Privacy Policy

Your Privacy is Important to Us

At ClinchFire, we prioritize your privacy with fundamental principles:

• We thoughtfully collect and manage personal information to enhance our services.
• Personal information is stored only for the necessary duration.
• We offer simple controls for you to manage public sharing, search engine indexing, and permanent deletion of information on your website.
• We safeguard your data against unwarranted government demands.
• Full transparency guides our practices on collecting, using, and sharing your personal information.

Who We Are and What This Policy Covers

Welcome to ClinchFire, your trusted partner in providing innovative applications and products designed to automate business processes and enhance customer engagement for small businesses and enterprises. Our mission revolves around democratizing efficiency, empowering businesses to streamline operations and connect seamlessly with their audience/customers.

At ClinchFire, we embrace the strength of open-source code, with a significant portion of our work available under the General Public License (“GPL”). This Privacy Policy is applicable to information gathered while utilizing ClinchFire’s applications, products, and related services.

Information We Collect

We collect information for specific purposes:

1. Information You Provide to Us:

   • Basic account information: Email, password, and username for ClinchFire.com account creation.
   • Public profile information: Usernames, photos, and “About Me” descriptions.
   • Payment and contact information: Details for transactions, purchases, and payments.
   • Business Profile: Additional details for user/customer profiles.
   • Content information: Information in draft and published content.
   • Credentials: Website credentials for specific services.
   • Communications with us: Information from surveys, support queries, forum posts, or newsletters.
   • Job applicant information: Details provided during the job application process.

2. Information We Collect Automatically:

   • Log information: Browser type, IP address, date and time of access, etc.
   • Transactional information: Details of purchases and transactions.
   • Usage information: Actions performed on ClinchFire services, interactions, and device information.
   • Location information: Approximate location from IP address or precise location with user permission.
   • Stored information: Access to information stored on mobile devices with user permission.
   • Interactions with other users’ sites: Information about interactions while logged in.

3. Information We Collect from Other Sources:

   • Third Party Login: Information from third-party services if used to log in.
   • Social Sharing Services: Information from connected social media services.
   • Financial Account Info: Information related to financial transactions from WooPayments.
   • Google Account Information: Access to certain Google user data for specific features.

Purposes for Using Information

We use your information for various purposes:

• Providing Services
• Ensuring quality, safety, and improvements
• Managing ads
• Marketing and measuring effectiveness
• Protecting services and users
• Fixing problems
• Customizing user experience
• Communication
• Recruiting new team members

Legal Bases for Collecting and Using Information

We process information based on legal grounds such as fulfilling commitments, legal obligations, protecting vital interests, legitimate interests, and user consent.

Sharing Information

We share information under specific circumstances:

• Subsidiaries, independent contractors, and third-party vendors
• Legal and regulatory requirements
• Protecting rights, property, and others
• Business transfers
• With your consent
• Aggregated or de-identified information
• Site owners
• Published support requests

Information Shared Publicly

Publicly shared information includes public profiles, posts, and interactions on ClinchFire.com. Gravatar and public profile details may display on other websites.

Information We Collect Automatically

We automatically collect certain information:

• Log Information: Similar to other online services, we gather standard information such as browser type, IP address, device identifiers, language preference, referring site, date, time of access,operating system, and mobile network information. This occurs when you use ClinchFire.com services, e.g.,creating or modifying your website.
• Transactional Information: When you make purchases through our Services, we collect transaction details like product specifics, purchase price, and transaction date and location. This includes transactions made on our platform or via third-party services like Stripe.
• Usage Information: We collect data on actions performed by site administrators and users onClinchFire.com or Jetpack services, providing insights into user interactions and predicting user retention.WooCommerce Usage Tracker gathers information about your online store.
• Location Information: We may approximate your device’s location based on your IP address or,with your consent, collect precise location information through our mobile apps.
• Stored Information: With your permission, our mobile apps may access information stored on your device, like photos when uploading content.
• Interactions with Other Users’ Sites: Information about your interactions on other users’sites, such as “Likes” and comments, is collected while logged into your account.
• Information from Cookies; Other Technologies: We use cookies and technologies like pixel tags to identify and track visitors, understand user preferences, analyze email campaign effectiveness, and deliver targeted ads. Refer to our Cookie Policy for details.

