Privacy Policy

Last Revised on 6/15/22

Our Commitment to Online Privacy

​​At Lauren Liess & Co.(“we,” “us,” “our”), we care about our users’ online privacy (“you,” “your,” “user”). We have this Privacy Policy (the “Policy”) to ensure that you understand what we are doing with your personal information and to remind you that you have rights when it comes to controlling what is shared online.

Please note that this Policy is subject to our Terms of Use Agreement (“ToU”). There are terms in the ToU that materially affect your right to bring a lawsuit against us and other rights in regard to this Policy. As such, you should read the ToU in addition to this Policy.

We know these privacy policies can be tedious to get through. However, by continuing to use our Online Services (as defined below), you agree to let us use your personal information in the ways discussed in this Policy. For this reason, it would greatly benefit you to read this entire Policy.

Services This Policy Covers

This Policy applies to the online services owned by us, including our website, social media accounts, and any future online services we develop (the “Online Services”).

Services This Policy Doesn’t Cover

We love supporting our partners, and to show our appreciation, we may provide links to their websites and services. When you click on one of these links, you are leaving our Online Services, and this Policy no longer applies. The way our partners or other third parties that we do not own do business is out of our hands, and we assume no responsibility for the content, privacy policies, or practices of any third-party website or service. Additionally, when you are using any other third-party platform to interact with our Online Services (e.g., Google, Instagram, or Facebook), you agree to comply with their service policies, and this Policy is in addition to, not in place of, such agreements.

What is Personal Information?

“Personal Information” is any information that may allow for an individual to be personally identified. For example, your name, e-mail address, social security number, phone number, residential address, and credit card details are all considered Personal Information. Other information, such as your interests, economic status, customer number, IP address, geolocation, education, and job title may also be considered Personal Information if that information, when combined with other information, is used to reveal your identity.

Personal Information that We Collect

We only collect Personal Information from you when you voluntarily agree to us collecting and using it. You voluntarily agree to us collecting and using your Personal Information by:

• Directly providing the Personal Information to us: In some circumstances, when interacting with our Online Services, you may be asked to provide specific information so that we can help you with a particular inquiry, or you may give information to us of your own accord, such information may include Personal Information (e.g., your name, e-mail address, phone number, or residential address). For example, you consent for us to use the Personal Information you have provided when you reach out to us by e-mail, through our social media accounts, when you use any “contact us” form on our platforms, when you sign up for an e-mail newsletter, when you interact with our support or customer service teams, or when you comment on our social media posts. You should also be aware that the comments you make on our social media accounts are also likely to be accessible to the public. When providing Personal Information, you permit us to use such information to fulfill your requests and for our legitimate business purposes.
• Interacting with our Online Services: You also permit us to collect other information such as your IP address, browser type, geolocation, device type, click activity on links, frequency of visits to our Online Services, and network connection type while you use our Online Services and interest-based information about you (e.g., your age, gender, location, and likes) when you interact with our social media pages, groups, accounts, or posts on social media platforms. We only receive and share this type of information in anonymized and aggregated forms; this means you are not personally identifiable to us unless the information is already publicly available (e.g., social media engagement data and public social media profiles). However, you should be aware that, in some circumstances, we may be legally required to hand over aggregate data information to law enforcement or regulatory authorities, who may then use this information to reveal your identity. We use cookies and third-party services, such as Google Analytics and Facebook, to help us collect this information.

What About My Passwords?

There may be times where a password is required to access certain accounts, such as when you interact via our social media platforms. These passwords are completely administered by the third-party vendor/platform, and we do not have access to your passwords.

Cookie Policy

Cookies are small files that we transfer to your computer’s hard drive through your browser when you use and interact with our Online Services.

