Privacy Policy
HUG understands how important the privacy of personal information is to our users. This Privacy Policy will tell you what information we collect about you and about your use of HUG and its services. It will explain the choices you have about how your personal information is used and how we protect that information. We urge you to read this Privacy Policy carefully.
This Privacy Policy applies to websites owned and operated by HUG that are intended for use by consumers (non-professionals) for non-commercial personal, family or household purposes, including HUGHUMANITY.ORG and including the mobile optimized versions of these sites and our Mobile Device Applications or “Apps” (we refer to these sites and Apps collectively as the “HUG sites”). We refer to the HUG Sites and Apps, along with the information and services made available to you through the HUG Sites and Apps, as the “Services.”
Except where noted, statements in this Privacy Policy with respect to the HUG Sites also apply to the Apps. If you do not want us to collect, use or disclose information about you and your use of the Services as described in this Privacy Policy, then you should not use the Services. By using the Services, you must agree to the HUG Terms of Use, which is the contract between users of the Services and us. By accepting the HUG Terms of Use, you confirm that you have read and understand this Privacy Policy and you acknowledge that we will store, use and otherwise process your information in Canada where we are located.
References to “HUG ” “we” or “us” mean Humanity Unlimited Global, Inc., including any company that HUG controls (for example, a subsidiary that HUG may own). HUG may share information among its subsidiaries or websites that it owns or controls, but information collected under this Privacy Policy is always protected under the terms of this Privacy Policy. Except as otherwise noted in this Privacy Policy, HUG is the data controller responsible for the processing of your personal information as described in this Privacy Policy.
Information Collected About You
Even if you do not register with or provide any personal information to HUG we collect information about your use of the HUG Sites and Apps and the Services. We may also acquire information about our users from external sources.
When you use the Services, we collect information as follows:
Registration
While you may use most of the Services without registering, certain Services do require that you register with HUG for them to function properly. If you choose to register or update an existing account with HUG or access certain Services, you may be required to provide certain personal information, such as your name, address, telephone number, gender, email address and date of birth, and a username and password to access your HUG account. You are responsible for ensuring the accuracy of the personal information that you submit to HUG.
Email Newsletters
At registration and at various times as you use the HUG Sites, you will be given the option of providing us with personal information in order to receive informational/promotional newsletters – such as a newsletter relating to a specific health condition – via email from HUG and/or directly from third parties. From time to time HUG may offer users of third party websites the opportunity to subscribe to our newsletters through those websites. If you elect to subscribe to one of our newsletters on a third-party website, the operator of that website will provide us with the personal information you have provided in connection with the subscription request, which we may use in accordance with this Privacy Policy as though you had provided it directly to HUG .
Email a Friend
If you use our Email a Friend service to tell a friend about a feature on a HUG Site or a newsletter, we will ask you for your name, your email address and your friend’s email address. We will automatically send your friend a one-time email inviting him or her to visit the site using your name and email address as the “from” email address. HUG does not use your friend’s email information for any other purpose. We will only use the information you provide to send the requested email to your friend.
If you believe that one of your contacts has provided us with your personal information and you would like to request that it be removed from our database, please use the Contact us link provided at the bottom of every page of the HUG Sites.
User Reviews and Other Public Forums
Any information (including personal information) you share in any review, or other forum is by design open to the public and is not private. You should think carefully before posting any personal information in any public forum. What you post can be seen, disclosed to or collected by third parties and may be used by others in ways we cannot control or predict, including to contact you for unauthorized purposes. As with any public forum on any site, the information you post may also show up in third-party search engines.
Emails You Send to HUG
This Privacy Policy does not apply to information, content, business information, ideas, concepts or inventions that you send to HUG by email. If you want to keep content or business information, ideas, concepts or inventions private or proprietary, do not send them in an email to HUG .
Services and Device Information
When you access and use the Services, HUG automatically collects and stores in its server logs information from your browser or mobile device such as your IP address or unique device identifier, browser information (including referring URL), your preferences and settings, cookies and information about the content you have viewed and actions taken (e.g., search queries, ad engagement, clicks and the associated dates and times). HUG may also collect device-specific information when you install and use an App including your device model, operating system information, advertising ID (which is a unique, user-resettable identification number for advertising associated with a mobile device) and App version and usage information. When enabled by you, we collect precise location information provided by your mobile device, which you may disable through the device settings.
