Privacy Policy

At Pat Deegan, PhD. & Associates, LLC (“PDA”), your privacy is very important to us.  This Privacy Policy will tell you what information we collect about you and about your use of this website (this “Website”) and its services.  It will explain the choices you have about how your personal information is used and how we protect that information.  We urge you to read this Privacy Policy carefully. 

This Privacy Policy applies to this Website and the services PDA provides via links from this Website.  However, certain PDA services, such as the web applications CommonGround and Recovery Library, have their own privacy policies which are specific to your use of those services.  Those privacy policies are included elsewhere within the Website or on the applicable service webpage.  When you register to use one of PDA’s web application services, you should carefully review the privacy policy applicable to that service.  If you accept the application-specific privacy policy, that policy will be incorporated herein by reference.  In case of any conflict between this Privacy Policy and any application-specific privacy policy, the terms of the application-specific privacy policy will apply to your use of that application. 

These are the principles that guide PDA’s use of your personal information:

1. We only ask you for information that we truly need.
2. We never sell your information.
3. We don’t share your personal information with anyone except to provide you with the services of this Website, to comply with the law, or to protect our rights.
4. We don’t store your personal information unless required for billing purposes, the ongoing operation of Recovery Library, to comply with the law or to protect our rights.

What We Collect

Registration/Membership

When you register for or purchase a membership to one of our web application services, we ask for information such as your name, email address, billing address, phone number and credit card information.  Credit card information is only used in processing your transaction.  We make use of a third party payment processing merchant to process your payments.  We do not store your credit card information on our website or elsewhere.

User behavior information

PDA collects information of the sort that web browsers and servers typically make available, such as browser type, operating system information, mobile device information, referring site (including the search queries that brought you to the Website), and how users are using the Website (pages accessed, time of visit).  Our purpose in collecting this information is to better understand how visitors and members use the Website so that we can improve our Website to make it more valuable and useful – for example, to understand what topics are most popular.

Feedback and customer support

We encourage you to provide feedback on the Website to help us improve the member experience, and if you choose to submit feedback we will collect your comments submitted through the Website or by mail or other methods.  We may also retain records of any customer support services we provide to you.     

Cookies

We use persistent cookies to support a smooth user experience and to collect information about your use of the Website and its services.  “Cookies” are small data files assigned to your browser when you visit the Website which enable recognition of your browser and collect and store information about your use of the Website and its services.  This cookie remains on your computer after you close your browser and may be used by your browser on subsequent visits to the Website.  We also use cookies to better understand how you interact with the Website, in order to improve it.

What we do with the information we collect

The information you provide to us and information we collect about your use of the Website and its services may be used for the following purposes:

1. To authenticate access to certain features of the Website.
2. To send you updates about new additions to the Website or our services. You may opt out of receiving such notifications.
3. To process payments.
4. To analyze the performance of the Website or its services.
5. To contact you if your actions violate the Website Terms of Use.
6. To fix errors and analyze trends so we can improve the Website.
7. To study how users interact with the Website.
8. To provide customer support and feedback when you initiate a request for it.
9. To market our products and services to you. We may occasionally send you emails to tell you about new features, solicit feedback or just to keep you up to date with what is going on. If you no longer wish to receive such communications from us, you may unsubscribe using the link provided in all of our communications.

Companies and contractors that work with PDA

PDA sometimes works with third party companies and contractors that help us provide services and to otherwise assist in the operation of the Website, such as a third party payment processing merchant to process your credit card payments.  PDA contractors sometimes have limited access to your information in the course of providing products or services to PDA. We contractually require that our contractors not use or disclose your information for any purpose other than providing the limited service or function for PDA.

Third party websites

The Website may from time to time contain links to third-party websites. Unless otherwise noted, PDA is not affiliated with, and does not recommend or endorse the content on, such third-party websites.  If you use these links, you will leave the Website. 

PDA does not share your personal information with these third-party websites without your consent, but you should be aware that any information you disclose to these third-party websites is not subject to this Privacy Policy.  PDA does not endorse and is not responsible for the privacy practices of third-party websites.  You should review the privacy policy posted on the third-party website to understand how that website collects and uses your information. 

How we protect the information we collect

We are committed to protecting the privacy and confidentiality of your personal information.  We have security measures, including administrative, physical and electronic measures, to protect against the loss, exposure, misuse or alteration of information that we have collected from you.  These measures include SSL data encryption to transmit your personal information as well as technical architectures and systems to prevent unauthorized third parties from accessing your personal information.

