Privacy Policy

Certemy, INC (“Certemy”) values your privacy. In this Privacy Policy (“Policy”), we describe how we collect, use, and disclose information that we obtain about visitors to our website, certemy.com (the “Site”), and how we use and disclose that information. In this Policy, we also describe the information that we collect in our capacity as a service provider, in our provision of our professional certification management platform (the “Platform”).

By visiting the Site, you agree that your personal information will be handled as described in this Policy. Your use of our Site, and any dispute over privacy, is subject to this Policy and our Terms of Service, including its applicable limitations on damages and the resolution of disputes. The Certemy Terms of Service are incorporated by reference into this Policy.

The Information We Collect About You

We collect information about you directly from you and from third parties, as well as automatically through your use of our Site.

Information We Collect Directly From You. We collect the information that you provide to us when you complete our Contact Us form or otherwise request information from us.

Information We Collect Automatically. We automatically collect the following information about your use of our Site through cookies, web beacons, and other technologies: your domain name; your browser type and operating system; web pages you view; links you click; your IP address; the length of time you visit our Site; and the referring URL, or the webpage that led you to our Site. We may combine this information with other information that we have collected about you, including, where applicable, your email address, name, and other personal information Please see the section “Cookies and Other Tracking Mechanisms” below for more information.

How We Use Your Information

We use your information, including your personal information, for the following purposes:

• To provide our Site to you, to communicate with you about your use of our services, to respond to your inquiries, and for other customer service purposes.
• To tailor the content and information that we may send or display to you.
• For marketing and promotional purposes. For example, we may use your information, such as your email address, to send you news and newsletters, special offers, and promotions, or to otherwise contact you about products or information we think may interest you. We also may use the information that we learn about you to assist us in advertising our Services on third party websites.
• To better understand how users access and use our Site, both on an aggregated and individualized basis, in order to improve our Site and respond to user desires and preferences, and for other research and analytical purposes.
• To administer surveys and questionnaires.
• To comply with legal obligations, as part of our general business operations, and for other business administration purposes.
• Where we believe necessary to investigate, prevent or take action regarding illegal activities, suspected fraud, situations involving potential threats to the safety of any person or violations of our Terms of Use or this Privacy Policy.

How We Share Your Information

We may share your information, including personal information, as follows:

• Affiliates. We may disclose the information we collect from you to our affiliates or subsidiaries; however, if we do so, their use and disclosure of your personally identifiable information will be subject to this Policy.
• Service Providers. We may disclose the information we collect from you to third party vendors, service providers, contractors or agents who perform functions on our behalf.

We may also disclose your information in the following circumstances:

• Business Transfers. If we are acquired by or merged with another company, if substantially all of our assets are transferred to another company, or as part of a bankruptcy proceeding, we may transfer the information we have collected from you to the other company.
• In Response to Legal Process. We also may disclose the information we collect from you in order to comply with the law, a judicial proceeding, court order, or other legal process, such as in response to a court order or a subpoena.
• To Protect Us and Others. We also may disclose the information we collect from you where we believe it is necessary to investigate, prevent, or take action regarding illegal activities, suspected fraud, situations involving potential threats to the safety of any person, violations of our Terms of Service or this Policy, or as evidence in litigation in which Certemy is involved.
• Aggregate and De-Identified Information. We may share aggregate or de-identified information about users with third parties for marketing, advertising, research or similar purposes.

Our Use of Cookies and Other Tracking Mechanisms

We and our third party service providers use cookies and other tracking mechanisms to track information about your use of our Site. Please note that this section also applies to our Platform. We may combine this information with other personal information we collect from you (and our third party service providers may do so on our behalf).

Cookies. Cookies are alphanumeric identifiers that we transfer to your computer’s hard drive through your web browser for record-keeping purposes. Some cookies allow us to make it easier for you to navigate our Site and Platform, while others are used to enable a faster log-in process or to allow us to track your activities at our Site and Platform. There are two types of cookies: session and persistent cookies.

• Session Cookies. Session cookies exist only during an online session. They disappear from your computer when you close your browser or turn off your computer. We use session cookies to allow our systems to uniquely identify you during a session or while you are logged into the Site or Platform. This allows us to process your online transactions and requests and verify your identity, after you have logged in, as you move through our Site or Platform.
• Persistent Cookies. Persistent cookies remain on your computer after you have closed your browser or turned off your computer. We use persistent cookies to track aggregate and statistical information about user activity.

Disabling Cookies. Most web browsers automatically accept cookies, but if you prefer, you can edit your browser options to block them in the future. The Help portion of the toolbar on most browsers will tell you how to prevent your computer from accepting new cookies, how to have the browser notify you when you receive a new cookie, or how to disable cookies altogether. Visitors to our Site or Platform who disable cookies will be able to browse certain areas of the Site or Platform, but some features may not function.

