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Help Lightning

Privacy Policy

Updated: August 19, 2024

Thanks for using Help Lightning! Here we describe how we collect, use and handle your information when you use our websites, software and services (“Services”).

What & Why

We collect and use the following information to provide, improve and protect our Services:
ACCOUNT. We collect, and associate with your account, information you provide to us when you do things such as sign up for your account (like your name, email address, phone number, payment info, and physical address). Some of our Services let you access your accounts and your information via other service providers.
SERVICES. When you use our Services, we may store, process and transmit your communications and information related to them. Our Services are designed to make it simple for you to collaborate with others and work with others around the world. To make that possible, we store, process, and transmit communications as well as information related to it. This related information includes your profile information that makes it easier to collaborate and work with others, as well as things like connection quality, collaborators, call times, and usage activity.
CONTACTS. You may choose to give us access to your contacts to make it easy for you to do things like share and collaborate and invite others to use the Services. If you do, we’ll store those contacts on our servers for you to use.
USAGE. We collect information related to how you use the Services, including actions you take in your account (like connecting, communicating, and sharing information). We collect information from and about the devices you use to access the Services. We use this information to deliver and improve our Services, develop new services and features.

DEVICE INFORMATION. We also collect information from and about the devices you use to access the Services. This includes things like IP addresses, the type of browser and device you use, and identifiers associated with your devices. Your devices (depending on their settings) may also transmit location information to the Services.

No mobile information will be shared with third parties/affiliates for marketing/promotional purposes. All the above categories exclude text messaging originator opt-in data and consent; this information will not be shared with any third parties.

COOKIES AND OTHER TECHNOLOGIES.
APPLICATIONS. User sessions completed via The Help Lightning Apps (iOS, Android, and Web) do NOT utilize cookies or other tracking technologies. All data related to user sessions is recorded via secure client interface and is retained in a secure client-specific server location for client business purposes and Help Lightning record-keeping purposes only.
WEBSITE. We use technologies like cookies and pixel tags to provide, improve, protect and promote our Services. For example, cookies help us with things like remembering your username for your next visit, logging you in to our services, keeping your account secure, understanding how you are interacting with our Services, and improving them based on that information.
In conjunction with our web hosting partners, we use tracking technologies such as cookies to administer the website, track users’ movements around the website, and to gather demographic information about our user base as a whole, and to analyze user trends.
Users can control the use of cookies and elect easily disable them via the information ribbon at the bottom of the individual browser. If you reject cookies, you may still use our website, but your ability to use some features or areas of our website may be limited.
We sometimes contact people who do not have a Help Lightning account. For recipients in the EU, we or a third party will obtain consent before contacting you. If you receive an email and no longer wish to be contacted by Help Lightning, you can unsubscribe and remove yourself from our contact list via the message itself.
BASIS FOR PROCESSING YOUR DATA. We collect and use the personal data described above in order to provide you with the Services in a reliable and secure manner. We also collect and use personal data for our legitimate business needs. To the extent we process your personal data for other purposes, we ask for your consent in advance or require that our partners obtain such consent.

With Whom

We may share information as discussed below, but we won’t sell it to advertisers or other third-parties.
OTHERS WORKING FOR AND WITH HELP LIGHTNING. Help Lightning uses certain trusted third parties to help us provide, improve, protect, and promote our Services. These third parties will access your information only to perform tasks on our behalf and in compliance with this Privacy Policy. For a list of trusted third parties that we use to process your personal information, please contact us at privacy@helplightning.com.
OTHER USERS. Our Services display information like your name and email address to other users in places like your user profile. Certain features let you make additional information available to other users. When you register your account with an email address on a domain owned by your employer or organization, we may help collaborators and administrators find you and your group by making some of your basic information—like your name, group name, profile picture, and email address—visible to other users on the same domain. This helps you sync up with groups you can join and helps other users connect and communicate with you.
Certain features let you make additional information available to others.
OTHER APPLICATIONS. You can also give third parties access to your information and account – for example, via Help Lightning APIs. Just remember that their use of your information will be governed by their privacy policies and terms.
HELP LIGHTNING FOR ENTERPRISE. If you are a Help Lightning for Enterprise user, your administrator may have the ability to access and control your Help Lightning for Enterprise account. Please refer to your employer’s internal policies if you have questions about this. If you are not a Help Lightning for Enterprise user but interact with a Help Lightning for Enterprise user, members of that organization may be able to view the name, email address, profile picture, and IP address that were associated with your account at the time of that interaction.
LAW & ORDER. We may disclose your information to third parties if we determine that such disclosure is reasonably necessary to (a) comply with any applicable law, regulation, legal process, or appropriate government request; (b) protect any person from death or serious bodily injury; (c) prevent fraud or abuse of Help Lightning or our users; (d) protect Help Lightning’s property rights; or (e) perform a task carried out in the public interest.
Stewardship of your data is critical to us and a responsibility that we embrace. We believe that our users’ data should receive the same legal protections regardless of whether it’s stored on our Services or on their home computer’s hard drive. We’ll abide by the following Government Request Principles when receiving, scrutinizing and responding to government requests for our users’ data:
  • Be transparent,
  • Fight blanket requests,
  • Protect all users, and
  • Provide trusted services.

