PRIVACY POLICY

Last Revised: January 2023

Dandelion Inc. (“us”, “our” and “we”) thanks you for your interest in our website, www.dandelioninc.ca and the activities, products, services and content that we may offer from time to time (collectively, the “Services”).

We value the privacy of those who visit and/or use the Services (individually, “you” or collectively, “Users”). We take your privacy seriously and make it a priority to protect personal information that we obtain from and about our Users.
                            

This privacy policy (this “Privacy Policy”) describes: 

1. what personal information we gather from you;

2. how and why we use your personal information;

3. to whom your personal information may be disclosed;

4. how we protect your personal information;

5. updating, accessing, deleting and retaining your personal information, and

6. providing or withdrawing your consent to our collection, use or disclosure of your personal information.

7. your data protection rights

By visiting our website and/or using the Services, you acknowledge that you have read and understood this Privacy Policy, and you expressly consent to the collection, use, disclosure and other processing of your personal information as described in this Privacy Policy. If you do not want your personal information to be used in the manner set forth in this Privacy Policy, you must not use the Services and shall cease using the Services immediately.

When you use our website we will collect information that identifies you, or information by which your identity could, alone or in combination with other information, be deduced (such as your name, address, telephone number and e-mail address) (“Personal Information”). Our collection of your Personal Information will be done in accordance with this Privacy Policy.

1. What Personal Information We Collect

A. Personal Information that you provide. From time to time, we may ask you to provide Personal Information. If you choose to provide such information you are giving us the permission to use and store such information as provided in this Privacy Policy. The types of personal information that we may collect include, but is not limited to:

• your name;

• your physical address;

• your email address;

• your payment information;

• your telephone number;

• your date of birth;

• your IP address; and

personal information you give us that we did not request (such as personal information you voluntarily put into an email to us).

B. Personal Information collected via cookies. When you use our website from any device (mobile, tablet, laptop or desktop) we may use cookies to track information about your browser’s activities and to provide you with better services and features on the Services. The types of cookies that we may use are “session cookies” and “persistent cookies”. 

i. Session cookies: 

Session cookies store information only for the length of time that you are connected to a website – they are not written onto your hard drive. Once you leave the website, they expire and are no longer active. We use session cookies to record certain information from your browser including your Internet Protocol (IP) address, browser type, internet service provider (ISP), referring or exit pages, operating system and the dates and times that you use our website. Additionally, we may record certain information regarding your use of features on our website. Session cookies allow us to gather statistical data which provides insight into how we may improve our Services and to identify your current session to our web server.

We may also employ cookies and action tags (also known as single pixel gifs or web beacons) to collect information about your use of, and activities on, our site for our use but also for use by third parties that serve advertisements about us on other sites you may visit. For instance, we may use third party programs/services, such as AdWords run by Google Inc. (“Google”) to serve advertisements on our behalf across the Internet. These third party program/services may collect information about your visits to our site, and your interactions with our Services. In addition to the information about your visits to our site, third parties may also use the information about your visits to other sites to target advertisements for services available from us.

ii. Persistent cookies: 

Persistent cookies store information on your hard drive and can be re-read when you return to the site that placed them on your hard drive. We use persistent cookies to record your preferences and to help block unauthorized attempts to access your Personal Information. 

iii. Accepting/Rejecting cookies:

Cookies (or the other similar technologies that we mentioned) are necessary to complete certain on-line activities, such as [delivering Services, opening accounts, and posting text or images]. 

Upon your first use of our website, our browser will direct you to our cookie controls. You must select your desired settings and will have the option to reject all cookies at this point.

If you have consented to cookies, but wish to withdraw your consent, you may do so at any point through our cookie controls on our website. Note that if you do not accept cookies you will not have access to certain services and features on our website that rely on cookies for their functionality.

There are on-line resources that can help you learn more about cookies, how to manage cookies on your device, remove cookies or otherwise customize cookies. Here are links to several such resources:

Digital Advertising Alliance: http://optout.aboutads.info/?c=2&lang=EN

Network Advertising Initiative: http://optout.networkadvertising.org/?c=1

allaboutcookies.org: http://www.allaboutcookies.org/

iv. Location information:

We may collect and store information about your location if you enable your computer or mobile device to send us location information. You may be able to change the settings on your computer or mobile device to prevent it from providing us with such information.

