Skip to content

HelioCampus Privacy Policy

LAST UPDATED: AUGUST 14, 2017

Welcome to our Website! HelioCampus (“HelioCampus”, “we”, “us”, or “our”) has prepared this Privacy Policy (the “Policy”) to describe to you our practices regarding the Personal Data (as defined below) we collect from users of our website, located at www.heliocampus.com (the “Website”) and the services accessible via the Website (collectively with the Website, the “Services”). Unless otherwise indicated below, all references to the Services include the Website.

Website. The Website provides an informational forum, providing users with the chance to learn more about HelioCampus, its products and services, and the ability to post their thoughts and comments to the Website blog.

 

So we are clear about the terminology we are using, when we use the phrase “Personal Data” in this Policy, we mean information which, either alone or in combination with other information we hold about you, identifies you as an individual, including, for example, your name, postal address, email address and telephone number, as well as any other non-public information about you that is associated with or linked to any of the foregoing information. When we use the phrase “Anonymous Data” in this Policy, we mean information that is not associated with or linked to your Personal Data. Anonymous Data does not enable identification of or contact with individual persons.

Children. Our Services are not directed to children and children are not eligible to use our Services. Protecting the privacy of children is very important to us. We do not collect or maintain Personal Data from people we know are under 13 years of age, and no part of our Services is designed to attract people under 13 years of age. If we later learn that a user is under 13 years of age, we will take steps to remove that user's Personal Data from our databases and to prevent the user from using the Services.

A Note to Users Outside of the United States. If you are a non U.S. user of the Services, by visiting the Website and/or providing us with information, you acknowledge and agree that your Personal Data may be processed for the purposes identified in this Policy. In addition, your Personal Data may be processed in the country in which it was collected and in other countries, including the United States, where laws regarding processing of Personal Data may be less stringent than the laws in your country. By providing your information, you consent to such transfer and acknowledge that such transfer is necessary to receive any Services from us.

Information We Collect

Personal Data
In general, the Personal Data we gather enables us to provide the Services to you and helps us learn more about the use of the Services. 

Usage/Account Information: We collect Personal Data that you submit to us voluntarily at registration and in the course of your use of the Services, such as your‎ name, postal address, email address, telephone number, username, password and demographic information (such as your gender). To use certain portions of our Website, you may be required to provide certain information, such as your name and email address if you choose to contribute to or post to our blog.

 

Communications: When you communicate with us by sending us an email, we will collect and store any information that is contained in your communications with us.

Voluntary Information: We also collect other types of Personal Data that you provide to us voluntarily, such as requested information if you contact us regarding support for the Services.

 Information Automatically Collected

 

We collect the following types of data through technical means:

 

Information Collected by Our Servers. To make our Services more useful to you, our servers (which may be hosted by a third party service provider) collect information from you, including your browser type, operating system, Internet Protocol (“IP”) address (a number that is automatically assigned to your computer when you use the Internet, which may vary from session to session), domain name, and/or a date/time stamp for your visit.

 

Log Files. As is true of most websites, we gather certain information automatically and store it in log files. This information includes IP addresses, browser type, Internet service provider (“ISP”), referring/exit pages, operating system, date/time stamp, and clickstream data. We use this information to analyze trends, administer the Services, track users’ movements around the Services, gather demographic information about our user base as a whole, and better tailor our Services to our users’ needs. For example, some of the information may be collected so that when you visit the Services again, you will be recognized and the Service can provide you with information appropriate to your interests.

Cookies. Like many online services, we use cookies to collect information. “Cookies” are small pieces of information that a website sends to your computer’s hard drive while you are viewing the website. We may use both session cookies (which expire once you close your web browser) and persistent cookies (which stay on your computer until you delete them) to provide you with a more personal and interactive experience on our Services. This type of information is collected to make the Services more useful to you and to tailor the experience with us to meet your special interests and needs.

 

We use two broad categories of cookies: (1) first party cookies, served directly by us to your computer or mobile device, which are used only by us to recognize your computer or mobile device when it revisits the Services; and (2) third party cookies, which are served by service providers on our Services, and can be used by such service providers to recognize your computer or mobile device when it visits other websites.

 

Cookies we use:
Our Services use the following types of cookies for the purposes set out below:

 

Type of cookie

Purpose

Essential Cookies

These cookies are essential to provide you with the Services. For example, they allow you to log in to the Services and help the content of the pages you request load quickly. Without these cookies, the Services that you have asked for cannot be provided, and we only use these cookies to provide you with those Services.

Functionality Cookies

These cookies allow our Services to remember choices you make when you use our Services, such as your login details and remembering the changes you make to other parts of our Services which you can customize. The purpose of these cookies is to provide you with a more personal experience and to avoid you having to re-enter your preferences every time you visit our Services.

