THENCE PORTAL PRIVACY POLICY
This privacy policy explains you how we collect, use, disclose, and otherwise process your personal data when you use this portal. It also informs you about the choices that you have with respect to your personal data. Please read the privacy policy carefully.
1. ABOUT US AND THE THENCE PORTAL 1
2. WHAT DATA DO WE COLLECT? 2
3. HOW LONG DO WE STORE YOUR DATA? 4
4. HOW DO WE DISCLOSE YOUR DATA? 5
5. HOW DO WE PROTECT YOUR DATA? 6
6. HOW CAN YOU MANAGE YOUR PERSONAL DATA? 7
7. COOKIES AND ADVERTISING 7
8. CONTACT 10
1. ABOUT US AND THE THENCE PORTAL
In this section, we provide you with general information about us and the THENCE Portal.
1.1 About the Privacy Policy. This privacy policy (the “ Privacy Policy ”) governs the processing of personal data collected from individual users (“ you ” and “ your ”) through the website https://thencepartners.com , the related services, software and domain names (collectively, the “ THENCE Portal ”).
1.2 About us. The entity that owns and operates the THENCE Portal is Thence LLC, having an address at 4000 Royal Marco Way, Unit 426, Marco Island FL 34145-1839, the United States (“ we, ” “ us, ” and “ our ”).
1.3 Our role as a data controller and data processor. We act in the capacity of a data controller and, from time to time, a data processor with regard to the personal data processed through the THENCE Portal in terms of the applicable data protection laws, including the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). Our role depends on the specific situation in which personal data is handled by us, as explained in detail below:
• Data controller. We are responsible for the collection of your personal data through the THENCE Portal and their further use. We make decisions about the types of personal data that should be collected from you and purposes for which such personal data should be used. Therefore, we act as a data controller with regard to the personal data collected directly through the THENCE Portal (e.g., when you send us an inquiry or make a payment). We comply with the data controller’s obligations set forth in the applicable laws.
• Data processor. We may act in the capacity of a data processor in situations when our clients use the THENCE Portal to upload or generate materials that contain personal data (the “ Client’s Materials ”). The Client’s Materials can include prospects’ and clients’ business contact details, business industry, size, location, performance, and other information. We do not own, control, or make decisions about the Client’s Materials. We process the Client’s Materials only in accordance with the instructions issued by a respective data controller (our client). To ensure that the Client’s Materials is processed in accordance with the strictest data protection standards, we offer for conclusion a data processing agreement (the “ DPA ”) that you can receive by contacting us.
1.4 Third-party websites. The Privacy Policy does not cover any third-party websites, applications or software that integrate with the THENCE Portal. We are not responsible for the privacy policies of websites to which the THENCE Portal links. If you provide any information to such third parties different rules regarding the collection and use of your personal data may apply. You should contact these entities directly if you have any questions about their use of the data that they collect.
1.5 Children. The THENCE Portal is not intended for use by persons under the age of 18. We do not knowingly collect personal data belonging to persons younger than 18. If you become aware that such a person has provided us with his or her personal data and you are a parent or a legal guardian of that person, please contact us immediately and we will remove the child’s personal data from our systems.
1.6 Term and termination. This Privacy Policy enters into force on the effective date indicated at the top of the Privacy Policy and remains valid until terminated or updated by us.
1.7 Amendments. This Privacy Policy can be changed or updated occasionally to meet the requirements and standards. Therefore, you are encouraged to frequently visit this page to be updated about the changes. Such modifications will be effective on the day they are posted. The amended version of the Privacy Policy will be posted on this page and, if we have your email address, we will send you a notice about all the changes implemented by us. For significant material changes in the Privacy Policy or, where required by the applicable law, we may seek your consent.
In this section, we explain in detail what personal data we collect from you, for what purposes we use it, what technical data is collected automatically when you use the Portal, and how we communicate with you.
2.1 Sources of personal data. We obtain your personal data from the following categories of sources:
• Directly from you. For example, if you register your user account or contact us;
• Directly or indirectly through your activity on the THENCE Portal . When you use the THENCE Portal, we automatically collect technical information about your visits by means of cookies and analytics services; and
• From third parties. We may receive information about you from third parties to whom you have previously provided your personal data, if those third parties have a legal basis for disclosing your personal data to us (for example, for analytics purposes).