C. Third-Party Web Beacons. We may also implement third-party content on our website that uses “clear gifs”, “web beacons”, [“pixel tags”. and JavaScript] or other similar techniques, which allow third-party content providers to read and write cookies to your browser, or implement similar tracking mechanisms, in connection with your viewing of that third-party content displayed on our website. This information is collected directly by the third-party, and we do not participate in that data transmission. Information collected by third parties in this manner is subject to that third-party's own data collection, use, and disclosure policies.

D. Your relationship with us. We will collect information arising from your relationship with and through us and your use of the Services. For example, we maintain a record of your transaction and payment history and when you send us an e-mail, speak with one of our telephone service representatives, or communicate with us through any other means, we may monitor, record and retain those communications for our mutual protection and in order to process your inquiries, respond to your requests and improve our Services. 

E. Personal Information from Other Sources. We may also obtain Personal Information from third parties and sources other than the Services. If we combine or associate information from other sources with Personal Information that we collect through our Services, we will treat the combined information as Personal Information in accordance with this Privacy Policy. 

F. Third Party Analytics. Our site uses third party analytics services such as Google Analytics, a web analytics service of Google. Google Analytics uses cookies to analyze how you use our site. The information generated by the cookie about your use of our site (including your IP address) is sent to a Google server in the U.S. and stored there. Google will use this information to evaluate your use of our site, compile reports on site activity for our site operators and to provide other site activity related internet services. Additionally, Google may transfer this information to a third party when required by law or in the case of a third party processing information on Google's behalf. In no case will Google use your IP address in connection with any other information held by Google. You can set your internet browser to prohibit the installation of cookies, although we must point out that some features and functions of our site will then be unusable. By using our site, you consent to the processing of data about you collected by Google in the manner described and for the above-mentioned purpose. The consent for collection and storage of data can be withdrawn at any time in the future by clicking on the following link: https://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout?hl=en. Given the debate concerning the use of analytical tools using full IP addresses, we wish to point out that our site uses the "Anonymize IP" function of Google Analytics that works with a shortened form of IP addresses to avoid direct personal identification.

2. How and Why Your Personal Information is Used.

A. To Serve you. We use the Personal Information that you provide or that we collect for legal and regulatory purposes, to manage business risks, to provide our Services to you and to establish and enhance our relationship with you. We generally use the Personal Information you provide or that we collect to operate, maintain, enhance, and provide our Services. For example, we may use your Personal Information to: respond to specific requests from you; to facilitate, complete and confirm an order that you have placed with us, to provide warranty information to you, to provide product recall information or safety or security information to you, to send you messages relating to the delivery of a Service, including an upgrade, that you may be entitled to receive under the terms of a previous transaction; to help us better understand your use of the Services; and to administer the Services and protect the security of the Services when necessary. The Services may allow you to submit feedback. Should you choose to submit feedback, you consent to us contacting you by way of follow-up e-mail or phone call to discuss your feedback. 

B. Aggregate Information. We may generate non-identifying and aggregate profiles from the information you provide during registration for our Services and through your use of our Services. Non-identifying and aggregate profiles are used to improve the quality of our Services and to develop new Services. Aggregated non-personally identifying information may be shared with third parties.

C. Marketing and Experience. We may use your Personal Information to provide you with information about our features, services and other offerings that may be of interest to you and facilitate your participation in sweepstakes or contests and to fulfill prizes. This information may be provided to you by mail or phone and/or, with your prior consent, by email. We may also send information or offers to groups of Users on behalf of other businesses You will always have the opportunity to "unsubscribe" from receiving any of our e-mail or other communications at any time and we will ensure that our e-mails include instructions on how to unsubscribe if you no longer wish to receive future e-mails from us. We provide an on-going opportunity to unsubscribe or opt-out of contact by us by accessing our site or by e-mail to support@dandelioninc.ca. If you decide to unsubscribe, we will only contact you (i) for the purposes allowed under applicable law; (ii) to send you notices of changes to our Privacy Policy; or (iii) to receive Service related messages.

