Privacy Policy

Privacy Policy

1. Introduction

PeopleGrove Inc. (“PeopleGrove”, “us”, “we”, or “our”) operates the PeopleGrove platform, which includes this website (collectively, the “Service”). We operate this site in conjunction with our partners (universities and other organizations) who manage the day-to-day operation of their respective site (our “Partners”). This page informs you of our policies regarding the collection, use, and disclosure of Personal Information when you use our Service. We will not use or disclose your information with anyone except as described in this Privacy Policy. We use your Personal Information for providing and improving the Service. By using the Service, you agree to the collection and use of information under this Privacy Policy and with our Terms of Service, which governs your use of the Service, available at https://www.peoplegrove.com/terms-of-service.

2. Objective and Scope

This policy (“Privacy Policy”) explains how we use and protect the Personal Information (defined below) of the users/customers of our Service. This Privacy Policy describes the usage of information provided or collected through sites and applications, where this Privacy Policy is posted and affiliate or third-party sites/platforms through which the Service and/or any of its features and/or services available on the Service may be provided.  We follow this Privacy Policy under applicable law in the places where we operate. In some cases, we may provide additional Privacy Policies specific to certain features or services. Those notices are to be read in combination with this Privacy Policy. Please also keep in observance that our Service may contain links to other sites not owned or controlled by us and we are not responsible for the privacy practices of those sites.

3. Collection of Personal Information

When we refer to ‘Personal Information’, we mean any information that is related to an identified or identifiable natural person. This includes direct identifiers such as your name, postal address, email address, and mobile number, and also includes all other information which is linked to that information such as your profile information, etc.

• Information Provided by You

We may ask for and you may choose to provide the below information, which may include Personal Information when you use or register on Service and create an account and use any of the features or services available on the Service or contact us directly:

• Name
• Email Address
• Phone number
• Age or date of birth
• Password
• Education History
• Work History
• Other data fields set up by PeopleGrove or our Partners which can be visible on your profile or used for mentor matching (you will have control over which data is visible by visiting your profile)

• Information We Collect Automatically

We and certain Partners/third parties on our behalf may collect information about you and your use of our Service, your interactions with us, as well as information regarding your computer or other smart/mobile device used to access our service. The information may be collected using tracking technologies such as cookies, pixels, tags, software development kits, application program interfaces, and Web beacons, etc. and may include:

• Your interactions with our emails, communications, and messages;
• Your interactions with our customer support such as the date, time, and reason for contacting us, transcripts of any chat conversations, and if you call us, your phone number and call recordings;
• Device and software information such as device ID, device model, platform, type of operating system, installed version, time zone setting, mobile carrier, screen resolution, IP address, browsing history, search history, your interactions with the Service, etc., and other unique device identifiers;
• We capture information related to the performance of the Service, such as crash logs, build analytics, and other performance statistics generated when you use the Service.

Data collected on the Service is on behalf of our Partners, and our Partners retain ownership of the data you provide on this Service as a hosting service and/or data processor. If you do not agree to give ownership of your data on the Service to our Partner who is operating the Service, please contact [email protected] to delete your account and all associated data.

• Information We Collect Through Third-Party Sources

We may obtain your Personal Information from other sources. If you choose to link, connect, or log in to our Service using a social media platform like Facebook, LinkedIn or Google, the social media platform may send us your profile and social information such as email, name, and other profile data provided by the social media platform.

• Information We Collect Via Personal Communication Using the PeopleGrove Service.

We collect information about you when you send, receive, or engage with messages in connection with our Service. For example, the main purpose of the Service is to communicate with other individuals on the Service. When connecting with an individual using the Service, you may be exchanging Personal Information with that individual, such as email or phone numbers. The content of communications on PeopleGrove is stored by PeopleGrove. PeopleGrove and our Partners reserve the right to screen the content of communications on the Service to improve the Service and prevent spam and abuse.

