privacy policy - HMT Associates

privacy policy

LAST UPDATED: August 20, 2020

 

HMT Associates, Inc. and its affiliates (collectively, “HMT”, “we”, “our”, and “us”) respect your concerns about privacy and personal data protection and we value our relationship with you. This Privacy Policy (the “Policy”) applies solely to personal and other information collected through the HMT website and web pages that post or reference and incorporate this Policy (collectively, the “Site”), whether accessed via computer, mobile device or other device (collectively, “Device”).

 

This Policy describes the types of information, including personal information, that we and our suppliers collect through or as a result of your use of the Site and how that information may be used and with whom it may be shared. This Policy also describes how you can reach us to update your personal information, access and control the use of your personal information, or get answers to questions you may have about our privacy practices with respect to this Site.

 

Please read this Policy carefully. By accessing or using this Site you are acknowledging that you understand and agree to the terms of this Policy and that you consent to our collection, use, and disclosure of information pursuant to the terms of this Policy. In addition, please review our Terms of Use, which governs your use of this Site.

 

We may change this Policy at any time. Please take a look at the LAST UPDATED legend at the top of this page to see when this Policy was last revised. Any changes to this Policy will be effective immediately upon posting of the revised Policy on the Site. Your use of this Site following such changes means that you accept the revised Policy.

 

1. INFORMATION YOU SUBMIT

 

We will collect any and all information that you choose to submit through, using, or in connection with the Site, including, without limitation, the types of information described below.

 

Personal Information You Provide: The privacy and security of the personal information that HMT collects from you is a priority for HMT. Generally, you can visit this Site without submitting your personal information. However, there are circumstances when you may be asked or choose to provide information that does or could reasonably be used to contact you or to identify you personally, including, but not limited to, your name, email address, and other contact information. If you submit your resume to HMT through this Site we may collect additional personal information such as address, phone number, job history, and other information you disclose in your resume and we may use that information to evaluate your qualifications and to otherwise consider or respond to your inquiry. By submitting personal information to HMT through or using this Site, you consent to HMT’s collection, use and disclosure of such personal information.

 

Marketing Communications: If you sign up or otherwise opt in to receive updates, promotional communications, surveys, or related materials from us, you will need to provide your email address. We will use this information to provide you with promotional and other electronic communications. You may opt out of receiving promotional emails from us at any time by following the unsubscribe instructions in the applicable email. We may use third-party email providers to deliver these communications to you.

 

We may combine the information you submit through this Site with other information (including personal information) we have collected from or about you, whether online or offline. We may also combine it with information we receive about you from other sources, such as other companies, publicly available information sources (including information from your publicly available social media profiles), and other third parties.

 

2. OTHER INFORMATION COLLECTED

 

As you navigate around this Site, certain information can be passively collected (that is, gathered without you actively providing the information), using various technologies. We and our third party service providers passively collect and use information in a variety of ways, including:

 

Analytics: The Site uses third-party analytics tools (e.g., Google Analytics, the LinkedIn Insight Tag, and tools provided by Visual Visitor LLC) to collect and process data about your use of the Site, including when you visit the Site, URLs of the websites that you visit prior to visiting the Site and when you visit those websites, and IP addresses assigned to the Devices from where you access the Internet. Our analytics providers may set and read cookies to collect this data and your web browser will automatically send data collected by those cookies to our analytics providers. Our analytics providers use this data to provide us with reports that we will use to improve the Site’s structure and content.

 

For more information on how Google uses this data, visit Google’s Privacy Policy and Google’s page on How Google uses data when you use our partners’ sites or apps. To prevent this data from being used by Google Analytics, follow the instructions to download and install the Google Analytics Opt-out Browser Add-on for each browser you use. Using the Google Analytics Opt-out Browser Add-on will not prevent HMT from using other analytics tools and will not prevent data from being sent to the Site itself or to Google. For more information about how Google Analytics uses cookies to measure user interactions on websites, visit Google Analytics Cookie Usage on Websites. You may disable cookies as discussed below, but that may impact your use and enjoyment of the Site.