We may share your Personal Information with certain other websites that we link to, to the extent that you click on such links, in order to enhance your experience in connection with our website.

3. To Whom your Personal Information may be disclosed.

A. Our subsidiaries or affiliates. We may share your Personal Information with our subsidiaries or affiliates (the “Group”) for: fraud or crime prevention, suppression or detection; for legal and regulatory purposes and to meet regulatory, legal or reporting requirements; to manage business risks; to perform analytics; to ensure that we have correct and up to date information about you; and to the extent necessary if you have requested a Service that is jointly offered by more than one member of the Group. We may also share your Personal Information to better manage your total relationship with the Group and enable other members of the Group to bring suitable Services to your attention. We may share your Personal Information within the Group for these purposes unless prohibited by law or you tell us not to.

B. Suppliers. We may use other companies, to provide certain Services on our behalf. We may share your Personal Information with our suppliers, agents and other organizations that perform Services for us or on our behalf to the extent necessary to provide and administer the Services that you have requested from us. These companies will only be given the information needed to perform those Services. We have contracts in place holding these companies to the same standards of confidentiality by which we are governed. Our suppliers may perform activities outside of your jurisdiction. As a result, your Personal Information may be securely used, stored or accessed in other countries and may be subject to the laws of those jurisdictions. These companies may be required to disclose your Personal Information in response to valid demands or requests from governments, regulators, courts and law enforcement authorities in those jurisdictions or countries.

C. Merger or sale. In the event that we are acquired by or merged with a third-party entity, or if we sell a part of our business, we reserve the right to transfer or assign the Personal Information that we have collected from you as part of such merger, sale or other change of control and you hereby consent to the transfer or assignment of such Personal Information.

D. Where required by law. We may disclose your Personal Information if we have a good faith belief that access, use, preservation or disclosure of such Personal Information is reasonably necessary to satisfy any applicable law, regulation, self-regulation, legal process or enforceable governmental request. When we provide Personal Information in response to a legal inquiry or order that we believe to be valid, we disclose only the Personal Information that is legally required. Note that we may store or process your Personal Information outside of your jurisdiction which physical storage of your Personal Information may span multiple jurisdictions or countries and we may disclose your Personal Information in response to valid demands or requests from governments, regulators, courts or law enforcement authorities in those jurisdictions or countries. 

E. Protection of our interests. We may also disclose your Personal Information if we believe, in good faith, that it is appropriate or necessary to take precautions against liability; to help us collect a debt or enforce an obligation owed to us by you; to protect against fraudulent, abusive, or unlawful uses; to investigate and defend ourselves against any third-party claims or allegations; to assist government enforcement agencies; to protect the security or integrity of our Services; or to protect the rights, property, or personal safety of our Users, employees or others.

F. Consent. We may disclose your Personal Information where you have authorized us to do so. For example, if you have given us consent, we may share your Personal Information with business partners and other entities that are not affiliated with us who would like to send you information about their products and services. We do not share Personal Information with other third-party organizations for their marketing or promotional use without your consent. 

If you registered, enrolled, requested or purchased a certain service, and delivering such service to you requires disclosing your personal information to other organizations, we will disclose your personal information to other organization in the course of providing you the service you requested. 

4. How we protect your Personal Information.

A. Security processes. We make commercially reasonable efforts to safeguard your Personal Information from loss or theft, unauthorized access, disclosure, duplication, use or modification through security measures appropriate to the sensitivity of the information. These measures include internal reviews of our data collection, storage and processing practices and security measures which include appropriate encryption, password protection and physical security measures to guard against unauthorized access to systems where we store Personal Information.

B. Confidentiality obligations. We restrict access to your Personal Information to our employees, contractors and suppliers who need to know that information in order to process it on our behalf or to provide our Services to you. Our employees, contractors and suppliers are bound by confidentiality obligations and may not use the information for any unauthorized purpose. Our employees may be subject to discipline, including termination and criminal prosecution, if they fail to meet their obligations described in this Privacy Policy. Our suppliers and contractors are required to protect your Personal Information in a manner that is consistent with this Privacy Policy.  

