Seeking Cure Privacy Policy
Last Updated: October 21, 2022
Seeking Cure recognizes the importance of the privacy of your Personal Data (as defined below) and values the trust our users place in us when you give us access to your personal data. The Privacy Policy describes what information we collect from you and about your use of Seeking Cure and its services when you access the Seeking Cure website (“Site”) and the choices you have regarding how your Personal Data is used and how we protect that information. We urge that you read this Privacy Policy carefully.
This Privacy Policy applies to the Site owned and operated by Seeking Cure, Inc. and is intended for use by consumers (non-professionals) for non-commercial, personal, family, or household purposes.
For the purposes of this Privacy Policy, “Seeking Cure”, “we” or “us” mean Seeking Cure, Inc., including any company that Seeking Cure Inc. controls. Although Seeking Cure may share information among subsidiaries or websites that it owns or controls, information collected under this Privacy Policy is always protected under the terms of this Privacy Policy. Unless otherwise specified, Seeking Cure is the data controller responsible for the processing of your Personal Data as described in this Privacy Policy.
This Privacy Policy covers only the personally identifying information that you voluntarily provide when you use the Site and that we may automatically collect when you visit the Site. It does not cover any other data collection or processing including, without limitation, the data collection practices of any affiliate or other third party, including the operators of webpages not hosted and/or owned by Seeking Cure (“Third Party Websites”) to which the Site links, and any information that we collect offline or through any websites, products, or services that do not display a direct link to this Privacy Policy.
Seeking Cure, Inc. (“Seeking Cure“), in its sole discretion, may revise and update the Privacy Policy at any time. By using the site in any way or by providing information to us after the amended Privacy Policy has been posted, you indicate that you accept and agree to follow and be bound by the amended Privacy Policy. When changes are made, a new version of the Privacy Policy with a “Last Updated” date at the top will be made available on the Site. A link to the Privacy Policy is available on every page of the Site and you should check to ascertain if any changes have been made to the Privacy Policy each time you use the Site.
This Site is controlled and operated by Seeking Cure from its offices within the United States. How Seeking Cure handles the information you voluntarily provide when you use the Site and the information that is automatically collect when you visit the Site, is governed by United States federal and state laws, and not by the laws of any country, territory or jurisdiction other than the United States and its states. We make no representation that the Site is appropriate or available for use outside of the United States. If you choose to access the Site, you are responsible for compliance with applicable local laws and regulations.
If you do not want us to collect, use or disclose information about you and your use of the services and features on the Site (“Services”) as described in this Privacy Policy, then you should not use the Services. By using the Services, you must agree to the Seeking Cure Terms of Service, which is the contract between us and users of the Services. By accepting the Seeking Cure Terms of Service, you confirm that you have read and understand this Privacy Policy and you acknowledge that we will store, use and otherwise process your information as described in this Privacy Policy.
Types of Data We Collect
You provide different types of information in order for Seeking Cure to provide our services, products and features to you. “Personal Data” means data that allows someone to identify or contact you, including, for example, your name, address, telephone number, e-mail address, as well as any other non-public information, including health information, about you that is associated with or linked to any of the foregoing data. “Non-Personal Data” means data that is not associated with or linked to your Personal Data and does not, by itself, permit the identification of individual persons. We collect Personal Data and Non-Personal Data, as described below.
Standard Operations
For the standard operation of the Site, Seeking Cure automatically collects and stores information in its server logs from your computer or mobile device and actions taken on the Site, including but not limited to your IP address and/or unique device identifier, browser type, operating system, referring information (including domain name and/or URL), exit pages, your preferences and settings, cookies and information about the content you have viewed and actions taken (e.g., search queries, ad engagement, clickstream and the associated dates and times). We use this information to administer the Site, analyze trends, and track the movements of users around the Site. Except as noted in this Privacy Policy, we do not link this automatically collected data for standard operations to Personal Data.
Registration
While you may use most of the Services without registering, certain Services do require that you register with Seeking Cure for them to function properly. If you choose to register or update an existing account with Seeking Cure or access certain Services, you may be required to provide certain Personal Data, such as your name, address, telephone number, gender, email address and date of birth, and a username and password to access your Seeking Cure account. You are responsible for ensuring the accuracy of the Personal Data that you submit to Seeking Cure.
