Privacy Policy
Last Revised: 6/1/2021
Welcome! Below you will find the privacy policy for Ascend Innovations, Inc. (“Ascend” “we” or “us“). We are dedicated to protecting your privacy and handling any personal information we obtain from you with care and respect. This privacy policy (the “Policy” or the “Privacy Policy“) is designed to answer your questions regarding how we collect, protect, use and share information obtained through the Positivly platform (the “Services” or “Platform”). We also may maintain other websites, which are governed by their own privacy policies. If you are using another Ascend website or service, please be sure to consult the applicable privacy policy, as it may differ from this Policy.
Please see our separate Terms of Use, which governs the use of the Services. Any capitalized terms not defined herein shall have the same meaning as described in the Terms of Use. We encourage you to read this Policy before using the Services, and not to use the Services if you disagree with any part of this Policy. By using the Services, you accept and agree to this Policy and you signify your agreement to the terms and conditions of this Policy. It is our policy to post any changes we make to our Privacy Policy on this page. The date the Privacy Policy was last revised is identified at the top of the page. If we make changes to this Policy we will take reasonable steps to alert users of the Services that the Policy has been updated. We will not change how we collect/store Personal Information without notifying you.
I. INFORMATION THAT WE COLLECT ON OR THROUGH THE SERVICES
Users of the Services can engage in a variety of different activities on the Platform, including registering for an account (if authorized by Ascend), posting User Content (as permitted under a Subscription Agreement), or reading and viewing content that is on the Platform, including without a registered account (“Read Only User”). Those who do register for an account with the Services will become registered members (“Members“). Only authorized School Personnel can be Members and only Members may post User Content on the Platform, as described in the Terms of Use. The information we collect from users of the Services may vary depending on whether you are a Member or a Read Only User.
If you wish to become a Member (and are authorized to become a Member by us), you must provide us with certain Personal Information as part of the registration process, including, for example, name, email address, school information, and password. If the Member is a teenager under the age of 18 (but over the age of 13), we do not ask for name or zip code, but we may ask for birthdate information (month and year only) and country. We may also ask for username and password, and email address.
If you decide that you no longer want to be a Member, you can request us to delete your account at any time. If you delete your account any User Content posted on the Platform will remain on the Platform unless you specifically request in writing that the User Content be removed. You can contact us at positivly@ascend-innovations.com and request that we delete your content and account for you.
A. Personal Information
In this Policy, when we use the term “Personal Information“, we mean any information that can be used to identify (directly or indirectly) or contact a specific individual, such as the individual’s name, postal address, email address, telephone number, or online identifier. We collect different types of Personal Information depending on whether you are a Read-Only User or Member. For information on the collection, use and disclosure of Children’s Personal Information, please see the section herein discussing Children’s privacy.
When do we collect Personal Information?
Members. We collect Personal Information:
directly from you when you provide it to us;
automatically as you navigate through the Platform including usage details, IP addresses, and information collected through cookies and other tracking technologies, as further described herein; and
from third parties on your behalf, for example, information collected from a Member’s Institution.
The information we collect directly from Members on or through the Services may include:
Information that you provide by filling in forms on the Platform and/or information provided to complete registration as a Member. We may also ask you for information when you report a problem with the Services or provide Feedback.
Records and copies of your correspondence (including email addresses), if you contact us.
Your search queries on the Platform
User Content posted on the Platform
Read Only Users. We will collect Personal Information automatically as you navigate through the Platform, including usage details, IP addresses, and information collected through cookies and other tracking technologies, as further described herein. Children under the age of 13 are only permitted to be Read Only Users.
As Members and Read Only Users navigate through the Services, we may use automatic data collection technologies to collect certain information about your equipment, browsing actions, and patterns, including:
Details of your use of the Services, including traffic data, location data, logs, and other communication data and the resources that you access and use on the Platform.
Information about your computer and internet connection, including your IP address, operating system, and browser type.
The information we collect automatically helps us to improve the Services and to deliver a better and more personalized product, including by enabling us to:
Estimate our audience size and usage patterns.
Store information about your preferences, allowing us to customize the Services according to your individual interests.