• Types of cookies we use: We use both session cookies, which are erased once you exit your browser, and persistent cookies, which stay on your device for a set period of time or until you manually delete them.
• Why do we use cookies? We mainly use cookies to help ensure you have the best user experience possible and to give us insight into how we can improve our Online Services. We also use cookies to provide us with insight into things like the number of visitors to our website, the type of devices being used to access our website, how visitors ended up on our website, and the general geographic area they are located. As you have probably heard, cookies may also be used to ensure that you see advertisements relevant to your interests. Currently, we do not use targeted advertising on our website or sell any advertising space on our website for third-party use. However, we may, at times, use targeted advertising through Google, Instagram, and Facebook. Google, Instagram, and Facebook use cookies on their platforms to collect information about your interests. When we advertise our Online Services through their platforms, we can select a targeted audience that we hope may be interested in our Online Services. That is why you may see some paid or sponsored advertisements from us while using these platforms.
• Can I block cookies? Most browsers have an option to stop your computer from accepting cookies altogether, as well as an option to stop only certain types of cookies. If you decide to block cookies, our Online Services may operate a little strangely, as we rely on some cookies for our Online Services’ functionality. If it is mainly targeted advertising that you are concerned about, you can choose to specifically opt-out of targeted advertising by going the following links:

Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/settings/?tab=ads
Google – https://adssettings.google.com
Digital Advertising Alliance – http://optout.aboutads.info/

You can learn more about cookies at www.allaboutcookies.org.

Reasons We Collect Personal Information

We NEVER collect your Personal Information for the purpose of selling, renting, trading, or otherwise abusing it. We only use your Personal Information for our legitimate business purposes, including, but not limited to, the following reasons:

• To personalize our online features and content;
• To fulfill or enforce a contract that you have entered into with us;
• To help you efficiently access your information;
• To improve, monitor, and test our Online Services and new products or features;
• To prevent, investigate and address the misuse of our Online Services;
• To learn about the types of people that are using our Online Services and how we can better market to those people;
• To allow you to contact us;
• To allow you to participate in social sharing;
• To allow you to access and participate in our Online Services;
• To respond to your inquiries and fulfill your requests;
• To comply with law enforcement and other regulatory authorities; and
• To communicate with you about our Online Services and features.

Sharing Personal Information with Third Parties

Although we try to limit who we share your Personal Information with, there are situations where sharing is necessary for our legitimate business purposes. We may share your Personal Information with third parties in the following ways:

• Agents: Sometimes, we need to use other trusted companies and individuals to help us provide our Online Services. Whenever a company or individual is working for us, they are acting as our agent. Sometimes our agents may need to access your Personal Information for a particular task, but they do not have the right to use your Personal Information beyond what is necessary and must comply with our privacy practices.
• New Owners: In the event that we are involved in a bankruptcy, merger, acquisition, reorganization, or sale of assets, your Personal Information may be sold or transferred as part of that transaction.
• Third-Party Software and Apps: We use a number of third-party software and apps to make our jobs a little easier. Some Personal Information may be stored, processed, or shared with these apps.
• Law Enforcement: We may sometimes be required to share your Personal Information with law enforcement. We will only share your Personal Information when we believe, in good faith, that sharing your information is necessary to protect our business, our clients, or we are obligated under the law to provide such information. Examples include where a legal warrant or subpoena has been issued to us, where we must report information due to a belief that fraud or misuse of our Online Services has occurred, or where our property or safety, or a client’s property or safety, is at risk. In fraud cases, we may also be required to share your Personal Information with investigatory authorities and banks.

E-mail Policy

• E-mails you can opt-out of: We may sometimes send you e-mails to keep you updated on what is happening with our business and new Online Service offerings. If you are receiving these types of e-mails or other marketing e-mails, it means that you consented to receive these e-mails either by clicking an opt-in box or by otherwise letting us know that it was ok for us to use your e-mail address in this way. Of course, you are always free to opt out of these e-mails by simply clicking “unsubscribe.”
• E-mails you will not be able to opt out of: There are some important e-mails that you will not be able to opt out of. For example, we may notify you that updates have been made to this Policy or in the unlikely event that our security safeguards have been breached.

Personal Information Retention and Your Rights

We only keep your Personal Information for as long as necessary to provide our Online Services and in accordance with our legal obligations. Depending on your residency, under the law (e.g., the California Consumer Privacy Act and General Data Protection Regulation), you may also have the right to request at any time for us to:

• Give you access to any Personal Information that we have processed;
• Disclose third parties we have shared your Personal Information with;
• Correct any Personal Information that may have been incorrectly processed;
• Delete your Personal Information from our storage systems;
• Transfer your Personal Information to another service, when technically feasible; and
• Stop using your Personal Information in specific ways by withdrawing the consent you have given us.