Analytics and Performance Cookies

These cookies are used to collect information about traffic to our Services and how users use our Services. The information gathered does not identify any individual visitor. The information is aggregated and anonymous. It includes the number of visitors to our Services, the websites that referred them to our Services, the pages they visited on our Services, what time of day they visited our Services, whether they have visited our Services before, and other similar information.  We use this information to help operate our Services more efficiently, to gather broad demographic information and to monitor the level of activity on our Services.

We use Google Analytics for this purpose. Google Analytics uses its own cookies. It is only used to improve how our Services works. You can find out more information about Google Analytics cookies here:  https://developers.google.com/analytics/resources/concepts/gaConceptsCookies


You can find out more about how Google protects your data here: www.google.com/analytics/learn/privacy.html.


You can prevent the use of Google Analytics relating to your use of our Website by downloading and installing the browser plugin available via this link:
http://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout?hl=en-GB.


Further information about cookies, including how to see what cookies have been set on your computer or mobile device and how to manage and delete them, visit www.allaboutcookies.org and www.youronlinechoices.com.uk.

 

If you decide at any time that you no longer wish to accept cookies from our Services 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 of the Services or all functionality of the Services.

 

Pixel Tags. In addition, we use “Pixel Tags” (also referred to as clear Gifs, Web beacons, or Web bugs). Pixel Tags are tiny graphic images with a unique identifier, similar in function to Cookies, which are used to track online movements of Web users. In contrast to Cookies, which are stored on a user’s computer hard drive, Pixel Tags are embedded invisibly in Web pages. Pixel Tags also 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. We do not tie the information gathered by Pixel Tags to our users’ Personal Data.

How We Use Information

Personal Data
We will use your Personal Data to:

  • Identify you as a user in our system;
  • Facilitate the creation of and administration of your Account;
  • Provide you with the Services;
  • Provide you with customer support;
  • Help understand your needs and tailor the features and content of the Services to you;
  • Respond to your requests, resolve disputes and/or troubleshoot problems;
  • Verify your compliance with our Terms and Conditions;
  • Send you administrative e-mail notifications, such as security, or support and maintenance advisories;
  • Send newsletters, offers, and other promotional materials related to our Website and for other marketing purposes;  Improve the quality of the Services; and
  • Communicate with you about the Services.

We may also use your Personal Data to create Anonymous Data records by excluding information that makes the information personally identifiable to you.

Anonymous Data
We use Anonymous Data we collect to analyze trends, administer and improve the Services, gather demographic information about our user base as a whole, and better tailor the Services to our users’ needs. Anonymous Data might include analytics information and information collected by us using cookies. We reserve the right to use Anonymous Data for any purpose, and to disclose Anonymous Data publicly without restriction.

How We Disclose Information

Personal Data. We may disclose certain Personal Data:

  • Third Parties Designated by You. When you use the Services, the Personal Data you provide will be shared with the third parties that you authorize to receive such information, including third parties with whom you are affiliated and under whose authority you are accessing the Services (i.e., when a university you are attending.

  • Third Party Service Providers. We may share your Personal Data with our third party service providers that help us provide the Services.

  • Affiliates. We may share some or all of your Personal Data with our parent company, subsidiaries, joint ventures, or other companies under a common control (“Affiliates”), if we have such Affiliates in the future, in which case we will require our Affiliates to honor this Policy.

  • Corporate Restructuring. We may share some or all of your Personal Data in connection with or during negotiation of any merger, financing, acquisition or dissolution, transaction or proceeding involving sale, transfer, divestiture, or disclosure of all or a portion of our business or assets. In the event of an insolvency, bankruptcy, or receivership, Personal Data may also be transferred as a business asset. If another company acquires our company, business, or assets, that company will possess the Personal Data collected by us and will assume the rights and obligations regarding your Personal Data as described in this Policy.

  • Other Disclosures. Regardless of any choices you make regarding your Personal Data (as described below), we may disclose Personal Data if we believe in good faith that such disclosure is necessary to (a) resolve disputes, investigate problems, or enforce our Terms and Conditions; (b) comply with relevant laws or to respond to requests from law enforcement or other government officials relating to investigations or alleged illegal activity, in which case we can (and you authorize us to) disclose Personal Data without subpoenas or warrants served on us; or (c) protect and defend our rights or property or the rights and property of you or third parties; and/or (d) investigate or assist in preventing any violation or potential violation of the law, this Policy, or our Terms and Conditions.

Your Choices Regarding Disclosure of Your Information

  • Email Communications. We will communicate with you primarily in the form of emails. You can manage the frequency and/or opt out of receiving these communications by changing your settings in your Account and/or clicking the “Unsubscribe” link at the bottom of each email. Please note that even if you unsubscribe or opt-out, we may still send you Services-related communications (e.g., emails related to your Account).