Recognize you when you return to the Platform.
The technologies we use for this automatic data collection may include information collected through cookies or other tracking technologies. A cookie is a small data file stored on your computer, mobile phone, tablet or similar device to identify you as a previous visitor to the Services which may help us to personalize your experience when you arrive or to do other important things (such as keep our network secure). These cookies are invisible to you, and any portion of our Services may contain them. The information collected by cookies may relate to the browser you are using (e.g., Safari, Internet Explorer, Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, etc.), the internet address from which you linked to the Services, the operating system of your device (e.g., Microsoft Windows, iOS, Android, etc.) and/or the unique IP address of the device you used to access our Services. Some cookies are necessary cookies, and enable the core operation of the Services and cannot be switched off in our systems. They include cookies that we use to help control secure areas of the Platform and to make sure it is accessible to you. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the Services may not work as a result. We may use other types of tracking technologies that allow us to collect certain information such as the number of users that have visited a page. We use these technologies to measure the effectiveness of our content. This allows us to learn what content is most attractive to our users.
Some content or applications on the Platform are served by third-parties that we use to support our business operations of the Services including such service providers that provide data analysis, Platform infrastructure, information technology services, and content personalization. These third parties may use cookies alone or in conjunction with other tracking technologies to collect information about you when you use our website. The information they collect may be associated with your Personal Information or they may collect information, including Personal Information, about your online activities over time and across different websites and other online services.
II. HOW WE USE INFORMATION COLLECTED ON THE SITE
We use information that we collect about you or that you provide to us, including any Personal Information:
To present the Services and its contents to you.
To create your Member account.
To provide you with information, products, or services that you request from us.
To respond to service requests from you and support your needs.
To personalize your experience on the Platform.
To aggregate user information to better understand our user’s needs.
To carry out our obligations and enforce our rights arising from any contracts entered into between you and us, including any applicable Subscription Agreement.
To notify you about changes to the Services.
To allow you to participate in interactive features on the Platform.
To enable us to estimate our audience size and usage patterns, speed up your searches, and recognize you when you return to the Platform.
To improve the Services interface, experience, or functionality.
To tailor our content to engage with the interested online community.
To carry out our obligations and enforce our rights arising from any misuse of the Services.
In any other way we may describe when you provide the information.
For any other purpose with your consent.
III. DISCLOSURE OF YOUR INFORMATION
We may disclose aggregated information about our users, and information that does not identify any individual or device, without restriction, except as described in the Children’s section of this Privacy Policy.
In addition, we may disclose Personal Information that we collect or you provide to us:
To our subsidiaries and affiliates.
To contractors, service providers, and other third parties we use in connection with the Services including such service providers that provide data analysis, infrastructure provision, information technology services, content personalization, email delivery services, market research, or other services to help improve or operate our Services. These service providers are given access to Personal Information needed to perform their functions, but are restricted from using the Personal Information for purposes other than providing services for us. When we engage a third party who will need to access and process your Personal Information as part of their services, we ascertain that the third party is capable and obligated to provide at least the same level of data privacy and protection as we hold ourselves to.
To a buyer or other successor in the event of a merger, divestiture, restructuring, reorganization, dissolution, or other sale or transfer of some or all of Ascend’s assets, whether as a going concern or as part of bankruptcy, liquidation, or similar proceeding, in which Personal Information held by Ascend about the Services users is among the assets transferred.
To fulfill the purpose for which you provide it.
For any other purpose disclosed by us when you provide the information.
With your consent.
When you connect to your social media account. Some of our features may now, or in the future, enable you to connect to a social media account or share information on social media platforms. Any information you choose to share on social media may potentially be visible to a global audience and will be subject to the social media provider’s privacy policies (not this Policy). You should take care only to share information on social media that you are comfortable sharing.
We may also disclose your Personal Information:
To comply with any court order, law, or legal process, including responding to any government or regulatory request.
To enforce or apply our rights arising from any contracts entered into between you and us, including the Terms of Use and Subscription Agreement.
If we believe disclosure is necessary or appropriate to protect the rights, property, or safety of Ascend our users or others. This includes exchanging information with other companies and organizations for the purposes of fraud protection and credit risk reduction.
