Privacy Policy Statement
Privacy Policy Statement
Updated and Effective Date: Dec 21, 2022
View previous versions:
2018-04-26, 2019-05-02, 2019-12-18, 2020-12-17 and 2022-12-21
Table of Contents
Introduction
At BenchPrep, we realize that your privacy is important to you. This privacy policy applies to all software applications, mobile applications, services and websites offered by BenchPrep, its partners and subsidiaries, (the “Privacy Policy”). The Privacy Policy is intended to explain what information we collect, why we collect it, and how you can manage your information.
BenchPrep provides a learning management system for companies (“Customer Organization(s)”) to deliver learning content to their customers, which involves the sharing of certain data about you, as discussed in this privacy policy. BenchPrep is not responsible for the privacy policies and practices of third parties including Customer Organizations. When we say “we” or “us” in this policy, we are referring to BenchPrep only. By providing us with your personal information, you agree to the terms and conditions of this Privacy Policy.
What Does This Privacy Policy Cover
- Personal information we collect on our websites, software applications, and mobile applications
- Personal information we collect for marketing and business development activities
- Personal information we use for internal operations like finance and business operations
What Is Not Covered By This Privacy Policy
Where we are a service provider and a processor in a B2B (business-to-business) context and where these B2B customers use our solutions to collect or process data.
Types of Information We Collect
“Personal information” generally refers to any information that can be linked to an identified or identifiable person. The following provides examples of the type of information that we collect from you, or have collected in the preceding 12 months, and how we use that information.
Sources of Personal Information
We collect your personal information in the following ways, pursuant to applicable law:
Directly From You, when you visit our websites and mobile applications, register for an account, contact us, respond to a survey, sign up to receive emails, text messages, and/or postal mailings.
Through Our Use of Cookies and Other Automatic Data Collection Technologies, when you visit our websites, use our mobile applications, open or click on emails we send you, or interact with our advertisements. We or third parties we work with automatically collect certain information using technologies such as cookies, web beacons, clear GIF, pixels, internet tags, web server logs, and other data collection tools. For more information, please see the “Cookies and Similar Tracking Technologies” section below.
From Third-Parties, including Customer Organizations, third parties that we have partnered with to provide you the services that you have requested from us, data analytics providers or publicly available sources.
Uses And Processing of Information
In addition to the purposes and uses described above, we use information in the following ways:
- To identify you when you visit our websites or mobile applications.
- To provide and improve our services and product offerings.
- To administer, maintain, evaluate, and improve our websites, mobile applications, and services, and to develop new products and services.
- To conduct research and analytics related to our websites, mobile applications, and services, including combining any or all of the information that we collect or obtain.
- To conduct analytics.
- To respond to inquiries related to support, or other requests.
- To send marketing and promotional materials, including information relating to our products, services, sales, or promotions.
- For internal administrative purposes, to manage our business operations, to perform our obligations and exercise our rights under any agreement that you or your organization has with us.
- To comply with applicable laws, legal obligations, and/or protect our legal interests and rights.
- To detect, investigate, prevent, or take action regarding possible malicious, deceptive, fraudulent, or illegal activity, including fraudulent transactions, attempts to manipulate or violate our policies, procedures, and terms and conditions, security incidents, and harm to the rights, property, or safety of BenchPrep and our customers, employees, or others.
Although the sections above describe our primary purpose in collecting your information, in many situations we have more than one purpose. For example, if you license our learning management system we may collect your information to perform our contract with you, but we also collect your information because we have a legitimate interest in understanding who our clients are and what services we perform on their behalf.
Disclosure of Information
In addition to the specific situations discussed elsewhere in this policy, we disclose information in the following situations:
- Within BenchPrep. We may share information with our corporate affiliates (e.g., parent company, sister companies, subsidiaries, joint ventures, or other companies under common control).
- Business Transaction. We may disclose personal information to a potential or actual buyer in the event of any reorganization, merger, sale, joint venture, assignment, transfer, or other disposition of all or any portion of our business, assets, or stock (including in connection with any bankruptcy or similar proceedings), including any due diligence related to such a transaction.
- Other Disclosures with Your Consent. We may ask if you would like us to share your information with other unaffiliated third parties who are not described elsewhere in this policy.
- Government Entities or Regulators. We may disclose information for legal reasons as we believe to be necessary or appropriate to: (a) satisfy any applicable law, legal process, or proper governmental request; (b) enforce any agreement we may have entered into with you or your organization, including investigating any violations or asserting remedies; (c) detect, prevent, or otherwise address fraud, security or technical issues; (d) protect against harm (whether tangible or intangible) to the rights, property, or safety of BenchPrep, our users, or the public as required or permitted by law; and (e) establish or exercise our rights, defend against a legal claim, and investigate, prevent, or take action regarding possible illegal activities or a violation of our policies.
- Public. Some of our websites may provide the opportunity to post comments, or reviews, on a message board or in a public forum. If you decide to submit information on these pages, that information may be publically available.
