Privacy Statement

The Ripple Center respects your right to privacy. Our Privacy Statement explain who we are, how we collect, share and use personal information about you and how you can exercise your privacy rights.

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Our Privacy Statement apply to all users of the ripplecenter.org website  and our services.

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If you have any questions or concerns about our use of your personal information, then please contact us using the contact details provided in the HOW TO CONTACT US section of this Privacy Statement.

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Information Collected from You

We collect information about visitors to our site, applicants, our volunteers and partners, and those we connect with via officially recognized social media accounts.

 

Information we collect directly from you: The type of information that we collect directly from you varies based on your interaction with our Site and our Services. We collect information directly from you when you register an account with us, sign up for our newsletters and /or other communications, complete an application or other forms on the Site. We also collect information that you send us via any medium, including, but not limited to email, telephone, as well as social media interactions like your social media handle, username, and profile; etc.

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Information Collected Automatically

When you visit our Site or use our Services, we may collect certain information automatically from your device. In some countries, including countries in the European Economic Area, this information may be considered personal information under applicable data protection laws.

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Specifically, the information we collect automatically may include information like your IP address, device type, unique device identification numbers, browser-type, broad geographic location (e.g. country, state or municipality location), third party webpages accessed via the Services and other technical information. We may also collect information about how your device has interacted with our Site, including the pages accessed and links clicked, or Services, including content accessed.

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Collecting this information enables us to better understand the visitors who come to our Site or use our Services, where they come from, and what content and functionality is of interest to them. We use this information for our internal analytics purposes and to improve the quality and relevance of our Site and/or Services to our visitors and users.

Some of this information may be collected using cookies and similar tracking technology, as explained further under the heading “Cookies and similar tracking technology” below and in our Cookie Notice.

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Use of Personal Information

The Ripple Center processes your personal information for the following purposes:

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• Operate and improve the Site and Services;

• Provide users with the Services that a user may request or that a user has expressed interest in;

• Facilitate data processing, reviews and analysis;

• Evaluate user interest and needs in order to improve the Services and make available other Services;

• Evaluate the types of Services we make available to users and potential users;

• Monitor use of the Services;

• Provide user support;

• Communicate and provide additional information that may be of interest to users through email or other means, such as announcements and marketing materials;

• Conduct online research surveys regarding the Site and/or Services;

• Combine datasets to create aggregated data for internal evaluation and analysis;

• Send you reminders, notices, updates, security alerts and support and administrative messages, Services bulletins, or marketing;

• Provide advertisements to you through email messages; and

• Manage our everyday business needs such as Site and/or Services administration, forum management, fulfillment, analytics, fraud prevention, enforcement of our reporting obligations, Terms of Use and any other contractual agreement relating to our Services or to comply with the law.

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To Whom We May Disclose Your Information

We may disclose your information, including personal information, to the following categories of recipients:

• to our affiliates third party Services providers and partners who provide data processing Services to us (for example, to support the delivery of, provide functionality on, or help to enhance the security of our Site or Services), or who otherwise process personal information for purposes that are described in these Privacy Statements or notified to you when we collect your personal information.

• to any competent law enforcement body, regulatory, government agency, court or other third party where we believe disclosure is necessary (i) as a matter of applicable law or court order or regulation, (ii) to exercise, establish or defend our legal rights, or (iii) to protect your vital interests or those of any other person;

• to any other person with your consent to the disclosure.

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We do not share personal information with third parties for their own marketing purposes.

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In certain situations, we may be required to disclose personal data in response to lawful requests by public authorities, including to meet national security or law enforcement requirements.

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Legal Basis for Processing Personal Information (EEA Visitors / Users Only)

If you are a visitor or user from the European Economic Area, our legal basis for collecting and using the personal information described above will depend on the personal information concerned and the specific context in which we collect it.

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However, we will normally collect personal information from you only where we have your consent to do so, where we need the personal information to perform Services with you, or where the processing is in our legitimate interests and not overridden by your data protection interests or fundamental rights and freedoms. In some cases, we may also have a legal obligation to collect personal information from you.

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If we ask you to provide personal information to comply with a legal requirement or to perform Services with you (such as accepting an application from you) we will make this clear at the relevant time and advise you whether the provision of your personal information is mandatory or not (as well as of the possible consequences if you do not provide your personal information).

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Similarly, if we collect and use your personal information in reliance of our legitimate interests (or those of any third party), we will make clear to you at the relevant time what those legitimate interests are.

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If you have questions about or need further information concerning the legal basis on which we collect and use your personal information, please contact us using the contact details provided under the “How to Contact Us” heading below.

 

Cookies and Similar Tracking Technology

We use cookies and similar tracking technology (collectively, “Cookies”) to collect and use personal information about you, including to serve interest-based advertising. For further information about the types of Cookies we use, why, and how you can control Cookies, please see our  Cookie Notice. 

 

Your Data Protection Rights

You have the following data protection rights:

• If you wish to access, correct, update or request deletion of your personal information, you can do so at any time by contacting us using the contact details provided under the HOW TO CONTACT US section below. Note that if you submit a request to delete your personal information, this may prohibit you using the Site and/or Services.