4. How We Use Your Information

Our primary purpose in collecting your information, including Personal Information, is to deliver the Service and its various features. We may also collect your Personal Information for the following purposes:

• Provide or improve the services requested by you or our Partners, including to register you on our Service and create an account, allow you to Sign Up / Log In using social media accounts like Facebook/Google etc., connect users on the Service for mentoring and networking purposes, and process event registrations, job applications, and surveys
• Fulfill or meet the reason you provided the information, including to provide you with customer or technical support including addressing support queries related to, but not limited to, data processing, or to diagnose any problems with our servers/systems, etc.
• Communicate with you about our Service or to provide you with information, including marketing and promotional materials that may be of interest to you
• Send you transactional or relationship messages, such as account notifications, customer service responses, and other administrative messages

• System administration and to monitor the use of our Service, such as to prevent, detect and investigate potentially prohibited or illegal activities, including fraud, and enforcing our terms (such as determining free trial eligibility)
• Confirming your identity if you are exercising legal rights
• Notify you about changes in the Terms of Service or this Privacy Policy
• Carry out our obligations and enforce our rights arising from any contracts entered into between you and us/our distributor
• Any other purpose disclosed by us when you provide the information or with your consent
• Disclose to third parties for the performance of services provided by us, including third-party providers of services related to the operation and management of the Service, or in connection with the administration and support of the activities noted above.
  
  5. Information Disclosure/Sharing

We will not share your information with anyone except as described in this section and other sections of this Privacy Policy. Please read it carefully. PeopleGrove operates online platforms on behalf of our Partners. When you sign up for a PeopleGrove powered platform, the Partner who has contracted with PeopleGrove to host the platform is clear. The Partner for which PeopleGrove is hosting the Service on behalf of retains ownership of the data collected, including the data as disclosed or otherwise shared by us.

• Service Providers

We provide Personal Information to our contracted vendors and other trusted businesses or persons to process it for us (who are involved in the direct delivery of services to you (such as email or SMS providers), based on our instructions and in compliance with our Privacy Policy and any other appropriate confidentiality and security measures.

• Legal

In the event of any requirement by court order, government, or quasi-government agency to disclose your Personal Information, we will disclose information as may be legally required. We may also disclose your Personal Information if we, in good faith, believe that such disclosure is reasonably necessary to respond to subpoenas, court orders, or other legal processes. In the event PeopleGrove is merged with or acquired by another company or in case of reorganization or restructuring of the business, we and our affiliates may share your Personal Information, wholly or in part, with another business entity. PeopleGrove does not share your data with any third parties for data mining purposes.

6. Your Controls and Choices

[Promotional Emails. You may opt out of receiving promotional emails from us by following the instructions in those emails or by logging into your account and managing your contact preferences.  If you opt out, we may still send you non-promotional emails, such as those about your account or our ongoing business relations.

Marketing Phone Calls/Text Messages. With your consent, we may engage in marketing and other automated communications, which may include phone calls and text messages made using an automatic telephone dialing system or artificial prerecorded voice.  You are not required to consent to such communications as a condition of purchasing products or services, and you may revoke consent at any time by contacting us via the methods in Section 11 “Contact Us.”]

7. Children’s Privacy

We do not knowingly permit any person who is under 13 years of age to register or to provide any other personally identifying information. Please do not register with us if you are below 13 years of age. If we become aware that any Personal Information of persons less than 13 years of age has been collected on the Service without verified parental consent, please contact us via the methods in Section 11 “Contact Us” so we can take the appropriate steps to delete any such information.

8. Security

We are continuously implementing and updating administrative, technical, and physical security measures to help protect your Personal Information against unauthorized access, loss, destruction, or alteration. Some of the safeguards we use to protect your information are firewalls, data encryption, and information access controls. These measures are designed to provide a level of security appropriate to the risks of processing your Personal Information.

If you know or have reason to believe that your account credentials have been lost, stolen, altered, or otherwise compromised or in case of any actual or suspected unauthorized use of your account, please see Contact Us below. The Service uses commercially reasonable security practices and procedures industry practices and procedures designed to help keep your Personal Information safe and secure. Unfortunately, the transmission of information over the Internet is not completely secure.  Although we strive to protect your Personal Information, we cannot guarantee the security of your data while it is being transmitted to our Service; any transmission is at your own risk.

Change in Privacy Policy

This Privacy Policy is subject to change from time to time. We reserve the right, at our sole discretion, to modify the terms of this Privacy Policy from time to time to ensure compliance with applicable laws or in response to changing regulatory or operational requirements. Such requirements under applicable law shall be effective immediately (unless we state otherwise) and shall supersede the terms of this Privacy Policy. Your continued use of the Service after any updates will mean you have accepted those changes. If you do not agree to the updates, you should stop using the Service immediately.

9. Cookie Policy

This cookie policy addresses how PeopleGrove (“PeopleGrove”, “we”, “us”, “our”) uses cookies while you are on our sites owned or operated by us at www.peoplegrove.com, and our platform (collectively, the “Service”) and in connection with the services provided by us. We collect certain information about you and your device as follows.

• What are Cookies?

