Effective December 1, 2017
This Privacy Policy (“Privacy Policy”) explains how information is collected, used and disclosed by PhotoHires Inc., a Delaware corporation (“PhotoHires,” “we,” “us” or “our”), and applies to information we collect when you use or access our online or mobile websites (http://photohires.com), products, services or applications (collectively, the “PhotoHires Services”), or when you otherwise interact with us. We respect the privacy rights of users and recognize the importance of protecting information collected about you.
PhotoHires complies with the EU-U.S. Privacy Shield Framework and the Swiss-U.S. Privacy Shield Framework. See the section entitled EU-U.S. Privacy Shield and Swiss-U.S. Privacy Shield, below, for more information.
As used in this policy, the terms “using” and “processing” information include using cookies on a computer, subjecting the information to statistical or other analysis and using or handling information in any way, including, but not limited to collecting, storing, evaluating, modifying, deleting, using, combining, disclosing and transferring information within our organization or among our affiliates within the United States or internationally.
Information Collected
While visiting the website we may ask you to register and/or provide information that personally identifies you (“Personal Information”) to allow us to provide and improve our website, services, features and content (together, the “Service”) and to enable users to enjoy and easily navigate the website. Such Personal Information includes your name, company name, company URL, phone number, street address, e-mail address and, for certain services, credit card information (notwithstanding anything else in this Privacy Policy, we will not share any credit card information with any third party unless required to provide you services that you have requested). On any page that collects Personal Information, we will specifically describe what information is required in order to provide you with the product or service, connect you to businesses or Creatives in order to perform or take advantage of the PhotoHires Services, or respond to your inquiry or comment.
Information collected online is often defined as being either anonymous or personally identifiable. Personal Information is defined above whereas Anonymous Information refers to information that cannot be tied back to a specific individual. For instance, we may know that thousands of people have visited this Privacy Policy web page, but we do not necessarily know their names, where they live, or their date of birth. What we collect from visits such as this constitutes anonymous information. Many of the individuals who access our services decline to use the personalization features that are available to them, and therefore those individuals are anonymous to us and the only data we collect about them is anonymous information.
How We Use the Information We Collect
Anonymous Information: As is true of most websites, we gather certain information automatically and store it in log files. This information includes internet protocol (IP) addresses, browser type, internet service provider (ISP), referring/exit pages, operating system, date/time stamp, and clickstream data. We use this information, which does not identify individual users, to analyze trends, to administer the site, to track users’ movements around the site and to gather demographic information about our user base as a whole. We may link this automatically-collected data as well as any information received from third parties to Personal Information.
Personal Information You Provide to Use the PhotoHires Services: In order to use the PhotoHires Services, we may ask you for Personal Information such as your name, email address, phone number, address and other information. This information may be sent to others using the PhotoHires Services so that they can contact you to perform the PhotoHires Services or so that we may inform you about jobs or projects you may be interested in. We will not otherwise disseminate your Personal Information except as otherwise set forth in this Privacy Policy. If you do not wish your Personal Information to be shared with others for the purposes of using or providing the PhotoHires Services or receiving job or project related emails, you may email us at contact@photohires.com. Note that if you request that your Personal Information not be shared with a third party, you will not be able to take advantage of all of the features or functionalities of the PhotoHires Services.
Personal Information From Third Parties: We may receive Personal Information about you from our customers or partners which we may use to contact you in relation to the PhotoHires Services. This Personal Information will be treated with the same degree of care as any Personal Information you provide directly to us.
We may also offer other services as a part of our website (e.g., contests and other promotions with unaffiliated third parties). If you choose to use these optional services or opportunities, we may provide some of your Personal Information to these parties. We will not do so without telling you in advance, and you can avoid having us make such disclosures by choosing not to use these services or features of the website.
Depending on the services you have chosen to use, some or all of your Personal Information may be used by PhotoHires to provide such services. Personal Information may also be provided to intermediaries and third parties, including credit card processors, who assist PhotoHires in providing you with the service you request.
Except as otherwise provided in this Privacy Policy, however, PhotoHires will not share, rent or sell your information to third parties without your permission. PhotoHires is the sole owner of the information collected on www.PhotoHires.com. PhotoHires may collect Personal Information from our users at several different points on our website.
Posting to Social Media
If you choose to use our service to tell a friend about a film or photo you saw on our website, we will ask you for your friend’s name and email address. We will automatically send your friend an email. Your friend may contact us at contact@photohires.com to request that we remove this information from our database.
