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Privacy Policy

Last updated: March 3rd, 2021.

This Privacy Policy discloses the practices of www.vedantausa.org, a site belonging to Vedanta Cultural Foundation USA, Inc. (hereinafter referred to as, ‘We’, ‘Us’ and ‘Our’, VCF) regarding user’s (hereinafter ‘You’ ‘Your’) information being collected, method of such information collection, use of such information, sharing of such information with third parties, how We safeguard the information collected and the choices You can make about the way such information is collected, used and disclosed including how to access and update the information.

By using the website www.vedantausa.org (the “Site”) including but not limited to any audio or visual lectures, recordings, webcasts, downloads/online courses, You agree to accept without reservation the terms of this Privacy Policy. This Privacy Policy applies regardless of the means or device You use to use the Site.

PERSONAL INFORMATION THAT YOU PROVIDE US

When you choose to register with Us by filling the registration, we collect the following information:

  1. Personal Information – Name, Age, City, and Country of Residence
  2. Contact Information- Phone Number, Email Address.

WHY IS THE INFORMATION COLLECTED?

We will use the aforementioned Personal Information provided by You for the following purposes: –

  1. Facilitate in providing the Services including updates and reminders for upcoming events.
  2. Provide relevant services based on Your age and location.
  3. Send you details on future events, study avenues, and programs, etc.
  4. To comply with legal and statutory requirements including the necessity to establish or preserve a legal claim or defense, necessary to prevent fraud or other illegal activities, such as willful attacks on Our information technology systems.

SHARING INFORMATION WITH THIRD PARTIES

We use trackers on our website and for more information kindly review our Cookie Policy.

In addition to the aforementioned Personal Information, if You choose to make a donation to Us, You will be redirected to a third-party payment gateways of our service providers Zoom, PayPal, Chase QuickPay, Square, or Eventbrite. Any information provided by You with these providers in the form of as personal and credit card information, this shall be governed by their respective terms and conditions and privacy policies.

We may also use the following third parties for the aforementioned purposes. These third parties provide a high level of data protection. For more information, kindly visit their respective sites. You can unsubscribe from any of the following by emailing us at info@vedantausa.org.

  1. ​ Zoom – To process registration and participation of online events and payments. Please see the Zoom’s privacy policy.
  2. Getresponse – For sending reminders and promotional material via e-mail. Please see Getresponse’s privacy policy.
  3. Textlocal – For sending reminders and promotional material via SMS. Please see the Textlocal’s privacy policy.
  4. Twilio – For sending reminders and promotional material via SMS. Please see the Twilio’s privacy policy.
  5. JotForm – To process registrations for events/courses. Please see JotForm’s privacy policy.
  6. WPForms – To process registrations for events/courses. Please see WPForms’ privacy policy.
  7. FaceBook – For assistance in promoting our events/courses to prospects. Please see FaceBook’s privacy policy.
  8. Twitter – For assistance in promoting our events/courses to prospects. Please see Twitter’s privacy policy.
  9. Instagram – For assistance in promoting our events/courses to prospects. Please see Instagram’s privacy policy.
  10. YouTube – To upload and share video content related to our Services. Please see YouTube’s privacy policy.
  11. PayPal – To process online payment for donations and purchased Services. Please see PayPal’s privacy policy.
  12. Eventbrite – To process registration and participation of online events and payments. Please see Eventbrite’s privacy policy.
  13. Chase QuickPay – To process online payment for donations and purchased Services. Please see Chase QuickPay’s privacy policy.
  14. Square – To process online payment for donations and purchased Services. Please see Square’s privacy policy.
  15. Mailchimp – For sending reminders and promotional material via e-mail and social media websites. Please see Mailchimp’s privacy policy.
  16. ConstantConact – For sending reminders and promotional material via e-mail and social media websites. Please see ConstantContact’s privacy policy.

We assume no liability whatsoever for any disclosure of Personal Information due to unauthorized third-party access or other acts of third parties, or any other acts or omissions beyond our reasonable control.

SECURITY

We make reasonable efforts to preserve the privacy and confidentiality of Your Personal Information shared with Us. However, You understand and acknowledge that no internet site can fully eliminate security risks associated with protecting such information. Further, while We have in place security measures to protect Your Personal Information against unauthorized disclosure We cannot guarantee the security of any information transmitted on the internet and You agree to do so at Your own risk. 

The personal information shared by You will be stored in servers located in the United States, European Union, and India which uphold high data protection standards.

CHILDREN’S PRIVACY

VCF does not knowingly collect information from children under the age of 13 and does not target its websites to children under 13. We encourage parents and guardians to take an active role in their children’s online activities and interests. VCF however takes no liability or responsibility for any mishap or untoward incident of any nature whatsoever that may arise inter alia from the use / activities and interests of children below the age of 13 years. 

