Privacy Policy

Cogitech Solutions, LLC (dba Tech9)

Privacy Policy

 

Effective Date:  January 16, 2024

Thank you for doing business with Cogitech Solutions, LLC dba Tech9 (“Tech9,” “Company,” “we,” “our,” or “us”). We welcome you and hope you find our websites, applications, and our other services and tools (collectively, the “Services”) helpful and useful. We have adopted this privacy policy (“Privacy Policy”) to help our website visitors, users, current and potential customers, clients, their employees, our employees, and other business partners (“you” or “your,”) understand what Data we process, how and why we do so, and what your rights are regarding that Data.

If a capitalized term is not specifically defined in this Privacy Policy, it has the meaning given to it in our Terms and Conditions.

We always seek to improve our Services to you, and that requires that we process information about you and your customers, and your usage preferences. As we do so, we are absolutely committed to protecting your privacy and the security of your Data and that of your customers.

In this Privacy Policy, we use the word “Data” to describe all the information we process that relates to you and your use of our Services. “Data” is broken into different categories, which are defined in the “Data We Process and How We Use It” section of this Privacy Policy. We may refer to the different categories separately, but when we use the word “Data,” we mean all the different categories described in this Privacy Policy. Because of the nature of our Services, the term “Data” also includes the information, including personally identifiable information, you gather, upload, or is otherwise processed in the Services. We rely on your compliance with our Terms and Conditions and any other agreement with us, in which you represent and warrant that you have express permission to process all such information you include in the Services.

The term “Data” does not apply to information which does not relate to an identified or identifiable individual or to personal information or data rendered anonymous in such a manner that the individual is not or no longer identifiable, (“Anonymized Data”). We hold all rights in and may use Anonymized Data for our own purposes in any legal manner and without attribution or compensation to any person.

This Privacy Policy applies to everybody who interacts with us online or otherwise. Because different portions of the Privacy Policy will apply differently to the various groups who interact with us, we have tried to clearly categorize the types of Data we process and how we do so. If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy or how we handle your Data, please email us at info@tech9.com.

DESCRIPTION OF SERVICES

We develop custom software solutions for various companies. In this Privacy Policy, all tools and services made available in connection with our development solutions, including our website, web applications, tools, and any other services that we provide directly to you, whether now known or developed later, are included in the term “Services.

LAWFUL BASIS FOR PROCESSING

Many jurisdictions require that we disclose to you the lawful basis for our processing of your Data. We do that in the “Data We Process and How We Use It” section and otherwise throughout this Privacy Policy. In general, our lawful basis for processing your Data is based on your specific consent or your contract with us. 

By accessing or using any of the Services or by otherwise interacting with us online, you consent to our processing of your Data as described in this Privacy Policy. If our processing of your Data is based on your consent, you may withdraw your consent at any time, and we will cease processing your Data. However, in some cases, this may result in your inability to receive partial or full access to the Services, and your withdrawal of consent does not limit our ability to use the Anonymized Data for use by us in connection with our legitimate business efforts in the future. In addition, your withdrawal of consent may not prevent us from processing Data if we have processed such Data pursuant to a different lawful basis or to preserve legal claims. For example, if you give your consent for us to process your Data, but we are also required by law to process your Data, that separate “lawful basis” will still apply, even if you withdraw your consent.

When you enter into an agreement with us, either by accessing the Services, by executing an agreement in hard copy, or by clicking “I Accept” or similar language online, we will process your Data for the purposes of fulfilling the terms of our contract with you. In that case, our processing of your Data is based on the contract, so your withdrawal of consent will only be effective after the purposes for processing that Data have been fulfilled and after we no longer have a legal obligation to process that Data.

In all cases, we will comply with applicable law and we will cease processing your Data after the legal right, obligation, or other lawful basis expires.   

 

INTENDED USERS

The Services are directed to persons 18 years of age or older or of children 16 years of age or older who have a parent’s, legal guardian’s, or other caregiver’s consent. Other than for Data collected for the specific purpose of providing the Services to users, we do not knowingly collect Data from users who are under 16. If we become aware that we have gathered Data from a person under 16, except to provide the Services to such person, and except to the extent allowed or required by law, then we will attempt to delete such Data as soon as possible, subject to our obligations under applicable law. If you believe that we have gathered Data from a person under 16 in contravention of this policy or applicable law, please contact us at info@tech9.com.

