Blackard Companies Privacy Policy

Blackard Companies (“BC”) respects your right to privacy. This policy summarizes what personal information we may collect, how we may use this information, and other important topics relating to your privacy and data protection.

It is BC policy to comply with all applicable privacy and data protection laws. This commitment reflects the value we place on earning and keeping the trust of our customers, business partners and others who share their personal information with us.

This Policy applies to all Internet sites and mobile applications operated by or on behalf of BC and includes BC entities worldwide (each a “BC Internet Site or App”). It also applies to personal information BC may otherwise collect: (i) through our products and services; (ii) when you interact with us by means other than a BC Internet Site or App, for example, in person, by telephone, or at a trade show or training; and (iii) from our customers, distributors, suppliers, vendors, and other business partners (collectively “Business Partners”).

However, different BC Internet Sites, Apps, products, and services have different purposes and features. If additional or different disclosures are required for a specific BC Internet Site, App, product, or service, then we provide those disclosures separately on, or with, the relevant Internet Site, App, product, or service. Each such specific privacy disclosure, policy, or statement (“Specific Privacy Statement”) supplements and amends this Policy.

·General Principles of BC’s Collection, Use and Disclosure of Personal Information

To the extent required by applicable law, whenever BC collects personal information, BC will:

provide timely and appropriate notice to you about our data practices;
collect your personal information only for specified and legitimate purposes. The information we collect will be relevant, adequate and not excessive for the purposes for which it is collected;
process your personal information in a manner consistent with the purposes for which it was originally collected or to which you have subsequently consented;
take commercially reasonable steps to ensure that your personal information is reliable for its intended use, accurate, complete, and, where necessary, kept up-to-date;
not use your personal information for direct marketing purposes without giving you an opportunity to “opt-out”; and
take appropriate measures, by contract or otherwise, to provide adequate protection for personal information that is disclosed to a third party or transferred to another country, including transfers within BC.

·Personal Information BC Collects

BC collects the following types of personal information:

Information You Provide

BC collects personal information you provide us, which may include: (i) contact information, such as your name, company name, job title, address, e-mail address, and phone number; (ii) additional information about you to help us get to know you better, such as your gender, age, date of birth, nationality, professional associations and registration numbers, information about how you use our products, and demographic information; (iii) comments, questions, requests and orders you may make; (iv) financial information needed to process payments if you make purchases, such as credit card or account information or tax identification number; (v) log-in information, including, if applicable, social media account information for login purposes; and (vi) information about your preferences, such as your preferred methods of communication and product types in which you are interested.

Information Automatically Gathered from Your Device

Device and browser information. BC may collect technical information about your device, such as device type, browser type, IP address, operating system, and device identifier. BG collects this information automatically from your device and web browser through cookies and similar technologies.

Information about how you interact with us. BC may collect technical data about your usage of BC Internet Sites and Apps and how you interact with our digital advertisements and promotions, such as content viewed or downloaded, features used, links clicked, BG promotional emails opened, and dates and times of interactions. BG collects this information using cookies and similar technologies.

Location information. BC may collect location information, including precise real-time location information from your device and imprecise location information derived from, for example, your IP address or postal code. BC Apps will NOT access precise-real time location information from your device unless you grant permission to do so.

Cookies and Similar Technologies:

A "cookie" is a file of information placed on your device when you visit a website. Cookies and similar technologies can enhance your user experience by saving your preferences, personalizing your online experience, holding items in your shopping cart, and sometimes providing you with advertising which is tailored to your interests.

BC Internet Sites use "session cookies." A session cookie does not identify you personally and expires after you close your browser. For example, when you use the BC Product Catalog, we place a session cookie to note what pages you have viewed. We can use this information to provide you recommendations of other products that may be of interest.

BC Internet Sites also use "persistent cookies." These cookies do not expire when you close your browser. Persistent cookies stay on your computer until you delete them or they expire. By assigning your computer a unique identifier, we are able to create a database of your previous choices and preferences which can be provided by us automatically, saving you time and effort on future visits. For example, after you make a purchase, if you decide to make another purchase, your shipping address may have been retained and will only need to be confirmed.