Your rights

Updating or removing your personal information

If you do not want your personal information used by PDA as provided in this Privacy Policy, you should not use the Website or its services.  You can often correct, update or review personal information you have previously submitted by going back to the specific service, logging-in and making the desired change.  You can also update any personal information you have submitted by contacting us using the contact information listed below.

If you have registered and would like PDA to delete any of your registration information you previously provided to us, please contact us using the contact information listed below.  Upon your request, we will close your account and delete your registration information from our active databases and where feasible from our back-up media.  You should be aware that it may not be possible to remove every record of the information you have provided to the Website or its services.

When you sign up to receive email communications from PDA or any of our services, or at any time, you can choose to opt out of receiving additional email communications.  There will be an “Unsubscribe” link in each email that you can use to unsubscribe.

Cookies

Most internet browser software can be set to reject cookies.  Check the “Help” or “Preferences” section of your browser’s toolbar for more information on how to reset your browser to reject cookies.  Please note that if you choose to reject cookies, certain functions of the Website may not function as intended.

Note to users outside of the United States

PDA and our technical infrastructure are located in the United States.  The personal information that you provide to us is stored on servers located in the United States.  If you are located in another jurisdiction, you should be aware that in order to provide the services to you, we must transfer your personal information to the United States where it will be stored and processed in accordance with this Privacy Policy (and, if applicable, the privacy policy applicable to the specific PDA web application service which you are using).  We may transfer your information outside the United States to service providers with operations in other countries.  By using this Website and/or any of PDA’s web application services, you consent to such collection, storage and processing in the United States and elsewhere, acknowledging that the United States and such other jurisdictions may not provide the same level of data protection as your own country.  

Additional information for users from the European Economic Area (“EEA”)

When you use the Website or any of PDA’s web application services, we collect, store, use and otherwise process your personal information as described in this Privacy Policy and/or the privacy policy applicable to the web application service you are using.  We rely on a number of legal bases to process your information, including where: (i) necessary for our legitimate interests in providing and improving our services including offering you content that may be of interest to you; (ii) necessary for our legitimate interest in keeping the Website and our services safe and secure; (iii) necessary to perform our legal obligations in the Terms of Use; (iv) you have consented to the processing, which you can revoke at any time (however a revocation does not affect the lawfulness of processing of your personal data that occurred prior to the date of revocation); (v) necessary to comply with a legal obligation such as a law, regulation, search warrant, subpoena or court order or to exercise or defend legal claims; and (vi) necessary to protect your vital interests, or those of others.

If you are a user in the EEA, you can: (i) access personal information we have about you (we will try to provide information within 30 days of your request); (ii) have your personal information corrected or deleted; (iii) in certain circumstances, you can object to our processing of your personal information and we will discontinue such processing unless we have compelling legitimate grounds to continue; (iv) withdraw consent previously provided (however a withdrawal does not affect the lawfulness of processing of your personal data that occurred prior to the date of withdrawal); or (v) if you believe that we have not complied with applicable data protection laws, you may lodge a complaint with your local supervisory authority.  If you wish to inquire as to whether we maintain any of your personal information and, if so, if you wish to exercise any of those rights that are available to you with respect to such personal information, you may contact us as described below.

We will retain your personal information for as long as necessary to provide our services to you and to satisfy the purposes described in this Privacy Policy.  When we no longer need to use your personal information and there is no need for us to keep it to comply with our legal or regulatory obligations, we will either remove it from our systems or anonymize it. 

Changes to this Privacy Policy

PDA may make changes to this Privacy Policy from time to time at our sole discretion, and any changes will be effective upon being posted unless we advise otherwise.   If a change to this Privacy Policy constitutes a material change, we will notify you by email if you have provided it to us or by posting a notice on the Website.  What makes up a “material change” will be determined by us, in good faith, and using common sense and reasonable judgment.  You may also check this page for any changes to this Privacy Policy.  We encourage you to periodically review this Privacy Policy for the latest information on our privacy practices.  By continuing to use this Website and our services after changes are made to this Privacy Policy, you agree to such changes. 

Contacting PDA about your personal information or privacy

If you have any questions or other communications about this Privacy Policy or the personal information we maintain about you, please contact PDA’s Compliance Officer either by (i) sending an email to [email protected] or (ii) writing to Pat Deegan, PhD. & Associates, LLC, P.O. Box 208, Byfield, MA 01922 USA, Attn: Compliance Officer.

 

LAST UPDATED: February 11, 2019