 

Advertising Networks, Personalized Advertising, Remarketing, and Retargeting: From time to time the Site may use or participate in advertising networks and related advertising services that are managed and provided by third-party advertising servers, advertising agencies, technology vendors, and research firms, including advertising services provided by Facebook (sometimes referred to the Facebook “pixel”). These services collect information about your visits to and interactions with the Site and other websites and will use that information to target advertisements for goods and services and to display those advertisements on other websites. The information collected may be associated with your personal information. Advertising networks often gather data about consumers who view advertisements to make inferences about a consumer’s interests and preferences, which enables their computers to deliver advertisements directly targeted to the consumer’s specific interests. This practice is often referred to as “online behavioral advertising.” For example, a third-party advertising network might collect the type of web browser you use, the type of computer operating system you use, the domain name of a website you visit, whether or not you visit specific pages of the Site and other websites, the location of your Internet service provider, the date and time of a visit to a website, and other interactions between you and a website.

 

If you have a Facebook account but do not wish Facebook to collect data relating to you via the Site, we suggest that you take the steps outlined below under “Integrated Accounts and Social Media Information.”

 

To change your preferences with respect to certain online ads and to obtain more information about third-party ad networks and online behavioral advertising, please visit the National Advertising Initiative Consumer opt-out page or the Digital Advertising Alliance Self-Regulatory Program. Please remember that changing your settings with individual web browsers or ad networks will not necessarily carry over to other browsers or ad networks. As a result, depending on the opt-outs you request, you may still see our ads from time to time.

 

Integrated Accounts and Social Media Information: We may implement applications or “widgets” from third party providers (e.g., Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest etc.) that allow interaction, integration or content sharing with third party services. These widgets or applications may be visible on a page you visit on our Site or may require log-in through the third party provider’s service. The third party providing the widget or integration may offer controls for you to manage your interactions. Any interaction with a third party widget or application typically allows the third party to collect some information about you (whether through cookies, registration information or otherwise). These third parties may even track you when you do not interact with the widget. If you have engaged any of these third party service providers, their respective privacy policies will govern their tracking and collection of information. You should review these third party policies to understand these practices.

 

If you do not want social media platforms to collect information relating to you via the Site or to link information collected via the Site to your social media accounts, we suggest that you: (a) do not connect to or share information with social media platforms using the Site; (b) hide social media platform plug-ins using an ad blocker; (c) always log off completely from social media platforms before visiting the Site or other websites and delete all related cookies; and, (d) where the option made available by a social media platform, disable the advertising services and networks operated by that platform.

 

Our Social Media Pages: HMT is active on social media. You may have the opportunity to comment on social media platforms regarding HMT and the products and services we offer and/or to submit or upload related photos and other materials. HMT reserves the right to post on the Site, other websites, and social media pages any comments or content that you post on our social media pages or provide to us through social media.

 

IP Addresses and Related Data: Your IP address is a number that is automatically assigned to the Device that you are using by your Internet service provider (ISP). An IP address is identified and logged automatically in our server log files whenever a user visits this Site, along with the time of the visit and the page(s) that were visited. Collecting IP addresses is standard practice on the Internet and is done automatically by many web sites. We use IP addresses for purposes such as calculating Site usage levels, helping diagnose server problems, and administering this Site. The servers used to operate and provide the Site may also collect other data pertaining to you and the equipment, software, and communication methods you use to access the Internet and the Site, including your Internet service provider, Device ID numbers and unique identifiers, your media access control (MAC) address, your operating system, your Device’s screen resolution, your web browser type, the pages you access on the Site, the websites you access before and after visiting the Site, the length of time you spend on the Site, date and time stamps, clickstream data, your approximate geographic location, performance statistics, and usage data. HMT may use this information to administer the Site and its servers, to generate statistical information, to monitor and analyze Site traffic and usage patterns, to monitor and help prevent fraud, to investigate complaints and violations of our policies, and to improve the Site’s content. We may combine this information with other collected information (including personal information) and information obtained from third parties for security reasons and to protect our rights or the rights of others. The suppliers that we use to provide the Site may collect information about your visits to the Site and other websites. Some of this information may be collected using cookies or similar tracking technologies as explained below under “Cookies and Tracking Technologies.”

