Privacy Notice & Usage:

Last Updated: 02/14/23

This privacy notice for Followers of The Shepherd, describes how and why we might collect, store, use, and/or share (process) your information when you use our services, such as when you:

• Visit our website at https://www.followersoftheshepherd.org/, or any website of ours that links to this privacy notice

• Download and use our mobile application (Followers of The Shepherd), or any other application of ours that links to this privacy notice

• Engage with us in other related ways, including any sales, marketing, or events

Questions or Concerns? Reading this privacy notice will help you understand your privacy rights and choices. If you do not agree with our policies and practices, please do not use our Services. If you still have any questions or concerns, please contact us at Serviuschandler@gmail.com.

Summary of Key Points:

This summary provides key points from our privacy notice, but you can find out more details about any of these topics by clicking the link following each key point or by using our table of contents below to find the section you are looking for. 

What personal information do we process? When you visit, use, or navigate our Services, we may process personal information depending on how you interact with Followers of The Shepherd and the Services, the choices you make, and the products and features you use. 

Do we process any sensitive personal information? We do not process sensitive personal information.

Do we receive any information from third parties? We do not receive any information from third parties.

How do we process your information? We process your information to provide, improve, and administer our Services, communicate with you, for security and fraud prevention, and to comply with law. We may also process your information for other purposes with your consent. We process your information only when we have a valid legal reason to do so. 

How do we keep your information safe? We have organizational and technical processes and procedures in place to protect your personal information. However, no electronic transmission over the internet or information storage technology can be guaranteed to be 100% secure, so we cannot promise or guarantee that hackers, cybercriminals, or other unauthorized third parties will not be able to defeat our security and improperly collect, access, steal, or modify your information. 

What are your rights? Depending on where you are located geographically, the applicable privacy law may mean you have certain rights regarding your personal information. 

How do you exercise your rights? The easiest way to exercise your rights is by contacting us. We will consider and act upon any request in accordance with applicable data protection laws.

1. What Information Do We Collect?

The personal information you disclose to us. In Short: We collect personal information that you provide to us.

We collect personal information that you voluntarily provide to us when you express an interest in obtaining information about us or our products and Services, when you participate in activities on the services, or otherwise when you contact us.

Personal Information Provided by You. The personal information that we collect depends on the context of your interactions with us and the Services, the choices you make, and the products and features you use. The personal information we collect may include the following:

• We may collect your mailing address(es)

Application Data. If you use our application, we also may collect the following information if you choose to provide us with access or permission:

• Mobile Device Data. We automatically collect device information (such as your mobile device ID, model, and manufacturer), operating system, version information and system configuration information, device and application identification numbers, browser type and version, hardware model Internet service provider and/or mobile carrier, and Internet Protocol (IP) address (or proxy server). If you are using our application(s), we may also collect information about the phone network associated with your mobile device, your mobile device’s operating system or platform, the type of mobile device you use, your mobile device’s unique device ID, and information about the features of our application(s) you accessed.

This information is primarily needed to maintain the security and operation of our application, for troubleshooting, choosing what language to translate into, and for our internal analytics and reporting purposes. All personal information that you provide to us must be true, complete, and accurate, and we ask that you notify us of any changes to such personal information if provided.

Information automatically collected:

In Short: Some information — such as your Internet Protocol (IP) address and/or browser and device characteristics — is collected automatically when you visit our Services.

We automatically collect certain information when you visit, use, or navigate the Services. This information does not reveal your specific identity (like your name or contact information) but may include device and usage information, such as your IP address, browser and device characteristics, operating system, language preferences, referring URLs, device name, country, location, information about how and when you use our Services, and other technical information. This information is primarily needed to maintain the security and operation of our Services, and for our internal analytics and reporting purposes. Like many businesses, we also collect information through cookies and similar technologies.

The Information we Collect Includes:

• Log and Usage Data. Log and usage data is service-related, diagnostic, usage, and performance information our servers automatically collect when you access or use our Services and which we record in log files. Depending on how you interact with us, this log data may include your IP address, device information, browser type, and settings and information about your activity in the Services (such as the date/time stamps associated with your usage, pages and files viewed, searches, and other actions you take such as which features you use), device event information (such as system activity, error reports (sometimes called "crash dumps"), and hardware settings).