Precise Geolocation Data
When enabled by you, we may collect precise location information provided by your mobile device, such as latitude and longitude. We do so to provide you more relevant content including advertising based on your location. You may disable the collection and use of your location data through your device settings. To change location settings on your device, please refer to your device’s official knowledge base.
Cookies and Other Tracking Technologies
We and our partners use cookies to collect information about your use of the Services. “Cookies” are small data files assigned to your browser when you visit a HUG Site which enable recognition of your browser and collect and store information about your use of the Services, as described above. In addition to cookies, we and our partners use other tracking technologies that collect information about your use of the Services, including mobile identifiers and “web beacons” which are small graphic files (sometimes called “clear GIFs” or “web pixels”) embedded in a web page or email typically used to monitor activity and send relevant information back to a home server (which can belong to the host site, a network advertiser or some other third party). Our advertising service partners may use cookies and other tracking technologies to collect information about your use of the HUG Sites, including content you have viewed. These third parties may use this information to help HUG deliver advertising on the HUG Sites and on other third-party websites based on your browsing activity on the HUG Sites. HUG may further tailor the advertising on the HUG Sites and these other third-party websites based on additional information to the extent known by HUG or these third parties. Two of the third parties that HUG works with are Google and Facebook. In addition to using the information it collects to perform services for HUG, Google may also use such information as described in its privacy policy. To see how Google may use information collected through our use of the Google services on the HUG Sites visit https://www.google.com/policies/privacy/partners. While Facebook does not provide any personal information to HUG, Facebook may use information that it has about you and that it collects performing services for HUG (which may be associated with personal information that Facebook has about you) as described in its privacy policy available at https://www.facebook.com/about/privacy.
How Information Collected About You Is Used
Information about your use of the Services may be used for the following purposes:
• to provide, improve and create new Services,
• to respond to your inquiries and to send you administrative communications about the HUG Sites and Services,
• to obtain your feedback about the HUG Sites and Services,
• to send you secure electronic messages and personalized emails pertaining to your interests as inferred from your use of the Services, including news, announcements, reminders and opportunities from HUG,
• to statistically analyze trends and user behavior and activity including how frequently areas of the HUG Sites are visited, how the Services are being used and how many emails are received and opened,
• to provide you and people with similar demographic characteristics and interests with more relevant content including advertising both on and off the HUG Sites and Apps,
• to offer lead generation services,
• to detect and defend against fraud and other threats to the Services and our users,
• to identify issues with the Services,
• to conduct research and measurement activities, including those described below, and
• to administer your account.
Sharing Your Information
We do not share your information other than has been disclosed in the foregoing.
Compliance with Law, Regulation, and Law Enforcement Requests
To cooperate with government authorities and law enforcement officials and private parties to enforce and comply with law, we may release personal information to third parties: (1) to comply with legal requirements such as a law, regulation, search warrant, subpoena or court order; (2) when we believe in good faith that disclosure is necessary to protect our rights, protect your safety or the safety of others, investigate fraud, or respond to a government request; or (3) in special cases, such as in response to a physical threat to you or others, to protect property or defend or assert legal rights. In addition, we may disclose personal information as described below.
How Your Information is Secured and Retained
We take reasonable security measures to protect the security of your personal information. Despite HUG’s efforts to protect your personal information, there is always some risk that an unauthorized third party may find a way around our security systems or that transmissions of your information over the Internet may be intercepted.
The security of your personal information is important to us. We will retain your personal information as long as your account is active or as needed to provide you with Services. At any time, you can remove your personal information or instruct us to remove it, but you should be aware that it is not technologically possible to remove each and every record of the information you have provided to HUG from our servers.
Your Choices and Rights
Updating/Removing Your Personal Information
If you do not want your personal information used by HUG as provided in this Privacy Policy, you should not use the HUG Sites, Apps and Services. You can unsubscribe from an email newsletter by:
• Following the directions included at the bottom of the newsletter and using the “Unsubscribe” link found in the emails.
that type in the future from WebMD unless you re-subscribe.
Children
We are committed to protecting the privacy of children. The HUG Sites are not designed or intended to attract children under the age of 18. The HUG Sites do not collect personal information from any person we actually know is under the age of 18.