DATA WE PROCESS AND HOW WE USE IT

Listed below are categories of Data we process when you use our Services. We never sell your Data, and we always have a lawful basis for processing Data, but that lawful basis might be different for different categories, and we describe those uses below. Regardless, we never process the Data for any purpose other than the purpose for which we processed the Data in the first place, unless we get your prior explicit consent. 

A. Registration Data

  1. Data Description: Registration Data may consist of the name, email address, street address, identity-authentication information (such as that contained on a government-issued ID or passport), other contact information. Registration Data also includes your client type, and other applicable registration information, if any.
  2. Lawful Basis for Processing: Our lawful basis for processing Registration Data is our contract with you and your consent. We can only provide certain of the Services to you if we have the Registration Data, so we need to process that Registration Data during the term of our contract. Even when the Registration Data is not critically necessary to the provision of the Services, we may still process that Registration Data to facilitate our contractual interactions with you. 
  3. How We Use It and Who We Share It With: Registration Data is accessible generally only to us and to you. In limited circumstances, we may share your Registration Data with our service providers, which parties help us provide the Services and are under obligations to protect the confidentiality of your Registration Data. We process Registration Data to provide the Services to you. At times, we will share the Registration Data with other third parties at your request. We may also process your Registration Data to offer our own goods or services to you, either directly through emails or through third party platforms, but you may opt out of those communications at any time.

B. Engagement Data

  1. Data Description: Engagement Data consists of all the information you input or record using the Services, except as otherwise stated in this Privacy Policy. Engagement Data includes all information that is proprietary to you regarding your use of the Services (other than the data that qualifies as “Usage Data” below) that is processed by the Services. Engagement Data specifically includes the content of any text, personal preferences, and other information you input and include in the Services, such as feedback, comments, questions, video, audio, pictures, etc. Engagement Data may also include sensitive personal information when your use of the Services includes such information. If you input sensitive personal information throughout the Services, you acknowledge that you have obtained the proper consent to permit us to process such Data..
  2. Lawful Basis for Processing: Our lawful basis for processing Engagement Data is (1) our contract with you, (2) our obligation to provide you with the Services, and (3) our legitimate interest in improving our Services based on the Engagement Data we process. 
  3. How We Use It and Who We Share It With: Your Engagement Data is accessible to us, to you, to our employees or designated agents (if applicable), and to limited third parties that we use to provide and improve the Services. If we share your Engagement Data with a third party, that party will be obligated to protect the confidentiality of your Engagement Data. We rely on your compliance with our Terms and Conditions or any other agreement with us that you have all necessary rights to all Engagement Data you upload or otherwise permit us to process through the Services. We may also share Engagement Data with other third parties at your request. Both during the term of our agreement with you and thereafter, we may also convert Engagement Data to  Anonymized Data, and that Anonymized Data belongs solely to us to use in our sole discretion (including to sell Anonymized Data, which is not Data). To the extent we are required to delete any Engagement Data about you, we may still retain Anonymized Data that may have originated as your Engagement Data.

C. Usage Data

  1. Data Description: Usage Data consists of the following and similar information:
  • Information about your interactions with the Services, most commonly our website, which includes the date and time of any requests you make.
  • The timing of the information you post to the Services including messages you send or receive via the Services and your interactions with us, but not including the content of those interactions and messages, which would be included as Engagement Data.
  • Technical data which may include URL information, cookie data, your IP address, the types of devices you are using to access or connect to the Services, unique device IDs, device attributes, network connection type (e.g. WiFi, 4G, LTE, Bluetooth) and provider, network and device performance, browser type, language, information enabling digital, mouse movements (including scrolling data), and GPS (only upon your express permission). You may disable certain of these functions on your device, such as GPS.
  • Rights management, operating system, and application version.
  1. Lawful Basis for Processing: Our lawful basis for processing Usage Data is (1) our contract with you, (2) our obligation to provide you with the Services, and (3) our legitimate interest in improving our Services based on the Usage Data we process. 
  2. How We Use It and Who We Share It With: Usage Data is accessible to us, to you, to our employees or designated agents (if applicable), and to limited third parties that we use to provide and improve the Services. If we share your Usage Data with a third party, that party will be obligated to protect the confidentiality of your Usage Data. We may also share Usage Data with other third parties at your specific request. We may process Usage Data to make improvements to the Services. Both during the term of our agreement with you and thereafter, we may also convert Usage Data to Anonymized Data, and that Anonymized Data belongs solely to us to use in our sole discretion (including to sell Anonymized Data, which is not Data). To the extent we are required to delete any Usage Data about you, we may still retain Anonymized Data that may have originated as your Usage Data.