• Device Data. We collect device data such as information about your computer, phone, tablet, or other device you use to access the Services. Depending on the device used, this device data may include information such as your IP address (or proxy server), device and application identification numbers, location, browser type, hardware model, Internet service provider and/or mobile carrier, operating system, and system configuration information.

• Location Data. We collect location data such as information about your device's location, which can be either precise or imprecise. How much information we collect depends on the type and settings of the device you use to access the Services. For example, we may use GPS and other technologies to collect geolocation data that tells us your current location (based on your IP address). You can opt out of allowing us to collect this information either by refusing access to the information or by disabling your Location setting on your device. However, if you choose to opt out, you may not be able to use certain aspects of the Services.

2. How Do We Process Your Information?

In Short: We process your information to provide, improve, and administer our services, communicate with you, for security and fraud prevention, and to comply with the laws of your and other territories. We may also process your information for other purposes with your consent.

We process your personal information for a variety of reasons, depending on how you interact with our services, including:

• To identify usage trends. We may process information about how you use our Services to better understand how they are being used so we can improve them.

• To determine the effectiveness of our marketing and promotional campaigns. We may process your information to better understand how to provide marketing and promotional campaigns that are most relevant to you.

• To save or protect an individual's vital interest. We may process your information when necessary to save or protect an individual’s vital interest, such as to prevent harm.

3. What Legal Bases Do We Rely on to Process Your Infomation?

In Short: We only process your personal information when we believe it is necessary and we have a valid legal reason (i.e., legal basis) to do so under applicable law, like with your consent, to comply with laws, to provide you with services to enter into or fulfill our contractual obligations, to protect your rights, or to fulfill our legitimate business interests.

EU or UK Residents: 

The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and UK GDPR require us to explain the valid legal bases we rely on in order to process your personal information. As such, we may rely on the following legal bases to process your personal information:

• Consent. We may process your information if you have given us permission (i.e., consent) to use your personal information for a specific purpose. You can withdraw your consent at any time.

• Legitimate Interests. We may process your information when we believe it is reasonably necessary to achieve our legitimate business interests and those interests do not outweigh your interests and fundamental rights and freedoms. For example, we may process your personal information for some of the purposes described in order to:

• Send users information about special offers and discounts on our products and services

• Analyze how our Services are used so we can improve them to engage and retain users

• Support our marketing activities

• To find where to place our translation resources

• Legal Obligations. We may process your information where we believe it is necessary for compliance with our legal obligations, such as to cooperate with a law enforcement body or regulatory agency, exercise or defend our legal rights, or disclose your information as evidence in litigation in which we are involved.

• Vital Interests. We may process your information where we believe it is necessary to protect your vital interests or the vital interests of a third party, such as situations involving potential threats to the safety of any person.

Canada Residents:

We may process your information if you have given us specific permission (i.e., express consent) to use your personal information for a specific purpose, or in situations where your permission can be inferred (i.e., implied consent). You can withdraw your consent at any time. Click here to learn more.

In some exceptional cases, we may be legally permitted under applicable law to process your information without your consent, including, for example:

• If collection is clearly in the interests of an individual and consent cannot be obtained in a timely way

• For investigations and fraud detection and prevention

• For business transactions provided certain conditions are met

• If it is contained in a witness statement and the collection is necessary to assess, process, or settle an insurance claim

• For identifying injured, ill, or deceased persons and communicating with next of kin

• If we have reasonable grounds to believe an individual has been, is, or may be victim of financial abuse

• If it is reasonable to expect collection and use with consent would compromise the availability or the accuracy of the information and the collection is reasonable for purposes related to investigating a breach of an agreement or a contravention of the laws of Canada or a province

• If disclosure is required to comply with a subpoena, warrant, court order, or rules of the court relating to the production of records

• If it was produced by an individual in the course of their employment, business, or profession and the collection is consistent with the purposes for which the information was produced

• If the collection is solely for journalistic, artistic, or literary purposes

• If the information is publicly available and is specified by the regulations

4. When & With Whom Do We Send Your Data?

In Short: We may share information in specific situations described in this section and/or with the following third parties.

We may need to share your personal information in the following situations:

• Business Transfers. We may share or transfer your information in connection with, or during negotiations of, any merger, sale of company assets, financing, or acquisition of all or a portion of our business to another company.