When you give Seeking Cure your contact information (such as your name and email address) and other forms of Personal and Non-Personal Data, you agree that Seeking Cure may utilize this information, as part of its services to you, to communicate with you, or initiate communication with you on behalf of a third party, through your Seeking Cure account or through other means such as email, telephone (including mobile phone), or postal mail, including through the use of contact information that you may provide to Seeking Cure or that Seeking Cure may otherwise obtain from third-party resources.
Services and Features that Do Not Require Registration
Some of Seeking Cure’s Services are interactive and allow you to submit health-related information, along with other information such as your age and gender. To use these Services, you are not required to register with Seeking Cure. If you are registered with Seeking Cure, we do not associate information that you submit with the registration information that you have previously provided.
Email Newsletters
At registration and at various times as you use the Site, you will be given the option of providing us with Personal Data in order to receive informational/promotional newsletters via email from Seeking Cure and/or directly from third parties, such as a newsletter relating to a specific disease or health condition. When you give Seeking Cure your contact information (such as your name and email address) and other forms of Personal and Non-Personal Data, you agree that Seeking Cure may utilize this information, as part of its services to you, to communicate with you, or initiate communication with you on behalf of a third party, through your Seeking Cure account or through other means such as email, telephone (including mobile phone), or postal mail, including through the use of contact information that you may provide to Seeking Cure or that Seeking Cure may otherwise obtain from third-party resources.
On occasion, Seeking Cure may offer users of Third Party Websites the opportunity to subscribe to our newsletters through those websites. If you choose to subscribe to one of our newsletters on a Third Party Website, the operator of that website will provide us with the Personal Data and Non-Personal Data you have provided in connection with the subscription request, which we may use as though you had provided it directly to Seeking Cure in accordance with this Privacy Policy.
User-generated Stories, Calendar and Other Public Forums
Some of our Services, including User-generated Stories and Calendar, are public forums and allow users to post information. Any information (including Personal Data) you share in any of these Services is open to the public and is not private. While we have included functionality that gives users the option to limit the visibility of certain User-generated Stories to those with whom you share your story (e.g., visibility – limited), we cannot guarantee that the story cannot be viewed by others. You should think carefully before posting any Personal Data in any public forum. What you post can be seen, disclosed to or collected by third parties and may be used by others in ways we cannot control or predict, including to contact you for unauthorized purposes. As with any public forum on any site, the information you post may also show up in third-party search engines.
If you mistakenly post Personal Data in one of our public forums and would like it to be removed, you can send us an email to request that we remove it by using the Contact Us link on every page of the Seeking Cure Sites. In some cases, we may not be able to remove your Personal Data. Any communication or material you transmit through the Contact Us link or send by email to us will not be treated as confidential or proprietary.
Emails You Send to Seeking Cure
If you contact us via e-mail, we will collect your name and e-mail address, as well as any other content included in the form, in order to send you a reply. This Privacy Policy does not apply to information, content, business information, ideas, concepts or inventions that you send to Seeking Cure by email. If you want to keep content or business information, ideas, concepts or inventions private or proprietary, do not send them through the Contact Us link or in an email to Seeking Cure. Any communication or material you transmit through the Contact Us link or send by email to us will not be treated as confidential or proprietary.
Cookies and Other Tracking Technologies
Like many online services, we and our partners use cookies to collect information about your use of the Services. “Cookies” are small data files that a website sends to your computer’s hard drive while you are viewing the Site which enable recognition of your browser and collect and store information about your use of the Services, as described above. We use the following types of cookies:
- Cookies Necessary for Essential Purposes: These cookies are essential to provide you with services available through our site and to use some of its features.
- Analytics Cookies: These cookies are used to collect information about how visitors use our Site. The information gathered is aggregated and does not identify any individual user. It includes the number of visitors to our site, the sites that referred them to our site and the pages that they visited on our site. We use this information to help operate our site more efficiently, to gather broad demographic information and to monitor the level of activity on our site, including via Google Analytics (see below).
- Functionality Cookies: These cookies allow our site to remember choices you make and provide enhanced, more personal features. The information these cookies collect may be anonymized and they cannot track your browsing activity on other websites.
- Social Media Cookies: These cookies are used when you share information using a social media sharing button or you link your account or engage with our content on or through a social networking site such as Facebook, Twitter or Google+. The social network will record that you have done this. This information may be linked to targeting/ advertising activities.
You may decline the placement of a Cookie on your hard drive by using the appropriate feature(s) of your web browser software (if available) to delete the Cookie. Use your browser’s “Help” function for more information. Please understand that certain areas within this Site may not function properly if the web browser will not accept Cookies.