 

Cookies and Tracking Technologies: The Site automatically uses cookies to track your use of the Site in order to facilitate and enhance the user experience on the Site and for other purposes as described below. Cookies are small pieces of information that are stored on your Device’s hard drive by your web browser. We use cookies to learn and track how you access and use the Site, including when and how users visit the Site and how popular particular Site pages are and aren’t. We also use cookies to recognize Site users, to help display information on the Site, and to improve your enjoyment and the usefulness of the Site, for example, by remembering and displaying certain information.

 

The Site may use both cookies that we implement and cookies implemented by our suppliers and other third parties. “First-party” cookies allow your browser to talk to the actual website that you are visiting, whereas “third-party” cookies allow your browser to talk to third-party websites, such as the source of an ad that appears on the website you are visiting or a third-party analytics provider. Our suppliers may use cookies and tracking technologies, such as pixel tags, to track Site visitors across the Internet to understand how you get to the Site and for the analytics purposes disclosed in this Policy. We do not have access or control over these cookies and this Policy does not cover the use of third-party cookies.

 

Most browsers automatically accept cookies. Browsers generally also allow users to manage cookies in the browser’s settings. For example, a browser may allow you to reject cookies from certain websites, reject certain types of cookies regardless of the website, reject or disable all cookies from all websites, and/or delete previously stored cookies. Some browsers also give you the option of being notified every time a cookie is sent to your browser by a website. You can disable or limit cookies but doing so may impact your use and enjoyment of the Site and other websites. For example, the Site may not be able to be personalized for you, may no longer capture or remember your preferences or other choices you have made on the Site in the past, and may not remember your name, contact information, or other information you have entered using the Site.

 

Changing your cookie preferences in one browser will not necessarily carry over to other browsers, so you may need to adjust your preferences each time you get a new Device, install a new browser, upgrade an existing browser, or alter or delete a browser’s cookie file.

 

The types of information collected by a cookie and the purposes for which that information is used depends on the type of cookie. By way of illustration, the types of cookies used, the types of information collected by those cookies, and the purposes for which that information is used are described below. We may also combine information collected by cookies with other collected information.

 

  • Operationally necessary cookies (also called essential cookies). These are cookies that are required for the operation of the Site. For example, these cookies are required to identify irregular website behavior, prevent fraudulent activity, and improve security. They also allow users of the Site to make use of its functions. Without these cookies, features and services you have requested will not be able to be provided.

 

  • Functional cookies. These cookies allow us to offer you enhanced functionality when accessing or using the Site. This may include remembering choices you make, for example, remembering your preferences or settings, remembering if you reacted to something on or through the Site so that you are not asked to react to it again, remembering if you have used any feature of the Site before, and enabling social media components. If functional cookies are disabled, various functions of the Site may be unavailable to you or may not work the way you want them to.

 

  • Performance cookies (also called analytical cookies). These cookies assess the performance of the Site, including as part of our analytic practices to help us understand how visitors use and interact with the Site, for example, which pages on the Site/our websites users visit most often. These cookies also enable us to personalize content and remember your preferences. These cookies help us improve the way the Site works/our websites work and provide a better, personalized user experience.

 

  • Advertising or targeted cookies. These cookies record your visits to the Site, the pages you visit on our websites, and the links you have clicked. They gather information about your browsing habits and remember that you have visited a particular website. HMT and its third-party advertising platforms or networks may use this information to make the Site and its content more relevant to your interests (this is sometimes called “behavioral” or “targeted” advertising and is further discussed above). These cookies are also used to limit the number of times you see an advertisement and to help measure the effectiveness of advertising campaigns. To find out more about interest-based ads and your choices, please visit the Digital Advertising Alliance, the Network Advertising Initiative, the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) Europe, http://www.allaboutcookies.org, and http://www.youronlinechoices.com.

 

A cookie can either be a “session” cookie or a “persistent” cookie. Session cookies exist only for so long as you are visiting the applicable website. Session cookies are typically deleted or removed when you exit or quit your browser application. Persistent cookies exist for a set period of time, for example, six (6) months or one (1) year. Each time you visit a website that has implemented a persistent cookie, that cookie will remain active until its predetermined expiration date. You can also manually delete persistent cookies as discussed above.

