Privacy Policy

TheGridTool.com understands the importance of and respects your personal privacy. Therefore, we have created this Privacy Policy so that you know how we use and disclose your information when you make it available to us. The Privacy Policy below discloses our practices regarding information collection and usage website located at TheGridTool.com, the related mobile website, and the mobile application, and related 3rd party websites and social media websites and applications (collectively, the “Websites”) and the service provided thereon (the “Service”).

By using or accessing the Websites and the Service, you signify your agreement to be bound by this Privacy Policy. IF YOU DO NOT AGREE TO THIS PRIVACY POLICY YOU MAY NOT ACCESS OR OTHERWISE USE OUR SERVICE OR PARTICIPATE IN OUR SERVICES.

Key aspects of our privacy practices described in this Privacy Policy include the following explanations:

• The information we collect and why we collect it;
• How we use that information;
• How we share information; and
• The choices we offer.

Personally Identifiable Information That We Collect:
We may ask you for, or you may voluntarily submit, personally identifiable information when you are using the Service. The personally identifiable information which you may provide to us could include, but is not limited to:

• Your name
• Your contact information (including, without limitation, address and email address);
• If you upload images to the website, you should avoid uploading images with embedded location data (EXIF GPS) included. Visitors to the website can download and extract any location data from images on the website;
• Your IP address and browser user agent string (to help spam detection);
• An anonymized string created from your email address (also called a hash) may be provided to the Gravatar service to see if you are using it. The Gravatar service privacy policy is available here: https://automattic.com/privacy/;
• On any comment or review you leave, after approval of your comment or review, the data shown in the comments or review form and your profile picture is visible to the public in the context of your comment or review; and
• Other personal information.

Non-Personal Or Aggregate Information That We Collect:
When you access our Service, we may automatically collect non-personally identifiable information from you, such as IP host address, web pages viewed, browser type, operating system, referring service, search information, device type, page views, usage and browsing habits on the Service and similar data. We may also aggregate demographic information collected from our users (such as the number of users in a particular geographical location) in a manner which does not identify any one individual. We may also aggregate information collected offline in connection with the Service, obtain non-personally identifiable information from third party sources and develop aggregate information by anonymizing previously collected personally identifiable information.

It is possible at times when collecting non-personally identifiable information through automatic means that we may unintentionally collect or receive personally identifiable information that is mixed in with the non-personally identifiable information. While we will make reasonable efforts to prevent such incidental data collection, the possibility still exists. If you believe that we have inadvertently collected your personal information, please notify us.

How long we retain your data
If you leave a comment or review, the comment or review and its metadata are retained indefinitely. This is so we can recognize and approve any follow-up comments or reviews automatically instead of holding them in a moderation queue.

For users that register on our website (if any), we also store the personal information they provide in their user profile. All users can see, edit, or delete their personal information at any time (except they cannot change their username). Website administrators can also see and edit that information. If you request a password reset, your IP address will be included in the reset email.

We may sync your data to a 3rd party service (e.g Amazon Web Services, Google, etc.), and data is retained there until unsubscribed or deleted.

What rights do you have over your data
Content that you post using our Services is your content (“Your Content”). We don’t make any claim to it, which includes anything you post using our Services (profile pictures, reviews, comments, videos, usernames, etc.).

If you have an account on this site or have left comments, you can request to receive an exported file of the personal data we hold about you, including any data you have provided to us. You can also request that we erase any personal data we hold about you. This does not include any data we are obligated to keep for administrative, legal, or security purposes, or data we have no control over, such as profile or review information stored in your private account on 3rd party websites, social media, and applications.

How we use your information
We will only use your personally identifiable information as described below unless you have specifically consented to another type of use, either at the time the personally identifiable information is collected from you or through some other form of consent from you or notification to you.

Permission to Use Your Content. By posting Your Content through our Services, you grant TheGridTool.com a license to use it. We don’t claim any ownership of Your Content, but we have your permission to use it to help TheGridTool.com function and grow. That way, we won’t infringe any rights you have in Your Content and we can help promote our stuff. For example, you acknowledge and agree TheGridTool.com may offer you or users of our Services promotions, from time to time, that may relate to your reviews.