In addition to cookies, we and our partners may use other tracking technologies that collect information about your use of the Services, including mobile identifiers and “pixel tags” which are small graphic images with a unique identifier (sometimes called “GIFs” or “web beacons”) embedded in a web page or email typically used to monitor activity and send relevant information back to a home server (which can belong to the host site, a network advertiser or some other third party). Pixel tags allow us to send e-mail messages in a format users can read, and they tell us whether e-mails have been opened to ensure that we are sending only messages that are of interest to our users. We may use this information to reduce or eliminate messages sent to a user. The information collected by cookies, pixel tags, and other such tracking technologies may be combined with other information that our partners have access to, including your name, email address and physical address, so that we can send you materials, either electronically or by direct mail, that may be of interest to you.
Our advertising service partners may use cookies and other tracking technologies to collect information about your use of the Site, including content you have viewed. These third parties may use this information to help Seeking Cure deliver advertising on the Site and on other Third Party Websites based on your browsing activity on the Site. Seeking Cure may further tailor the advertising on the Site and these other Third Party Websites based on additional information to the extent known by Seeking Cure or these third parties.
We may also work with third party ad networks to display advertising on our Site and on Third Party Websites. Ad network vendors use technologies to collect information about your activities on the Site to provide you cookie-based targeted advertising on our Site and on Third Party Websites based upon your browsing activity and your interests.
Third Party Advertisers and Third Party Websites
Certain content, services and advertisements offered to you through the Site may contain links to Third Party Websites. Seeking Cure does not share your Personal Data with these Third Party Websites without your consent, but you should be aware that any information you disclose to these Third Party Websites once you access these Third Party Websites is not subject to this Privacy Policy.
When you click on a link to any Third Party Website or location, you will leave our Site and go to another site, and another entity may collect Personal Data and/or Non-Personal Data from you. Seeking Cure has no control over, does not review, and cannot be responsible for, these outside websites or their content. Please be aware that the terms of this Privacy Policy do not apply to these Third Party Websites or content, or to any collection of your Personal Data after you click on links to such outside websites. You should review the privacy policy posted on the Third Party Website to understand how that Third Party Website collects and uses your information.
The links to Third Party Websites are for your convenience and do not signify our endorsement of such third parties or their products, content or websites. Seeking Cure makes an effort to make it obvious to you when you leave a Site and enter a Third Party Website, either by requiring you to click on a link or by notifying you on the Site before you visit the third party site. Seeking Cure is not responsible for the privacy practices of these Third Party Websites.
We may also include social widgets on the Seeking Cure Sites which enable you to interact with the associated social media services, e.g., to share an article. These widgets may collect browsing data which may be received by the third party that provided the widget, and are controlled by these third parties. You may be able to manage your privacy preferences directly with the applicable social network platform.
Service Providers
We may use third parties to perform services to conduct our operations, to improve the Site and our services, products, and features, to protect our users and better understand their needs, and to optimize the services and the users’ experiences. These service providers may have access to Personal Data in the course of providing these services, which may involve transfers of such Personal Data to other countries.
We use Google Analytics to help analyze how users use the Site. Google Analytics uses Cookies to collect information such as how often users visit the Site, what pages they visit, and what other sites they used prior to coming to the Site. We use the information we get from Google Analytics only to improve the Site. Google Analytics collects only the IP address assigned to you on the date you visit the Site. We do not combine the information generated through the use of Google Analytics with your Personal Data. Although Google Analytics plants a persistent Cookie on your web browser to identify you as a unique user the next time you visit the Site, the Cookie cannot be used by anyone but Google. Google’s ability to use and share information collected by Google Analytics about your visits to the Site is restricted by the Google Analytics Terms of Use and the Google Privacy Policy. You can avoid the use of Google Analytics relating to your use of our site by downloading and installing the browser plugin available via this link: http://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout?hl=en-GB.
Please also be aware that we also use third-party cloud service providers that provide hosting, data storage and other services pursuant to standard terms and conditions that may be nonnegotiable; these service providers have informed us or the general public that they apply security measures they consider adequate for the protection of information within their system, or they have a general reputation for applying such measures. However, we will not be liable (to the fullest extent permitted by law) for any damages that may result from the misuse of any information, including Personal Data, by these companies.
