CONTEST PEARL PRIVACY POLICY

Last Updated: 7 November 2020

Introduction

Hello, and thank you for using Contest Pearl!

This Privacy Policy explains important information about the kind of information Contest Pearl (also “We” or “Us") collects and why. Please read it carefully.

Your privacy is paramount to us. We understand and appreciate the trust you place in us, and we will do our utmost to maintain that trust. Our guiding principles include the following key elements:

We only ask for personal information that we absolutely need to provide our services.
We only store personal information that we need in order to continue to provide a service.
We don’t sell personal information. That means that we will never sell or give away your name or email address to a third party.
We don’t share your personal information with anyone unless we are required to by law, we need to in order to protect our rights, or to develop our products and services.

It is also important to understand that, through Contest Pearl, you will have the opportunity to share your personal information with Contest Organizers as well. This privacy policy only applies to information collected and held by Contest Pearl. It does not necessarily apply to any Contest Organizer who you may share your personal information with.

Who Does This Privacy Policy Apply To?

This policy applies to any User (“User”) of the Contest Pearl website (“Site”) and software application (“App”). A User can be any of the following:

Contestant - An individual who enters a Contest created by a Contest Organizer.
Contest Organizer - An individual who creates a Contest through the Contest Pearl app.
Customer - An individual who creates a Contest Pearl account as either a Contestant or Contest Organizer.
Visitor - An individual who visits the Site without becoming a Customer.

Your Use of This Site Means You Accept This Policy

By using this website and/or any services available through it, you indicate that you accept this policy and terms of service. If you do not agree to this policy, please do not use our website or services. If you continue to use this website or services after we post changes to this policy, that usage indicates that you accept those changes.

Your Responsibilities

Our role in protecting your information is outlined in this Privacy Policy. There are also a few things you must do to help keep your information secure:

Log out of the Contest Pearl Site and/or App when you are finished
Do not share your user ID or password with anyone else
Be vigilant against malware on any device you use to access Contest Pearl

Third Party Interactions

The nature of Contest Pearl products and services means that you will have opportunities to voluntarily share your personal information with third parties. This will typically be when a Contest Organizer asks for information for you to participate in a contest. While our Terms of Service prohibit a Contest Organizer from using this information in any way that is illegal or unethical, we encourage you to use caution when selecting contests to participate in.

We may also link to third party websites and other locations, including through advertisements available through our Site and/or App. Any interaction with any other website, app, or entity are subject to their own privacy policies and terms of service. We do not have any control over their content, terms of service, or privacy policy. Be vigilant and responsible when choosing to click on any link or advertisement. This applies to any links from our Site or App, and any links to our Site or App from a third party.

Participation in a Contest

Contest Organizers may require Contestants to supply certain information as part of a Contest. Contest Pearl processes this data in accordance with this Privacy Policy. We do not provide any personal information to Contest Organizers until you specifically consent to giving them the information.

When you enter a Contest, you are specifically consenting to granting the Contest Organizer access to the information you provide. Your consent may be through something as simple as submitting a form, or something more involved such as connecting your Contest Pearl account to a social media account. Some Contests may have fields that request or require fields such as date of birth for age verification and other fields with personal identifying information that you can choose to complete.

Once you provide specific information associated with entering a Contest, it belongs to the Contest Organizer. We encourage you to review the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy of the Contest Organizer to learn how they may use your information once they receive it.

Social Media Interactions

Contest Pearl allows Contestants and Contest Organizers to connect user profiles to social media accounts. Contest Pearl will never use or post to your social media accounts without your permission, and will always require your interaction with the App to perform any social media actions. We will only use information that you have made public or specifically allowed us to access when you grant permission. We do not have access to or store any of your social media account passwords.

If you wish to cancel the link between Contest Pearl and a social media account, you can either remove the Contest Pearl app link inside of the social media account or unlink it using the Edit option inside the Contest settings.

Personally Identifying Information

We may need to collect certain personally identifying information in order to provide our products or services. When we do, it is only to provide you the specific service you desire to engage with. You can always refuse to supply personally identifying information, with the understanding that this may prevent you from fully participating in our services.

As an example, a Visitor who wants to create an account at Contest Pearl must provide a name and email address. If someone wants to be a Contest Organizer, we will ask them to provide additional information necessary to process any data or financial transactions.

Contest Pearl does not disclose any personally identifying information except in support of providing you a service, or when required by law. This means that Contest Pearl will disclose personally identifying information only to employees and contracted organizations that:

Need to use the information to provide the service you requested, and
Have agreed to not disclose the information to anyone else not involved in the service

Note that Contest Pearl employees and contracted organizations may be located outside of your home country. Your use of the Contest Pearl Site or App indicates your consent to the transfer and use of your information as explained in this Privacy Policy.

As another example, if you are having difficulty with a contest and you request help from our Support team, a Contest Pearl representative may access your account to help resolve the issue. This may include accessing the list of contest entries and viewing Contestant information.

If you have given us your email address, and have not opted out of receiving such email from us, we may occasionally send you an email to let you know about new developments or ask for your feedback. We may also communicate with you via letter, phone, email, MMS, SMS, or other means if you have provided your contact information and have not opted out of such communication. If you send us a question or feedback, we may exercise the right to publish it in order to help us support other users.

Contest Pearl takes all reasonable measures necessary to protect against the unauthorized or illegal access, use, or modification of personally identifying information. However, please be aware that internet data transfers can never be guaranteed to be 100% secure. So, please take care when disclosing personal information.

Disclosing Personal Information When Required

Contest Pearl will only disclose personally identifying information other than explained above if we are required to by a court order, subpoena, or other government mandate, or when we believe in good faith that such a disclosure will protect our rights or property, or that of third parties or the general public. This includes disclosure to third parties when required by law or government mandate.

We may also share personal information with third parties to prevent, investigate, or act in response to potential fraud, illegal activities, or for the health or welfare of any person, including potential threats against them. We may also do so in response to violations of our Terms of Service, any other related agreement, or if required by law.

Information Security

Sensitive and private data exchange between the Site and its Users happens over a SSL secured communication channel and is encrypted and protected. Contest Pearl uses Stripe to process our credit card payments and no credit card details are stored on our servers. Stripe has been audited by a PCI-certified auditor, and is certified to PCI Service Provider Level 1. This is the most stringent level of certification available.

In case of an unauthorized security intrusion that materially affects you, Contest Pearl will notify you as soon as possible and will, within a reasonable time, report the action we took in response.

Information We Collect and How We Use It

This section explains some of the more common elements of information we use to provide our products and services. While this list is not exhaustive, it provides a good representation of the type of information we use.

Visitors and Customers: We may collect data in several different ways. For example, when you visit our Site, create an account, authorize any communication from us, submit a form, or through any other products, services, or interactions with us.

Website: We collect non-personally-identifying information that is provided by your web browser and internet servers, such as browser type, language preference, referring site, and the date and time of your connection to our website. We use this information to better understand how Visitors and Users interact with our site.

Creating an Account: Depending on the type of service you use, Contestants and Contest Organizers may be asked to provide information such as full name, email address, phone number, an account username, and similar information.

Payment: Depending on the type of service you use, we may also ask for a billing address, mailing address, payment information such as a credit card, information related to the specific purchase, and other information related to the purchase.

Location, Technical, and Usage: We automatically collect information that your system sends to us that helps us understand how you interact with our Site. This includes information such as the IP address that is communicating with us, the date and time, which browser is displaying our Site, operating system and computer or device information if available, as well as pages viewed and click paths. We also gather any location information that is provided by your device.

When a User enters a Contest, their IP address will be logged and available for the Contest Organizer to view in the event that information is useful in administering a Contest. It is common for a Contest Organizer to limit Contest entries to one per household or one per IP address (an IP address may represent a single household).

Third Parties: We may receive information when you view or interact with Contest Pearl advertisements or other content available through third-party Sites. This includes upvotes, likes, shares, retweets, and other forms of social network software interactions.

Other Information: We may collect other information that is not specifically detailed in this Privacy Policy. Any such information that we collect will be used in accordance with this Privacy Policy or as otherwise allowed with your permission.

Aggregated Statistics: We use Google Analytics and other analysis programs to help us better understand how users interact with our Site and services. This data is typically viewed in aggregate to give us an overall view of usage patterns. We may occasionally publish this information to provide information on how our app and sites are used.

Privacy Controls

You have choices about how we use your personal information to contact you, and you may opt-out at any time by unsubscribing or changing your account settings.

You can also request access, correction, restriction, opposition, portability, or deletion of any personal information provided to us through our website, as required by law. In order to do so, please email us at contestpearl@gmail.com. We may request specific information from you to confirm your identity.

Cookies

A cookie is a small string of data that a website stores on your computer when you visit a website. That data string provides information to the website when you return to help identify you as a returning user, your preferences in using the website, and to help personalize your experience. We use first and third party cookies to enhance your experience on our websites.

You may set your web browser to refuse cookies before using our websites, or you may set it to alert you when cookies are being sent. If you do so, please note that some parts of the website and/or contests may no longer function properly without cookies.

If you have logged into the App, you will stay logged in via cookies across Contests provided by various Contest Organizers until you log out of the Contest Pearl app. This feature is meant to make it easy for you to join more than one Contest without having to enter your information again.