Regardless of whether we are obligated under the law or not, if you would like us to do any of the above, you can contact us using the information provided at the end of this Policy. We will make best efforts to try to fulfill your requests. However, sometimes we may be required to retain your Personal Information in order to comply with our administrative, legal, and/or regulatory obligations. For example, we may be required to keep a history of transactions to report our taxes or may need to retain some Personal Information for law enforcement purposes (e.g., fraud monitoring, detection, and prevention). Additionally, we reserve the right to de-identify your data by removing identifying details rather than delete it completely.

Where Your Personal Information is Processed and Stored

We are a business that is formed and operated in the United States. However, in addition to storing Personal Information directly onto our hard drives, we also may use some third-party cloud storage systems and apps to ensure that your Personal Information is not lost. These third parties may store and transfer your information outside of the United States. In certain situations, the courts, law enforcement agencies, regulatory agencies, or security authorities in those countries might be entitled to access your Personal Information.

Liability for Third-Party Software, Apps & Services

We always use our best efforts to pick reputable third-party software, platforms, services, and apps. However, we do not control such third parties and are not liable for any breach of privacy or data security that occurs due to the fault of these third parties.

Keeping Your Personal Information Safe

We are committed to protecting your Personal Information and have physical, electronic, and managerial systems and procedures in place to help safeguard your Personal Information. Unfortunately, no system can guarantee complete security. Third-party viruses or security failures may result in your Personal Information being compromised. You can help prevent unauthorized access to your Personal Information by using antivirus software, creating strong passwords, and limiting access to your personal computer. In the unlikely event that your Personal Information is compromised due to a security breach on our end, we will notify you, in accordance with the law, as soon as reasonably possible.

Protection of Children

Our Online Services are not targeted or intended to be used by people under the age of 18. All children between the ages of 13 – 17 must have permission from their parent or guardian before accessing our Online Services. If you live outside of the United States, your country may apply stricter age limits. In some cases, even if you are older than 13, you may not be legally allowed to access our Online Services regardless of having parental permission. We do not knowingly collect Personal Information from anyone under the age of 13 and delete such Personal Information as soon as we become aware of it.

Changes Made to This Policy

We may modify this Policy from time to time. The date at the top of this Policy lets you know when this Policy was last revised. It is important to check back here occasionally to make sure you have read the latest policy. By continuing to access or use our Online Services after the policy changes, you allow us to use your Personal Information in the way we describe in our updated policy.

Dispute Resolution

We will always try to resolve your concerns about our privacy practices promptly and hope that together we can find a solution without involving costly legal channels. However, if we cannot come to an agreement, by using our Online Services, you agree to binding arbitration, rather than formal court proceedings, to have the matter resolved. You can read more about this process in our ToU. THE DISPUTE RESOLUTION TERMS IN OUR TOU MATERIALLY AFFECT YOUR ABILITY TO BRING A LAWSUIT AGAINST US. PLEASE READ THESE TERMS CAREFULLY.

Additional ToU Terms

This Privacy Policy is subject to terms stated within our ToU. Specifically, this agreement is subject to all clauses in our ToU regarding warranties, limitation of liability, indemnification, assignment, waiver, severability, applicable law, jurisdiction, and any other ToU provisions that logically ought to apply to this Policy.

Entire Agreement

This Policy and our ToU represent the entire and exclusive agreement between our users and us. All previous written and oral agreements and communications related to the subject matter of this Policy and our ToU are superseded.

Contact Us

Thank you for your patience in getting through all of the necessary legal language in this document! We have tried to be as clear as possible in communicating our expectations regarding our Online Services. However, if you have any questions about this Policy, our ToU, or our Online Services in general, please reach out! We would be more than happy to explain.

Lauren Liess & Co.
PO Box 930 Great Falls, Va 22066
571-926-7825
mail@laurenliess.com