CALIFORNIA RESIDENTS HAVE SPECIFIC PRIVACY RIGHTS

California Civil Code section 1798.83, also known as the “Shine the Light” law permits our users who are California residents to request and obtain from us, once a year and free of charge information about categories of personal information (if any) we disclosed to third parties for direct marketing purposes and the names and addresses of all third parties with which we shared personal information in the immediately preceding calendar year. if you are a California resident and would like to make such a request, please submit your request in writing to us using the contact information provided below.

If you are under 18 years of age, reside in California, and have a registered account with a Service, you have the right to request removal of unwanted data (name, address, email, phone number, etc) that you publicly post on the Services. To request removal of such data, please contact us using the contact information provided below, and include the email address associated with your account and a statement that you reside in California. We will make sure the data is not publicly displayed on the Services, but please be aware that the data may not be completely or comprehensively removed from all our systems (e.g., backups, etc.).

CCPA Privacy Notice

The California code of regulations defines a “resident” as:

  • every individual who is in the state of California for other than a temporary or transitory purpose and
  • every individual who is domiciled in the state of California and who is outside the state of California for a temporary or transitory purpose

All other individuals are defined as “non-residents”.

If this definition of “resident” applies to you, we must adhere to certain rights and obligations regarding your personal information.

What categories of your personal information to be collect?

We have collected the following categories of personal information in the past twelve (12) months:

Category Examples Collected
A. identifiers Contact details, such as real name, alias,  postal address, telephone or mobile contact number, unique personal identifier, online identifier, Internet protocol address, the mail address and account name. YES
B. Personal information categories listed in the California Customer Records statue. Contact information YES
C. Protected classification characteristics under California or federal law. Gender and date of birth NO
D. Commercial information. Transaction information, purchase history, financial details and payment information NO
E. Biometric information. Fingerprints and voiceprints NO
F. Internet or other similar network activity. Browsing history, search history, online behavior, interest data, and interactions with our and other websites, applications, systems and advertisements YES
G. Geolocation data Device location YES
H.  Audio, electronics, visual, thermal, olfactory, or similar information Images and audio, video or conversation recordings created in connection with delivery of our services YES
I. Professional or employment related information Business contact details in order to provide you our services at a business level, job title as well as work history and professional qualifications if you apply for a job with us NO
J. Education information Student records and directly information NO
K. Inferences drawn from other personal information Inferences drawn from any of the collected personal information listed above to create a profile or summary about, for example, an individual’s preferences and characteristics NO

We may also collect other personal information outside of these categories instances where you interact with us in person, online, or by phone or mail in the context of:

  • Receiving help through our customer support channels;
  • Participation in customer service or contest; and
  • Facilitation in the delivery of our services and to respond to your inquiries

How do we use and share your personal information?

VCF collects and shares your personal information through:

  • Targeting cookies/marketing cookies
  • Social media cookies
  • Beacon/pixels/tags

More information about our data collection and sharing practices can be found in this privacy notice. You may contact us by email at info@vedantausa.org or by referring to the contact details at the bottom of this document.

If you are using an authorized agent to exercise your right to opt out (e.g., inclusion of their information in our user database) we may deny your request if the authorized agent does not submit proof that they have been validly authorized to act on your behalf.

Will your information be shared with anyone else?

We may disclose your personal information with our service providers pursuant to a written contract between us and each service provider. Each service provider is a for-profit entity that processes the information on our behalf. The current list of our service providers can be found in below.

We may use your personal information for our business purposes such as for undertaking internal research for technological development and demonstration. This is not considered to be “selling” of your personal data.

VCF has disclosed this following categories of personal information to third parties for a business or commercial purpose in the preceding twelve (12) months:

  • Category B. Personal information, as defined in the California Customer Records law, such as your name, contact information.

 The categories of third parties to whom we disclose personal information for the business or commercial purpose can be found under “Who will your information be shared with?”.

Your rights with respect to your personal data

Right to request deletion of the data – Request to delete

You can ask for the deletion of your personal information. If you ask us to delete your personal information, we will respect your request and delete your personal information, subject to certain exceptions provided by law, such as (but not limited to) the exercise by another consumer of his or her right to free speech, our compliance requirements resulting from a legal obligation or any processing that may be required to protect against illegal activities.

Right to be informed – Request to know

Depending on the circumstances, you have a right to know:

  • whether we collect and use your personal information;
  • the categories of personal information that we collect;
  • the purposes for which we collected personal information is used;
  • whether we sell your information to third parties
  • the categories of third parties to whom the personal information was sold or disclosed for a business purpose; and
  • the business or commercial purpose for collecting or selling personal information

In accordance with applicable law we are not obligated to provide or delete any consumer information that is de-identified in response to a consumer request or to re-identify individual data to verify a consumer request.

Right to non-discrimination for the exercise of a consumer’s privacy rights

We will not discriminate against you if you exercise your privacy rights.

