Castiron, Inc. Privacy Policy

Effective Date: April 23, 2021
Last Updated: November 10, 2023
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The Castiron community, including Castiron, Inc. and its affiliates (“Castiron,” “we,” “us,” “our”) respects the privacy of our Cooks and Customers (“You”), and this Privacy Policy helps explain:
WHAT information we collect;
WHY we use your information; and
HOW you can access, correct, or delete your information.
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This Privacy Policy applies to our Website (www.castiron.me), and our Castiron Kitchen (kitchen.castiron.me), and our content, software products, mobile applications, or any other Castiron materials or services (collectively, the “Services”) owned and operated by Castiron. Before using the Service or submitting any personal information to Castiron, please review this Privacy Policy carefully and contact us at privacy@castiron.me if you have any questions. By using the Service, you agree to the practices described in this Privacy Policy. If you do not agree to this Privacy Policy, please do not access the Website or otherwise use the Service.

Collecting Your Information

We may collect information that is reasonably capable of identifying you (“Personal Information”) such as your name, date of birth, address, email address, payment card information, and other identifiers. We collect this information from three sources:

1. Directly from you. We collect personal information when you visit the Services and use any of the services provided via the Services. For example, when Cooks or Customers register for an account, make a purchase, request information or services, interact with us, contact us, or make other inquiries on the Services, we collect personal information. When Customers pay for products or services on the Services using payment cards, the Services collect the payment card information – including, but not limited to credit card number, expiration date, and billing address – and transmit that information to our trusted payment processor.
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2. Automatically as you navigate our Services. We may collect certain information from your activity using “cookies” or other tracking technologies like tags, pixels, clear pixels, gifs, bugs, beacons, and other similar technologies, some of which may enable Castiron
or our service providers to identify you and collect information about you across devices and Services.
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Cookies are small text files that are stored on a user’s computer hard drive. They are used to keep track of and store information about the user. The information that is collected through cookies via the Services is handled in the same manner as other information collected here. If you prefer not to receive cookies from the Services, you can set your browser to warn you before accepting cookies and refuse the cookie when your browser alerts you to its presence. You can also refuse all cookies by turning them off in your browser. Please be aware, however, that certain features of the Services may be unavailable if your browser is not set to support or enable cookies. For more information about cookies, and to learn how to disable cookies in your browser settings, please visit http://www.allaboutcookies.org.

3. From our trusted business partners. The information they collect may be associated with your personal information or they may collect information, including personal information such as name, address, email address, and financial information when you purchase a product, about your online activities over time and across different websites and other online services. They may use this information to provide you with interest- based (behavioral) advertising or other targeted content.

4. We partner with Microsoft Clarity and Microsoft Advertising to capture how you use and interact with our website through behavioral metrics, heatmaps, and session replay to improve and market our products/services. Website usage data is captured using first and third-party cookies and other tracking technologies to determine the popularity of products/services and online activity. Additionally, we use this information for site optimization, fraud/security purposes, and advertising. For more information about how Microsoft collects and uses your data, visit the Microsoft Privacy Statement.

Using Your Information

We use the information collected to:

• send you emails, SMS messages, and other communications about any transactions you perform on the Services, including any activities, registration, purchases, cancellations, and the like;
  
• send you notices and information, for example, information regarding the Services and changes to the Services, this Privacy Policy, or any of our terms and conditions;
• send you marketing communications and updates about Castiron for which you have opted in, including information about new Products, events, Services, and/or promotions;
• deliver customized or targeted marketing content and advertisements to you based on the information we have obtained;
• respond to requests from you or provide services to you, administer your account, or provide notifications to you;
• enhance and improve the Services, and any of our Products, Services, content, advertising, and promotions; and share your information within Castiron in a manner consistent with this Privacy Policy.

We will not share, sell, or distribute your information with any third parties including any of our affiliated companies, officers, directors, shareholders, subsidiaries, agents, or representatives except as provided in the following circumstances:

• Service Providers: We may employ third-party service providers to perform functions on our behalf.  They may have access to personal information needed to perform their functions but may not use it for other purposes.  We use a third-party payment service to process purchases made through the Services.  In these cases, your information may be collected by this third party and not by us and will be subject to the third party’s privacy policy, rather than this Privacy Policy. We have no control over, and are not responsible for, this third party’s use or disclosure of your information.
  
• Legal Obligations: From time to time, we may be required to share personal information in response to a valid court order, subpoena, government investigation, or as otherwise required by law.  We also reserve the right to report to law enforcement agencies any activities that we, in good faith, believe to be unlawful or related to an alleged unlawful activity.
• Protection of Castiron and Others: We may release your information when we believe release is appropriate to (i) comply with the law or any rule, regulation, government or court order; (ii) enforce or apply our Terms of Use and other agreements; or (iii) protect the rights, property, or safety of Castiron, our affiliated companies, our users, or others.  However, this does not include selling, sharing, or otherwise disclosing personally identifiable information from customers for commercial purposes in violation of the terms set forth in this Privacy Policy.
• Sale or Acquisition: If we become involved in a transaction involving the sale of our assets, such as a merger or acquisition, or if Castiron is transferred to another company, we may disclose and/or transfer your information as part of the transaction.  If the surviving entity is not Castiron, your information may be used pursuant to the surviving entity’s privacy policies, which may be different from this Privacy Policy.

The following chart describes our collection and disclosure practices regarding our Cooks and Customers for the past 12 months:

Securing Your Information

We take precautions that are reasonable under the circumstances to protect the information that is either available from or collected by the Services.  We have taken steps designed to safeguard the Services’ integrity, their telecommunications, and their computing infrastructure, including but not limited to, authentication, monitoring, auditing, and encryption.  Unfortunately, no data transmitted over, or accessible through, the Internet can be guaranteed to be completely secure.  As a result, we cannot ensure or warrant that personal information will be completely secure from misappropriation by hackers, nefarious or criminal activities, or in the event of a failure of computer hardware, software, or a telecommunications network.