You may see ads in our app or web pages. These ads are provided by advertising partners, and they may involve cookies that allow the ad server to recognize your device when they send you an advertisement. This information allows ad networks to deliver targeted ads that they believe you will be interested in.

This Privacy Policy applies to the use of cookies by Contest Pearl, but does not apply to the use of cookies that may be used by advertising partners. Other third parties, such as the company that created your browser, or your internet service provider, may also use cookies and/or other methods to receive and gather information.

Communicating With You

Other than a few essentials for critical messages, you can control many of the ways we communicate with you.

Critical Contest Information: If you are a Contestant or Contest Organizer, we will notify you if there is a significant issue, change, or other important information that you should be aware of.

Contest Organizer: If our system identifies a way to improve the performance of your Contest, the system may notify you with a recommendation.

External Data Storage Sites

We may store your data on servers provided by third party vendors that we have contracted with. These servers are located in the U.S. with [insert name of company]. We have also subcontracted certain monitoring and maintenance functions to [insert name of company].

Additional Service Providers

Contest Pearl may use third party service providers to help us provide or administer products and services. For example, data analytics or email communication. We may share your information with these third parties to accomplish the specific purpose the service provider has been contracted to perform, and in accordance with the permissions you have set in your account settings.

Children's Online Privacy Protection Act

You must be at least 13 years old to use Contest Pearl, including its websites and applications. If you are under the age of 13, please do not submit any personal data to us. We do not intentionally acquire or process any information from children under 13 or other individuals who do not legally use our websites and services.

If we become aware that we have obtained the personal data of any user of our site under the age of 13, we will promptly delete that information from our database and will work to prevent that individual from accessing our services in the future, unless we are under a legal obligation to retain the data.

We encourage parents and legal guardians to monitor their children’s online activity and teach them responsible use of online tools. If you are the parent or legal guardian of a child under 13 and believe that we might have information about or from that child, please contact us through the email address found at the end of this privacy policy. You may refer to the U.S. Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act for more information.

California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA)

Contest Pearl is subject to the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) for any users living or doing business in California. In those cases, the following apply:

We do not sell your personal information. You can read more about this in our Sharing Information With Third Parties section.
Cookie Policy. You can learn about this in our Cookies section.
Accuracy and Access To Your Personal Information. You may modify, update, or correct your personal information through the Edit tab for your profile. Should you need to contact us for in-depth support, or to delete your information, we may request specific information from you to confirm your identity.
Deleting Your Personal Information. You can learn about this in our Privacy Controls & Choices section.

Residents of the European Union (EU) and European Economic Area (EEA)

Contest Pearl primarily operates in the United States, and the servers where we store all personal data are located in the U.S. Any information you provide to us, including personal information, will be transferred to the U.S. By using our service, and by providing personal information to us, you are consenting to its storage and use as explained herein.

To ensure the legality of any transfer of personal data of EEA or Swiss citizens to sub-processors located outside the EEA or Switzerland, Contest Pearl applies additional terms via our Data Processing Agreement (DPA). You must complete and submit this DPA, and receive positive confirmation back from us, before the agreement with you is in effect.

International Users

The country we operate from may have different privacy and data protection laws than the laws of your country. Note that these laws may be less protective than your country. You accept this risk, regardless of where you live, when you create a Contest Pearl account and accept our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy. If you should decide to withdraw your consent, you may delete your Contest Pearl account.

Data Storage Locations

All personal data we process is stored directly on US-based servers which we lease from a third-party datacenter.

Data Retention

Contest Pearl will only retain data as long as necessary to accomplish the purpose for which it was collected, or as required by law, whichever is longer. For Contests, the Contest Organizer may retain the data they collect in accordance with their own policies, which may be indefinitely.

When a User deletes their account, all related Personal Data stored by Contest Pearl will be deleted, in accordance with applicable laws. If an account has been suspended for a Terms of Service violation, we will retain any information necessary to enforce any suspension for a period up to ten years.

Business Transfers

We may decide to buy or sell assets, up to and including the entire company. If that ever happens, customer information is often one of the business assets transferred to or acquired by a third party. Also, in the unlikely event that Contest Pearl enters bankruptcy or goes out of business, customer information may be one of the assets transferred to or acquired by a third party. You acknowledge that such transfers may occur, and that any third party that acquires this information may continue to use your personal information as outlined in this policy.

Changes to the Privacy Policy

We may update our Privacy Policy at any time, for any reason, at our sole discretion. Any revisions will include an updated date at the bottom of the page. You agree that it is your responsibility to check this page regularly for any changes. If you continue to use this site or its services after any change, that will mean that you accept the change.

Questions?

We appreciate your trust in us and we take your privacy very seriously. If you have any questions about our Privacy Policy, please write to us at contestpearl@gmail.com.

Thank you again from the Contest Pearl team!