Information We Collect from Other Sources

We may obtain information from various sources:

• Third Party Login: If you log in via another service (e.g., Google), we receive associated login information (e.g., connection token, username, email address).
• Social Sharing Services: Connecting your website to social media services through our provides us with information like your username and basic profile details.
• Financial Account Info: Using WooPayments, we receive information related to your Stripe account, such as email address and phone number. With WooPay, payment information from Stripe is collected.
• Google Account Information: Connecting your Google account to your site allows access to specific Google user data (e.g., Google Ad Manager Configuration, Google Analytics data) for streamlined management.

The information received depends on the services used or authorized and available options.

How and Why We Use Information

Purposes for Using Information

We utilize your information for various purposes:

• Providing Services
• Ensuring quality, safety, and improvements
• Managing ads
• Marketing and measuring effectiveness
• Protecting services and users
• Fixing problems
• Customizing user experience
• Communication
• Recruiting new team members

Legal Bases for Collecting and Using Information

For individuals in the European Union, our use of your information is based on legal grounds such as contractual obligations, legal compliance, protection of vital interests, legitimate interests, or your consent.

Sharing Information

How We Share Information

At ClinchFire, we prioritize safeguarding your privacy and share information about you only in specific situations. Here’s an overview:

• Subsidiaries and independent contractors: We may disclose information to our subsidiaries and independent contractors for them to assist in providing or processing our services. We ensure that they adhere to this Privacy Policy.
• Third-party vendors: Information may be shared with third-party vendors necessary for service provision, marketing efforts, analytics, and operational tools. These vendors must comply with privacy commitments.
• Legal and regulatory requirements: Disclosure may occur in response to subpoenas, court orders,or governmental requests. Additionally, for domain registrations, compliance with Internet Corporation forAssigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) regulations may necessitate sharing information.
• To protect rights, property, and others: Information disclosure may happen in good faith to protect the rights or property of ClinchFire, third parties, or the public, especially in emergencies.
• Business transfers: In the event of a merger, sale, or acquisition, user information could be transferred as part of the assets, ensuring that the acquiring party adheres to this Privacy Policy.
• With your consent: Information may be shared based on your explicit consent or direction, such as connecting your site to a social media service through our Publicize feature.
• Aggregated or de-identified information: We may share non-identifiable information for statistical purposes, ensuring individual identification is no longer possible.
• Site owners: Interaction with other sites using our Services may lead to the sharing of information with site administrators.

Information Shared Publicly

Information you choose to make public, like your public profile, posts, and comments, is disclosed publicly. For instance, your Gravatar and public profile info may display alongside comments and “Likes” on other users’ websites. Keep in mind that public information may be indexed by search engines or used by third parties.

How Long We Keep Information

We retain information about you only for the duration necessary for the purposes outlined in the “How and Why We UseInformation” section above, and as long as there’s no legal requirement mandating its retention.

For instance:

• Web server logs: Information recorded in web server logs, including a visitor’s IP address,browser type, and operating system on ClinchFire’s websites, is retained for approximately 30 days. This period allows us to analyze website traffic and address issues.
• Deleted content: When you delete a post, page, or comment from your ClinchFire.com site, it resides in your Trash folder for thirty days, providing a window for potential restoration. After this period, the deleted content may persist in our backups and caches until purged.
• Job applicants: If you are a job applicant, we retain your personal data during the application process and for a specific period thereafter. Factors considered include legal obligations and internal business needs, ensuring compliance with equal opportunity obligations and facilitating analysis of our applicant pool.

Security

While no online service can guarantee absolute security, we are committed to robust measures for protecting your information from unauthorized access, use, alteration, or destruction. Regular monitoring for potential vulnerabilities and attacks is part of our ongoing efforts to ensure the security of our Services.

