Revised: August 1, 2024
firebusinessstrategies.com (FBS) respects your privacy. This policy (Privacy Policy sets out how FBS and its owner (collectively “we”, “us”, or “our”) will use and handle electronic information provided by or collected from individuals and what choices individuals have regarding the collection and use of the information.
This Privacy Policy applies to all electronic collection and use of Personal Information, including via any mobile version of the website(s), mobile application(s), electronic mail, and other electronic services that link to this Privacy Policy (collectively, the Platforms). The term “User” or “you” refers to (i) individuals that provide their Personal Information or the Personal Information of others on behalf of such other persons to us and (ii) any organization where a person provides Personal Information of others on behalf of such organization.
By using the Platforms, you (including any entity or person on whose behalf you are acting) agree to the terms of this Privacy Policy, as updated. If you do not agree with the practices described in this Privacy Policy, do not provide us with Personal Information or interact with the Platforms.
This Privacy Policy supplements, and does not supersede, any other privacy policy or statement from us relating to any unique program.
If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy or our processing of your Personal Information, please contact us at [email protected].
This Privacy Policy covers these major topics:
- Definitions
- Collection of Personal Information
- Use of Personal Information
- Retention of Personal Information
- Sharing of Personal Information
- International Transfers
- Information Security and Integrity
- Rights you Have
- Minors
- Revisions
- Questions about our Privacy Policy
Definitions
“Cookies” are small text files placed on your computer while visiting certain sites on the Internet used to identify your computer.
“Non-Identifying Information” means information that may relate to an individual but does not by itself identify that individual. For example, Non-Identifying Information includes information such as gender, age, city, and physical location, when not linked with other Personal Information.
“Personal Information” means any information relating to an identified or identifiable natural person, as defined under applicable law.
Collection of Personal Information
This Privacy Policy applies to the following types of electronic information about Users or use of the Platforms:
Personal Information submitted to us: including personal contact, identification, and location information, such as name, personal or business email address, contact details such as your phone number, job title, affiliation or organization, or domain name (if personally identifiable). This also includes information provided to us on the Platforms that would constitute personal data under applicable law.
Personal Information received from a third party: This may include Personal Information such as name and address for identity verification or to Process a request or an application submitted to us.
Automatically logged use information: The Platforms may automatically record information that is sent by the User’s browser or device when accessing and using the Platforms, which can be identifying or non-identifying. This information may include information such as IP address, browser type, internet service provider (ISP), date/time stamp, page viewed, operating system, mobile device information, clickstream information, preference information, and other similar information.
If you leave comments on the site we collect the data shown in the comments form, and also your IP address and browser user agent string to assist in spam detection.
An anonymized string created from your email address (also called a hash) may be provided to the Gravatar service to see if you are using it. The Gravatar service privacy policy is available here: https://automattic.com/privacy/. After approval of your comment, your profile picture is visible to the public in the context of your comment.
Cookies and other tracking technologies: Cookies and other user tracking technologies devices may be stored on the User’s computer when using the Platforms.
If you leave a comment on our site you may opt-in to saving your name, email address and website in cookies. These are for your convenience so that you do not have to fill in your details again when you leave another comment. These cookies will last for one year.
If you visit our login page, we will set a temporary cookie to determine if your browser accepts cookies. This cookie contains no personal data and is discarded when you close your browser.
When you log in, we will also set up several cookies to save your login information and your screen display choices. Login cookies last for two days, and screen options cookies last for a year. If you select “Remember Me”, your login will persist for two weeks. If you log out of your account, the login cookies will be removed.
You acknowledge the use of these and other such tracking devices as noted in this Privacy Policy, and consent to having such tracking devices stored on your computing devices.
This Policy does not apply to any meetings using a service that is not provided or supported by us, unless otherwise stated with respect to that service. Please note that individuals that elect to provide, host, or participate in a meeting not using a service not provided or supported by us are solely responsible for ensuring that participants give their informed consent to the recording, and that all legal requirements applicable to the collection, recording, and processing of Personal Information are fully satisfied.
Use of Personal Information
We will Process Personal Information only for fair, lawful, and legitimate reasons, including to:
- To improve our Platforms’ performance, content, and services;
- To perform information analysis, compliance audits, data metrics, develop new services, and protect the Platforms and integrity of any of our services or programs;
- To create anonymized data sets to improve the Platforms’ performance or in connection with our services or programs;
- To respond to User questions, comments, inquiries, and feedback;
- To provide updates, news and other information regarding our programs, events and service delivery; and
- To provide information or a service requested by the User.
We will also process your Personal Information with your consent, where required by applicable law, to send you newsletters, and provide you with marketing information concerning news, updates, and other information regarding our programs, events.
Lastly, we will Process Personal Information to comply with applicable laws, rules, regulations, court orders, and law enforcement requests.
We will not use Personal Information for any other purpose other than as set forth in this Privacy Policy.