We may use the information we collect from you when you register, make a purchase, leave a review, sign up for our newsletter, respond to a survey or marketing communication, surf the website, or use certain other site features in the following ways:

• To personalize your experience and to allow us to deliver the type of content and product offerings in which you are most interested.
• To improve our website in order to better serve you.
• To allow us to better service you in responding to your customer service requests.
• To administer a contest, promotion, survey or other site feature.
• To quickly process your transactions.
• To ask for ratings and reviews of services or products
• To follow up with you after correspondence (for example: messaging or live chat, email or phone inquiries)

Do we use ‘cookies’?
Yes. Cookies are small files that a site or its service provider transfers to your computer’s hard drive through your Web browser (if you allow) that enables the site’s or service provider’s systems to recognize your browser and capture and remember certain information. For instance, we use cookies to help us remember and process the items in your shopping cart. They are also used to help us understand your preferences based on previous or current site activity, which enables us to provide you with improved services. We also use cookies to help us compile aggregate data about site traffic and site interaction so that we can offer better site experiences and tools in the future.

We use cookies to:

• Help remember and process the items in the shopping cart.
• Understand and save user’s preferences for future visits.
• Keep track of advertisements.
• Compile aggregate data about site traffic and site interactions in order to offer better site experiences and tools in the future. We may also use trusted third-party services that track this information on our behalf.

If you leave a comment on our site you may opt-in to save your name, email address and website in cookies. These are for your convenience so that you do not have to fill in your details again when you leave another comment. These cookies will last for one year.

If you visit our login page, we will set a temporary cookie to determine if your browser accepts cookies. This cookie contains no personal data and is discarded when you close your browser.

When you log in, we will also set up several cookies to save your login information and your screen display choices. Login cookies last for two days, and screen options cookies last for a year. If you select “Remember Me”, your login will persist for two weeks. If you log out of your account, the login cookies will be removed.

If you edit or publish an article, an additional cookie will be saved in your browser. This cookie includes no personal data and simply indicates the post ID of the article you just edited. It expires after 1 day.

You can choose to have your computer warn you each time a cookie is being sent, or you can choose to turn off all cookies. You do this through your browser settings. Since every browser is a little different, look at your browser’s Help Menu to learn the correct way to modify your cookies.

If users disable cookies in their browser:
If you turn cookies off, some of the features that make your site experience more efficient may not function properly.

Third-party disclosure
We do not sell, trade, or otherwise transfer to outside parties your Personally Identifiable Information unless we provide users with advance notice. This does not include website hosting partners and other parties who assist us in operating our website (for example, visitor comments may be checked through an automated spam detection service), conducting our business, or serving our users, so long as those parties agree to keep this information confidential. We may also release information when it’s release is appropriate to comply with the law, enforce our site policies, or protect ours or others’ rights, property or safety.

However, non-personally identifiable visitor information may be provided to other parties for marketing, advertising, or other uses.

This site utilizes caching in order to facilitate a faster response time and better user experience. Caching potentially stores a duplicate copy of every web page that is on display on this site. All cache files are temporary, and are never accessed by any third party, except as necessary to obtain technical support from the cache plugin vendor. Cache files expire on a schedule set by the site administrator, but may easily be purged by the admin before their natural expiration, if necessary.

Third-party links
Articles on this site may include embedded content (e.g. videos, images, articles, etc.). Embedded content from other websites behaves in the exact same way as if the visitor has visited the other website.

These websites may collect data about you, use cookies, embed additional third-party tracking, and monitor your interaction with that embedded content, including tracking your interaction with the embedded content if you have an account and are logged in to that website.

Occasionally, at our discretion, we may include or offer third-party products or services on our website. These third-party sites have separate and independent privacy policies. We, therefore, have no responsibility or liability for the content and activities of these linked sites. Nonetheless, we seek to protect the integrity of our site and welcome any feedback about these sites.

Analytics and Conversion Tracking
We may use analytics services that use cookies, javascript and similar technologies to help us analyze how users use the Service. The information generated by these services about your use of the Service (including your IP address or a truncated version of your IP address) is transmitted to and stored by analytics service providers on their servers. Those service providers will use this information for the purpose of evaluating your, and other users’, use of the Service, compiling reports for us on website activity and providing other services relating to website activity and Internet usage.