Service-Related Announcements
We will send you strictly service-related announcements on rare occasions when it is necessary to do so. For instance, if our service is temporarily suspended for maintenance, we might send you an email. Generally, you may not opt-out of these communications, which are not promotional in nature.
Customer Service
Based upon the Personal Information you provide us, we may send you a welcoming email to verify your username and password. We will also communicate with you in response to your inquiries, to provide the services you request, and to manage your account. We will communicate with you by email or telephone, if you have provided such information.
Profile
We store information that we collect through cookies, log files, or tracking tags to create a “profile” of your preferences. We may tie your Personal Information to information in the profile, in order to provide tailored promotions and marketing offers and to improve the content of the website for you.
Bulletin Board/Blogs/Rate A Creative
If you use a bulletin board or blog or rate a Creative (a “Creative” is the artist responsible for the photograph or film on the PhotoHires website) on this site, you should be aware that any information you submit there can be read, collected, or used by other users of these forums, and could be used to send you unsolicited messages. We are not responsible for the Personal Information you choose to submit in these forums.
Cookies
A cookie is a small data text file that a website sends to your browser, which is stored on your system. The website can only access the information from a cookie sent by the website. We cannot access cookies sent by other websites or the information contained therein. Additionally, we cannot learn your e-mail address or any other information about you through the use of a cookie. The only way we would learn such information is if you specifically and voluntarily submit that information to us, for example, through a registration system, by purchasing products, or by entering a sweepstakes or promotion.
We use cookies to track usage of the website and further personalize your experience when you are visiting the website. By tracking usage, we can best determine what features of the website best serve the users. Overall, the use of cookies helps to give you a more personalized experience on the website. The information is used to keep our website fresh and relevant to you, the user.
You may decline to accept cookies sent by the website by selecting an option on your browser to reject cookies. However, if at some point we require registration to use the Services, you will be required to log in each time you access the website. Cookies enable our server to know that you are a registered user, and will eliminate the need for you to log in each time you access our website.
We may also employ a software technology called tracking tags (a.k.a. clear gifs/Web Beacons/Web Bugs/tracking pixels), that help us better manage content on our site by informing us what content is effective. Tracking tags are tiny graphics with a unique identifier, similar in function to cookies, that are used to track the online movements of web users. In contrast to cookies, which are stored on a user’s computer hard drive, tracking tags are embedded invisibly on web pages and are about the size of the period at the end of this sentence. We may tie the information gathered by tracking tags to our customers’ Personal Information.
We may use tracking tags in our HTML-based emails to let us know which emails have been opened by recipients. This allows us to gauge the effectiveness of certain communications and the effectiveness of our marketing campaigns. If you would like to opt-out of these emails, please see the “Choice/Opt-out” section below.
Party Collecting the Information
This Privacy Policy only addresses the use and dissemination of information that we collect from you or that we receive about you from third parties. The website may offer forums, message boards, or chat rooms as one of the services on the website. If you disclose Personal Information in one of these forums, this information can be viewed, collected, and used by others. We are not responsible for the use of information you disclose in these forums.
Choice/Opt-out
We provide you the opportunity to ‘opt-out’ of having your Personal Information used for certain purposes. For example, in some instances, if you register but do not wish to receive any additional marketing material from us, you can indicate your preference at time of registration. In other instances, you may ‘opt-out’ by logging into your account and changing your preferences. You may also ‘opt-out’ by clicking on links in the marketing emails and following the steps indicated. Finally, you may opt-out of receiving job or project related communications from us. Opt-out requests, other than opt-out decisions made at the time of registration or in direct response to a communication from us, may be sent to contact@photohires.com.
You will not be able to opt out of receiving communications from us which are necessary to use commence, perform and finalize the PhotoHires Services in a timely and acceptable manner.
If you have any questions regarding your choices and opt-out rights, email us at contact@photohires.com.
Access to Personal Information
If your Personal Information changes, or if you no longer desire our service, you may correct, update, delete, deactivate it or simply view or inspect it by contacting us at contact@photohires.com or, if applicable, making the change on your user information page. We will use commercially reasonable efforts to honor your request. We may retain an archived copy of your records as required by law or for legitimate business purposes. This right to access Personal Information goes for all individuals including those from the United States, the European Union and Switzerland.