Local Storage Objects. We may use Flash Local Storage Objects (“Flash LSOs”) to store your Site or Platform preferences and to personalize your visit. Flash LSOs are different from browser cookies because of the amount and type of data stored. Typically, you cannot control, delete, or disable the acceptance of Flash LSOs through your web browser. For more information on Flash LSOs, or to learn how to manage your settings for Flash LSOs, go to the Adobe Flash Player Help Page, choose “Global Storage Settings Panel” and follow the instructions. To see the Flash LSOs currently on your computer, choose “Website Storage Settings Panel” and follow the instructions to review and, if you choose, to delete any specific Flash LSO.

Clear GIFs, pixel tags and other technologies. Clear GIFs are tiny graphics with a unique identifier, similar in function to cookies. In contrast to cookies, which are stored on your computer’s hard drive, clear GIFs are embedded invisibly on web pages. We may use clear GIFs (a.k.a. web beacons, web bugs or pixel tags), in connection with our Site or Platform to, among other things, track the activities of Site visitors and Platform users, help us manage content, and compile statistics about Site and Platform usage. We and our third party service providers also use clear GIFs in HTML e-mails to our customers, to help us track e-mail response rates, identify when our e-mails are viewed, and track whether our e-mails are forwarded.

Third Party Analytics. We use automated devices and applications, such as Google Analytics and Mixpanel, to evaluate usage of our Site and Platform. We also may use other analytic means to evaluate our Site and Platform. We use these tools to help us improve our Site and Platform, performance and user experiences. These entities may use cookies and other tracking technologies to perform their services. Users may opt-out of Mixpanel’s analytics tracking by visiting https://mixpanel.com/optout. If you choose to use the Mixpanel opt-out, you will need to access the opt-out on each device you use, and if you delete cookies from your device, you may clear the Mixpanel opt-out. To learn more about Google’s privacy practices, please review the Google Privacy Policy at https://www.google.com/policies/privacy/. You can also download the Google Analytics Opt-out Browser Add-on to prevent their data from being used by Google Analytics at https://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout.

Do-Not-Track. Currently, our systems do not recognize browser “do-not-track” requests. You may, however, disable certain tracking as discussed in this section (e.g., by disabling cookies) or follow the instructions in the Third-party Ad Networks section below.

Third-Party Ad Networks

We use third parties such as network advertisers to serve advertisements on the Platform, third-party websites, or other media (e.g., social networking platforms). This enables us and these third parties to target advertisements to you for products and services in which you might be interested. Third-party ad network providers, advertisers, sponsors and/or traffic measurement services may use cookies, JavaScript, web beacons (including clear GIFs), Flash LSOs and other tracking technologies to measure the effectiveness of their ads and to personalize advertising content to you. These third-party cookies and other technologies are governed by each third party’s specific privacy policy, not this one. We may provide these third-party advertisers with information, including personal information, about you.

Users in the United States may opt out of many third-party ad networks. For example, you may go to the Digital Advertising Alliance (“DAA”) Consumer Choice Page for information about opting out of interest-based advertising and their choices regarding having information used by DAA companies. You may also go to the Network Advertising Initiative (“NAI”) Consumer Opt-Out Page for information about opting out of interest-based advertising and their choices regarding having information used by NAI members.

Opting out from one or more companies listed on the DAA Consumer Choice Page or the NAI Consumer Opt-Out Page will opt you out from those companies’ delivery of interest-based content or ads to you, but it does not mean you will no longer receive any advertising through our Site, Platform, or on other websites. You may continue to receive advertisements, for example, based on the particular website that you are viewing (i.e., contextually based ads). Also, if your browsers are configured to reject cookies when you opt out on the DAA or NAI websites, your opt out may not be effective. Additional information is available on the DAA’s website at www.aboutads.info or the NAI’s website at www.networkadvertising.org.

Third-Party Links

Our Site and Platform may contain links to third-party websites. Any access to and use of such linked websites is not governed by this Policy, but instead is governed by the privacy policies of those third party websites. We are not responsible for the information practices of such third party websites.

Security of My Personal Information

We have implemented reasonable precautions to protect the information we collect from loss, misuse, and unauthorized access, disclosure, alteration, and destruction. Please be aware that despite our best efforts, no data security measures can guarantee security.

You should take steps to protect against unauthorized access to your password, phone, and computer by, among other things, signing off after using a shared computer, choosing a robust password that nobody else knows or can easily guess, and keeping your log-in and password private. We are not responsible for any lost, stolen, or compromised passwords or for any activity on your account via unauthorized password activity.

Access to My Personal Information

You may modify personal information that you have submitted to the Platform by logging into your account and updating your profile information or by contacting the certifying entity with which you are working. Please note that copies of information that are updated, modified or deleted may remain viewable in cached and archived pages of the Platform for a period of time.

What Choices Do I Have Regarding Promotional Emails?