We will use Non-Identifying Information generally for the same purposes as with Personal Information, and to improve User services, store User’s Platform preferences, track Platform use trends, improve the Platforms’ performance, help maintain personal and device identity verification, Platform security, and measure effectiveness of electronic communications.
Retention of Personal Information
We will retain certain Personal Information stored on our servers in accordance with this Privacy Policy, with our general archival practices, and as required or permitted by law.
If you leave a comment, the comment and its metadata are retained indefinitely. This is so we can recognize and approve any follow-up comments automatically instead of holding them in a moderation queue.
For users that register on our website (if any), we also store the personal information they provide in their user profile. All users can see, edit, or delete their personal information at any time (except they cannot change their username). Website administrators can also see and edit that information.
We will store the User’s Personal Information only for as long as is required to fulfill the purposes set out above. However, where we are required by law to retain a User’s Personal Information longer or where a User’s Personal Information is required for us to assert or defend against legal claims, we will retain the User’s Personal Information until the end of the relevant retention period or until the claims in question have been resolved.
Sharing of Personal Information
We may share certain Personal Information with contractors and other agents for the purpose of Processing this information on our behalf and providing other services to us or to the User on our behalf. These third parties include providers that provide services such as data analysis, automatic spam detection, email transmission, customer relationship management (CRM), IT security, cloud service providers, and database management.
We will provide Personal Information to such third parties, government authorities and agencies to:
- comply with applicable laws, regulations, legal process or enforceable governmental request;
- protect our or a third party’s legal rights, including the enforcement of terms with Users;
- receive contracted services or use of licensed products from third party providers;
- identify the User to anyone that the User sends a communication through the Platforms;
- effectuate a reorganization or organizational change resulting in the divestiture or transfer of any of our operation, unit, function, or asset to such third party;
- detect, prevent or otherwise address spam, fraud or other criminal activity or errors, security or technical issues; or
- protect against imminent harm to our rights, property, or the safety of our users or the public as required or permitted by law.
We will not sell or otherwise share any Personal Information with third parties for marketing purposes.
International Transfers
By using our Platforms or providing us with your Personal Information electronically, the User is directly transferring Personal Information and Non-Identifiable Information to us in the United States. The User’s Personal Information also may be transferred and Processed in other countries where our staff or third-party service providers are located. The United States and such other countries may not have the same level of information protection as the User’s jurisdiction.
The User is solely responsible for compliance with any information protection or privacy obligations in the User’s jurisdiction when using the Platforms or providing us with Personal Information. By submitting Personal Information, the User agrees to such Processing.
Information Security and Integrity
We will use reasonable industry standard safeguards (which may include physical, procedural and technical measures) to protect against the unauthorized disclosure of Personal Information it collects and holds. We will take reasonable steps to ensure that Personal Information collected is complete and relevant to its intended use.
The Platforms contain links to other third-party websites, which are subject to the respective privacy policies of those third parties. We are not responsible for the privacy practices of such linked third-party sites, and their owners and operators.
The Platforms may contain social media widgets including Instagram and LinkedIn, and other features that may collect a User’s Personal Information and Non-Identifying Information and may set Cookies on the User’s devices unless the device or browser settings prevent such Cookies from being stored. Such social media widgets and features may be hosted by a third party. We are not responsible for the operation of such widgets and features, and any information collection will be subject to the privacy policy of the provider of such widgets and features, and not this Privacy Policy.
Due to the open communication nature of the Internet, we cannot represent, warrant or guarantee that communications stored on our servers will be free from unauthorized access by third parties, loss, misuse, or alterations. While we will take reasonable and appropriate security measures to protect against unauthorized access, disclosure, alteration or destruction of Personal Information received, WE DISCLAIM ANY AND ALL LIABILITY FOR UNAUTHORIZED ACCESS OR USE OR COMPROMISE OF YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED BY APPLICABLE LAW. USERS ARE ADVISED THAT THEY SUBMIT SUCH PERSONAL INFORMATION AT THEIR OWN RISK.
Rights you have
If you have an account on the Platforms, or have left comments, you can request to receive an exported file of the personal data we hold about you, including any data you have provided to us, by sending a request to [email protected]. You can also request that we erase any personal data we hold about you. This does not include any data we are obliged to keep for administrative, legal, or security purposes.
If a User no longer wishes to receive certain electronic communications from us, the User may opt-out from such communication by following the unsubscribe instructions at the bottom of such communication or by accessing any available preference setting functionality in the Platforms.
Minors
We do not knowingly collect or require Personal Information from children under the age of 13. If you believe your child has provided us with Personal Information, please notify us by email at [email protected].
Revisions
We reserve the right to change this Privacy Policy at any time. Any changes we make will be posted on this page. The date this Privacy Policy was last revised is identified at the top of the page. You are responsible for periodically monitoring and reviewing any updates to this Privacy Policy. Your continued use of our Platforms after such amendments will be deemed your acknowledgement of these changes to this Privacy Policy.
Questions about our Privacy Policy
Should you have any questions or concerns about this Privacy Policy and our privacy practices, you may contact us at [email protected].