2.2 Collection of personal data. We comply with data minimisation principles. This means that we collect only a minimal amount of personal data that is necessary for your use of the THENCE Portal. We use your personal data for limited, specified and legitimate purposes explicitly mentioned in this Privacy Policy. We do not repurpose your personal data. This means that we do not use it for any purposes that are different from the purposes for which your personal data was provided. Below, you can find an overview of the types of personal data that we collect, the purposes for which we use it, and the legal bases on which we rely when processing it.
• Account. When you register your user account on the THENCE Portal, we collect your email address, name, and password. If you register your account as an administrator or educator, we will also ask you to specify your work role. We use this information to register and maintain your user account, provide you with access to our courses and services, issue certificates, contact you, if necessary, and maintain our business records. The legal bases on which we rely are ‘ performing a contract with you ’ and ’ pursuing our legitimate interests ’ (i.e., operate, analyze, grow, protect, and administer the THENCE Portal). We will store account data until you delete your account.
• Payments. When you make a payment for our paid services, we collect your personal data, such as your full name, institution name and tax number (if applicable), billing address, and payment details (e.g., credit card number, CVV code, and expiration month and year). Your payment data is used to process payments and maintain our business and accounting records. The legal bases on which we rely are ‘ performing our contractual obligations ’ and ‘ pursuing our legitimate interests ’ (i.e., to administer and protect our business). We store such data for the time period prescribed by law.
• Enquiries. When you contact us by email, we collect your name, email address, and any information that you decide to include in your message. When you contact us by using our contact form, we collect your name, phone number, email address, company/community, and any information that you decide to include in your message. We use such data to respond to your enquiries and provide you with the requested information. The legal bases on which we rely are ‘ pursuing our legitimate interests ’ (i.e., to grow and promote the THENCE Portal) and ‘ your consent ’ (for optional personal data). We will store this data until you stop communicating with us.
2.3 Processing of personal data in the Client’s Materials. When you upload or generate the Client’s Materials through the THENCE Portal, we process the Client’s Materials, including any personal data that the Client’s Materials contains. We process such data to (i) provide you with the requested services and (ii) perform our other contractual obligations. The legal basis on which we rely is ‘ performing a contract with you ’. We store such personal data until you delete the Client’s Materials from the THENCE Portal.
2.4 Cookies. When you browse the THENCE Portal, we collect your cookie-related data and use other tracking technologies as described in detail in section 7 “Cookies and Advertising.”
2.5 Sensitive data. We do not collect or have access to any special categories of personal data (“sensitive data”) from you, unless you decide, at your own discretion, to provide such data to us. Sensitive data refers to your health, religious and political beliefs, racial origins, membership of a professional or trade association, or sexual orientation.
2.6 Refusal to provide personal data. If you refuse to provide us with your personal data when we ask for it, we may not be able to perform the requested operation and you may not be able to use the full functionality of the THENCE Portal, receive the requested information, use our services, or get our response. Please contact us immediately if you think that any personal data that we collect is excessive or not necessary for the intended purpose.
2.7 Collection of analytics data. When you browse the THENCE Portal, we collect certain technical analytics data collected from you. Such data includes the following information:
• URL addresses from which you access the THENCE Portal;
• Device type;
• Operating system;
• Interactions per visit;
• Exit pages;
• Bounce rates;
• Conversion rates;
• IP address; and
• Your other online behavior.
2.8 Purposes of analytics data. We use your analytics data to analyze what kind of users access and use the THENCE Portal, measure your engagement with the THENCE Portal, see which parts of the THENCE Portal are interesting to you, develop new services, features and content, and investigate and prevent security issues and abuse. In most cases, such analytics data is non-personal and it does not allow us to identify you as a natural person. However, your IP address may be considered personal data and we will make sure that we have the necessary legal basis for processing such data. When we process your analytics data that is personal data, we rely on the ‘ legitimate interest ’ (i.e., to analyze, improve, and protect the THENCE Portal) and ‘ your consent ’ bases.
2.9 Your feedback . If you contact us, we may keep records of any questions, complaints, recommendations, or compliments made by you and the response. Where possible, we will de-identify your personal data (i.e., we will remove all personal data that is not necessary for keeping such records).
2.10 Aggregate and de-identified data. In case your non-personal data is combined with certain elements of your personal data in a way that allows us to identify you, we will handle such aggregate data as personal data. If your personal data is aggregated or de-identified in a way that it can no longer be associated with an identified or identifiable natural person, it will not be considered personal data and we may use it for any legitimate purpose.
2.11 Newsletters. When you subscribe for our newsletter or use our services, we will inform you about our new content, products, services, and special offers. The legal basis on which we rely is ‘ pursuing our legitimate business interests ’ (i.e., promoting the THENCE Portal). You can opt-out from receiving our commercial communication at any time free of charge by clicking on the “unsubscribe” link included in our newsletters or by contacting us directly.