Certain countries require your consent to the use of cookies when you visit BC Internet Sites. If you access a BC Internet Site for one of these countries, you may be presented with information regarding your options, including the option to accept or reject certain categories of cookies. You may be able to change these settings on subsequent visits. Please note that you may not be able to opt out of receiving certain cookies that are strictly necessary for the delivery of a service requested by you.

At any time when visiting a BC Internet Site for one of these countries, clicking on the "Cookie Preferences" link which may be at the bottom of each page allows you to access information on cookies and change your settings.

Although you are not required to accept cookies when you visit a BC Internet Site, you may be unable to use all of the functionality of the site if you reject certain cookies.

In addition, your browser may allow you to adjust settings to accept or reject cookies, or to alert you when a cookie is placed on your computer.

Analytics and Advertising. BC uses third-party analytics services to better understand how users engage with BC Internet Sites and Apps, including services provided by Google and Adobe. Please use the following links for more information about how Google and Adobe collect and use data when you visit their partners' websites or apps:

www.google.com/policies/privacy/partners/

http://www.adobe.com/privacy/marketing-cloud.html

BC also uses third-party advertising services to provide advertisements for BC products or services that may be of interest to you when you visit websites or other online services.

BC allows selected third parties, including these analytics and advertising services, to place cookies on our Internet Sites. These third parties may collect information about your online activities over time and across third-party websites.

These third parties may be members of industry self-regulatory groups such as the Network Advertising Initiative (NAI) and Digital Advertising Alliance (DAA). The websites for these groups provide more information on interest-based online advertising and how to opt out of receiving interest-based online ads from participating companies.

Do Not Track Browser Settings. Some browsers may transmit "Do Not Track" ("DNT") signals to the websites you visit. Because there is not common agreement about how to interpret DNT signals, BC currently does not take action in response to them.

Information from Business Partners and other Third Parties

BC collects personal information through our Business Partners. This information may include contact information, such as name, company name, job title, address, e-mail address, and phone number.

BC may also obtain personal information from other third-party sources, including publicly and commercially available sources. We may combine the information we receive from our Business Partners and other third-party sources with information that we collect from you or your device, as described above.

You have choices about the personal information you provide BC. You may choose not to provide information that we request, but if you do so, we may not be able to provide you a relevant service or a particular feature for a BC Internet Site, App, or product.

·How BC Uses Your Personal Information

BC may use your personal information to:

Develop and manage our relationships with you and our Business Partners. This may include: (i) delivering services or carrying out transactions that you or our Business Partners have requested; (ii) providing information about BC products, services, and transactions, and advertisements, that may be of interest to you; (iii) providing you and our Business Partners a more consistent experience in interacting with BC, including by learning more about you and how you use and interact with BC Internet Sites, Apps, products, and services; and (iv) planning, managing, and performing under our contractual relationships with our Business Partners.

Communicate with you or your company. This may include: (i) informing you of BC projects, products, services, and promotional activities that may be of interest to you or your company; (ii) providing information about relevant BC projects, products, services, and transactions, including, for example, pricing information, technical data, invoice, shipping, or production information, warranty or recall information, or information about product or service improvements; (iii) responding to questions or inquiries that you make, including customer service requests; and (iv) inviting you to participate in, or informing you of the results of, customer satisfaction or market research surveys.

Provide and improve our Internet Sites, Apps, products, and services. This may include: (i) customizing them to your preferences or interests, making them more compatible with your technology, or otherwise making them easier to use; (ii) maintaining the security of and otherwise protecting them; and (iii) and developing new BC Internet Sites, Apps, products and services.

Address legal issues. This may include: (i) complying with our obligations to retain certain business records for minimum retention periods; (ii) establishing, exercising, or defending legal claims; (iii) complying with laws, regulations, court orders, or other legal process; (iv) detecting, preventing, and responding to fraud, intellectual property infringement, violation of our contracts or agreements, violations of law, or other misuse of BC Internet Sites, Apps, products or services; and (v) protecting BC’s rights or property, or yours or others’ health, safety, welfare, rights, or property.

BC may also use your personal information for other uses consistent with the context in which the information was collected or with your consent.

BC may anonymize or aggregate any of the information we collect and use it for any purpose, including for research and product-development purposes. Such information will not identify you individually.