• When we use Google Maps Platform APIs. We may share your information with certain Google Maps Platform APIs (e.g., Google Maps API, Places API). To find out more about Google’s Privacy Policy, please refer to here. We use certain Google Maps Platform APIs to retrieve certain information when you make location-specific requests. This includes location data and other similar information. A full list of what we use the information for can be found in this section and in the previous section titled "How Do We Process Your Information?". We obtain and store on your device (the "cache") your location. The Google Maps Platform APIs that we use store and access cookies and other information on your devices. If you are a user currently in the European Economic Area (EU countries, Iceland, Liechtenstein, and Norway) or the United Kingdom, please take a look at our Cookie Notice.

5. Cookies' Notice:

In Short: We may use cookies and other tracking technologies to collect and store your information.

We may use cookies and similar tracking technologies (like web beacons and pixels) to access or store information. Specific information about how we use such technologies and how you can refuse certain cookies is set out in our Cookie Notice.

6. Is Your Information Transferred Internationally? 

In Short: We may transfer, store, and process your information in countries other than your own.

Our servers are located in the United States. If you are accessing our Services from outside the United States, please be aware that your information may be transferred to, stored, and processed by us in our facilities and by those third parties with whom we may share your personal information see "When & With Whom Do We Send Your Data" for more information.

If you are a resident in the European Economic Area (EEA) or United Kingdom (UK), then these countries may not necessarily have data protection laws or other similar laws as comprehensive as those in your country. However, we will take all necessary measures to protect your personal information in accordance with this privacy notice and applicable law.

European Commission's Standard Contractual Clauses:

We have implemented measures to protect your personal information, including by using the European Commission's Standard Contractual Clauses for transfers of personal information between our group companies and between us and our third-party providers. These clauses require all recipients to protect all personal information that they process originating from the EEA or UK in accordance with European data protection laws and regulations. Our Standard Contractual Clauses can be provided upon request. We have implemented similar appropriate safeguards with our third-party service providers and partners and further details can be provided upon request.

7. How Long Do We Keep Your Information?

In Short: We keep your information for as long as necessary to fulfill the purposes outlined in this privacy notice unless otherwise required by law.

We will only keep your personal information for as long as it is necessary for the purposes set out in this privacy notice, unless a longer retention period is required or permitted by law (such as tax, accounting, or other legal requirements). When we have no ongoing legitimate business need to process your personal information, we will either delete or anonymize such information, or, if this is not possible (for example, because your personal information has been stored in backup archives), then we will securely store your personal information and isolate it from any further processing until deletion is possible. 

8. How Do We Keep Your Information Safe?

In Short: We aim to protect your personal information through a system of organizational and technical security measures.

We have implemented appropriate and reasonable technical and organizational security measures designed to protect the security of any personal information we process. However, despite our safeguards and efforts to secure your information, no electronic transmission over the Internet or information storage technology can be guaranteed to be 100% secure, so we cannot promise or guarantee that hackers, cybercriminals, or other unauthorized third parties will not be able to defeat our security and improperly collect, access, steal, or modify your information. Although we will do our best to protect your personal information, the transmission of personal information to and from our Services is at your own risk. You should only access the services within a secure environment.

9. What Are Your Privacy Rights?

In Short: In some regions, such as the European Economic Area (EEA), United Kingdom (UK), and Canada, you have rights that allow you greater access to and control over your personal information. You may review, change, or terminate your account at any time.

In some regions (like the EEA, UK, and Canada), you have certain rights under applicable data protection laws. These may include the right (i) to request access and obtain a copy of your personal information, (ii) to request rectification or erasure; (iii) to restrict the processing of your personal information; and (iv) if applicable, to data portability. In certain circumstances, you may also have the right to object to the processing of your personal information. You can make such a request by contacting us by using the contact details provided in the section "How Can You Contact Us About This Notice?" below. We will consider and act upon any request in accordance with applicable data protection laws.

If you are located in the EEA or UK and you believe we are unlawfully processing your personal information, you also have the right to complain to your local data protection supervisory authority. You can find their contact details here: https://ec.europa.eu/justice/data-protection/bodies/authorities/index_en.htm.