EU-U.S. Privacy Shield and SWISS-U.S. Privacy Shield
PhotoHires complies with the EU-U.S. Privacy Shield Framework and the Swiss-U.S. Privacy Shield Framework as set forth by the U.S. Department of Commerce regarding the collection, use, and retention of personal information transferred from the European Union and Switzerland to the United States. We have certified to the Department of Commerce that we adhere to the Privacy Shield Principles of Notice, Choice, Accountability for Onward Transfer, Security, Data Integrity and Purpose Limitation, Access, and Recourse, Enforcement and Liability. If there is any conflict between the policies in this privacy policy and the Privacy Shield Principles, the Privacy Shield Principles shall govern. To learn more about the Privacy Shield program, and to view our certification page, please visit https://www.privacyshield.gov/
Our participation in the Privacy Shield applies to all personal data that is subject to the this Privacy Policy and which is received from the European Union, European Economic Area, and Switzerland. We will comply with the Privacy Shield Principles in respect of such personal data.
Our accountability for personal data that we receive under the Privacy Shield and subsequently transfer to a third party is described in the Privacy Shield Principles. In particular, we remain responsible and liable under the Privacy Shield Principles if third-party agents that we engage to process the personal data on our behalf do so in a manner inconsistent with the Principles, unless we prove that we are not responsible for the event giving rise to the damage.
In compliance with the Privacy Shield Principles, PhotoHires commits to resolve complaints about our collection or use of your personal information. European Union and Swiss individuals with inquiries or complaints regarding our Privacy Shield policy should first contact PhotoHires at: contact@photohires.com.
We have further committed to refer unresolved privacy complaints under the EU-U.S. Privacy Shield Principles or the Swiss-U.S. Privacy Shield Principles to BBB EU PRIVACY SHIELD, a non-profit alternative dispute resolution provider located in the United States and operated by the Council of Better Business Bureaus. If you do not receive timely acknowledgment of your complaint, or if your complaint is not satisfactorily addressed, please visit www.bbb.org/EU-privacy-shield/for-eu-consumers/ for more information and to file a complaint. As further explained in the Privacy Shield Principles, a binding arbitration option before the Privacy Shield Panel will also be made available to you in order to address residual complaints not resolved by any other means. PhotoHires is subject to the investigatory and enforcement powers of the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC).
Non-US Users
If you are located outside of the United States, please note that the information you provide to us will be transferred to the United States. By using this website, you consent to this transfer. You also consent to the adjudication of any disputes arising in connection with this website in the federal and state courts of, and in accordance with the laws of, the State of California.
Security
PhotoHires operates secure data networks protected by industry standard firewall and password protection systems. Our security and privacy policies are periodically reviewed and enhanced as necessary, and only authorized individuals have access to the information provided by our customers. You the consumer are ultimately responsible for the security of your user name and password, if applicable. Please take care to store your user name separately from your account password, or better yet, choose a password that you don’t need to write down at all.
We will make any legally required disclosures of any breach of the security, confidentiality, or integrity of your unencrypted electronically stored “personal data” (as defined in applicable state statutes on security breach notification) to you via email or conspicuous posting on this Site in the most expedient time possible and without unreasonable delay, insofar as consistent with (i) the legitimate needs of law enforcement or (ii) any measures necessary to determine the scope of the breach and restore the reasonable integrity of the data system.
Business Transitions
In the event PhotoHires goes through a business transition, such as a merger, acquisition by another company, or sale of all or a portion of its assets as well as in the event of a bankruptcy, assignment for benefit of creditors or receivership, your Personal Information may be disclosed and will likely be among the assets transferred. You will be notified via prominent notice on our website for 30 days of any such change in ownership or control of your Personal Information.
Legal Disclaimer
Note that we may be required to release Personal Information in response to lawful requests by public authorities including to meet national security and law enforcement requirements.
Your Privacy Rights Regarding Third Party Sharing
We may employ third party companies and individuals to facilitate our Service, to provide the Service on our behalf, to perform Site-related services (e.g., without limitation, maintenance services, database management, web analytics and improvement of the Site’s features) or to assist us in analyzing how our Site and Service are used. These third parties have access to your Personal Information only to perform these tasks on our behalf and are obligated not to disclose or use it for any other purpose.
Do Not Track Policy
Our website does not respond to do not track signals or requests.
Children’s Privacy
PhotoHires cares about the safety of children and their use of the Internet. Therefore, in accordance with the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act of 1998, we will never knowingly request or solicit personally identifiable information from anyone under the age of 13 without verifiable parental consent. If a parent or guardian becomes aware that his or her child has provided us with Personal Information without their consent, he or she should contact us at contact@photohires.com. In the event that we receive actual knowledge that we have collected such Personal Information without the requisite verifiable parental consent, we will delete that information from our database as quickly as is practical.
Contacting Us
If you have any questions or comments about our Privacy Policy, please e-mail us at contact@photohires.com.