- Service Providers. We disclose information with service providers as necessary for them to assist us with our business operations and provide services to use, subject to appropriate confidentiality and data protection agreements. Among other things service providers may help us to administer our website, conduct surveys, provide technical support, send communications, process payments, fix errors, and assist in the fulfillment of orders. Please note that BenchPrep may also disclose personal data for purposes other than those outlined above or to other third parties when an individual has consented to or requested such disclosure.
- De-identified or Aggregate Information. We may aggregate and anonymize information you provide to us in such a way as to ensure it will no longer be identifiable to you. This data may be used for statistical, analytic, and administrative purposes, including analyzing our website traffic and trends, tailoring our services, or conducting product analysis. We may share anonymized or aggregated data at our discretion, in accordance with applicable laws.
Cookies and Similar Tracking Technologies
We use cookies and similar tracking technologies, including pixel tags or web beacons (collectively “cookies”), to collect certain information on our websites, mobile applications, and through our services. We also permit certain third parties to use cookies and similar tracking technologies to collect information about your use of our websites, and mobile applications. The information collected by these tracking technologies may include (a) your internet protocol (IP) address, unique device identifiers, location, browser type, and Internet service provider information; (b) information about when and how you access and use our websites or mobile applications, such as the domains you visit, what features you used and for how long, the website that referred you to us, and date/time stamps associated with your usage; (c) information about the device you use to access the websites or mobile applications such as device type, device ID, and device/browser settings; and (d) location of the device used to access the websites or mobile applications derived from GPS or WiFi use.
We differentiate between cookies that are essential for the technical features of our services and optional analytics and advertising cookies.
Depending on your location and applicable laws, we may give you the option of adjusting your preferences with regard to the advertising cookies we use. Where this option is available, you can configure your personal settings by clicking the “Do Not Share or Sell or Share my Personal Information” link (discussed below in the Your Rights & Choices section), or via other options that may be available on the relevant website in your specific locations.
Your Rights and Choices
You can make the following choices regarding your personal information subject to applicable law:
- Access to Your Personal Information. You have the right to request access to the personal information we hold about you, along with other information such as the purposes of the processing, the recipients or categories of recipients to whom the personal information has been or will be disclosed, the sources of the personal information, retention, and transfers of personal information. Note that California residents may be entitled to ask us for a notice describing what categories of personal information (if any) we share with third parties or affiliates for direct marketing.
- Changes to Your Personal information. We rely on you to update and correct your personal information. Most of our websites allow you to modify or delete your account profile. If our website does not permit you to update or correct certain information, you contact us at the address described below in order to request that your information by modified. Note that we may keep historical information in our backup files as permitted by law.
- Deletion Of Your Personal Information. You may request that we delete your personal information. If required by law we will grant a request to delete information, but you should note that in many situations we must keep your personal information to comply with our legal obligations, resolve disputes, enforce our agreements, or for another one of our business purposes.
- Objection to Certain Processing. You may object to our use or disclosure of your personal information by contacting us at the address described below subject to applicable law.
- Online Tracking. Some web browsers incorporate a “Do Not Track” (DNT) or similar feature that signals to websites that a visitor does not want to have his/her online activity and behavior tracked. Not all browsers offer a DNT option and there is currently no industry consensus for how to recognize or respond to a DNT signal. BenchPrep will endeavor to recognize commercially recognized opt out signals (e.g., Global Privacy Control). Recognition of this signal will only take place with respect to the device and/or browser that communicates the signal.
- Promotional Emails. You may choose to provide us with your email address for the purpose of allowing us to send free newsletters, surveys, offers, and other promotional materials to you, as well as targeted offers from third parties. You can stop receiving promotional emails by following the unsubscribe instructions in e-mails that you receive. If you decide not to receive promotional emails, we may still send you service related communications.
- Revocation Of Consent If you revoke your consent for the processing of personal information then we may no longer be able to provide you services. In some cases, we may limit or deny your request to revoke consent if the law permits or requires us to do so, or if we are unable to adequately verify your identity. You may revoke consent to processing (where such processing is based upon consent) by contacting us at the address described below.
- Data Portability. Under certain circumstances, you have the right to receive the personal information about you that you have provided to us, in a structured, commonly used, and machine-readable format.
- Opt Out of the “Sale” or “Sharing” of Personal Information. Our use of certain cookies or other tracking technologies is deemed a “sale” or “sharing” under California law (in this context “sharing” means cross contextual behavioral advertising) of personal information. As such, you can opt out of our use of certain tracking technologies and cookies by clicking the “Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information” button at the bottom of the BenchPrep websites.
• The following categories of personal information disclosed are considered “sale”/ “sharing” under California law: direct identifiers, device information, and geolocation data.
• The following categories of third parties to whom personal information was disclosed are considered “sale”/ “sharing” under California law: social media platforms and ad networks. - Automated Processing. Under certain circumstances, you have the right to object to a significant decision based solely on automated processing (i.e., without human intervention) unless that decision is required or authorized by law.