 

The Site may also use the following types of tracking technologies: web beacons (also called clear GIFs), flash cookies, and pixels (also called pixel tags). Web beacons are tiny graphics with unique identifiers that function similar to how cookies function but, in contrast to cookies, web beacons are embedded invisibly on websites. Flash cookies collect and store information about your use of a website and are commonly used for advertisements and videos. Pixel tags can be placed on websites or within emails to track your interactions with those websites and when emails are opened.

 

Do Not Track Requests: Due to the automatic collection of data using cookies as described above, we do not honor “do not track” requests. For this reason, your selection of the “Do Not Track” option provided by your browser may not have any effect on our collection of information using cookies and tracking technologies.

 

Embedded Content: The Site may incorporate content, including feeds, scripts embedded in the Site’s code, and visible content (e.g., videos), provided by third parties. In some cases, those third parties collect data about how you interact with their content. For example, YouTube may collect or otherwise have access to usage data on videos embedded on the Site as described in YouTube’s Privacy Policy.

 

3. HOW WE USE AND DISCLOSE INFORMATION

 

In addition to the uses and sharing described above, HMT and its suppliers may use and disclose collected information as described below. We do not use, sell, rent, share, or otherwise disclose collected information except as stated in this Policy and as required or permitted by applicable law.

 

We use and disclose information you provide to us as described to you at the point of collection, such as when you (1) send us an inquiry through the New Biz Inquiry form, (2) send e-mail messages or feedback, or transmit other information by e-mail, and (3) submit a resume. If you elect to engage in such activities, we may ask that you provide us personal information, such as your first and last name, mailing address (including zip code), e-mail address, and telephone numbers.

 

We also use and disclose collected information:

 

  • for the purpose for which it was collected, such as to respond to your inquiries and fulfill your requests or to send you documents you request or e-mail;

 

  • to send you important information regarding our relationship with you or regarding this Site, changes to our terms, conditions, and policies and/or other administrative information;

 

  • for our business purposes, such as data analysis, audits, developing new products or services, enhancing our Site, improving our products and services, identifying Site usage trends, and determining the effectiveness of our Site;

 

  • to our third party service providers who provide services such as website hosting and moderating, website analytics, data analysis, infrastructure provision, IT services, e-mail services, auditing services, and other services, in order to enable them to provide services; and

 

  • to a third party in the event of any reorganization, merger, sale, joint venture, assignment, transfer, or other disposition of all or any portion of our business, assets, or stock or a similar transaction (including in connection with any bankruptcy or similar proceedings).

 

HMT may use collected information to send you promotional communications about HMT and our products and services to the extent permitted by applicable law and in accordance with your preferences. In order to provide you with a personalized experience, these communications may be tailored to your preferences based on, for example, inferences we make using your visits to the Site or the links you click on in HMT emails. You may opt out of receiving promotional communications from us at any time by following the unsubscribe instructions contained in the email, where applicable, or by contacting us using the contact information provided below under “CONTACT US.” Note that, even if you opt out of receiving promotional communications from HMT, you may still receive administrative communications from us with respect to your use of the Site.

 

To the extent permitted by applicable law, we may aggregate personal information and other collected information and use that aggregate data for our business purposes. We may use aggregate data to understand Site users’ needs and usage patterns, to determine what kinds of products and services we can provide, and to improve and enrich our products and services. We may provide aggregate information to our affiliates, suppliers, and other third parties for these purposes. We may also combine collected information with other information in our possession for purposes of using information as described in this Policy.

 

In addition, we use and disclose personal information collected through this Site as we believe to be necessary or appropriate: (a) as permitted by applicable law, including laws outside your country of residence; (b) to comply with any legal process; (c) to respond to requests from public and government authorities, including public and government authorities outside your country of residence; (d) to enforce our Terms of Use or other agreements; (e) to protect our operations or those of any of our affiliates; (f) to protect our rights, privacy, safety, or property, and/or that of our affiliates, you, or others; and (g) to allow us to pursue available remedies or limit the damages that we may sustain. We may also use and disclose personal information collected through this Site in other ways, with your prior consent.