We do not and will not sell Personal Information to third parties. We do share Personal Information with third parties for the business purposes described in this Policy. For your convenience and information, we may provide links to websites and other third-party services and content that is not owned or operated by us. The third-party websites, services and content to which we link may have separate privacy notices or policies. We are not responsible for the privacy practices of any entity that we do not own or control. The inclusion of a link or such third-party services/content on the Services does not imply our endorsement of the linked site, or that content or service.
IV. CHOICES ABOUT HOW WE USE AND DISCLOSE YOUR INFORMATION
A. Tracking Technologies
You can set your browser to refuse all or some browser cookies, or to alert you when cookies are being sent. You can choose whether or not to allow the Services to collect information through other tracking technologies. If you disable or refuse cookies or block the use of other tracking technologies, please note that some parts of the Services may then be inaccessible or not function properly. You also may be able to opt-out of automatic tracking by emailing us at positivly@ascend-innovations.com.
B. Location Information
You can choose whether or not to allow the Services to collect and use real time information about your device’s location through the device’s privacy settings. If you block the use of location information, some parts of the Services may then be inaccessible or not function properly.
V. ACCESSING AND CORRECTING YOUR INFORMATION
If you are a Member or a Read Only User, you may send us an email at positivly@ascend-innovations.com to request access to, correct or delete any Personal Information that you have provided to us. We may not accommodate a request to change information if we believe the change would violate any law or legal requirement or cause the information to be incorrect.
VI. DATA SECURITY
We maintain measures designed to secure your Personal Information from accidental loss and from unauthorized access, use, alteration, and disclosure. All information you provide to us is stored on our secure servers behind firewalls and we have taken other industry standard precautions to protect your Personal Information. That said, the safety and security of some of your information ultimately depends on you. Where we have given you (or where you have chosen) a password for access to certain parts of the Services, you are responsible for keeping this password confidential. We ask you not to share your password with anyone.
Unfortunately, the transmission of information via the internet or mobile platforms is not completely secure. We make no guarantees on the security of your Personal Information transmitted through the Services. Any transmission of Personal Information is at your own risk. We are not responsible for circumvention of any privacy settings or security measures contained on the Services.
VII. INFORMATION RETENTION
Unless you specifically ask us to delete your Personal Information, we retain your Personal Information as long as it is necessary to comply with our data retention requirements and provide you with the benefits of the Services. However, even if you request a deletion, we may be required to maintain your information for as long as necessary to (i) comply with our legal or regulatory compliance needs (e.g. maintaining records of transactions you have made with us); (ii) to exercise, establish or defend legal claims; and/or (iii) to protect against fraudulent or abusive activity on our service.
There may be occasions where we are unable to fully delete, anonymize, or de-identify your information due to technical, legal, regulatory compliance or other operational reasons. Where this is the case, we will take reasonable measures to securely isolate your Personal Information from any further processing until we are able to delete, anonymize, or de-identify it.
VIII. STATE-SPECIFIC RIGHTS
If you are a Vermont resident, you may have the following rights:
We will not share your non-public Personal Information with unaffiliated third parties unless you authorize us to make those disclosures without your consent, other than as permitted by law. Further, we will not share credit reports with our affiliates without your consent.
If you are a California resident, you may have the following rights:
Access. You may have the right to access:
the categories of Personal Information we have collected about you;
the sources from which that information was collected;
the business or commercial purpose for collecting your Personal Information;
the categories of third parties with whom we share your Personal Information;
the specific pieces of Personal Information we have collected about you;
the categories of Personal Information we sold about you;
the categories of third parties to whom we sold Personal Information about you; and
the categories of Personal Information we disclosed for a business purpose.
Deletion. You may have the right, under certain circumstances, to request that we delete the Personal Information you have provided to us.
Non-discrimination. You have the right to be free from discrimination related to your exercise of any of your California privacy rights.
Verification. In order to protect your Personal Information from unauthorized access or deletion, we may require you to verify your credentials before you can submit a rights request. If you are not a Member, or if we suspect that your Member account has suffered fraudulent or malicious activity, we may ask you to provide additional Personal Information for verification. If we are subsequently unable to confirm your identity, we may refuse your rights request.