We may collect information about your computer, including your IP address, operating system, and browser type, for system administration and in order to create reports. This is statistical data about our users’ browsing actions and patterns, and does not identify any individual.

For example, we use cookies on our site for Google Analytics (the “Analytics Service”). The Analytics Service is a web-based analytics tool that helps website owners understand how visitors engage with their website. The Analytics Service customers can view a variety of reports about how visitors interact with their website so that they can improve it.

Like many services, the Analytics Service uses first-party cookies to track visitor interactions as in our case, where they are used to collect information about how visitors use our site. We then use the information to compile reports and to help us improve our site.

Cookies contain information that is transferred to your computer’s hard drive. These cookies are used to store information, such as the time that the current visit occurred, whether the visitor has been to the site before and what site referred the visitor to the web page.

The Analytics Service collects information anonymously. They report website trends without identifying individual visitors. You can opt out of the Analytics Service without affecting how you visit our site. For more information on opting out of being tracked by Google Analytics across all websites you use, visit https://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout.

We may also use Google conversion tracking and/or similar services to help us understand your and other users’ use of the Service.

Google’s advertising requirements can be summed up by Google’s Advertising Principles. They are put in place to provide a positive experience for users. https://support.google.com/adspolicy/answer/6008942?hl=en&visit_id=637675971525444491-156783608&rd=1

We use Google AdSense Advertising on our website.
Google, as a third-party vendor, uses cookies to serve ads on our site. Google’s use of the DART cookie enables it to serve ads to our users based on previous visits to our site and other sites on the Internet. Users may opt-out of the use of the DART cookie by visiting the Google Ad and Content Network privacy policy.

We have implemented the following:

• Remarketing with Google AdSense
• Google Display Network Impression Reporting
• Demographics and Interests Reporting
• DoubleClick Platform Integration

We, along with third-party vendors such as Google use first-party cookies (such as the Google Analytics cookies) and third-party cookies (such as the DoubleClick cookie) or other third-party identifiers together to compile data regarding user interactions with ad impressions and other ad service functions as they relate to our website.

Opting out:
Users can set preferences for how Google advertises to you using the Google Ad Settings page. Alternatively, you can opt-out by visiting the Network Advertising Initiative Opt-Out page or by using the Google Analytics Opt-Out Browser add-on.

Automatically Collected Information :
When you access the Service or open one of our HTML emails, we may automatically record certain information from your system by using cookies and other types of tracking technologies. This “automatically collected” information may include Internet Protocol address (“IP Address”), a unique user ID, device type, device identifiers, browser types and language, referring and exit pages, platform type, version of software installed, system type, the content and pages that you access on the Service, the number of clicks, the amount of time spent on pages, the dates and times that you visit the Service, and other similar information. Depending on the law of your country of residence, your IP address may legally be considered personally identifiable information.

Security:
The security of your personally identifiable information is very important to us. When we collect your personally identifiable information online, we use reasonable efforts to protect it from unauthorized access. However, due to the inherent open nature of the Internet, we cannot guarantee that your personally identifiable information will be completely free from unauthorized access by third parties such as hackers and your use of our Service demonstrates your assumption of this risk. We have put in place reasonable physical, electronic, and managerial procedures to safeguard the information we collect. Only those employees who need access to your information in order to perform their duties are authorized to have access to your personally identifiable information. For more information on protecting your privacy, please visit www.ftc.gov/privacy.

How do we protect your information?
Our website is scanned on a regular basis for security holes and known vulnerabilities in order to make your visit to our site as safe as possible.

We use regular Malware Scanning.

Your personal information is contained behind secured networks and is only accessible by a limited number of persons who have special access rights to such systems, and are required to keep the information confidential. In addition, all sensitive/credit information you supply is encrypted via Secure Socket Layer (SSL) technology.
We implement a variety of security measures when a user places an order enters, submits, or accesses their information to maintain the safety of your personal information.
All transactions are processed through a gateway provider and are not stored or processed on our servers.