We use the term ‘Cookies’ to refer to all technologies which store and access information on the device that you use to access the site, such as your computer, tablet, or mobile phone. For example, we use http cookies, which are small data files (typically made up of numbers and letters) that are downloaded when you access our site and allow us to recognize your device.

We use Cookies to help us to enhance the online experience of our visitors and to better understand how the site is used. For example, Cookies may tell us whether you have visited the site before or whether you are a new visitor.

Our site uses first party cookies (i.e., cookies set directly by us to your device) as well as cookies served by third parties on our behalf for example by data analytics companies. Some of the cookies the site uses only remain on your device while your browser is open (these cookies are known as ‘session cookies’). We use session cookies to make it easier for you to navigate our site. Other cookies on the site remain for longer periods (these are known as ‘permanent cookies’). We set a persistent cookie to store your password, so you don’t have to enter it more than once. Persistent cookies also enable us to enhance your experience on our site.

• How Does Our Service Use Cookies and Other Tracking Technologies?

PeopleGrove uses cookies and other tracking technologies to identify you and your interests, to remember your preferences, and to track your use of our Service. We also use cookies and other tracking technologies to control access to certain content on our sites, protect the sites, and to process any requests that you make to us.

• Which Cookies Do We Use and Why Do We Use Them?

This site majorly uses some/all of the following cookies

As is true of most web sites and apps, we gather certain information automatically and store it in log files. This information includes Internet protocol (IP) addresses, browser type, Internet service provider (ISP), referring/exit pages, operating system, date/time stamp, and clickstream data.

We send you push notifications from time-to-time to update you about any events or promotions that we may be running. If you no longer wish to receive these types of communications, you may turn them off at the device level. To ensure you receive proper notifications, we will need to collect certain information about your device such as operating system and user identification information.

• How Can You Exercise Your Cookies Choices?

If you do not want the site to collect information using cookies, you can set your web browser to reject cookies from the site. Each browser is different, so you should check your browser's “Help”, “Tools” or “Edit” menu/facility to learn how to change your cookie preferences (e.g., for “do-not-track-me” functions). For further information about cookies, including how to see what cookies have been set on your device and how to manage and delete them, please visit www.allaboutcookies.org and www.youronlinechoices.eu

If you reject cookies, you may still use the site, but the site may not function as intended.

If you have any questions about our use of cookies, please contact us at [email protected]

10. Contact Us

If you have any questions about this Privacy and Cookie Policy, the practices of the Service, or your dealings with the Service, you can contact us at [email protected] or via the links at the bottom of the page, or you can write and send a letter to us at the below address: PeopleGrove Inc. Attn: Legal Department / 1101 Wilson Blvd 6th Floor, Arlington, VA 22209 USA. Please do not share any private information in the above-stated email. If you are not satisfied with our response to any complaint or believe our processing of your information does not comply with data protection law, you can write to our Grievance Officer:  Reilly Davis (CTO) [email protected]  Attn: Grievance Officer, 1101 Wilson Blvd 6th Floor, Arlington, VA 22209 USA.

11. Canadian Privacy Rights

If you are located in Canada, the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act and applicable provincial privacy legislation (collectively, “Canadian Privacy Laws”) govern the collection, use and disclosure of personal information by organizations in the course of commercial activities. If you are located in Canada, this Canadian Privacy Rights section applies to you. Additionally, in certain Canadian provinces, provincial privacy legislation will apply to you, namely, for the Province of Alberta – the Personal Information Protection Act (Alberta), for the Province of British Columbia – the Personal Information Protection Act (British Columbia) and for the Province of Quebec – the Act respecting the protection of personal information in the private sector also applies to you and the expression “Canadian Privacy Laws” therefore also includes reference to these provincial laws. If you live in Canada and any part of our general Privacy Notice conflicts with this Canadian Privacy Rights section, this Canadian Privacy Rights section governs to the extent of the conflict.

Personal Information

Under Canadian Privacy Laws, personal information means any information about an identifiable individual, which may, in certain circumstances, include information gathered from your use of the Services.

Consent

In Canada, express or implied consent is the legal basis upon which organizations may collect, use and disclose personal Information.  Accordingly, personal information will only be collected, used, and disclosed by us for the purposes described above in this Privacy Notice under the heading “How We Use Your Personal Information”, with your express or implied consent.  We will collect your express consent for any sensitive personal information that we may collect, use, or disclose.  Otherwise, your continued use of the Services signifies your consent to our collection, use, and disclosure of your personal information as described in this Privacy Notice, as it may be amended from time to time after you have been informed of any such amendment. Your continued use of the Services after having been informed of any amendment to this Privacy Notice will be deemed a consent by you to any such amendment; if you do not agree with this Privacy Notice or any amendment, do not access the Services.