Authorized agents. You may use an authorized agent to submit a rights request. If you do so, the agent must present signed written authorization to act on your behalf, and you may also be required to independently verify your identity or your legal authority or ownership of the Personal Information with us.
Please note that we may claim legal exemptions for certain types of Personal Information from all or certain parts of the CCPA pursuant to various CCPA exemptions.
Privacy Management. You may:
Update your privacy settings by contacting us at positivly@ascend-innovations.com.
Download a copy of your personal information. You may request a copy of your personal information by emailing us at positivly@ascend-innovations.com.
Correct your personal information. You can edit and correct your personal information at any time by changing it directly in your account if you are a Member. You may also request us to correct your personal information by emailing us at positivly@ascend-innovations.com.
Delete your personal information. You may request us to delete your personal information by emailing us at positivly@ascend-innovations.com.
Cookies and other tracking technologies. You may be able to opt-out of automatic tracking by emailing us at positivly@ascend-innovations.com or otherwise disables cookie and other tracking technologies on your device.
IX. CONTACT INFORMATION
To ask questions or comment about this Privacy Policy and our privacy practices, contact us at positivly@ascend-innovations.com
X. CHILDREN UNDER THE AGE OF 13
We are committed to protecting children’s online safety and privacy. To that end, we have designed our Services to minimize the collection of children’s Personal Information in compliance with the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (“COPPA“). This Section X contains important information about how we collect, use, and disclose the Personal Information we collect from children under thirteen years old who use our Services (“Children”). Any Personal Information we collect about other users (e.g., teens and adults) will be treated solely in accordance with the other sections of this Privacy Policy.
This section notifies parents (and/or Institutions who are acting as legal guardians for Children with parent’s consent) of:
The types of information we may collect from Children.
How we use the information we collect.
Our practices for disclosing that information.
Information We Collect from Children
Children can utilize the Platform as Read Only Users. Children may not be Members nor may they post User Content on the Platform. As such, Children can act as Read Only User without providing us with Personal Information. Ascend will not knowingly collect Personal Information of Children.
Automatic Information Collection and Tracking
We use technology, as more fully described in this Privacy Policy, to automatically collect information from our users, including Children, when they access and navigate through the Services. The information we collect through these technologies from Children is limited to information that identifies a device’s location (geolocation information). Notwithstanding the foregoing, the geolocation information we collect from Children will not be specific enough to identity street names and/or city or town location information.
How We Use Child Information
We use the personal information we collect from your child to:
To present the Services and its contents to the Child.
To aggregate user information to better understand user’s needs.
To enable us to estimate our audience size and usage patterns.
To improve the Services interface, experience, or functionality.
To carry out our obligations and enforce our rights arising from any misuse of the Services.
Our Practices for Disclosing Children’s Information
We do not share, sell, rent, or transfer Children’s Personal Information. We may however, disclose de-identified aggregated information about Children:
To third parties we use to support the internal operations of the Service and who are bound by contractual or other obligations to use the information only for such purpose and to keep the information confidential.
If we are required to do so by law or legal process, such as to comply with any court order or subpoena or to respond to any government or regulatory request.
If we believe disclosure is necessary or appropriate to protect the rights, property, or safety of Ascend, our customers or others, including to protect the safety of a Child;
To law enforcement agencies or for an investigation related to public safety.
In addition, if Ascend is involved in a merger, divestiture, restructuring, reorganization, dissolution, or other sale or transfer of some or all of Ascend’s assets, whether as a going concern or as part of bankruptcy, liquidation, or similar proceeding or event, we may transfer the information we have collected or maintain to the buyer or other successor.
Accessing and Correcting Personal Information of Children
At any time, a parent/legal guardian may review the Child’s information maintained by us, if any, or otherwise require us to correct or delete the information, and/or refuse to permit us from further collecting or using the Child’s information. If applicable, you can review, change, or delete your child’s information by sending us an email at positivly@ascend-innovations.com. To protect your privacy and security, we may require you to take certain steps or provide additional information to verify your identity before we provide any information or make corrections.