If you are located in Switzerland, the contact details for the data protection authorities are available here: https://www.edoeb.admin.ch/edoeb/en/home.html.

Withdrawing your consent: If we are relying on your consent to process your personal information, which may be express and/or implied consent depending on the applicable law, you have the right to withdraw your consent at any time. You can withdraw your consent at any time by contacting us by using the contact details provided in the section "How Can You Contact Us About This Notice?" below. However, please note that this will not affect the lawfulness of the processing before its withdrawal nor, when applicable law allows, will it affect the processing of your personal information conducted in reliance on lawful processing grounds other than consent.

Cookies and similar technologies: Most Web browsers are set to accept cookies by default. If you prefer, you can usually choose to set your browser to remove cookies and to reject cookies. If you choose to remove cookies or reject cookies, this likely will affect certain features or services of our services. To opt out of interest-based advertising by advertisers on our Services visit http://www.aboutads.info/choices/.

If you have questions or comments about your privacy rights, you may email us at Serviuschandler@gmail.com.

10. Controls For Do-Not-Track Features:

Most web browsers and some mobile operating systems and mobile applications include a Do-Not-Track ("DNT") feature or setting you can activate to signal your privacy preference not to have data about your online browsing activities monitored and collected. At this stage, no uniform technology standard for recognizing and implementing DNT signals has been finalized. As such, we do not currently respond to DNT browser signals or any other mechanism that automatically communicates your choice not to be tracked online. If a standard for online tracking is adopted that we must follow in the future, we will inform you about that practice in a revised version of this privacy notice.

11. Do California Residents Have Specific Rights?

In Short: Yes, if you are a resident of California, you are granted specific rights regarding access to your personal information.

California Civil Code § 1798.83, also known as the "Shine The Light" law, permits our users who are California residents to request and obtain from us, once a year (free of charge) information about categories of personal information (if any) we disclosed to third parties for direct marketing purposes and the names and addresses of all third parties with which we shared personal information in the immediately preceding calendar year. If you are a California resident and would like to make such a request, please submit your request via Email at Serviuschandler@gmail.com.

If you are under 18 years of age and reside in California you have the right to request the removal of unwanted data that you publicly post on the Services. To request the removal of such data, please contact us at Serviuschandler@gmail.com and a statement that you reside in California. We will make sure the data is not publicly displayed on the services, but please be aware that the data may not be completely or comprehensively removed from all our systems (e.g., backups, etc.).

CCPA Privacy Notice:

The California Code of Regulations defines a "resident" as:

(1) every individual who is in the State of California for other than a temporary or transitory purpose and

(2) every individual who is domiciled in the State of California who is outside the State of California for a temporary or transitory purpose

All other individuals are defined as "non-residents."

If this definition of "resident" applies to you, we must adhere to certain rights and obligations regarding your personal information.

What categories of personal information do we collect?

We have collected the following categories of personal information in the past twelve (12) months:

Will your information be shared with anyone else?

We may disclose your personal information with our service providers pursuant to a written contract between us and each service provider. Each service provider is a for-profit entity that processes the information on our behalf, following the same strict privacy protection obligations mandated by the CCPA.

We may use your personal information for our own business purposes, such as for undertaking internal research for technological development and demonstration. This is not considered to be the "selling" of your personal information.

Followers of The Shepherd have not, nor will ever sell any personal information to third parties for a business or commercial purpose. Followers of The Shepherd will not sell personal information in the future belonging to website visitors, users, and other consumers.

Your rights with respect to your personal data

Right to be informed — Request to know

Depending on the circumstances, you have a right to know:

• Whether we collect and use your personal information;

• The categories of personal information that we collect;

• The purposes for which the collected personal information is used;

• Whether we sell or share personal information to third parties;

• The categories of personal information that we sold, shared, or disclosed for a business purpose;

• The categories of third parties to whom the personal information was sold, shared, or disclosed for a business purpose;

• The business or commercial purpose for collecting, selling, or sharing personal information; and

• The specific pieces of personal information we collected about you.

In accordance with applicable law, we are not obligated to provide or delete consumer information that is de-identified in response to a consumer request or to re-identify individual data to verify a consumer request.

Right to Non-Discrimination for the Exercise of a Consumer’s Privacy Rights

We will not discriminate against you if you exercise your privacy rights.