D. Payment Data

  1. Data Description: Payment Data is only processed when your use of the Services is subject to the payment of a fee or other charge. Payment Data is the information necessary for us to process your payments for the Services. Payment Data will vary depending on the payment method you use but may include information such as:
  • Name;
  • Date of birth;
  • Certain credit card information used to reference a credit card;
  • Address and postal code; and
  • Mobile phone number
  1. Lawful Basis for Processing: Our lawful basis for processing Payment Data is (1) our contract with you and (2) our legitimate interest in improving our Services based on the Payment Data we process.
  2. How We Use It and Who We Share It With: We only process Payment Data to facilitate payment, and we only communicate it to those parties who are strictly necessary for that purpose.

SHARING YOUR INFORMATION

Except where a specific limitation is noted above, we may share your Data as follows:

  1. At Your Instruction. If you request us to make your Data available to a third party, and such request furthers the purposes of our Services, we will do so.
  2. Sharing with Vendors. In certain cases, we may use the services of third-party vendors, to assist us in providing the Services. We may share your Data with such vendors solely for that purpose, and we will require those parties to abide by our privacy policies or privacy policies substantially in consonance with ours.
  3. Third-Party Offers. We may allow other companies to offer you their products and services, including offers through our Services, co-branded pages hosted by the third parties, or via email. Whether or not you decide to participate in any such offers is up to you. If you purchase a product or service on a co-branded page, or via a third-party offer on our Services that requires you to submit financial and personal information, you are also consenting to our delivery of this information to that party. The offer should notify you if any financial or personally identifiable information will be shared. Such third party will be authorized to use this information in keeping with our contractual relationship with them and in accordance with their own privacy policy and information practices. We do not control these third parties and you agree that we are not liable for their acts, or any failure to act on their part.
  4. Third-Party Advertising. We may use aggregated, statistical information to describe our engagement and to establish advertising and other business relationships with third parties. We may serve you with targeted advertisements based on your personal or profile information, but we do not provide any of this personal or profile information to an advertiser or any third party with the exception of those uses expressly disclosed in this policy. However, if you click or view an ad on our Services then you consent to the likelihood that the advertiser will assume that you meet the targeting criteria, if any, used to display such ad, and as described above, you will be subject to the advertiser’s privacy policy and information collection practices (if any).
  5. Service Providers. We may use a third party to provide specific Services on our behalf, including sending emails to you, conducting surveys, processing transactions, or performing statistical analysis of our Services. In these cases, we may provide certain Data necessary for the service to be provided. However, these third parties are required to maintain the confidentiality of this information and are prohibited from retaining, sharing, storing, or using this information for any other purposes.
  6. Business Transitions. In the event that we go through a business transition, such as a merger, acquisition, liquidation, or sale of all or a portion of our assets, the information we have about you will, in most instances, be part of the assets transferred. We reserve the right to transfer that information in connection with such transactions without notice to you. We will not be required to obtain your consent for such a transfer.
  7. Legal Disclosure. We may disclose your Data if required to do so by law or in the good faith belief that such action is necessary to conform to applicable law, comply with a judicial proceeding, court order or legal process served on us, protect and defend our rights or property, or investigate, prevent or take action regarding illegal activities, suspected fraud, situations involving potential threats to the physical safety of any person, or violations of our Terms and Conditions.


If we ever plan to process any Data in the future for any other purposes not identified above and we do not have a separate lawful basis for that new purpose for processing, we will only do so after obtaining your specific consent.

Further, we do not sell your Data for any purpose.