Your Disclosures In Blogs And Other Social Media:
You should be aware that personally identifiable information which you voluntarily include and transmit online on the Service or in a publicly accessible blog, chat room, social media platform or otherwise online, or that you share in an open forum such as an in-person panel or survey, may be viewed and used by others without any restrictions. We are unable to control such uses of your personally identifiable information, and by using the Service or any other online services you assume the risk that the personally identifiable information provided by you may be viewed and used by third parties for any number of purposes.

If you log in to the Websites and/or Service through your Facebook account, connect to a third party service such as Facebook or Twitter through an icon or link on the Service or otherwise link your TheGridTool.com account with a third party service, we may share the contents of your post and associated information (such as your username, the fact that your connection originated from the Service, and other relevant usage and diagnostic information) with such third party. With your one-time consent, we may also send information about the content you watch and your activities on the Service to such third parties. Once such information is shared, the use of your information will be subject to that service’s privacy policy and this Privacy Policy will not apply.

California Online Privacy Protection Act
CalOPPA is the first state law in the nation to require commercial websites and online services to post a privacy policy. The law’s reach stretches well beyond California to require any person or company in the United States (and conceivably the world) that operates websites collecting Personally Identifiable Information from California consumers to post a conspicuous privacy policy on its website stating exactly the information being collected and those individuals or companies with whom it is being shared. – See more at https://consumercal.org/about-cfc/cfc-education-foundation/california-online-privacy-protection-act-caloppa-3/

According to CalOPPA, we agree to the following:

• Users can visit our site anonymously.
• Once this privacy policy is created, we will add a link to it on our homepage or as a minimum, on the first significant page after entering our website.
• Our Privacy Policy link includes the word ‘Privacy’ and can easily be found on the page specified above.

You will be notified of any Privacy Policy changes:

• On our Privacy Policy Page

You can change your personal information:

• By emailing us
• By calling us
• By logging in to your account
• By chatting with us or by sending us a support ticket

How does our site handle Do Not Track signals?
We honor Do Not Track signals and Do Not Track, plant cookies, or use advertising when a Do Not Track (DNT) browser mechanism is in place.

Does our site allow third-party behavioral tracking?
It’s also important to note that we allow third-party behavioral tracking

COPPA (Children Online Privacy Protection Act)
When it comes to the collection of personal information from children under the age of 13 years old, the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) puts parents in control. The Federal Trade Commission, United States’ consumer protection agency, enforces the COPPA Rule, which spells out what operators of websites and online services must do to protect children’s privacy and safety online.
We do not specifically market to children under the age of 13 years old.

Other Services:
As a convenience to you, we may provide links to third-party Services from within our Service. We are not responsible for the privacy practices or content of these third-party sites. When you link away from our Service, you do so at your own risk.

Fair Information Practices
The Fair Information Practices Principles form the backbone of privacy law in the United States and the concepts they include have played a significant role in the development of data protection laws around the globe. Understanding the Fair Information Practice Principles and how they should be implemented is critical to comply with the various privacy laws that protect personal information.

In order to be in line with Fair Information Practices we will take the following responsive action, should a data breach occur:

• We will notify you via email if/when a data breach is confirmed
• We will notify the users via in-site notification if/when a data breach is confirmed

We also agree to the Individual Redress Principle which requires that individuals have the right to legally pursue enforceable rights against data collectors and processors who fail to adhere to the law. This principle requires not only that individuals have enforceable rights against data users, but also that individuals have recourse to courts or government agencies to investigate and/or prosecute non-compliance by data processors.

CAN-SPAM Act
The CAN-SPAM Act is a law that sets the rules for commercial email, establishes requirements for commercial messages, gives recipients the right to have emails stopped from being sent to them, and spells out tough penalties for violations.

We collect your email address in order to:

• Send information, respond to inquiries, and/or other requests or questions
• Process orders and to send information and updates pertaining to orders.
• Send you additional information related to your product and/or service
• Market to our mailing list or continue to send emails to our clients after the original transaction has occurred.

To be in accordance with CAN-SPAM, we agree to the following:

• Not use false or misleading subjects or email addresses.
• Identify the message as an advertisement in some reasonable way.
• Include the physical address of our business or site headquarters.
• Monitor third-party email marketing services for compliance, if one is used.
• Honor opt-out/unsubscribe requests quickly.
• Allow users to unsubscribe by using the link at the bottom of each email.