Note to Users Outside of Canada
HUG and our technical infrastructure are located in Canada. The personal information that you provide to us is stored on servers located in Canada. If you are located in another jurisdiction, you should be aware that in order to provide the Services to you, we must transfer your personal information to Canada where it will be stored and processed in accordance with this Privacy Policy. We may transfer your information outside Canada to service providers with operations in other countries. By using the Services, you consent to such collection, storage and processing in Canada and elsewhere, though Canada and other jurisdictions may not afford the same level of data protection as considered adequate in your own country. We will take reasonable steps to protect your personal information. Note that your personal information may be available to the Canadian government or its agencies under legal process made in Canada.
Data Privacy Framework
We participate in the EU-US Data Privacy Framework, the UK Extension to the EU-US Data Privacy Framework, and the Swiss-US Data Privacy Framework.
Additional Information for WebMD’s Visitors from the European Economic Area (“EEA”)
When you use the Services, we collect, store, use and otherwise process your personal information as described in this Privacy Policy. We rely on a number of legal bases to process your information, including where: (i) necessary for our legitimate interests in providing and improving the Services including offering you content and advertising that may be of interest to you; (ii) necessary for our legitimate interest in keeping the Services, Sites and Apps safe and secure; (iii) necessary for the legitimate interests of our service providers and partners; (iv) necessary to perform our contractual obligations in the HUG Terms of Use; (v) you have consented to the processing, which you can revoke at any time (however a revocation does not affect the lawfulness of processing of your personal data that occurred prior to the date of revocation); (vi) you have expressly made the information public, e.g., in public forums; (vii) necessary to comply with a legal obligation such as a law, regulation, search warrant, subpoena or court order or to exercise or defend legal claims; and (viii) necessary to protect your vital interests, or those of others.
If you are a HUG user in the EEA, you can: (i) access personal information we have about you (we will try to provide information within 30 days of your request); (ii) have your personal information corrected or deleted (in most cases you can correct personal information you have submitted to us by going back to the specific Service, logging-in and making the desired change); (iii) in certain circumstances, you can object to our processing of your personal information and we will discontinue such processing unless we have compelling legitimate grounds to continue; (iv) withdraw consent previously provided (however a withdrawal does not affect the lawfulness of processing of your personal data that occurred prior to the date of withdrawal); or (v) if you believe that we have not complied with applicable data protection laws, you may lodge a complaint with your local supervisory authority. If you wish to inquire as to whether we maintain any of your personal information and if so, whether you wish to exercise any of those rights that are available to you with respect to such personal information, you may contact us as described in the Contacting HUG About Your Personal Information or Privacy section below. We will respond to your request within a reasonable timeframe.
Where we process your personal information for direct marketing purposes, you can opt-out through the unsubscribe link in the email communications we send to you, by changing your subscription preferences in your account settings or as otherwise specified in this Privacy Policy.
We will retain your personal information for as long as necessary to provide the Services to you and fulfill the purposes described in this Privacy Policy. This is also the case for third parties within whom we share your information to perform services on our behalf. When we no longer need to use your personal information and there is no need for us to keep it to comply with our legal or regulatory obligations, we will either remove it from our systems or anonymize it. If you have registered with HUG and you no longer want us to use your registration information to provide the Services to you, you may close your account.
Contacting HUG About Your Personal Information or Privacy
Please send us an email by using the contact us link at the bottom of every page of the HUG Sites if you have any questions about this Privacy Policy or the personal information we maintain about you. We will respond to your request within a reasonable timeframe.
Changes to this Privacy Policy
We reserve the right to change or modify this Privacy Policy and any of our Services at any time and any changes will be effective upon being posted unless we advise otherwise. If we make any material changes to this Privacy Policy, we will notify you by means of a notice on the HUG Sites and/or by email to our registered users (sent to the email address specified when you register) prior to the change becoming effective. By continuing to use the Services after changes are made to this Privacy Policy, you agree to such changes. We encourage you to periodically review this Privacy Policy for the latest information on our privacy practices. If you do not accept the terms of this Privacy Policy, we ask that you do not register with us and that you do not use the HUG Sites. Please exit the HUG Sites immediately if you do not agree to the terms of this Privacy Policy.