Privacy Policy Overview
This Privacy Policy describes how Civic Bits LLC ("Bill Sponsor", "we" or "us") collects, uses and protects your information when you use our website or otherwise interact with us ("Services").
How and Why We Use Information
Purposes for Using Information
We do not sell any information about our users to any third party. The information we collect is used for the purposes listed below:
- To ensure quality, maintain safety, and improve our Services. For example, by monitoring and analyzing how users interact with our website so we can create new features that we think our users will enjoy or make our website easier to use.
- To protect our Services, our users, and the public. For example, by detecting security incidents; detecting and protecting against malicious, deceptive, fraudulent, or illegal activity; fighting spam; complying with our legal obligations; and protecting the rights and property of Bill Sponsor and others.
- To fix problems with our Services. For example, by monitoring, debugging, repairing, and preventing issues.
- To communicate with you. For example, by emailing you to ask for your feedback, share tips for getting the most out of our products, or keep you up to date on the latest features. If you don't want to hear from us, you can opt out of these communications at any time.
Information We Collect
We only collect information about you if we have a reason to do so. For example, to improve features on our website.
Information You Provide to Us
We collect information that you provide to us directly. Here are some examples:
- Basic account information: We ask for basic information from you in order to set up your account. For example, we require individuals who sign up for a BillSponsor.com account to provide an email address and password.
- Public profile information: If you have an account with us, we collect the information that you provide for your public profile. For example, if you have a BillSponsor.com account, your username is part of that public profile, along with any other information you put into your public profile.
- Communications with us: When you communicate with us via form, email, phone, or otherwise, we store a copy of our communications (including any call recordings as permitted by applicable law).
Information We Collect Automatically
We collect information automatically through operating our Services. The information we automatically collect includes:
- Log information: We collect log information that web browsers, mobile devices, and servers typically make available, including the browser type, IP address, unique device identifiers, language preference, referring site, the date and time of access, operating system, and mobile network information.
- Usage information: We collect information about your usage of our Services.
- Location information: We may determine the approximate location of your device from your IP address.
- Information from cookies & other technologies: A cookie is a string of information that a website stores on a visitor's computer, and that the visitor's browser provides to the website each time the visitor returns. Bill Sponsor uses cookies to help us identify and track visitors and usage for our website.
- Third Party Login: If you use the single sign-on option to create or log in to your BillSponsor.com account, we'll receive the associated login information (e.g. a connection token, your username, your email address). Additionally, the third party you use (such as Facebook or Google) may receive information from these services.
Legal Basis for Collecting and Using Information
A note here for those in the European Union about our legal grounds for processing information about you under EU data protection laws, which is that our use of your information is based on the grounds that:
(1) The use is necessary in order to fulfill our commitments to you under the applicable terms of service or other agreements with you or is necessary to administer your account; or
(2) The use is necessary for compliance with a legal obligation; or
(3) The use is necessary in order to protect your vital interests or those of another person; or
(4) We have a legitimate interest in using your information. For example, to provide and update our website; to improve our website so that we can offer you an even better user experience; to safeguard our website; to communicate with you; to measure, gauge, and improve the effectiveness of our advertising; and to understand our user retention and attrition; to monitor and prevent any problems with our website; and to personalize your experience.
How Long We Keep Information
We store user information for as long as necessary to fulfill legitimate business purpose(s), and to meet our legal, regulatory, or other compliance obligations.
How We Collect Information
Google Analytics, a service provided by Google LLC, is the analytics provider we use to collect information. Google Analytics sets tracking technologies (like cookies) to collect user information on our website and across other websites and online services. These technologies allow these third parties to recognize your device to compile information about you or others who use your device. This information allows us to, among other things, analyze and track usage and determine the popularity of certain content. Please note this Privacy Policy only covers the collection of information by Bill Sponsor and does not cover the collection of information by any analytics providers.
Security
Bill Sponsor takes reasonable steps to protect information about you against unauthorized access, use, alteration, or destruction. We monitor our website for potential vulnerabilities and attacks.
Your Rights
If you are located in certain parts of the world, including some US states and countries that fall under the scope of the European General Data Protection Regulation (aka the "GDPR"), you may have certain rights regarding your personal information, like the right to request access to or deletion of your data.
European General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR)
If you are located in a country that falls under the scope of the GDPR, data protection laws give you certain rights with respect to your personal data, subject to any exemptions provided by the law, including the rights to:
- Request access to your personal data;
- Request correction or deletion of your personal data;
- Object to our use and processing of your personal data;
- Request that we limit our use and processing of your personal data; and
- Request portability of your personal data.
You also have the right to make a complaint to a government supervisory authority.
US Privacy Laws
Laws in some US states, including California, Colorado, Connecticut, Utah, and Virginia, require us to provide residents with additional information about the categories of personal information we collect and share, where we get that personal information, and how and why we use it. You’ll find that information in this section (if you are a California resident, please note that this is the Notice at Collection we are required to provide you under California law).
In the last 12 months, we collected the following categories of personal information, depending on the Services used:
- Identifiers (like your name, contact information, and device and online identifiers);
- Internet or other electronic network activity information (such as your usage of our Services);
- Geolocation data (such as your location based on your IP address);
- Visual information (such as your profile picture, if you uploaded one);
- Inferences we make (such as likelihood of retention or attrition).
You can read more about our reasons for collecting that information in the How and Why We Use Information section above. You can read more about what we collect and sources of that information in the Information We Collect section above.
In some US states you have additional rights subject to any exemptions provided by your state’s respective law, including the right to:
- Request a copy of the specific pieces of information we collect about you and, if you’re in California, to know the categories of personal information we collect, the categories of business or commercial purpose for collecting and using it, the categories of sources from which the information came, and the categories of third parties we share it with;
- Request deletion of personal information we collect or maintain;
- Request correction of personal information we collect or maintain;
- Opt out of the sale or sharing of personal information;
- Receive a copy of your information in a readily portable format; and
- Not receive discriminatory treatment for exercising your rights.
How to Reach Us
If you have a question about this Privacy Policy, or you would like to contact us about any of the rights mentioned in the Your Rights section above, please contact us at support@billsponsor.com.
Privacy Policy Changes
Bill Sponsor will occasionally update this Privacy Policy. Bill Sponsor encourages visitors to frequently check this page for any changes to its Privacy Policy. Your further use of the Services after a change to our Privacy Policy will be subject to the updated policy.
Miscellaneous
This Privacy Policy was created with the help of Automattic, who made their Privacy Policy available under a Creative Commons Sharealike license.
Last Updated on January 2, 2023