5. Updating, Accessing, Deleting and Retaining your Personal Information. 

A. Accessing and deleting your Personal Information. We make good faith efforts to provide you with access to your Personal Information and to delete such data at your request if it is not otherwise required to be retained by law or for legitimate business purposes. We ask individual Users to identify themselves and the information requested to be accessed, corrected or removed before processing such requests, and we may decline to process requests that are unreasonably repetitive or systematic, require disproportionate technical effort, jeopardize the privacy of others, or would be extremely impractical (for instance, requests concerning information residing on backup tapes), or for which access is not otherwise required. In any case where we provide information access and correction, we perform this service free of charge, except if doing so would require a disproportionate effort. We will advise you of any applicable fee prior to proceeding with your request. Upon your request, we will make reasonable efforts to delete your Personal Information from our database, however, it may be impossible to delete your information without retaining some residual information for a period of time due to backups and records of deletion.

B. Retention of your Personal Information. We retain your Personal Information only as long as it is required for the reason(s) that it was collected. This length of time will vary depending on the Service and the nature of the information and may extend beyond the end of your relationship with us. When your information is no longer needed for the purpose for which it was collected, we will destroy, delete, erase or convert it to an anonymous form.

6. Providing or withdrawing your consent. 

We will obtain your consent before collecting, using or disclosing your Personal Information, except where permitted or required by law. Depending on the situation and the sensitivity of the information, we may obtain your consent in different ways. Express consent may be obtained verbally, electronically or in writing from you or your authorized representative (such as a legal guardian or attorney appointed pursuant to a power of attorney) for stated purpose(s). Implied consent may be obtained through your use or continued use of a Services when the purpose(s) for collecting, using or disclosing your Personal Information is indicated by the relevant circumstances or follows logically from purposes identified in this Privacy Policy (such as when you approach us to obtain information or inquire about or purchase Services from us). We will seek your consent before using your Personal Information for any purpose not previously identified and will limit the collection of your Personal Information to that which is reasonably necessary for the relevant purpose(s). We will not, as a condition of the supply of any of the Services, require you to consent to the collection, use or disclosure of Personal Information beyond that which is reasonably required to fulfill the purpose for which it is collected. 

In most cases you may refuse to provide your consent to our collection, use and/or disclosure of your Personal Information in accordance with this Privacy Policy. Note, however, that if you refuse to provide your consent or withdraw your consent, we may not be able to provide you with a particular Service.  

You may withdraw your consent if: (a) you provide reasonable notice in the context of the services you receive from us; (b) we are not under a legal obligation to collect, use or disclose your Personal Information; and (c) withdrawing your consent does not impede our ability to fulfill our obligations to you. You may withdraw your consent by contacting us at support@dandelioninc.ca. Our staff will be pleased to explain your options and any consequences of refusing or withdrawing your consent, and record your choices.

8. Changes to this Privacy Policy

We reserve the right to change this Privacy Policy at any time at our sole discretion. We will inform you of any such change by posting a new Privacy Policy on our website and clearly marking the effective date of any such change to the Privacy Policy. Your continued use of the Services after the posting of changes constitutes your binding acceptance of such changes.

9. Third-Party Sites

Our website may be linked to internet websites operated by other companies, including but not limited to our suppliers such as Google/DoubleClick. You should consult the respective privacy policies of these third-party websites. Our Privacy Policy does not apply to, and we cannot control the activities of, such other third-party web sites. Please be aware that we do not warn you when you choose to follow a link through to another website from our website. 

10. International Users

Please note that we may store or process your Personal Information outside of your jurisdiction. The physical storage of your Personal Information may span multiple jurisdictions or countries and the governments, regulators, courts or law enforcement authorities in those jurisdictions or countries may be able to obtain disclosure of your information through applicable laws. Your use of the Services or your submission of any Personal Information to us will constitute your consent to the transfer of your Personal Information outside of your jurisdiction, which may provide for different data protection rules than those in your own jurisdiction.