·When BC May Share Your Personal Information

BC will not disclose your personal information except as described here:

BC may share your personal information with other BC entities, including those in different countries. When we do so, these other BC entities will use your information in a manner consistent with this Policy, any applicable Specific Privacy Statements, and all applicable privacy and data protection laws.
BC may also share your personal information with third parties we hire to perform support services for us. These third parties are required to use the personal information we share with them only to perform services on our behalf and to treat your personal information in compliance with all applicable privacy and data protection laws.
In some cases, BC may share your personal information with third parties who partner with us to provide products and services to our customers, such as distributors. If so, we will require our Business Partners to use that information in a manner consistent with this Policy, any applicable Specific Privacy Statements, and all applicable privacy and data protection laws.
BC may share your personal information with third parties when we have a good faith belief that disclosure is necessary: (i) to comply with a law, regulation, court order, or other legal process; (ii) to detect, prevent, and respond to fraud, intellectual property infringement, violation of our contracts or agreements, violation of law, or other misuse of BC Internet Sites, Apps, products or services; (iii) to protect BC rights or property or yours or others’ health, safety, welfare, rights, or property; or (iv) under similar circumstances. If such an event occurs, we will take appropriate steps to protect your personal information.
BC may share your personal information with third parties in connection with the sale, purchase, merger, reorganization, liquidation or dissolution of BC or a BC business unit, or under similar circumstances. If such an event occurs, we will take appropriate steps to protect your personal information.
BC may share your information with your permission or at your request

BC may share anonymized or aggregated information internally and with third parties for any purpose. Such information will not identify you individually.

·Security of Your Personal Information

Your personal information will generally be stored in BC databases or databases maintained by our service providers. Many of these databases are stored on servers located in the United States. BC takes appropriate measures, by contract or otherwise, to provide adequate protection for personal information that is disclosed to a third party or transferred to another country, including transfers within BC.

BC maintains reasonable safeguards to protect the confidentiality, security and integrity of your personal information. Although we use security measures to help protect your personal information against unauthorized disclosure, misuse, or alteration, as is the case with all computer networks linked to the Internet, we cannot guarantee the security of information provided over the Internet and will not be responsible for breaches of security beyond our reasonable control.

·Links to Third Party Internet Sites and Plugins

BC Internet Sites and Apps may contain links to websites or mobile apps that are not operated by BC and plugins from social media platforms and other third parties. An example of a social media plugin is the Facebook “Like” button. We provide these links and plugins as a service and do not imply any endorsement of the activities or content of the related websites, apps, or social media platforms, nor any association with their operators. To learn about the information collected by these third-party websites, apps, and plugins, please visit their privacy policies. We encourage you to review the privacy policies for the websites, apps, and social media platforms you visit before using them or providing personal information.

·Access to Your Personal Information

You may review, correct and update personal information you provide to us by using the feedback mechanisms provided at a particular BC Internet Site or App, by clicking on this feedback link, or by writing to us at:

Blackard Companies LLC
Compliance and Business Conduct
401 Adriatic Parkway, Suite 700
McKinney, Texas 75072

·Retention of Your Personal Information

How long we keep your personal information will vary and will depend on the purpose and use of information collected. There are legal requirements that we keep some types of data for specific periods. Otherwise, we will retain it for no longer than is necessary for the purposes for which the data was collected.

·Children

Most BC Internet Sites and Apps are not intended for children under 13 years of age. BC will not knowingly solicit or collect personal information from or about children under 13, or the relevant minimum age under applicable local legal requirements, except as permitted under applicable law.

·BC B2B Services

Some BC products, services, Internet Sites, and Apps are intended for use by our Business Partners, including our business customers (“BC B2B Services”), and your use of them is administered by your company. In such cases, authorized personnel at your company may have access to your personal information collected by these BC B2B Services, and your company may have policies applicable to your use of them. BC is not responsible for our Business Partners’ policies and practices related to data privacy and security, which may be different from this Privacy Policy and any applicable Specific Privacy Statements. If your company is administering your use of a BC B2B Service, please contact your company with any privacy questions related to your use of that BC B2B Service. If there is a conflict between this Policy and an agreement between BC and its Business Partner for a BC B2B Service, then the agreement between BC and its Business Partner will control.

·Questions about this Policy or our Privacy Statements

If you have any questions about this Policy or a Specific Privacy Statement or our use of your personal information, please contact us by clicking on this feedback link or by writing to us at: