable of being associated with, or could reasonably be linked, directly or indirectly, with a particular consumer or device (“personal information”). In particular, our Site may have collected the following categories of personal information from consumers within the last twelve (12) months:

  • Category A: Identifiers

Examples: A real name, Internet Protocol address, email address, or other similar identifiers.

Collected by Us: YES

  • Category B: Personal information categories listed in the California Customer Records statute (Cal. Civ. Code § 1798.80(e)).

Examples: A name, signature, Social Security number, physical characteristics or description, address, telephone number, passport number, driver’s license or state identification card number, insurance policy number, education, employment, employment history, bank account number, credit card number, debit card number, or any other financial information, medical information, or health insurance information. Some personal information included in this category may overlap with other categories.

Collected by Us: NO

  • Category C: Protected classification characteristics under California or federal law.

Examples: Age (40 years or older), race, color, ancestry, national origin, citizenship, religion or creed, marital status, medical condition, physical or mental disability, sex (including gender, gender identity, gender expression, pregnancy or childbirth and related medical conditions), sexual orientation, veteran or military status, genetic information (including familial genetic information).

Collected by Us: NO

Personal information does not include the following information that would otherwise be personal information:

in no event shall Vertus or any third parties mentioned on the site be liable for any direct, indirect, incidental, special, punitive or consequential damages, or damages for loss of profits, revenue, data, or data use, incurred by you or any third party, whether in an action in contract or tort, arising from your access to or use of the site or any content provided or accessed through the site.

  • Publicly available information from government records.
  • De-identified or aggregated consumer information.
  • Information excluded from the CCPA’s scope, such as:
  • Health or medical information covered by the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) and the California Confidentiality of Medical Information Act (CMIA) or clinical trial data;
  • personal information covered by certain sector-specific privacy laws, including the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FRCA), the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act (GLBA) or California Financial Information Privacy Act (FIPA), and the Driver’s Privacy Protection Act of 1994.

Categories of Sources of Personal Information Collected by Us

We obtain categories of personal information from the following categories of sources:

  • Directly from you (e.g. from data you provide to us).
  • Indirectly from you (e.g. from observing your actions on our Site)

PURPOSES FOR COLLECTING PERSONALINFORMATION

We use personal information collected by us for one or more of the following business purposes:

  • To fulfill or meet the reason you provided the information. By way of example, if you share your name and contact information to request a price quote or ask a question about our products or services, we will  use that personal information to respond to your inquiry. If you provide your personal information to purchase a product or service, we will use  that information to process your payment and facilitate delivery. We may also save your information to facilitate new product orders or process returns;
  • To provide you with support and to respond to your inquiries, including to investigate and address your concerns and monitor and improve our responses;
  • To respond to law enforcement requests and as required by applicable law, court order, or governmental regulations; and
  • As described to you when collecting your personal information or as otherwise set forth in the CCPA.

We will not collect additional categories of personal information or use personal information collected by us for materially different, unrelated, or incompatible purposes without providing notice.

CATEGORIES OF THIRD PARTIES RECEIVING TRANSFERS OF PERSONAL INFORMATION

We only transfer personal information for business purposes relating to the intended use of our software products. During the preceding 12 months, we may have shared your personal information with the following categories of third parties:

YOUR RIGHTS

The CCPA provides consumers with specific rights regarding their personal information. This section describes your CCPA rights and explains how to exercise those rights.

Access to Specific Information and Data Portability Rights

You have the right to request that we disclose certain information to you about our collection and use of your personal information. Once we receive and confirm your verifiable consumer request, we will disclose to you:

  • The categories of personal information we collected about you;
  • The categories of sources for the personal information we collected about you;
  • Our business or commercial purpose for collecting or selling  that personal information;
  • The categories of third parties with whom we share that personal information;
  • The specific pieces of personal information we collected about you;
  • If we sold or disclosed your personal information for a business purpose, two separate lists disclosing
    •   sales, identifying the personal information categories that each category of recipient purchased; and
    •   disclosures for a business purpose, identifying the personal information categories that each category of recipient obtained.

Deletion Request Rights

You have the right to request that we delete any of your personal information that we collected from you and retained, subject to certain exceptions. Once we receive and confirm your verifiable consumer request, we will delete (and direct our service providers to delete) such personal information from our records, unless an exception applies.

We may deny your deletion request if retaining the information is necessary for us or our service provider(s) to:

  • Complete the transaction for which we collected the personal information, provide a good or service that you requested, take actions reasonably anticipated within the context of our ongoing business relationship with you, or otherwise perform our contract with you;
  • Detect security incidents, protect against malicious,  deceptive, fraudulent, or illegal activity, or prosecute those responsible for such activities;
  • Debug products to identify and repair errors that impair existing intended functionality;
  • Exercise free speech, ensure the right of another consumer to exercise their free speech rights, or exercise another right provided for by law;
  • Comply with the California Electronic Communications Privacy Act (Cal. Penal Code § 1546 et. seq.);
  • Engage in public or peer-reviewed scientific, historical, or statistical research in the public interest that adheres to all other applicable ethics and privacy laws, when the information’s deletion may likely render impossible or seriously impair the research’s achievement, if you previously provided informed consent;
  • Enable solely internal uses that are reasonably aligned with consumer expectations based on your relationship with us;
  • Comply with a legal obligation; and
  • Make other internal and lawful uses of that information that  are compatible with the context in which you provided it.

Access, Data Portability, and Deletion Rights

To exercise the access, data portability, and deletion rights described above, please submit a verifiable consumer request to us by sending us a message on our Site. Only you, or a person registered with the California Secretary of State that you authorize to act on your behalf, may make a verifiable consumer request related to your personal information. You may also make a verifiable consumer request on behalf of your minor child.

You may only make a verifiable consumer request for access or data portability twice within a 12-month period. The verifiable consumer request must:

  • Provide sufficient information that allows us to reasonably verify you are the person about whom we collected personal information or an authorized representative.
  • Describe your request with sufficient detail that allows us to properly understand, evaluate, and respond to it.

We cannot respond to your request or provide you with personal information if we cannot verify your identity or authority to make the request and confirm the personal information relates to you. We will only use personal information provided in a verifiable consumer request to verify the requestor’s identity or authority to make the request.

Our Response

We endeavor to respond to a verifiable consumer request within forty-five (45) days of its receipt. If we require more time (up to 45 days), we will inform you of the reason and extension period inwriting. We will deliver our written response by mail or electronically, at your option. Any disclosures we provide will only cover the 12-month period preceding the verifiable consumer request’s receipt. The response we provide will also explain the reasons we cannot comply with a request, if applicable. For data portability requests, we will select a format to provide your personal information that is readily useable and should allow you to transmit the information from one entity to another entity without hindrance, specifically by electronic mail communication.

We do not charge a fee to process or respond to your verifiable consumer request unless it is excessive, repetitive, or manifestly unfounded. If we determine that the request warrants a fee, we will tell you why we made that decision and provide you with a cost estimate before completing your request.

Personal Information Sales Opt-Out and Opt-In Rights

If you are 16 years of age or older, you have the right to direct us to not sell your personal information at any time(the “right to opt-out”). We do not sell the personal information of consumers we actually know are less than 16 years of age, unless we receive affirmative authorization (the “right to opt-in”) from either the consumer who is between13 and 16 years of age, or the parent or guardian of a consumer less than 13years of age. Consumers who opt-in to personal information sales may opt-out of future sales at any time. To exercise the right to opt-out, you (or your authorized representative) may submit a request to us by visiting our Site and sending us a message.

Once you make an opt-out request, we will wait at least twelve (12) months before asking you to reauthorize personal information sales. However, you may change your mind and opt back in to personal information sales at any time by visiting our Site and sending us a message. We will only use personal information provided in an opt-out request to review and comply with the request.

Non-Discrimination

We will not discriminate against you for exercising any of your CCPA rights. Unless permitted by the CCPA, we will not:

  • Deny you goods or services;
  • Charge you different prices or rates for goods or services,  including through granting discounts or other benefits, or imposing penalties;
  • Provide you a different level or quality of goods or services; or
  • Suggest that you may receive a different price or rate for goods or services or a different level or quality of goods or services.

Rights Regarding Disclosures for Direct Marketing Purposes

California’s “Shine the Light” law (Civil Code Section § 1798.83) permits users of our Site that are California residents to request certain information regarding our disclosure of personal information to third parties for their direct marketing purposes. To make such a request, please contact us.

CHANGES TO THESE DISCLOSURES

We reserve the right to amend these disclosures at our discretion and at any time. When we make changes to these disclosures, we will post the updated notice on the Site and update the notice’s effective date. Your continued use of the Site following the posting of changes constitutes your acceptance of such changes.

CONTACT INFORMATION

If you have any questions or comments about these disclosures, our collection or use of your personal information, your rights regarding your personal information, or otherwise relating to your rights under California law, please contact us.