11. Our Commitment to Children's Privacy

Protecting the privacy of young children is especially important to us. We do not knowingly collect any Personal Information of minors.  If you are an individual, by accessing or using the Services you represent and warrant that you are of legal age to form a binding contract. If we learn that Personal Information of a minor has been inadvertently collected without parental or guardian consent, we will take the appropriate steps to delete this information. If you are a parent or guardian and discover that a minor for which you are responsible has provided his or her Personal Information to us without your consent, then you may alert us by contacting us at support@dandelioninc.ca and request that we delete such minor person’s Personal Information from our systems.

12. Complaints and Questions

A. We regularly review our compliance with this Privacy Policy. When we receive formal written complaints, it is our policy to contact the complaining User regarding his or her concerns. We will cooperate with the appropriate regulatory authorities, including local data protection authorities, to resolve any complaints regarding the transfer of Personal Information that cannot be resolved between us and you. 

B. If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy, please feel free to contact us through the Services or write to us at: Dandelion Inc., Attention: Privacy Officer, 211 Yonge St. Toronto, Ontario, Canada M5B 1M4; or at support@dandelioninc.ca

NOTICE TO CALIFORNIA RESIDENTS

California CCPA and California CCRA

This section applies only to California residents. It describes how we collect, use, share, and in some cases process for others Personal Information of California residents in operating our business, and their rights with respect to that Personal Information. For purposes of this section, “Personal Information” has the meaning given in the California Consumer Privacy Act of 2018 (“CCPA”) but does not include information exempted from the scope of the CCPA.

Your California privacy rights.  You have the rights listed below. However, these rights are not absolute, and in certain cases we may decline your request as permitted by law.

Access. You can request the following information about how we have collected and used your Personal Information during the past 12 months:

• The categories of Personal Information that we have collected.

• The categories of sources from which we collected Personal Information.

• The business or commercial purpose for collecting and/or selling Personal Information.

• The categories of third parties with whom we share Personal Information.

• Whether we have disclosed your Personal Information for a business purpose, and if so, the categories of Personal Information received by each category of third party recipient.

• Whether we’ve sold your Personal Information, and if so, the categories of Personal Information received by each category of third party recipient.

• A copy of the Personal Information that we have collected about you during the past 12 months.

Deletion. You can ask us to delete the Personal Information that we have collected from you.

Opt-Out of Sales. If we “sell” your Personal Information as described below, you can opt out.

Nondiscrimination. You are entitled to exercise the rights described above free from discrimination. This means that we will not penalize you for exercising your rights by taking actions such as denying you services; increasing the price/rate of services; decreasing service quality; or suggesting that we may penalize you as described above for exercising your rights.

You may submit a request to exercise your California privacy rights described above as follows:

• Right to access or deletion. You may exercise your right to access or deletion by emailing us or writing to us using the contact information listed above in the “Contact Us” section.

• Right to opt-out of the “sale” of Personal Information. Under California law, some of the data that we share with our advertising partners may qualify as a “sale” as defined under the CCPA. To exercise your right to opt-out, please email us at support@dandelioninc.ca.

We will need to verify your identity to process your access and deletion requests and we reserve the right to confirm your California residency. Government identification may be required. If you wish to designate an authorized agent to make a request on your behalf, we will need to verify both your and your agent’s identities and your agent must provide valid power of attorney or other proof of authority acceptable to us in our reasonable discretion. We cannot process your request if you do not provide us with sufficient detail to allow us to understand and respond to it. In certain cases, we may be required or permitted by law to deny your request.

Personal information we collect, use and disclose.  The chart below describes the categories of Personal Information we have collected in the preceding 12 months (as described in the section above titled “Personal Information We Collect”) by reference to the categories specified by the CCPA (California Civil Code § 1798.140(o)).  We may share any of the following Personal Information with service providers and third parties for business purposes, such as operational purposes and other purposes related to providing you with the products and services you seek from us.  We provide information about the specific business purposes for which we disclose Personal Information in the “How We Use Personal Information” section above.  We provide information about the categories of third parties to whom we disclose Personal Information in the “How We Share Personal Information” section above.