TECHNOLOGIES WE USE

The technologies we use for automatic Data collection may include the following:

  • Cookies (or browser cookies). A cookie is a small file placed on the hard drive of your computer. You may refuse to accept browser cookies by activating the appropriate setting on your browser. However, if you select this setting you may be unable to access certain parts of our Services. Unless you have adjusted your browser setting so that it will refuse cookies, our system will issue cookies when you direct your browser to our Services.
  • Web Beacons. Pages of the Services and our emails may contain small electronic files known as web beacons (also referred to as clear gifs. pixel tags and single-pixel gifs) that permit the us, for example, to count users who have visited those pages or opened an email and for other related website statistics (for example, recording the popularity of certain website content and verifying system and server integrity).
  • Geolocation. We may use geolocation (or other similar) technology when you use our Services to determine your current location. If you do not want us to use your location to provide you the Services, you can turn off your location services in your device’s settings.
  • Widgets. We may use technologies such as widgets or APIs to display parts of our Services on sites that are operated by our business partners.
  • Other Technologies. We may also use device identifiers, local storage, html modifiers, and different types of caching to help us understand the devices and users who access the Services. Those methods include device identifiers that are either hardware-based or software-based, persistent or non-persistent, and which may identify either a device or a software module within a device (such as a web browser). 

“Do Not Track” Options

Your web browser(s) may offer a “Do Not Track” option, which allows the individual to signal to operators of websites and web applications and services (including behavioral advertising services) that he or she does not wish such operators to track certain of his or her online activities over time and across different websites. We do our best to support Do Not Track requests but cannot guarantee full support based on the variety of internet browsers and technologies, which means that we may process information about your online activity both while you are using the Services and after your use of the Services.

YOUR RIGHTS REGARDING YOUR DATA

Under applicable data protection, privacy, and other laws, you may have certain rights related to your access and control of your Data. Such rights may include the following:

  1. The right to access, correct, update, or request deletion of your Data.
  2. The right to object to processing or restrict the processing of your Data (Please note that if you exercise this right, it may limit or eliminate our ability to provide you the Services).
  3. The right to request portability of your Data.
  4. The right to opt-out of marketing communications we send you. You can exercise this right by clicking the “Unsubscribe” or “Opt-Out” link found in these communications.
  5. The right to not be subject to a decision based solely on automated processing, including profiling, known as Automatic Decision Making. Please note that we currently do not employ any Automatic Decision-Making processes in providing the Services.
  6. The right to submit a complaint to any applicable regulatory authority about our processing activities.
  7. The right to opt-out of us sharing (as defined in the CPRA) your Data, including for direct marketing purposes, subject to certain legal exceptions.
  8. The right to limit use, disclosure, and restrict sensitive personal information (as defined in the CPRA).

We may use additional processes to verify your identity before we reveal or delete any of your Data, including two-factor or two-step authentication measures to ensure we can identify you.

This list may not include all of your rights under applicable laws. If you believe you have additional rights, please contact us using the methods in this Privacy Policy.

Further, although we currently do not process Data without consent, if we at any time in the future process Data without your express consent, you may opt-out or withdraw consent at any time.

Please note that exercising any of the above rights may limit or eliminate our ability to provide you the Services. If so, we may terminate the Services due to such requests.

We will try to comply with your request(s) as soon as reasonably practicable and at the very least as required under applicable law. Upon receipt of your written request, we will provide you with a copy of your information, although in certain limited circumstances we may not be able to make all relevant information available to you, such as where that information also pertains to another user. In such circumstances we will provide reasons for the denial to you upon request.

Please also note that if you do opt-out of receiving marketing-related emails from us, we may still send you messages for administrative or other purposes directly relating to your use of the Services, and you cannot opt-out from receiving those messages while continuing to use the Services.

To exercise any of these rights, or if you have any questions about our processing of your Data, please contact us at info@tech9.com or at our toll-free number: 888-688-6988.

A. Privacy for EU/UK Residents

The Regulation (EU) 2016/679 (General Data Protection Regulation) made effective in Europe on May 25, 2018 (“GDPR”) requires that we clearly describe to data subjects the data we process and how we process that data. This Privacy Policy does that and if you have any questions for us regarding our data processing, please contact us at info@tech9.com. We comply with the GDPR requirements to the extent they apply to us.

We are based in the United States. By accessing or using the Services or otherwise providing information to us, you understand that your information will be subject to processing in and to the United States and in our other locations.