• In addition, if you are a resident of the European Union, you can object to processing of your personal information, ask us to restrict processing of your personal information or request portability of your personal information. Again, you can exercise these rights by contacting us using the contact details provided under the HOW TO CONTACT US. Note that if you submit such a request, this may prohibit you using the Site and/or Services.

• You have the right to opt-out of marketing communications we send you at any time. You can exercise this right by clicking on the “unsubscribe” or “opt-out” link in the marketing emails we send you. To opt-out of other forms of marketing (such as postal marketing or telemarketing), then please contact us using the contact details provided under the HOW TO CONTACT US section below.

• Similarly, if we have collected and processed your personal information with your consent, then you can withdraw your consent at any time. 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.

• You have the right to complain to a data protection authority about our collection and use of your personal information. For more information, please contact your local data protection authority.

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We respond to all requests we receive from individuals wishing to exercise their data protection rights in accordance with applicable data protection laws.

 

Security & User ID / Password

Our Site and/or Services utilizes various appropriate technical and organizational security measures, which include, but are not limited to, network and host security controls (e.g., firewalls, intrusion detection systems, etc.), data encryption (both at rest and during transmission), and operating procedures that are designed to protect your personal information. You should protect your user ID and password and NOT share it with anyone. 

 

Data Retention 

We retain personal information we collect from you where we have an ongoing legitimate business need to do so (for example, to provide you with a Services you have requested or to comply with applicable legal, tax or accounting requirements).

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When we have no ongoing legitimate business need to process your personal information, we will either delete or anonymize it or, in the limited circumstances where this is not possible (for example, because your personal information has been stored in backup archives), then we will securely store your personal information and isolate it from any further processing until deletion is possible.

 

CAN-SPAM Compliance Notice (U.S. and Canadian users only)

We may send periodic promotional or informational emails to you. You may opt-out of such communications by following the unsubscribe or opt-out instructions contained in the email. Please note that it may take up to 10 business days for us to process opt-out requests. If you opt-out of receiving emails about recommendations or other information we think may interest you, we may still send you emails about your account or any Services you have requested or received from us.

 

California Privacy Rights

Pursuant to Section 1798.83 of the California Civil Code, residents of California can obtain certain information about the types of Personally Identifiable Information that companies with whom they have an established business relationship have shared with third parties for direct marketing purposes during the preceding calendar year. In particular, the law provides that companies must inform consumers about the categories of Personally Identifiable Information that have been shared with third parties, the names and addresses of those third parties, and examples of the types of Services or products marketed by those third parties. To request a copy of the information disclosure provided by The Ripple Center pursuant to Section 1798.83 of the California Civil Code, please contact us via the HOW TO CONTACT US below.

 

International Transfers

Your personal information may be transferred to, and processed in, countries other than the country in which you are resident. These countries may have data protection laws that are different to the laws of your country.

Specifically, our servers are located in the United States, although third party service providers and partners may operate around the world. This means that when we collect your personal information we may process it in any of these countries.

However, we have taken appropriate safeguards to ensure that your personal information will remain protected in accordance with this Privacy Policy. These include our participation in the E.U. – U.S. Privacy Shield Framework, additional details of which are set out below.

 

EU – US Privacy Shield Framework and Swiss—US Privacy Shield Framework

The Ripple Center strives to follow Privacy Shield Principles with respect to the collection, use, and retention of personal information from European Union member countries and Switzerland. If there is any conflict between the policies in this privacy policy and data subject rights under the Privacy Shield Principles, the Privacy Shield Principles shall govern The Ripple Center’s response to queries. To learn more about the Privacy Shield program, please visit https://www.privacyshield.gov/. With respect to personal data received or transferred pursuant to the Privacy Shield Frameworks, The Ripple Center is subject to the investigatory and enforcement authority of the U.S. Federal Trade Commission.

 

Contacting Us, Complaints and Dispute Resolution

The Ripple Center commits to resolve complaints about your privacy and our collection or use of your personal information transferred to the United States pursuant to Privacy Shield. European Union and Swiss individuals with Privacy Shield inquiries or complaints should first contact us under the HOW TO CONTACT US below. We will work to resolve your issue and will respond within 45 days of receipt.

 

If your Privacy Shield complaint cannot be resolved through the above channels, under certain conditions, you may invoke binding arbitration for some residual claims not resolved by other redress mechanisms. See Privacy Shield Annex 1 at https://www.privacyshield.gov/article?id=ANNEX-I-introduction.

 

Children

Consistent with the federal Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act of 1998 (COPPA), we will never knowingly request personally identifiable information from anyone under the age of 13 without requiring parental consent. Any person who provides their personal information to us through our Site or Services represents that they are older than 12 years of age.

 

Updates to these Privacy Statements

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time in response to changing legal, technical or business developments. When we update our Privacy Policy, we will take appropriate measures to inform you, consistent with the significance of the changes we make. We will obtain your consent to any material Privacy Policy changes if and where this is required by applicable data protection laws.