Right to Limit Use and Disclosure of Sensitive Personal Information

We do not, for any reason, process consumer's sensitive personal information.

Verification process

Upon receiving your request, we will need to verify your identity to determine you are the same person about whom we have the information in our system. These verification efforts require us to ask you to provide information so that we can match it with information you have previously provided us. For instance, depending on the type of request you submit, we may ask you to provide certain information so that we can match the information you provide with the information we already have on file, or we may contact you through a communication method (e.g., phone or email) that you have previously provided to us. We may also use other verification methods as the circumstances dictate.

We will only use personal information provided in your request to verify your identity or authority to make the request. To the extent possible, we will avoid requesting additional information from you for the purposes of verification. However, if we cannot verify your identity from the information already maintained by us, we may request that you provide additional information for the purposes of verifying your identity and for security or fraud-prevention purposes. We will delete such additionally provided information as soon as we finish verifying you.

Other privacy rights

• You may object to the processing of your personal information.

• You may request correction of your personal data if it is incorrect or no longer relevant, or ask to restrict the processing of the information.

• You can designate an authorized agent to make a request under the CCPA on your behalf. We may deny a request from an authorized agent that does not submit proof that they have been validly authorized to act on your behalf in accordance with the CCPA.

To exercise these rights, you can contact us by email at Serviuschandler@gmail.com. If you have a complaint about how we handle your data, we would like to hear from you.

12. Do Virginia Residents Have Specific Privacy Rights?

In Short: Yes, if you are a resident of Virginia, you may be granted specific rights regarding access to and use of your personal information.

Virginia CDPA Privacy Notice:

Under the Virginia Consumer Data Protection Act (CDPA):

"Consumer" means a natural person who is a resident of the Commonwealth acting only in an individual or household context. It does not include a natural person acting in a commercial or employment context.

"Personal data" means any information that is linked or reasonably linkable to an identified or identifiable natural person. "Personal data" does not include de-identified data or publicly available information.

"Sale of personal data" means the exchange of personal data for monetary consideration.

If this definition of "consumer" applies to you, we must adhere to certain rights and obligations regarding your personal data.

The information we collect, use, and disclose about you will vary depending on how you interact with Followers of The Shepherd and our Services. To find out more, please read:

• Personal data we collect

• How we use your personal data

• When and with whom we share your personal data

Your rights with respect to your personal data:

• Right to be informed whether or not we are processing your personal data

• Right to access your personal data

• Right to correct inaccuracies in your personal data

• Right to request deletion of your personal data

• Right to obtain a copy of the personal data you previously shared with us

• Right to opt out of the processing of your personal data if it is used for targeted advertising, the sale of personal data, or profiling in furtherance of decisions that produce legal or similarly significant effects ("profiling")

Followers of The Shepherd has not sold any personal data to third parties for business or commercial purposes. Followers of The Shepherd will not sell personal data in the future belonging to website visitors, users, and other consumers.

Exercise your rights provided under the Virginia CDPA

More information about our data collection and sharing practices can be found in this privacy notice.

Upon receiving your request, we will respond without undue delay, but in all cases, within forty-five (45) days of receipt. The response period may be extended once by forty-five (45) additional days when reasonably necessary. We will inform you of any such extension within the initial 45-day response period, together with the reason for the extension.

If we decline to take action regarding your request, we will inform you of our decision and the reasoning behind it. If you wish to appeal our decision, please email us at Serviuschandler@gmail.com. Within sixty (60) days of receipt of an appeal, we will inform you in writing of any action taken or not taken in response to the appeal, including a written explanation of the reasons for the decisions. If your appeal is denied, you may contact the Attorney General to submit a complaint.

13. Do We Make Updates To This Notice?

In Short: Yes, we will update this notice as necessary to stay compliant with relevant laws.

We may update this privacy notice from time to time. The updated version will be indicated by an updated "Revised" date and the updated version will be effective as soon as it is accessible. We encourage you to review this privacy notice frequently to be informed of how we are protecting your information.

14. How Can You Contact Us About This Notice?

If you have questions or comments about this notice, you may email us at Serviuschandler@gmail.com.

15. Updates To The Form:

02/14/23: Created the form

06/05/24: Updates to over all format