Changes to this Privacy Policy:
We reserve the right, at our discretion, to change, modify, add, or remove portions from this Privacy Policy at any time. However, if at any time in the future we plan to use personally identifiable information in a way that materially differs from this Privacy Policy, including sharing such information with more third parties, we will post such changes here and provide you the opportunity to opt-out of such differing uses. Your continued use of the Service and our services following the posting of any changes to this Privacy Policy means you accept such changes.

Opt-Out Process:
All unsubscribe or opt-out requests may be made by clicking the “unsubscribe” link at the bottom of the relevant email. We process unsubscribe requests made to mailing lists owned or controlled by TheGridTool.com within a reasonable time after receipt. However, we are not responsible for, and in some cases we are incapable of, removing your personally identifiable information from the lists of any third party who has previously been provided your information in accordance with this Privacy Policy or your consent. You should contact such third parties directly. If you would like to update or correct any personally identifiable information that you have provided to us, please email us and once we confirm your information, we will update such information within a reasonable amount of time.

Communications with TheGridTool.com:
By providing your contact information to us (including, without limitation, your email address, physical address, and phone number) (collectively the “Channels”) to us, you expressly consent to receive communications from us. We may use the Channels to communicate with you, to send information that you have requested or to send information about other products or services developed or provided by us or our business partners, provided that, we will not give your contact information to another party to promote their products or services directly to you without your consent or as set forth in this Privacy Policy.

By using the Service, you expressly consent to receive in-product communications from us (including, without limitation, push notifications on the App).

By providing your phone number to us, you expressly consent to receive phone calls and/or text messages from us. We will not give your phone number to another party to promote their products or services directly to you without your consent or as set forth in this Privacy Policy.

Any phone calls and/or text messages delivered to your phone or device may cause you to incur extra data, text messaging, or other charges from your wireless carrier. MESSAGE AND DATA RATES MAY APPLY. You are solely responsible for any carrier charges incurred as a result of phone and/or text communications from TheGridTool.com.

Any communication or material you transmit to us by email or otherwise, including any data, questions, comments, suggestions, or the like is and will be treated as, non-confidential and nonproprietary. Except to the extent expressly covered by this Privacy Policy, anything you transmit or post may be used by us for any purpose, including but not limited to, reproduction, disclosure, transmission, publication, broadcast, and posting. Furthermore, you expressly agree that we are free to use any ideas, concepts, know-how, or techniques contained in any communication you send to us, as well as any data developed using the content of such communication, without compensation and for any purpose whatsoever, including but not limited to, developing, manufacturing and marketing products and services using such information.

No Rights of Third Parties:
This Privacy Policy does not create rights enforceable by third parties, nor does it require disclosure of any personal information relating to users of the Service.

Site Terms of Use:
Use of this Service is governed by, and subject to, the Terms of Use located at https://www.thegridtool.com/tos/ (the “Terms”). This Privacy Policy is incorporated into the Terms. Your use, or access of the Service constitutes your agreement to be bound by these provisions. IF YOU DO NOT AGREE TO THE TERMS AND THIS PRIVACY POLICY YOU MAY NOT ACCESS OR OTHERWISE USE THE SERVICE.

Servers:
Our servers are maintained in the United States. By using the Service, you freely and specifically give us your consent to export your personally identifiable information to the United States and to store and use it in the United States as specified in this Privacy Policy. You understand that data stored in the United States may be subject to lawful requests by the courts or law enforcement authorities in the United States.

Governing Law:
This Privacy Policy and our legal obligations hereunder are subject to the laws of the State of Minnesota regardless of your location. You hereby consent to the exclusive jurisdiction of and venue in the courts located in the State of Minnesota, County of Clay, in all disputes arising out of or relating to the Services.

Contacting Us
If there are any questions regarding this privacy policy, you may contact us using the information below.

TheGridTool.com
c/o Cas Johnson
3908 13th St S
Moorhead, MN 56560
USA
hello@thegridtool.com

Effective Date: 2021-07-20