Verification process

Upon receiving request we will need to verify your identity to determine you are the same person about home we have information in our system. These verification efforts require us to ask you to provide information so that we can match it with the information you have previously provided us. For instance, depending on the type of request you submit, we may ask you to provide certain information so that we can match the information you provide with the information we already have on file, or we may contact you through a communication method (e.g., phone or email) that you have previously provided to us. We may also use other verification methods and the circumstances dictate.

We will only use personal information provided in Your request to verify Your identity or authority to make the request. To the extent possible, we will avoid requesting additional information from you for the purpose of verification. If however, we cannot verify your identity from the information already maintained by us, we may request that you provide additional information for the purposes of verifying your identity, and for security or fraud prevention purposes. We will delete such additionally provided information as soon as we finish verifying you.

Other privacy rights

  • you may object to the processing of your personal data
  • you may request correction of your personal data if it is incorrect or no longer relevant, or ask to restrict the processing of the data
  • you can designate an authorized agent to make a request under the CCPA on your behalf. We may deny a request from an authorized agent that does not submit proof that they have been validly authorized to act on your behalf in accordance with the CCPA.
  • you may request to opt out from future selling of your personal information to third parties. Upon receiving a request to opt out, we will act upon the request as soon as reasonably possible but no later than 15 days from the date of the request submission.

To exercise these rights, you can contact us by email at info@vedantausa.org or by referring to the contact details at the bottom of this document. If you have a complaint about how we handle our your data, we would like to hear from you.

EU CITIZENS’ DATA – GDPR

We are a “data controller” for the purposes of the Data Protection Act 1998 and (with effect from 25th May 2018) the EU General Data Protection Regulation 2016/679 (“Data Protection Law”). This means that we are responsible for, and control the processing of, your personal information.

Our servers are located in France. If you are accessing our services from outside France, please be aware that your information will be transferred to, stored, and processed by us in our facilities and by those third parties with whom we may share your personal information (see “SHARING INFORMATION WITH THIRD PARTIES” above), in United States and other countries.

If you are a resident in the European Economic Area, then these countries may not necessarily have data protection laws or other similar laws as comprehensive as those in your country. We will however take all necessary measures to protect your personal information in accordance with this privacy notice and applicable law.

European Commission’s Standard Contractual Clauses:

We have implemented measures to protect your personal information, including by using the European Commission’s Standard Contractual Clauses for transfers of personal information between us and our third-party providers. These clauses require all recipients to protect all personal information that they process originating from EEA in accordance with European data protection laws and regulations. We have implemented similar appropriate safeguards with our third-party service providers and partners and further details can be provided upon request. If our third party providers process personal data by transferring personal information outside of the EU, they do so according to Standard Contractual Clauses. Copies of their privacy policies can be found by clicking on the links provided next to their names in the section “SHARING INFORMATION WITH THIRD PARTIES” above.

STORAGE AND RETENTION OF PERSONAL INFORMATION

Your Personal Information will not be stored for longer than is necessary for the purposes described in this General Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy or to otherwise meet legal requirements.

You have the right to request that We remove Your Personal Information from our databases and the right to access, update, and correct inaccuracies in Your Personal Information in our custody or control, subject to certain exceptions prescribed by law. If You wish to access, update, or delete Your personal information stored with Us You can do so by emailing Us at info@vedantausa.org.

FRAUDULENT ACTIVITIES

We reserve the right to recover the costs and lawyers’ fees from persons using the Site fraudulently. We reserve the right to initiate legal proceedings against such persons for fraudulent use of the Site.

GRIEVANCES

SHOULD YOU HAVE ANY GRIEVANCES ABOUT THE PROCESSING OF YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION, YOU MAY CONTACT OUR DESIGNATED GRIEVANCE OFFICER FOR THIS PURPOSE GAUTAM JAIN BY EMAILING HIM AT INFO@VEDANTAUSA.ORG. BY USING THIS SITE, YOU CONVEY YOUR CONSENT TO THE TERMS OF THIS PRIVACY POLICY. WE RESERVE THE RIGHT, IN OUR SOLE DISCRETION, TO CHANGE, MODIFY, ADD OR DELETE PORTIONS OF THE TERMS OF THIS PRIVACY POLICY AT ANY TIME, WITHOUT PROVIDING ANY PRIOR NOTICE TO YOU. THE REVISED POLICY WILL BE EFFECTIVE IMMEDIATELY UPON POSTING TO OUR SITE UNLESS OTHERWISE MENTIONED. THIS VERSION OF THE POLICY IS EFFECTIVE FROM THE DAY YOU FIRST USE THE SITE [WWW.VEDANTAUSA.ORG]. YOU SHALL BE BOUND BY THE REVISED PRIVACY POLICY AND IT IS YOUR SOLE RESPONSIBILITY TO CHECK THE SAME FROM TIME TO TIME. YOU ACKNOWLEDGE THAT NO KNOWLEDGE OF THE REVISED PRIVACY POLICY SHALL BE NO DEFENCE IN ANY PROCEEDINGS WITH REGARD TO THE PRIVACY POLICY.