How Information Collected About You Is Used
Information about your use of the Services may be used for the following purposes:
- to improve administration of the Site;
- to provide, improve and create new Services;
- to enhance the quality of your experience when accessing and using the Site and/or Services;
- to respond to your communications when you contact us via e-mail, submit feedback, or post an event;
- to send you administrative communications about the Site and Services,
- to obtain your feedback about the Seeking Cure Sites and Services,
- to send you secure electronic messages and personalized emails pertaining to your interests as inferred from your use of the Services, including news, announcements, reminders and opportunities from Seeking Cure,
- to statistically analyze trends and user behavior and activity including how often areas of the Site visited, how the Services are being used and how many emails are received and opened,
- to provide you and people with similar demographic characteristics and interests with more relevant content including advertising both on and off the Site,
- to detect and defend against fraud and other threats to the Services and our users,
- to identify issues with the Services, and
- to administer your account
In general, we use Personal Data to respond to requests that you make. In addition, Seeking Cure may use Personal Data about you for other purposes that are disclosed to you at the time we collect the information and/or with your consent. Seeking Cure may combine your Personal Data and other information collected about your use of the Services, and also supplement with information from external sources for the purposes described in this Privacy Policy.
We may also create Unidentified Data, which means data that excludes information (such as your name and email address) that makes that data personally identifiable to you. We generally use Unidentified Data to analyze usage patterns so that we can improve the Site and Services. We reserve the right to use Unidentified Data for any purpose and disclose Unidentified Data to third parties in our sole discretion.
We do not sell your Personal Data.
How Your Information is Secured and Retained
We take reasonable security measures to protect the security of your Personal Data. Despite Seeking Cure’s efforts to protect your Personal Data, there is always some risk that an unauthorized third party may find a way around our security systems or that transmissions of your information over the Internet may be intercepted.
Seeking Cure stores your Personal Data until it is no longer necessary to provide our services or until you ask us to delete your Personal Data. If you register on the Site, your information may be collected and stored in a manner that connects to your email address. Seeking Cure may also create and assign to your device an identifier that is similar to an account number. We may collect the name you have associated with your device, device type, telephone number, country, and any other information you choose to provide, such as user name, email address, or zip code. The collection of this data is solely used in accordance with the purposes outlined in this Privacy Policy, to the extent applicable. We may also store the information on our equipment or the equipment of third parties with whom we have a relationship. Such storage services will be governed by appropriate protections, as required by applicable rules.
Your Choices Regarding Information
Entering Personal Data
Seeking Cure will indicate to you at the point of provision as to whether or not particular Personal Data provided by you is required in order to provide particular feature or service to you. Where Personal Data that is required is not provided by you, then the particular feature or service may not be available to you.
Updating/Removing Your Personal Data
If you do not want your Personal Data used by Seeking Cure as provided in this Privacy Policy, you should not use the Site and Services. You can correct, update or review Personal Data you have previously submitted by going back to the specific Service, logging-in and making the desired change. You can also update any Personal Data you have submitted by contacting us using the contact information listed below or through the Contact Us link provided at the bottom of every page of the Site.
If you have registered and desire to delete any of your registration information, you can contact us using the contact information listed below or through the Contact Us link provided at the bottom of every page of the Site. Upon your request, we will delete your registration information from our active databases and where feasible from our back-up media. You should be aware that it is not technologically possible to remove each and every record of the information you have provided to the Site or Seeking Cure from our servers.
Such rights of rectification, objection, restriction, access, portability and deletion are subject to certain limitations, as provided for by applicable laws. Individual requests will be completed within the time allotted by relevant regulations, which starts to run from the point of Seeking Cure confirming your request. Where permitted, please note there may be a charge for subsequent requests from the same individual, which will be determined by Seeking Cure and only imposed to the extent permitted by applicable law.
You can unsubscribe from an email newsletter by following the “unsubscribe” instructions included at the bottom of the newsletter found in the emails.
All promotional emails that Seeking Cure sends with opportunities from Seeking Cure or with offers or informational materials from Seeking Cure on behalf of our sponsors will contain an opportunity to unsubscribe from getting additional emails of that type in the future from Seeking Cure unless you re-subscribe.
Withdrawing Consent
There are certain activities where we ask for your consent to use your Personal Data. You have the right to withdraw this consent at any time. When you are providing location information via a mobile app, you may turn off your location services on your device at any time. For other services that rely on your consent, you can withdraw your consent via the workflow for that given service. Please note that any processing that we have carried out before the withdrawal of your consent remains lawful.
Cookies
If you decide at any time that you no longer wish to accept Cookies from the Site for any of the purposes described above, then you can instruct your browser, by changing its settings, to stop accepting Cookies or to prompt you before accepting a Cookie from the websites you visit. Consult your browser’s technical information. If you do not accept Cookies, however, you may not be able to use all portions, or all functionality, of the Site.
Interest-Based Advertising Opt-Out
Some of the advertising networks and other vendors we work with may offer you with the opportunity to “opt-out” from interest-based advertising. To exercise this opt-out, please visit http://www.aboutads.info/choices/ and https://optout.networkadvertising.org/.
Please note that opting out through these mechanisms does not mean you will no longer be served advertising. You will still receive online advertising, but it may not be tailored to your interests, and the websites you visit may still collect information about your visits.
Mobile Opt-out
You may also control interest-based advertising on your mobile device by enabling the “Limit Ad Tracking” setting in your iOS device’s settings or “Opt out of Ads Personalization” in your Android device’s settings. This will not prevent you from seeing advertisements, but will limit the use of device advertising identifiers to personalize ads based on your interests. If you have questions about how to reject cookies on your specific device please check with the device manufacturer.
Children
We are committed to protecting the privacy of children. The Site is not designed or intended to attract children under the age of 13. We do not intentionally gather Personal Data from users who are under the age of 13. If a child under 13 submits Personal Data to Seeking Cure and we learn that the Personal Data is the information of a child under 13, we will attempt to delete the information as soon as possible. If you believe that we might have any Personal Data from a child under 13, please contact us at [email protected]
Compliance with Law, Regulation, and Law Enforcement Requests
To cooperate with government and law enforcement officials and private parties to enforce and comply with law, we may release Personal Data to third parties: (1) to comply with legal requirements such as a law, regulation, search warrant, subpoena or court order; (2) when we believe in good faith that disclosure is necessary to protect our rights, protect your safety or the safety of others, investigate fraud, or respond to a government request; or (3) in special cases, such as in response to a physical threat to you or others, to protect property or defend or assert legal rights.
Note to Users Outside of the United States
Seeking Cure and our technical infrastructure are located in the United States. The Personal Data 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 Data to the United States where it will be stored and processed in accordance with this Privacy Policy. We may transfer your information outside the United States to service providers with operations in other countries. By using the Services, you consent to such collection, storage and processing in the United States and elsewhere, though the United States and other jurisdictions may not afford the same level of data protection as considered adequate in your own country. We will take reasonable steps to protect your Personal Data. Note that your Personal Data may be available to the United States government or its agencies under legal process made in the United States.
Additional Information for Seeking Cure’s Visitors from the European Economic Area (“EEA”)
When you use the Services, we collect, store, use and otherwise process your Personal Data as described in this Privacy Policy. We rely on a number of legal bases to process your information, including where: (i) necessary for our legitimate interests in providing and improving the Services including offering you content and advertising that may be of interest to you; (ii) necessary for our legitimate interest in keeping the Site and Services safe and secure; (iii) necessary for the legitimate interests of our service providers and partners; (iv) necessary to perform our contractual obligations in the Seeking Cure Terms of Use; (v) 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); (vi) you have expressly made the information public, e.g., user stories, calendar, or other public forums; (vii) 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 (viii) necessary to protect your vital interests, or those of others.
If you are a Seeking Cure user in the EEA, you can: (i) access Personal Data we have about you (we will try to provide information within 30 days of your request); (ii) have your Personal Data corrected or deleted (in most cases you can correct Personal Data you have submitted to us by going back to the specific Service, logging-in and making the desired change); (iii) in certain circumstances, you can object to our processing of your Personal Data 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 Data and if so, whether you wish to exercise any of those rights that are available to you with respect to such Personal Data, you may contact us as described below. We will respond to your request within a reasonable timeframe.
Where we process your Personal Data for direct marketing purposes, you can opt-out through the unsubscribe link in the email communications we send to you or as otherwise specified in this Privacy Policy.
We will retain your Personal Data for as long as necessary to provide the Services to you and fulfill the purposes described in this Privacy Policy. This is also the case for third parties within whom we share your information to perform services on our behalf. When we no longer need to use your Personal Data 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. If you have registered with Seeking Cure and you no longer want us to use your registration information to provide the Services to you, you may close your account.
How to Contact Seeking Cure About Your Personal Data or Privacy
Please send us an email by using the Contact Us link at the bottom of every page of the Site if you have any questions about this Privacy Policy or the Personal Data we maintain about you. We will respond to your request within a reasonable timeframe.
You can also contact Seeking Cure’s Privacy Office at:
Seeking Cure, Inc.
2219 Main St, Unit #585
Santa Monica, CA 90405