Due to the nature of our Services, we typically act as a “Controller” as defined under the GDPR. If you believe that this role should be defined differently, please contact us at info@tech9.com.

Pursuant to the GDPR, residents of the EU (and the EEA, as applicable) have the right to obtain our confirmation of whether we maintain personal information relating to them in the United States. If you are a resident of Europe, upon request from you, we will provide you with access to the Data that we process about you. Please contact us if you have any questions.

Further, if you are a resident of the United Kingdom (“UK”), to the extent the GDPR as incorporated into UK law pursuant to s.3 of the European Union (Withdrawal Act) 2018 (as amended, the “UK GDPR”) applies to us, we will follow all supplemental requirements under the UK GDPR and you have all rights as a UK citizen under the UK GDPR.

B. Privacy for California Residents

California adopted the California Consumer Privacy Act (“CCPA”), which took effect at the beginning of 2020 and has now adopted the California Privacy Rights Act (“CPRA”), which fully took effect January 1, 2023. We comply with the requirements of the CCPA and CPRA to the extent they apply to us. 

If you are a California resident, you may request to exercise your rights for any Data we have processed in the 12 months prior to your request. Such request covers any categories, sources, purposes, and, if applicable, third parties to whom we share the Data. Further, you can exercise any of your rights free of discrimination, for example, we cannot increase the price of the Services or decrease the quality of the Services because you exercise your rights.

Due to the nature of our Services, we typically act as a “business” as defined under the CCPA and CPRA. If you believe that this role should be defined differently, please contact us at info@tech9.com or at our toll-free number: 888-688-6988.

For more information, please direct your questions to us at info@tech9.com or at our toll-free number: 888-688-6988.

C. Other Data Privacy and Protections Laws

We strive to comply with all data privacy and protection laws in applicable jurisdictions, to the extent such laws apply to us and our Services. We strive to be transparent about our data processing activities and have disclosed our practices throughout this Privacy Policy. If you have any questions about your rights under any applicable data protection and privacy laws, please contact us info@tech9.com or at our toll-free number: 888-688-6988.

SECURITY

The security of your Data is important to us. We use commercially reasonable efforts to process your Data in a secure environment. We take technical, contractual, administrative, and physical security steps designed to protect Data that you provide to us. We have implemented procedures designed to limit the dissemination of your Data to only such designated staff as are reasonably necessary to carry out the stated purposes we have communicated to you.

THIRD-PARTY POLICIES

You may be able to access third-party websites and other tools and services or products via a link on our website, mobile application, or via our other tools. The privacy policies of these third parties are not under our control and may differ from ours. The use of any Data that you may provide to any third parties will be governed by the privacy policy of such third party or by your independent agreement with such third party, as the case may be. If you have any doubts about the privacy of the information you are providing to a third party, we recommend that you contact that third party directly for more information or to review its privacy policy.

This Privacy Policy does not address, and we are not responsible for, the privacy, information, or other practices of any third parties, including any third party operating any offering, site, or other products and Services used in connection with the Services. The inclusion of a link does not imply endorsement of the linked site or service by us or by our affiliates.

DATA RETENTION

We will process your Data for as long as it remains necessary for the identified purpose or as required by law, which may extend beyond the termination of our relationship with you. We may process certain Data as necessary to prevent fraud or future abuse, or for legitimate business purposes, such as analysis of Anonymized Data, account recovery, or if required by law. All retained information will remain subject to the terms of this Privacy Policy.

AMENDMENT OF THIS PRIVACY POLICY

We reserve the right to change this Privacy Policy at any time. If we decide to change this Privacy Policy in the future, we will post or provide appropriate notice. Unless stated otherwise, our current Privacy Policy applies to all Data that we have about you and your account. The date on which the latest update was made is indicated at the top of this document. We recommend that you print a copy of this Privacy Policy for your reference and revisit this policy from time to time to ensure you are aware of any changes. Your continued use of the Services signifies your acceptance of any changes.

CONTACT US

You can help by keeping us informed of any changes such as a change of your personal contact information. If you would like to access your information, if you have any questions, comments, or suggestions of if you find any errors in our information about you, please contact us at info@tech9.com or at our toll-free number: 888-688-6988. If you have a complaint concerning our compliance with applicable privacy laws, we will investigate your complaint and if it is justified, we will take appropriate measures.