2.12
Transactional notices.
If we have your email address and it is necessary to do so, we may send you important informational messages, such as order confirmations and updates, requests for more information, and other technical or administrative emails. Please note that such messages are sent on an “if-needed” basis and they do not fall within the scope of commercial communication that may require your prior consent. You cannot opt-out from service-related notices.
3. HOW LONG DO WE STORE YOUR DATA?
In this section, we explain for how long we keep your data in our systems and how we delete it.
3.1 Storage of personal data. We and our data processors store your personal data only for as long as such personal data is required for the purposes described in this Privacy Policy or until you request us to update or delete your personal data, whichever comes first. For more details about the period for which each type of personal data is stored, please refer to section 2.2. After your personal data is no longer necessary for its purposes and there is no other legal basis for storing it, we will immediately securely delete your personal data from our systems. We do not store any personal data longer than strictly necessary.
3.2 Storage of non-personal data. We retain non-personal data pertaining to you for as long as necessary for the purposes described in this Privacy Policy. This may include storing non-personal data for the period of time needed for us to examine our activities, fulfil our contractual obligations, pursue our legitimate interests, conduct audits, comply with (and demonstrate compliance with) legal obligations, resolve disputes and enforce our agreements.
3.3 Storage as required by law. In very seldom cases, we may be obliged by law to store your personal data for a certain period of time. For example, payment-related data must be stored for accounting and business record purposes. If such a requirement exists, we will store your personal data for the time period stipulated by the applicable law and delete the personal data as soon as the required retention period expires.
4. HOW DO WE DISCLOSE YOUR DATA?
In this section, you can find information about third parties that may have access to your personal data.
4.1 Disclosure to data processors. We keep your personal data in strict confidentiality. However, i f necessary for the intended purpose of your personal data, we will disclose your personal data to entities that provide services on our behalf (our data processors). Your personal data may be shared with entities that provide technical support services to us, such as hosting, payment processing, and email distribution services. We do not sell your personal data to third parties and do not intend to do so in the future. The disclosure of your personal data is limited to the situations when it is required for the following purposes:
• Ensuring the proper operation of the Portal;
• Ensuring the delivery of our services;
• Processing your payments;
• Responding to your enquiries;
• Pursuing our legitimate interests;
• Enforcing our rights, preventing fraud, and security purposes;
• Carrying out our contractual obligations;
• Law enforcement purposes; or
• If you provide your prior consent to such a disclosure.
4.2
List of data processors.
We choose our data processors carefully and make sure that they ensure an adequate level of protection of personal data that is consistent with this Privacy Policy and the applicable data protection laws. The data processors that will have access to your personal data are:
• Our web hosting service provider ”Infomaniak Network SA” located in Switzerland;
• Our cloud storage service provider ”Infomaniak Network SA” located in Switzerland;
• Our marketing service provider ”Infomaniak Network SA” located in Switzerland;
• Our mailing service provider ”Infomaniak Network SA” located in Switzerland;
• Our CRM service provider Zoho ( https://www.zoho.com/ ) located in India;
• Our payment processing service providers Twint ( https://www.twint.ch ) located in Switzerland, PayPal ( https://www.paypal.com ) and Stripe ( https://stripe.com/ ) located in the United States, and our local banks;
• Our business management software service provider Odoo ( https://www.odoo.com ) located in Belgium;
• Our analytics service provider Google Analytics ( https://analytics.google.com ) located in the United States; and
• Our independent contractors and consultants.
4.3 International transfers. Some of our data processors may be based outside the country where you reside. For example, if you reside in a country belonging to the European Economic Area (EEA), we may need to transfer your personal data outside the EEA. In case it is necessary to make such a transfer, we will make sure that the country in which our data processor is located guarantees an adequate level of protection for your personal data or we conclude an agreement with it that ensures such protection (e.g., a data processing agreement based pre-approved Standard Contractual Clauses).
4.4 Disclosure of non-personal data. Your non-personal data may be disclosed to third parties for any purpose as it does not identify you as a natural person. For example, we may share it with prospects or partners for business or research purposes, for improving the THENCE Portal, responding to lawful requests from public authorities or developing new products and services.
4.5 Legal requests. If requested by a public authority, we will disclose information about the users of the THENCE Portal to the extent necessary for pursuing a public interest objective, such as national security or law enforcement.
5. HOW DO WE PROTECT YOUR DATA?
Here you can find information on how we protect your data against breaches.