How

SECURITY. We have team members working to keep your information secure and testing for vulnerabilities. We also continue to work on features to keep your information safe.
USER CONTROLS. You can access, amend, download, and delete your personal information by logging into your Help Lightning account and going to your account settings page. To learn more about managing your account information generally, or to learn how to change your profile information please contact us at privacy@helplightning.com.
RETENTION. We’ll retain information you store on our Services for as long as we need it to provide you the Services. If you delete your account, we will initiate deletion of this information after 30 days. But please note: (1) there might be some latency in deleting this information from our servers and backup storage; and (2) we may retain this information if necessary, to comply with our legal obligations, resolve disputes, or enforce our agreements.

Where

AROUND THE WORLD. To provide you with the Services, we may store, process and transmit information in the United States and locations around the world – including those outside your country. Information may also be stored locally on the devices you use to access the Services.
Help Lightning is subject to the investigation and enforcement powers of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) as they see fit. We take seriously our liability of your personal data in the cases of onward transfer to third parties. Additionally, under certain conditions, an individual has the possibility of invoking a binding arbitration.
Help Lightning complies with the EU-U.S. Privacy Shield Framework and Swiss-U.S. Privacy Shield Framework as set forth by the U.S. Department of Commerce regarding the collection, use, and retention of personal information transferred from the European Union and Switzerland to the United States. Help Lightning has certified to the Department of Commerce that it adheres to the Privacy Shield Principles. If there is any conflict between the terms in this privacy policy and the Privacy Shield Principles, the Privacy Shield Principles shall govern. To learn more about the Privacy Shield program, and to view our certification, please visit https://www.privacyshield.gov/.
Help Lightning is subject to the investigation and enforcement powers of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) as they see fit. We take seriously our liability of your personal data in the cases of onward transfer to third parties. Additionally, under certain conditions, an individual has the possibility of invoking a binding arbitration. In compliance with the Privacy Shield Principles, Help Lightning commits to resolve complaints about our collection or use of your personal information. EU individuals with inquiries or complaints regarding our Privacy Shield policy should first contact Help Lightning at:
1500 1st Ave N #49 Birmingham, AL 35203; privacy@helplightning.com
Help Lightning has further committed to refer unresolved Privacy Shield complaints to Privacy Trust, an alternative dispute resolution provider located in the [United States]. If you do not receive timely acknowledgment of your complaint from us, or if we have not addressed your complaint to your satisfaction, please visit https://www.privacytrust.com/privacyshield/disputeresolution/ for more information or to file a complaint. The services of Privacy Trust are provided at no cost to you.

Changes

If we are involved in a reorganization, merger, acquisition or sale of our assets, your information may be transferred as part of that deal. We will notify you (for example, via a message to the email address associated with your account) of any such deal and outline your choices in that event.
We may revise this Privacy Policy from time to time and will post the most current version on our website. If a revision meaningfully reduces your rights, we will notify you.

Your Right to Control and Access Your Information

You have control over your personal information and how it is collected, used, and shared. For example, you have a right to:

  • Change or correct personal data. You can manage your account and the content contained in it, as well as edit some of your personal data, through your My Account settings page.

  • Erase or delete all or some of your information in your account by contacting us at privacy@helplightning.com or by contacting your Enterprise Administrator if you are Help Lightning Enterprise user.

  • Access and take your data. You can request a copy of your information in a machine readable format by contacting us at privacy@helplightning.com.

For more information on your right to control and access your personal information please forward any questions to or contact us at privacy@helplightning.com.

Contact

Your personal information is controlled by Help Lightning, Inc. Have questions or concerns about Help Lightning, our Services, and privacy? Contact our Data Protection Officer at privacy@helplightning.com. If they can’t answer your question, you have the right to contact your local data protection supervisory authority.