- Right of Non-Discrimination/Retaliation. We do not discriminate against individuals who exercise any of their rights described in this Privacy Policy, nor do we retaliate against individuals who exercise these rights.
- Restriction of processing of Sensitive Personal Information. You have the right to request the restriction of processing of your sensitive personal information. Where applicable, the respective sensitive personal information will be marked accordingly and may only be processed by us for certain purposes. At the current time, however, we do not use or disclose sensitive personal information for purposes other than those expressed in this Policy or otherwise permitted by applicable law, and these uses cannot be limited under California law.
Please note that many of the above rights are subject to exceptions and limitations. Your rights and our responses will vary based on the circumstances of the request. If you choose to assert any of these rights under applicable law, we will respond within the time period prescribed by such law.
In the State of California, a person authorized to act on your behalf may make a verifiable request related to your Personal Information. If you designate an authorized person to submit requests to exercise certain privacy rights on your behalf, we will require verification that you provided the authorized agent permission to make a request on your behalf. In any circumstance, your request must: (i) provide sufficient information that allows us to reasonably verify that you are the person about whom we collected Personal Information or an authorized representative of that person; and (ii) describe the request with sufficient detail that allows us to properly understand, evaluate, and respond to it. We will only use Personal Information provided in a verifiable consumer request to verify the requestor’s identity or authority to make the request.
To exercise your rights, please contact us at benchprepprivacy@benchprep.com, call us at 855-236-2477, or visit our online portal.
How We Protect Personal Information
We employ industry standard physical, technical, and organizational measures designed to protect your personal information from loss, misuse, unauthorized access or disclosure, alteration, and destruction, in order to maintain the security and integrity of your personal information. No method of transmission over the Internet, or method of electronic storage, is fully secure. While we use reasonable efforts to protect your personal information from unauthorized access, use, or disclosure, we cannot guarantee the security of your personal information. In the event that we are required by law to inform you of a breach to your personal information we may notify you electronically, in writing, or by telephone, if permitted to do so by law.
Some of our websites permit you to create an account. When you do you will be prompted to create a password. You are responsible for maintaining the confidentiality of your password, and you are responsible for any access to or use of your account by someone else that has obtained your password, whether or not such access or use has been authorized by you. You should notify us of any unauthorized use of your password or account.
How Long We Retain Your Personal Information
BenchPrep retains personal information for as long as necessary to fulfill the business purpose for which you provided it to us and any other legitimate business purpose, including without limitation, for the purposes of satisfying any legal, accounting, or reporting requirements. The specific periods for which we keep information about you vary depending on the nature of the information, why we need it, and whether the personal information is de-identified. If you would like more details about our data retention policies, please contact us.
Other Important Information
Notice to Residents of Countries outside of the United States of America. BenchPrep is headquartered in the United States. If you are located outside of the United States, you should be aware that your personal information may be accessed by us or transferred to us in the United States or to our affiliates, business partners, merchants, or service providers in the United States. By providing us with personal information, you consent to the transfer and processing of your personal information within the United States. Where required by applicable law, we will provide appropriate protections for personal information transferred to the United States, including by implementing appropriate contractual controls.
Children’s Privacy. BenchPrep takes special care to protect the privacy needs of children under the age of 16 and BenchPrep encourages parents to be an active participant in their child’s online activities. BenchPrep’s website does not target and is not intended for children under the age of 16, and BenchPrep will not knowingly collect personal information from them. BenchPrep does not sell the personal information of minors less than 16 years of age without affirmative authorization. If BenchPrep discovers personal data from a child gathered through the website, without parental consent, BenchPrep will delete that data. This website is not intended for persons under the age of 16. If you are under 16 you must ask a parent or legal guardian for permission prior to submitting any information to this website.
Third Party Applications/Websites. Our websites may contain links and references to other websites administered by unaffiliated third parties. This Privacy Policy does not apply to such third party websites. When you click a link to visit a third party website, you will be subject to that website's privacy practices. We encourage you to familiarize yourself with the privacy and security practices of any linked third party websites before providing any personal information on those websites.
Changes To This Privacy Policy. We may change our privacy policy and practices over time. To the extent that our policy changes in a material way, the policy that was in place at the time that you submitted personal information to us will generally govern that information unless we receive your consent to the new privacy policy. This Privacy Policy includes an “effective” and “last updated” date. The effective date refers to the date that the current version took effect. The last updated date refers to the date that the current version was last substantively modified.
Contact Information
If you have any questions, comments, or complaints concerning our privacy practices, or, where required by law, if you would like to submit a request based on a right listed in this Policy, please contact us at the appropriate address below.
For non-EU residents:
BenchPrep
111 S Wacker Drive, Suite 1200
Chicago, IL 60606
benchprepprivacy@benchprep.com
855-236-2477
For EU residents:
To ask questions about our privacy practices, or issue a complaint, contact us at:
BenchPrep
111 S Wacker Drive, Suite 1200
Chicago, IL 60606
benchprepprivacy@benchprep.com
If you are not satisfied with our response, and are in the European Union, you may have a right to lodge a complaint with your local supervisory authority.