Exercising Your Privacy Rights and Choices

Opt-out of Communications

If you no longer want to receive certain communications from us via email or text message, simply click the “unsubscribe” link in the email or reply STOP (or as otherwise instructed) to the text message. Please note that you cannot unsubscribe from service-related correspondence from us, such as messages relating to your account transactions.

Mobile App Notifications

You can choose to receive mobile push notifications from Castiron via Castiron’s mobile application. If you subsequently decide you no longer wish to receive these notifications, you can use mobile app settings or your mobile device’s settings functionality to turn them off.‍

Correction of Information

You can request access to your personal information or correct or update out-of-date or inaccurate personal information we hold about you. You can most easily do this by visiting the “Account” portion of our Services, where you have the ability to access and update a broad range of information about your account, including your contact information, your payment information, and various related information about your registered account. You must be signed in to access the “Account” section.

Deletion of Information

You may also request that we delete personal information that we hold about you. To make such requests, or if you have any other questions regarding our privacy practices, please contact our Privacy Office.  We respond to all requests that we receive from individuals wishing to exercise their data protection rights in accordance with applicable data protection laws.
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We may reject requests that are unreasonable or not required by law, including those that would be extremely impractical, could require disproportionate technical effort, or could expose us to operational risks such as free trial fraud. We may retain information as required or permitted by applicable laws and regulations, including to honor your choices, for our billing or records purposes, and to fulfill the purposes described in this Privacy Policy. We take measures that are reasonable under the circumstances to destroy or de-identify personal information in a secure manner when it is no longer required.

Do Not Track Requests

We may automatically collect cookies and other information when you use the Services. Due to this automatic collection, we do not currently honor browser based “do not track” requests. We currently participate in third-party ad networks and use third-party cookies as discussed above to track your visits across the Services.

Opt-out of Communications

If you no longer want to receive certain communications from us via email or text message, simply click the “unsubscribe” link in the email or reply STOP (or as otherwise instructed) to the text message. Please note that you cannot unsubscribe from service-related correspondence from us, such as messages relating to your account transactions.

California Residents

The California Consumer Privacy Act (“CCPA”) provides California residents with specific rights regarding their personal information. This section describes your CCPA rights and explains how to exercise those rights.

The Right to Disclosure
You have the right to request that we disclose certain information to you about our collection and use of your Personal Information over the past 12 months.
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The Right to Deletion of Personal Information
You have the right to request that we delete any of your personal information that we collected from you and retained, subject to certain exceptions. Once we receive and confirm your verifiable consumer request, we will delete (and direct our service providers to delete) your personal information from our records, unless an exception applies.
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The Right to Opt-Out of the Sale of Personal Information
We do not sell your personal information.
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The Right to Non-Discrimination
We will not discriminate against you for exercising any of your CCPA rights. Unless permitted by the CCPA, we will not:
Deny you goods or services.
Charge you different prices or rates for goods or services, including through granting discounts or other benefits, or imposing penalties.
Provide you a different level or quality of goods or services.
Suggest that you may receive a different price or rate for goods or services or a different level or quality of goods or services.

We do not offer financial incentives at this time. Should we offer a financial incentive, we will notify you through this Policy.

Exercising Your CCPA Rights
California residents, or any agent or representative authorized to act on your behalf, may submit a request by
Submitting an online request here: help@castiron.me

We will take reasonable steps to verify your identity prior to fulfilling the above requests. You may only make a verifiable consumer request for disclosure or deletion twice within a 12-month period. The verifiable consumer request must:

• Provide sufficient information that allows us to reasonably verify you are the person about whom we collected personal information or an authorized representative.
  
• Describe your request with sufficient detail that allows us to properly understand, evaluate, and respond to it.
  

We cannot respond to your request or provide you with personal information if we cannot verify your identity or authority to make the request and confirm the personal information relates to you.

Making a verifiable consumer request does not require you to create an account with us. However, we do consider requests made through your password protected account sufficiently verified when the request relates to personal information associated with that specific account.

We will only use personal information provided in a verifiable consumer request to verify the requestor's identity or authority to make the request.

As an additional resource, you may also contact us using the “Contacting Castiron” section below for any additional questions related to the rights granted under the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA).

Only you, or someone legally authorized to act on your behalf, may make a verifiable consumer request related to your personal information. You may also make a verifiable consumer request on behalf of your minor child.

Visiting Third-Party Links

The Services may contain links to or information about other websites that are outside our control or custody.  We are not responsible for the content or privacy practices of other websites and suggest that you review their privacy statements to understand how your information is used or shared by those other websites.  We do not endorse or make any representations or warranties concerning, and will not in any way be liable for, any informational content, products, services, software, or other materials available on other websites, even if one or more pages of the other websites are framed within, or linked to, a page of our Services.

Minors

Our Services are restricted to persons who are age 16 or older.  Furthermore, we do not market to, and do not knowingly collect any personal information from or about a child under the age of 13 without the consent of the child’s parent or legal guardian.  If we discover that we have inadvertently collected personal information from a child under 13 years of age, we will promptly take all reasonable measures to delete that personal information from our systems.

Changing this Privacy Policy

We may amend this Privacy Policy from time to time.  When we do, we will post the change(s) on the website. If we make any material changes in the way we use or disclose the Information you provide to us, we will provide appropriate notice to you. Your continued use of the website means that you acknowledge and accept these changes.

Contacting Castiron

If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy only, contact us at: privacy@castiron.me.