  • Changing or Deleting Your Personal Data. You may review, change, update, correct or delete the Personal Data in your Account by changing your Account settings or contacting us, in which case we will respond to your request within thirty (30) days. You authorize us to use and disclose any new or modified information that you provide in accordance with this Policy. If you completely delete all of your Personal Data, then your account may become deactivated, although your profile and any content associated therewith will remain on the Website unless you have deleted them. We may also retain an archived copy of your records as required by law or for legitimate business purposes. Please remember, however, if we have already disclosed some of your Personal Data to third parties, we cannot access that Personal Data any longer and, except where required by law, cannot force the deletion or modification of any such information by the parties to whom we have made those disclosures. Certain information is necessary in order for us to make the Services available; therefore, if you delete such necessary information you may not be able to use the Services. Please note that even though you may request the deletion of your Personal Data by us, we may be required (by law or otherwise, such as to prevent fraud, resolve disputes, troubleshoot problems, or enforce our Terms of Use) to keep this information and not delete it (or to keep this information for a certain time) in which case we will comply with your deletion request only after we have fulfilled such requirements. When we delete Personal Data, it will be deleted from the active database, but may remain in our archives.

  • User Generated Content. Be very careful about including Personal Data in user generated content posted to our Website, including via our blog. Please note that any information you post or disclose on public portions of the Website will be available to the general public, while other users of the Services may be able to view information posted to certain restricted message boards or for a within the Services (i.e., for a particular institution). We urge you to be very careful when deciding to disclose your Personal Data in any such post, as there is no way to control what others who view such Personal Data choose to do with it.

Feedback
If you provide feedback to us, we may use and disclose such feedback in accordance with the terms in our Terms and Conditions, provided we do not associate such feedback with your Personal Data. We may publish user feedback from time to time, provided that we will obtain your consent prior to posting any feedback that is associated with your Personal Data. We will collect any information contained in such feedback and will treat the Personal Data in it in accordance with this Policy, provided that we may contact you in regards to such feedback.


Information Disclosed to Third Parties

This Policy addresses only our use and disclosure of information we collect from and/or about you on the Services. If you disclose information to others, or authorize us to do the same under this Policy, the use and disclosure restrictions contained in this Policy will not apply to such third party. We do not control the privacy policies of third parties, and you are subject to the privacy policies of those third parties where applicable.

The Services may contain content or links to other websites that are not owned or controlled by us. We have no control over, do not review and are not responsible for the privacy policies of or content displayed on such other websites. When you click on such a link, you will leave our Services and go to another site. During this process, another entity may collect Personal Data or Anonymous Data from you. Please review the privacy policy of any new site you visit.

How We Respond to Do Not Track Signals
We do not currently respond to “do not track” signals or other mechanisms that might enable consumers to opt out of tracking on the Services.

 

International Data Transfer 

Your information, including Personal Data that we collect from you, may be transferred to, stored at and processed by us and our affiliates and other third parties outside the country in which you reside, including, but not limited to the United States, where data protection and privacy regulations may not offer the same level of protection as in other parts of the world. By using our Website, you agree to this transfer, storing or processing. We will take all steps reasonably necessary to ensure that your data is treated securely and in accordance with this Policy.

 

Security

We seek to use reasonable organizational, technical and administrative measures to protect Personal Data within our organization. Unfortunately, no transmission or storage system can be guaranteed to be completely secure, and transmission of information via the internet is not completely secure. If you have reason to believe that your interaction with us is no longer secure (for example, if you feel that the security of any account you might have with us has been compromised), please immediately notify us of the problem by contacting us using the details below.

Retention

We will only retain your Personal Data for as long as reasonably required for you to use the Services, or as directed by the customer who provided us with your data, unless a longer retention period is required or permitted by law (for example for regulatory purposes). 

Sensitive Personal Data

Subject to the following paragraph, we ask that you not send us, and you not disclose, any Sensitive Personal Data (e.g., social security numbers, information related to racial or ethnic origin, political opinions, religion or other beliefs, health, biometrics or genetic characteristics, criminal background or trade union membership) on or through the Services or otherwise to us.


If you send or disclose any Sensitive Personal Data to us when you submit user generated content to our Services, you consent to our processing and use of such Sensitive Personal Data in accordance with this Policy. If you do not consent to our processing and use of such Sensitive Personal Data, you must not submit such user generated content to our Services.

 

Changes to this Privacy Policy
This Policy may be updated from time to time for any reason. We will notify you of any changes to our Privacy Policy by posting the new Policy here and we will change the “Last Updated” date above. We will also inform you through the Service of any major changes to this Policy. You should consult this Policy regularly for any changes.

 

Contacting HelioCampus
If you have any questions or concerns or complaints about our Privacy Policy or our data collection or processing practices, or if you want to report any security violations to us, please contact us at: info@heliocampus.com or HelioCampus, 7315 Wisconsin Ave, Suite 750W, Bethesda, MD 20814.