Dandelion must also disclose whether we disclose Personal Information for a “business purpose” or for “valuable consideration” as those terms are defined under the CCPA. The CCPA also calls this latter category a “sale.” Like many companies online, Dandelion uses services provided by Google and other partners that track website visitor activity to help deliver interest-based ads to those visitors. Our use of some of these services may be classified under California law as a “sale” of your Personal Information to the companies that provide the services because they collect Internet or Network Activity information from our users (e.g., device data and online activity data) to help them serve ads more likely to interest you. Please see the “Your Choices” section, above, for more information regarding interest-based advertising. If Dandelion processes Personal Information of California consumers for or on behalf of a third party organization such as a client, we will obtain consent from that organization prior to processing.

NOTICE TO RESIDENTS VIRGINIA (USA)

Virginia Consumer Data Protection Act (CDPA)

Under the Virginia Consumer Data Protection Act (CDPA), Virginia residents have certain rights related to their personal data. These rights include:

• The right to request that we disclose to you the categories and specific pieces of personal data that we have collected about you.

• The right to request that we delete the personal data that we have collected about you.

• The right to request that we disclose to you the categories of personal data that we have sold and the categories of third parties to whom the personal data was sold.

To exercise any of these rights, please contact us at support@dandelioninc.ca. We will respond to your request within 45 days. Please note that we may need to verify your identity before fulfilling your request.

NOTICE TO EUROPEAN USERS

The information provided in this section applies only to individuals in the European Economic Area and the United Kingdom (collectively, “Europe”).

Personal Information.  Except as otherwise specified, references to “personal information” in this Privacy Policy are equivalent to “personal data” governed by European data protection legislation.

Controller.  The controller of your personal information covered by this Privacy Policy for purposes of European data protection legislation is Dandelion Inc., 211 Yonge St Suite 400, Toronto, ON M5B 1M4.

Legal Bases for Processing.  The legal bases of our processing of your personal information as described in this Privacy Policy will depend on the type of personal information and the specific context in which we process it.  However, the legal bases we typically rely on are set out in the table below.  We rely on our legitimate interests as our legal basis only where those interests are not overridden by the impact on you (unless we have your consent or our processing is otherwise required or permitted by law). If you have questions about the legal basis of how we process your personal information, contact us at support@dandelioninc.ca.

Use for New Purposes.  We may use your personal information for reasons not described in this Privacy Policy where permitted by law and the reason is compatible with the purpose for which we collected it.  If we need to use your personal information for an unrelated purpose, we will notify you and explain the applicable legal basis.

Retention.  We will retain your personal data for as long as necessary to fulfill the purpose of collection, including for the purposes of satisfying any legal, accounting, or reporting requirements, to establish and defend legal claims, for fraud prevention purposes, or as long as required to meet our legal obligations.

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 your personal information, the purposes for which we process your personal information and whether we can achieve those purposes through other means, and the applicable legal requirements.

Your Rights.  European data protection laws give you certain rights regarding your personal information.  You may ask us to take the following actions in relation to your personal information that we hold:

• Access.  Provide you with information about our processing of your personal information and give you access to your personal information.

• Correct.  Update or correct inaccuracies in your personal information.

• Delete.  Delete your personal information.

• Transfer.  Transfer a machine-readable copy of your personal information to you or a third party of your choice.

• Restrict.  Restrict the processing of your personal information.

• Object.  Object to our reliance on our legitimate interests as the basis of our processing of your personal information that impacts your rights.

You may submit these requests by contacting us at support@dandelioninc.ca or at the mailing address listed above.  We may request specific information from you to help us confirm your identity and process your request.  Applicable law may require or permit us to decline your request.  If we decline your request, we will tell you why, subject to legal restrictions.  If you would like to submit a complaint about our use of your personal information or our response to your requests regarding your personal information, you may contact us or submit a complaint to the data protection regulator in your jurisdiction.  You can find your data protection regulator at this address https://edpb.europa.eu/about-edpb/about-edpb/members_en.

Cross-Border Data Transfer.  If we transfer your personal information to a country outside of Europe such that we are required to apply additional safeguards to your personal information under European data protection laws, we will do so.  Please contact us at support@dandelioninc.ca for further information about any such transfers or the specific safeguards applied.