Choices

You have various options regarding your information:

• Limit provided information: For users with accounts, the provision of optional account details, profile information, and transaction/billing information is voluntary. Keep in mind that opting not to provide certain information may restrict access to specific features, such as premium themes that carry an additional charge. Job applicants choosing not to provide specific data elements may impact the recruitment process.
• Control mobile device access: Most mobile device operating systems allow users to control our ability to collect stored or location information via our mobile apps. Limiting this access might affect certain features, like geo tagging for photographs.
• Opt out of marketing communications: You can opt out of promotional communications by following the provided instructions or informing us. Opting out doesn’t exempt you from receiving essential communications about your account and legal notices.
• Set browser preferences for cookies: ClinchFire currently does not respond to “do not track”signals. However, you can usually configure your browser to remove or reject cookies. Keep in mind that certain features may not work properly without cookies.
• Opt out of internal analytics: You can opt out through your user settings. This means you’ll cease sharing information with our analytics tool about events or actions occurring after the opt-out while logged in to your ClinchFire.com account.
• Close your ClinchFire.com account: If you decide to discontinue using our Services, you can close your account. Please note that we may retain your information as described in the “How Long We KeepInformation” section, for reasons such as legal obligations or our legitimate business interests.

Your Rights

If you are in specific regions, including certain US states and areas falling under the European General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), you may possess particular rights regarding your personal information, such as the right to request access to or deletion of your data.

European General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR)

For individuals in countries covered by the GDPR, data protection laws afford you specific rights concerning your personal data, with any legal exemptions taken into account. These rights include:

• Requesting access to your personal data
• Requesting correction or deletion of your personal data
• Objecting to our use and processing of your personal data
• Requesting limitations on our use and processing of your personal data
• Requesting portability of your personal data

You also retain the right to file a complaint with a government supervisory authority.

US Privacy Laws

Certain US states, including California, Colorado, Connecticut, Utah, and Virginia, have privacy laws that mandate us to furnish residents with additional information about the categories of personal information we collect and share,the sources of this information, and the purposes behind its collection and usage. Below, you’ll find this information (if you are a California resident, please note that this is the Notice at Collection we are obligated to provide you under California law). In the last 12 months, we collected the following categories of personal information, contingent on the Services used on ClinchFire.com:

• Identifiers (such as your name, contact details, and device and online identifiers)
• Commercial information (including billing information and purchase history)
• Characteristics protected by law (e.g., gender, race, or veteran status provided voluntarily)
• Internet or other electronic network activity information (like your usage of our Services, such as actions taken as an administrator of a ClinchFire.com site)
• Geolocation data (such as your location based on your IP address)
• Audio, electronic, visual, or similar information (e.g., your uploaded profile picture)
• Professional or employment-related information (for instance, company and team details for Happy Tools users or information provided in a job application)
• Inferences we make (such as likelihood of retention or attrition)

Additional Rights in Some US States

In certain US states, you have supplementary rights, subject to exemptions provided by your state’s respective law. These rights include:

• Requesting a copy of the specific pieces of information we collect about you. If you’re in California, you have the right to know the categories of personal information we collect, the business or commercial purposes for collecting and using it, the sources from which the information came, and the categories of third parties we share it with.
• Requesting the deletion of personal information we collect or maintain.
• Requesting the correction of personal information we collect or maintain.
• Opting out of the sale or sharing of personal information.
• Receiving a copy of your information in a readily portable format.
• Not receiving discriminatory treatment for exercising your rights.

Right to Opt Out

We never directly sell your personal information in the conventional sense (i.e., for money). We may share your information as necessary with our third-party service providers to provide our services to you. To the extent that we share your information with certain advertising, marketing, or analytics vendors, this can be considered a “sale” or “share” in certain U.S. States, which you may have the right to opt out of. You can learn more about this sharing and how to opt out by clicking the “Do Not Sell My Personal Information” link in the footer of our website/s, or from the settings page within our apps. Note that in some instances this link will only display to individuals visiting our sites from within the relevant states. Our opt-out is managed through cookies, so if you delete cookies, your browser is set to delete cookies automatically after a certain length of time, or if you visit sites in a different browser, you’ll need to make this selection again. We also respect the GPC browser signal and will treat it as a valid means of communicating your desire to opt out. We do not collect or process your sensitive (and potentially sensitive) personal information except where it is strictly necessary to provide you with our service, where the processing is not for the purpose of inferring characteristics about you, or for other purposes that do not require an option to limit under California law. We do not knowingly sell or share personal information of those under 16.