If you provide personal information of a third party to us, you represent that you have complied with the requirements of Canadian Privacy Laws with regards to its collection before providing it to us and for us its use and disclosure as set out in this Privacy Notice.

Online Behavioural Advertising

With respect to the information that we collect using cookies or similar technologies that we have described above, you can opt-out of several third party ad servers’ and networks’ cookies simultaneously by using an opt-out tool created by the Digital Advertising Alliance of Canada and an opt-out tool created by the Network Advertising Initiative. Opting out of a network does not mean you will no longer receive online advertising. It does mean that the network from which you opted out will no longer deliver ads tailored to your web preferences and usage patterns.

Your Rights

Withdrawal of Consent

Under Canadian Privacy Laws, you have the opportunity to withdraw your consent at any time to our collection, use or disclosure of your personal information, subject to reasonable prior notice and applicable legal and contractual restrictions.  Depending on the nature of the personal information for which you choose to withdraw your consent, if you do withdraw your consent we may not be able to provide our products and services to you; we will explain the implications of withdrawing consent to you when we receive your notice of withdrawal. If you withdraw your consent in respect of any personal information that has been provided to third parties, we will advise such third parties of your withdrawal to the extent required by Canadian Privacy Laws.

Right to be informed

You have the right to be information about the personal information that we collect, use, process, disclose, retain and have deleted about you.  You may request additional information to clarify the extent of your consent.

Right to an Accounting

You have the right to receive an accounting of the categories of third parties to whom we have disclosed your personal information.

Rights of Access, Correction

You have the right to access the personal information we maintain about you and you have the right to correct or supplement your personal information if it is inaccurate or misleading and to have it completed if it is incomplete. Where appropriate, to have personal information that you have corrected or supplemented transmitted to third parties who have had access to your personal information.

Right to be notified of a Data Breach

If you are in Quebec, you  have the right to be informed of a confidentiality breach involving your personal information that may cause you a serious harm. If you are in the rest of Canada you have the right to be informed of a breach of security safeguards affecting your personal information where there is a real risk of significant harm to you.

Right to Lodge Complaints

You have the right to lodge a complaint about our collection, use or disclosure of your personal information with the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada and any applicable provincial privacy commissioner’s office having jurisdiction.

Additional Rights in Quebec

If you are in the province of Quebec, you have the following additional rights:

Right of Deletion

You may request under certain circumstances the deletion of your personal information.

Right to Data Portability

As of September 22, 2024 you will have the right to be provided, in a structured, commonly used and machine-readable format, with a copy of your personal information or to have it transferred directly to another entity or person.

To exercise the above rights, please get in touch with us using the contact information provided below under the heading “Contact Us”.  We will consider and process your request within a reasonable period of time and in any event within thirty days of receipt of your request or such longer time as we may be permitted under Canadian Privacy Laws.  Please be aware that under certain circumstances, Canadian Privacy Laws may limit your exercise of these rights.

If we cannot provide you with access to your personal information, we will inform you of the reasons why, subject to any legal or regulatory restrictions.

If we refuse to rectify your personal information, we will attach a statement to the record that sets out the reason why we have refused to make the rectification.

We will also retain the personal information that has been the subject of an access request or a rectification request for as long as necessary to allow you to exhaust any recourse provided by law.

International Transfers

As noted above in this Privacy Notice, your personal information may be transferred to and stored at a location outside of your jurisdiction of residence. Please note that local data protection laws where your personal information is stored or processed may not provide as much protection as the data protection laws in force in your jurisdiction of residence, but we nevertheless ensure that we take reasonable steps to ensure that your personal information will not be used by such persons storing or processing the information for any purpose other than assisting us for the purposes described in this Privacy Notice.  If you would like to receive more information about our policies and practices with respect to our use of service providers outside of Canada who handle your personal information or if you have any questions about our collection, use, disclosure or storage by any service providers outside of Canada on our behalf, please contact us at the address below under the heading “Contact Us”.

If you provide personal information of a third party to us, you represent that you have complied all the obligations imposed by Canadian Privacy Laws regarding the transfer of personal information outside the jurisdiction of residence.

Business Transfers

Where we disclose your personal information in the event of a business transfer described in our Privacy Notice above, we will ensure that the information is treated confidentially by the parties to the transaction and that the information will be protected by security safeguards appropriate to its sensitivity. If the transfer is completed we will require that the parties to the transaction continue to treat your personal information in accordance with Canadian Privacy Laws.