5.1 Security measures. We implement technical and organizational information security measures that protect your personal data from loss, misuse, unauthorized access and disclosure. The security measures taken by us include secure Swiss servers, encryption, proper authentication, secured networks, strong passwords, limited access to your personal data by our staff, anonymisation of personal data (when possible), and carefully selected data processors.
5.2
Security breaches.
Although we put our best efforts to protect your personal data, given the nature of communication and information processing technology and the Internet, we cannot be liable for any unlawful destruction, loss, use, copying, modification, leakage, and falsification of your personal data caused by circumstances that are beyond our reasonable control. In case a serious breach occurs, we will take reasonable measures to mitigate the breach, as required by the applicable law. Our liability for any security breach will be limited to the highest extent permitted by the applicable law.
6. HOW CAN YOU MANAGE YOUR PERSONAL DATA?
Here you can find detailed information about the rights that you have with regard to your personal data and how to exercise those rights.
6.1 The list of your rights. You have the right to control how we process your personal data. Subject to any exemptions provided by law, you have the following rights:
• Right of access: you can get a copy of your personal data that we store in our systems and a list of purposes for which your personal data is processed;
• Right to rectification: you can rectify inaccurate personal data that we hold about you;
• Right to erasure (‘right to be forgotten’) : you can ask us to erase your personal data from our systems;
• Right to restriction: you can ask us to restrict the processing of your personal data;
• Right to data portability: you can ask us to provide you with a copy of your personal data in a structured, commonly used and machine-readable format and move that personal data to another processor;
• Right to object: you can ask us to stop processing your personal data;
• Right to withdraw consent: you have the right to withdraw your consent, if you have provided one; or
• Right to complaint: you can submit your complaint regarding our processing of your personal data.
6.2 How to exercise your rights? If you would like to exercise any of your legitimate rights, please contact us by using our contact details available at the end of the Privacy Policy and explain in detail your request. In order to verify the legitimacy of your request, we may ask you to provide us with an identifying piece of information, so that we can identify you in our system. We will answer your request within a reasonable time frame but no later than 30 days.
6.3 Complaints. If you would like to launch a complaint about the way in which we handle your personal data, we kindly ask you to contact us first and express your concerns. After you contact us, we will investigate your complaint and provide you with our response as soon as possible (no later than 30 days). If you are not satisfied with the outcome of your complaint, you have the right to lodge a complaint with your local data protection authority.
6.4 Requests pertaining to the Client’s Materials. If we receive a request for exercising data subject’s rights from a person whose personal data is included in the Client’s Materials, we will forward such a request to the respective data controller. We do not have the capacity to honour such requests.
7.1 We use cookies on the THENCE Portal in order to analyze the technical aspects of your use of the THENCE Portal, conduct our marketing campaigns, prevent fraud and abuse, and ensure the security of the THENCE Portal. The legal bases on which we rely are ‘ pursuing our legitimate interests ’ (i.e., analyze our content and protect the THENCE Portal) and ‘ your consent ’. Unless cookies expire earlier, we store this data as long as analytics records are necessary for our activities, or you withdraw your consent.
7.2 Types of cookies that we use. We may use different types of cookies on the THENCE Portal, including:
• Essential technical cookies that are strictly necessary to ensure the correct functioning of the THENCE Portal and provide the services requested by you;
• Preference cookies that allow us to save and preserve your preferences;
• Marketing cookies that allow us to create, implement, and examine our marketing campaigns. Such cookies allow us to reach the right customers, analyse the productivity of our marketing campaigns, and offer you personalised advertisement; and
•
Statistics cookies
that allow us to generate statistical reports about how you use the THENCE Portal.
7.3 Cookie consent. When you visit the THENCE Portal, we may ask you to provide us with your consent to our use of all cookies via a cookie consent banner (for example, if we see that you are based in the EU). If you do not provide your opt-in consent, we will not serve you our non-essential (statistics, marketing, and advertising) cookies. Please note that we may not be able to provide you with the best possible user experience if not all cookies are enabled.