Your Information; Personalized Advertising

Our mission is to democratize publishing and commerce, and that means making our Services accessible to as many people as possible. We show ads on some of our users’ sites as well as some of our own sites, and the revenue these ads generate lets us offer free access to some of our Services so that money doesn’t become an obstacle to having a voice. Our ads program also allows our users to earn revenue to support and grow their own sites. As part of our advertising program, we and our users do use cookies to share certain device identifiers and information about your browsing activities with our advertising partners, and those advertising partners may use that information to show you personalized ads on some of our users’ sites and some of our own.

The personal information we share includes online identifiers; internet or other network or device activity (such as cookie information, other device identifiers, and IP address); and geolocation data (approximate location information from your IP address). These disclosures may be considered a “sale” or “share” of information under someUS state privacy laws. We do not sell (or share) information through our ads program that identifies you personally,like your name or contact information.

Contacting Us About These Rights

You can usually access, correct, or delete your personal data using your account settings and tools that we offer. If you encounter any issues or would like to contact us regarding your rights, please visit our Contact Us page for assistance.

When you contact us about one of your rights under this section, we’ll need to verify that you are the right person before we disclose or delete anything. For example, if you are a user, we will need you to contact us from the email address associated with your account. You can also designate an authorized agent to make a request on your behalf by giving us written authorization. We may still require you to verify your identity with us.

Appeals Process for Rights Requests Denials

In some circumstances, we may deny your request to exercise one of these rights. For example, if we cannot verify that you are the account owner, we may deny your request to access the personal information associated with your account. As another example, if we are legally required to maintain a copy of your personal information, we may deny your request to delete your personal information.

In the event that we deny your request, we will communicate this fact to you in writing. You may appeal our decision by responding in writing to our denial email and stating that you would like to appeal. All appeals will be reviewed by an internal expert who was not involved in your original request. In the event that your appeal is also denied,this information will be communicated to you in writing. Please note that the appeal process does not apply to job applicants.

If your appeal is denied, in some US states (Colorado, Connecticut, and Virginia), you may refer the denied appeal to the state attorney general if you believe the denial is in conflict with your legal rights. The process for how todo this will be communicated to you in writing at the same time we send you our decision about your appeal.

Third-Party Software and Services at ClinchFire.com

Some interactions and use on ClinchFire.com may involve sharing information with third-party services or software, it’s important to recognize that such interactions may involve sharing information about yourself or your site visitors with these third-party entities. Some third-party services might request access to your (or your visitors’or customers’) data through elements like pixels or cookies. Please be mindful that if you choose to utilize these third-party services or grant them access, your data will be managed according to the privacy policy and practices of the respective third party. ClinchFire.com does not own or control these third parties, and they operate under their own guidelines regarding information collection, use, and sharing, which we recommend reviewing thoroughly before integrating their software or services.

Visitors to Our Users’ Websites

We also process information about visitors to our users’ websites on behalf of our users and in accordance with our user agreements. Please note that our processing of that information on behalf of our users for their websites isn’t covered by this Privacy Policy. We encourage our users to post a privacy policy that accurately describes their practices regarding data collection, use, and sharing of personal information.

Users control the content posted on their sites, so any disputes regarding content on a user’s site should be made directly to the site owner, through their “contact us” page, at an email address they provide, or by leaving a comment on the site.

Privacy Policy Changes

While most changes are likely to be minor, ClinchFire.com may change its Privacy Policy periodically. We recommend checking this page frequently for any updates. In some instances, we may provide additional notice, such as adding a statement to our homepage ClinchFire.com, or sending you a notification through email or your dashboard. Your continued use of the Services after changes to our Privacy Policy will be subject to the updated policy.

Please consider reviewing these other documents as well:

• Terms and Conditions
• GPDR Compliance
• CCPA Compliance