Service providers

Where we disclose personal information to services providers, we ensure that they are bound by contractual obligations to:

• Use personal information only for providing the service;
• Refrain from disclosing or communicating personal information without our consent;
• Implement rigorous security measures;
• Allow us to audit these measures;
• Notify us immediately of a confidentiality breach; and
• Destroy personal information at the end of the contract.

Electronic Marketing Messages

We send electronic marketing messages for the purposes described above in this Policy, however, notwithstanding Our Opt-in/Opt-out Policy described above, Canada’s anti-spam legislation contains special rules that regulate the way in which we may send these electronic messages to you. If you are located in  Canada we will only send electronic marketing messages to you if we have your prior opt-in consent, unless an exception or a specific form of implied consent applies.  You may learn more and sign up for our electronic mailing list by clicking here.

Information security and governance

Our internal policies and practices provide for:

• framework applicable to the use, communication, retention and destruction of personal information;
• the roles and responsibilities of our employees throughout the life cycle of the personal information; and
• a process for handling complaints concerning the protection of personal information.

Each employee who uses personal information is bound by confidentiality obligations and has received appropriate training. In addition, each employee may only access personal information that is necessary for the performance of his or her duties. In the event of a breach, our governance policies and practices provide for sanctions.

12. Additional Information for Residents of the European Economic Area (EEA) and the United Kingdom (UK)

The General Data Protection Regulation (Regulation (EU) 2016/679) (“GDPR”) and the UK GDPR (as defined in the Data Protection Act 2018) provide eligible residents of the EEA and the UK with specific rights regarding their Personal Information. This section supplements this Notice and applies solely to eligible residents of the EEA and the UK. Any terms used but not defined in this section have the same meaning as defined in the GDPR.

Legal Basis for Processing Personal Information

We process your Personal Information on the following legal bases:

• Consent: Where you have given us explicit consent to process your Personal Information for specific purposes.
• Contract: Where processing is necessary for the performance of a contract with you or to take steps at your request before entering into such a contract.
• Legal Obligation: Where we need to process your Personal Information to comply with a legal obligation.
• Legitimate Interests: Where processing is necessary for our legitimate interests or those of a third party, provided these interests are not overridden by your rights and interests.

Your GDPR Rights

The GDPR provides you with the following rights:

• Right of Access: You have the right to request access to the Personal Information we hold about you.
• Right to Rectification: You have the right to request that we correct any inaccuracies in the Personal Information we hold about you.
• Right to Erasure: You have the right to request that we delete your Personal Information in certain circumstances.
• Right to Restriction of Processing: You have the right to request that we restrict the processing of your Personal Information in certain circumstances.
• Right to Data Portability: You have the right to receive your Personal Information in a structured, commonly used, and machine-readable format and to have that information transmitted to another controller, where technically feasible.
• Right to Object: You have the right to object to the processing of your Personal Information based on our legitimate interests. You also have the right to object to the processing of your Personal Information for direct marketing purposes.
• Right to Withdraw Consent: Where processing is based on your consent, you have the right to withdraw that consent at any time.
• Right to Lodge a Complaint: You have the right to lodge a complaint with a supervisory authority if you believe that our processing of your Personal Information violates the GDPR.

Exercising Your GDPR Rights

To exercise your GDPR rights, please submit a request by contacting us via the methods described in Section 10 “Contact Us.” We may require you to prove your identity to ensure that your Personal Information is not disclosed to unauthorized individuals. Depending on your request, we may ask for information such as your name, email address, and/or date of last communication with us. We will only use Personal Information provided in your request to verify your identity and to process your request.

International Data Transfers

Your Personal Information may be transferred to and processed in countries outside of the EEA and the UK, including the United States. We will take appropriate measures to ensure that your Personal Information receives an adequate level of protection in the jurisdictions in which we process it, in accordance with applicable data protection laws.

Data Retention

We retain your Personal Information for as long as necessary to fulfill the purposes for which it was collected or otherwise processed, including for the purposes of satisfying any legal, accounting, or reporting requirements. When determining the retention period, we consider the nature and sensitivity of the Personal Information, the potential risk of harm from unauthorized use or disclosure, the purposes for which we process your Personal Information, and applicable legal requirements.

By including this section, we aim to provide greater transparency about our data processing practices and to comply with our obligations under the GDPR. If you have any questions or concerns about this section or our privacy practices, please contact us using the methods described in Section 10 “Contact Us.”