7.4 Disabling cookies. When we ask you to provide your consent to our use of non-essential cookies, you have the freedom not to provide such consent. If you would like to refuse our use of non-essential cookies later, you can do it at any time by declining cookies in your browser or device. For more information, you can consult the cookie management instructions of your browser:
• Apple Safari: https://support.apple.com/en-gb/guide/safari/manage-cookies-and-website-data-sfri11471/mac
• Google Chrome: https://support.google.com/chrome/answer/95647
• Firefox: https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/enable-and-disable-cookies-website-preferences
• Opera: https://blogs.opera.com/news/2015/08/how-to-manage-cookies-in-opera/
• Microsoft Edge: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/4468242/microsoft-edge-browsing-data-and-privacy-microsoft-privacy
7.5 Targeted Advertising. You may encounter targeted interest-based advertising based on your use of the THENCE Portal and other websites on the Internet. We use Google Ads that deliver such services. Such advertising may also be based on profiling that automatically groups the users of the THENCE Portal. Where necessary, we will seek your consent (for example, for the use of non-essential advertising cookies). You can control how such advertising is shown to you or opt-out from targeted advertising by consulting the guide powered by the Digital Advertising Alliance available at https://youradchoices.com . For more information on opting-out from advertising features on your device, please visit https://www.networkadvertising.org . Where interest-based advertising uses non-essential cookies, we will ask your consent for such cookies. Also, you may adjust the settings of your Google account to manage the advertising content that you are served.
7.6
Google Analytics.
We use Google Analytics, a web analytics service provided by Google LLC registered at 1600 Amphitheatre Parkway, Mountain View, CA 94043, USA (
“
Google
”). Google generates statistical information by means of cookies and creates reports about your use of the THENCE Portal. The cookies served by Google are anonymous first-party cookies that do not allow us to identify you in any manner. The information generated by cookies will be transmitted to and stored by Google on servers in the United States. To ensure your privacy, your IP address will be anonymised and Google will not combine your IP address with other information Google holds about you. Thus, Google will not be able to identify you. In certain cases (e.g., when required by law or when third parties conduct services on behalf of Google), Google may transfer the information to third parties. For more information about Google Analytics
’
privacy practices, please visit
https://support.google.com/analytics/answer/6004245
. If you would like to opt out from Google Analytics, you can do so by installing a Google Analytics opt-out browser add-on available at
https://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout?hl=en
. We will ask you to provide us with your consent for non-essential Google Analytics cookies through a cookie consent banner. If you do not provide such consent, we will not use Google Analytics to analyse your use of the Portal.
7.7 List of cookies. Below, you can find a list of cookies that we use on the THENCE Portal, including their purpose and expiration time:
|
Essential technical cookies |
|||
|
Name |
Provider (location) |
Expiration |
Purpose |
|
__cf_bm |
(USA) |
1 day |
This cookie is used to distinguish between humans and bots. This is beneficial for the THENCE Portal, in order to make valid reports on the use of the THENCE Portal. |
|
SESS# |
(Switzerland) |
3 months |
This cookie is used to preserve users states across page requests. |
|
SRVGROUP |
(Switzerland) |
Session |
This cookie registers which server-cluster is serving the visitor. This is used in context with load balancing, in order to optimize user experience. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Preference cookies |
|||
|
Name |
Provider (location) |
Expiration |
Purpose |
|
frontend_lang |
(Switzerland) |
Session |
This cookie is used in context with the language setting on the THENCE Portal. It facilitates the translation into the preferred language of the visitor. |
|
player |
(USA) |
1 year |
The cookie saves the user's preferences when playing embedded videos from Vimeo. |
|
sync_active |
(USA) |
Persistent |
The cookie contains data on visitor's video-content preferences. This allows the THENCE Portal to remember parameters, such as preferred volume or video quality. The service is provided by Vimeo. |
|
tz |
(Switzerland) |
Session |
The cookie holds the user’s timezone. |
|
visitor_uuid |
(Switzerland) |
1 year |
The cookie determines the preferred language and country-setting of the visitor. This allows the THENCE Portal to show content most relevant to that region and language. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Statistics cookies |
|||
|
Name |
Provider (location) |
Expiration |
Purpose |
|
vuid |
(USA) |
2 years |
The cookie collects data on the user's visits to the THENCE Portal, such as which pages have been read. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Marketing and advertising cookies |
|||
|
Name |
Provider (location) |
Expiration |
Purpose |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Unclassified cookies |
|||
|
Name |
Provider (location) |
Expiration |
Purpose |
|
bus.https_thencepartners.com.focus |
(Switzerland) |
Persistent |
- |
|
bus.https_www.thencepartners.com.focus |
(Switzerland) |
Persistent |
- |
|
im_livechat_history |
(Switzerland) |
1 day |
- |
If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy, your rights, or our data protection practices, please contact us by using the following contact details:
Email: info@thencepartners.com
Postal address:
Thence LLC, 4000 Royal Marco Way, Unit 426, Marco Island FL 34145-1839, the United States