We may send periodic promotional emails to you. You may opt-out of such communications by following the opt-out instructions contained in the email. Please note that it may take up to 10 business days for us to process opt-out requests. If you opt-out of receiving promotional emails about recommendations or other information we think may interest you, we may still send you emails about your account or any Services you have requested or received from us.

Children Under 13

Our services are not designed for children under 13. If we discover that a child under 13 has provided us with personal information, we will delete such information from our systems.

Special Information for California Consumers

California residents may request a list of certain third parties to which we have disclosed personally identifiable information about you for their own direct marketing purposes. Please note that this section also applies to our Platform. You may make one request per calendar year. In your request, please attest to the fact that you are a California resident and provide a current California address for your response. You may request this information in writing by contacting us at: info@certemy.com. Please allow up to thirty (30) days for a response.

Additional Information for California Residents

This section provides information organized in accordance with the California Consumer Privacy Act (“CCPA”) for residents of California about how we handle certain personal information we have collected over the past 12 months.

Categories of Personal Information. This Privacy Policy discloses the categories of personal information that we collect, use, and disclose in order to operate our business over the past 12 months.

• Collect. The section above entitled The Information We Collect About You discloses the categories of personal information that we collect, which include your account and profile information, your content, your communications with us, your information you provide from linked networks, information about your activity on Certemy
• Use. The section above entitled How We Use Your Information discloses that the categories of personal information we collect are used to provide our services, for personalization
• Disclose. The section above entitled How We Share Your Information discloses that we share your personal information with service providers, affiliates, law enforcement authorities, and as needed with third parties to provide our services.

We do not sell your personal information to third parties. Certemy may share your personal information with third parties and third parties may collect your personal information as described above in the How We Share Your Information section.

We do not collect personal information from consumers that we know are younger than 16 years old.

Requests for Deletion, Copy and Right to Know Your Information. California consumers have the right to make the following requests, which we endeavor to honor from non-California residents as well:

• Deletion. You have the right to request deletion of personal information that we have collected about you.
• Copy and Right to Know. You have the right to request a copy of the specific pieces of personal information that we have collected about you over the past 12 months, including the categories of information, sources, and purposes of collection, as well as categories of third parties we have shared it with.
• Designated Agent. You may designate an agent to make a request on your behalf. That agent must have access to your account in order for us to verify the request.

You may submit deletion, copy and right to know requests through the online form here. You can also submit a deletion, copy and right to know request by emailing us at gdpr@certemy.com.

Non-Discrimination. Certemy will not discriminate against you, including by denying or providing a different level or quality of goods or services should you choose to exercise your options under the CCPA.

Your California Privacy Rights under California’s Shine-the-Light Law. California law permits users who are California residents to request and obtain from us once a year, free of charge, a list of the third parties to whom we have disclosed their personal information (if any) for their direct marketing purposes in the prior calendar year, as well as the types of personal information disclosed to those parties. If you are a California resident and would like to request this information, please submit your request in an email to gdpr@certemy.com.

Contact Us

If you have questions about the privacy aspects of our Site or Platform or would like to make a complaint, please contact us at info@certemy.com.

Information We Collect as a Service Provider

Certemy provides organizations involved with professional certifications with the Platform to manage certification requirements. Our Platform may be used by certifying and licensing boards, employers, professional organizations, and continuing education and training providers to help them manage professional’s certifications and offer professionals tools to help manage their certification.

When an organization engages Certemy’s Platform, the organizations’ users, such as their employees or professional certified by the organization, must register an account by providing their email address, first name, last name, the industry they work in, any specializations they may have, and create a password. The information that we collect through the Platform from individual professionals as a service provider to these organizations will vary based on the particular organization’s requirements and needs, and may include information such as names, addresses, contact information, certification-specific data, testing requirements, scores and histories, continuing education requirements, including classes enrolled in and completed, and ethical or other reported violations.

We use information collected through the Platform as directed by our customers in order to provide our services. We also will use aggregated, de-identified, or anonymized data from the Platform to improve our products and services, for research purposes, and for other analytical purposes.

As part of the certification management services offered through the Platform, we may share information about professionals with other organizations using the Platform in order to provide our services. For example, if a professional chooses to interact with a continuing education content provider featured on the Platform, we may share through the Platform information about the professional with the continuing education content provider so the professional can complete their certification requirements. We may also share information about a professional with their employer, such as their certification status, if their employer also uses the Platform.

Our Platform uses Cookies and other automated tracking tools, including analytics to track information about the use of the Platform. Above we describe our use of such tools, which apply equally to our Site and our Platform. We use the information that we collect automatically on our Platform to improve our products and services, for research purposes, and for other analytical purposes.

Changes to this Policy

This Policy is current as of the Effective Date set forth above. We may change this Policy from time to time, so please be sure to check back periodically. We will post any changes to this Policy on our Site and Platform. If we make any changes to this Policy that materially affect our practices with regard to the personal information we have previously collected from you, we will endeavor to provide you with notice in advance of such change by highlighting the change on our Site and Platform.