 

With your consent, we may use and share your personal information and other collected information in ways not specifically described in this Policy.

 

4. GENERAL PRINCIPLES FOR THE PROCESSING OF PERSONAL INFORMATION

 

Personal information will be collected, stored, processed and transmitted in accordance with HMT’s established policies and applicable federal, state, local and foreign laws, rules and regulations.

 

The principles of HMT with respect to the processing of personal information are as follows: (1) personal information will be processed fairly and lawfully, (2) personal information will be collected for specified, explicit, and legitimate purposes and not further processed for incompatible purposes, (3) personal information collected by HMT will be adequate, relevant, and not excessive in relation to the purposes for which it is collected, (4) personal information collected by HMT will be accurate and, where necessary, kept up to date to the best of our ability, and (5) personal information collected by HMT will be retained as identifiable data for no longer than necessary to serve the purposes for which the personal information was collected.

 

If HMT engages in the processing of personal information for purposes other than those specified in this Policy, HMT will provide notice of these changes, the purposes for which the personal information will be used, and the recipients of personal information.

 

5. THIRD PARTY SITES AND SERVICES

 

This 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 site or web property (including, without limitation, any application) that is available through this Site or to which this Site contains a link. The availability of, or inclusion of a link to, any such site or property on this Site does not imply endorsement of it by us or by our affiliates.

 

6. CHOICES AND ACCESS

 

We give you choices regarding our use and disclosure of your personal information. If you would like to review, correct, update, or delete the personal information that you have provided via this Site, please contact us as specified below under “CONTACT US.” We will try to comply with your request as soon as reasonably practicable.

 

7. RETENTION PERIOD

 

We retain your personal information for the period necessary to fulfill the purposes outlined in this Policy or our Terms of Use, unless a longer retention period is required or allowed by law or to otherwise fulfill a legal obligation.

 

8. SECURITY

 

We use reasonable organizational, technical, and administrative measures to protect personal information under our control. Unfortunately, no data transmission over the Internet or data storage system can be guaranteed to be 100% secure. If you have reason to believe that your interaction with us is no longer secure, please immediately notify us of the problem by contacting us in accordance with the “CONTACT US” section below.

 

9. USE OF SITE BY CHILDREN

 

The Site is not directed to individuals under the age of 13 and HMT does not knowingly collect or use information from individuals under the age of 13 through the Site. We request that these individuals not provide personal information through this Site.

 

10. COMPLIANCE WITH LOCAL LAWS

 

This Policy is meant to guide HMT with respect to personal information collected from or about you at this Site. While this Policy applies to personal information generally, the local laws, rules and regulations of jurisdictions that are applicable to HMT (“Local Laws”) may require standards which are stricter than this Policy and, in such event, HMT will comply with applicable Local Laws. Specific privacy policies may be adopted to address the specific privacy requirements of particular jurisdictions.

 

11. CROSS-BORDER TRANSFER

 

Your personal information may be stored and processed in any country where we have facilities or service providers, and by using our Site or by providing consent to us (where required by law), you agree to the transfer of information to countries outside of your country of residence, including to the United States, which may provide for different data protection rules, and a lower standard of required protection, than in your country.

 

12. COMPLIANCE

 

HMT will use a self-assessment approach to verify compliance with this Policy and periodically verify that the Policy is accurate, comprehensive for the information intended to be covered, prominently displayed, implemented and accessible.

 

If you believe that your personal information has been processed or disclosed in violation of this Policy, HMT encourages you to raise any concerns using the contact information provided in this Policy. HMT will investigate and attempt to resolve any complaints and disputes regarding use and disclosure of personal information.

 

13. CONTACT US

 

If you have any questions about this Policy, please contact us via one of these methods:
On this Site, via our CONTACT US page,

or by phone please call 216.369.0109 (Monday to Friday, 8am – 5pm EST)
or by e-mail at [email protected]
or please write to the following address: HMT Associates, 335 Treeworth Blvd. Cleveland, OH 44147