IVF Guide Privacy Policy
Effective Date of Current Policy: June 30, 2024
1. Purpose
This Privacy Policy is incorporated by reference into the Company Terms of Service (the “Terms”). The terms “Company,” “we,” and “us” refer to IVF Guide, Inc., a company duly incorporated under the laws of the United States and located at the address indicated below. This Privacy Policy is designed to help you understand how we collect, use, process, and share your Personal Information and to help you understand and exercise your privacy rights.
2. Scope
This Privacy Policy applies to Personal Information processed by us, including on our websites, mobile applications, and other online or offline offerings. To make this Privacy Policy easier to read, our websites, mobile applications, and other offerings are collectively called “Services.”
3. Personal Information We Collect
The categories of Personal Information we collect depends on how you interact with us, our Services, and the requirements of applicable law. We collect information that you provide to us (e.g., interacting with the Services, participating in surveys, submitting a review of a doctor, and requesting Services, or information), information we obtain automatically when you use our Services, and information from other sources such as third-party services and organizations, as described below.
3.1 A. Information You Provide to Us Directly
When you use our Services or engage in certain activities, such as responding to surveys or contacting us directly, we may collect information about you.
Account Information. If you create an account, with us, we may collect information that directly or indirectly identifies or relates to you (“Personal Information”) such as your name, email address, as well as your other interests that are pertinent to the Services such as, to the extent you elect to provide it to us: fertility-oriented conditions and fertility treatments.
Communications with Us. We may collect additional Personal Information from you such as your name or email address when you choose to request information about our Services, register for Company’s newsletter, request to receive customer or technical support, or otherwise communicate with us.
Reviews. If you are a patient and elect to take a survey on your doctor or clinic, all of the data provided (except your name, email address and employer) may be included in the review, and, as such, will be made publicly available on our Site.
Surveys. From time to time, we may contact you to participate in online surveys. If you do decide to participate, you may be asked to provide certain information which may include Personal Information. All information collected from your participation in our surveys is provided by you voluntarily. We may use such information to improve our products, Site and/or services and in any manner consistent with the policies provided herein.
Posts and Private Messages. Company may decide to offer publicly accessible blogs, private messages, or community forums. You should be aware that when you disclose information about yourself in Company’s blogs, private messages, and community forums, our website will collect the information you provide in such submissions, including any Personal Information. If you choose to submit content to any public area of the Site, such content will be considered “public” and will not be subject to the privacy protections set forth herein.
Purchases. We may collect Personal Information and details associated with your purchases, including payment information. Any payments made via our Services are processed by third-party payment processors. We do not directly collect or store any payment card information entered through our Services, but we may receive information associated with your payment card information (e.g., your billing details).
Conferences, Trade Shows, and Other Events. We may collect Personal Information from individuals when we attend conferences, trade shows, wellness fairs, and other events.
Business Development and Strategic Partnerships. We may collect Personal Information from individuals and third parties to assess and pursue potential business opportunities.
Job Applications. We may post job openings and opportunities on our Services. If you reply to one of these postings by submitting your application, CV and/or cover letter to us, we will collect and use your information to assess your qualifications
3.2 Information We Collect Automatically
We may collect Personal Information automatically when you use our Services:
Automatic Data Collection. We may collect certain information automatically when you use our Services, such as your Internet protocol (IP) address, user settings, MAC address, cookie identifiers, mobile carrier, other unique identifiers, browser or device information, location information (including approximate location derived from IP address), and Internet service provider. We may also automatically collect information regarding your use of our Services, such as pages that you visit before, during and after using our Services, information about the links you click, the types of content you interact with, the frequency and duration of your activities, and other information about how you use our Services.
Cookies, Pixel Tags/Web Beacons, and Other Technologies. We, as well as third parties that provide content or other functionality on our Services, may use cookies, pixel tags, local storage, and other technologies (“Technologies”) to automatically collect information through your use of our Services.
- Cookies. Cookies are small text files placed in device browsers that store preferences and facilitate and enhance your experience.
- Pixel Tags/Web Beacons. A pixel tag (also known as a web beacon) is a piece of code embedded in our Services that collects information about engagement on our Services. The use of a pixel tag allows us to record, for example, that a user has visited a particular web page or clicked on a particular advertisement. We may also include web beacons in emails to understand whether messages have been opened, acted on, or forwarded.
Our uses of these Technologies fall into the following general categories:
- Operationally Necessary. This includes Technologies that allow you access to our Services, applications, and tools that are required to identify irregular website behavior, prevent fraudulent activity, and improve security or that allow you to make use of our functionality;
- Performance-Related. We may use Technologies to assess the performance of our Services, including as part of our analytic practices to help us understand how individuals use our Services (see Analytics below);
- Functionality-Related. We may use Technologies that allow us to offer you enhanced functionality when accessing or using our Services. This may include identifying you when you sign into our Services or keeping track of your specified preferences, interests, or past items viewed.
Analytics. We may use Technologies and other third-party tools to process analytics information on our Services. Some of our analytics partners include:
- Google Analytics. For more information, please visit Google Analytics’ Privacy Policy. To learn more about how to opt-out of Google Analytics’ use of your information, please click here.
Social Media Platforms. Our Services may contain social media buttons such as Google and Facebook (that might include widgets such as the “share this” button or other interactive mini programs). These features may collect your IP address, which page you are visiting on our Services, and may set a cookie to enable the feature to function properly. Your interactions with these platforms are governed by the privacy policy of the company providing it.
3.3 Information Collected from Other Sources
We may obtain information about you from other sources, including through third-party services and organizations. For example, if you access our Services through a third-party application, such as an app store, a third-party login service, or a social networking site, we may collect information about you from that third-party application that you have made available via your privacy settings.
4. How We Use Personal Information
We acquire, hold, use, and process Personal Information about individuals for a variety of business purposes, including to provide our Services and for administrative purposes, as described below.
4.1. To Provide Products, Services, or Information Requested. We use your information to fulfill our contract with you and provide you with our Services, including to:
• Generally manage your information and accounts;
• Respond to questions, comments, and other requests;
• Provide access to certain areas, functionalities, and features of Company’s Services;
• Contact you to answer requests for customer support or technical support;
• Allow you to register for events;
• Facilitate the exchange of information regarding reviews, e.g., by sending questions to reviewers (if such reviewers have not opted-out), and then providing responses to the users that asked those questions.
4.2. Administrative Purposes. Company may use Personal Information about you for its administrative purposes, including to:
• Measure interest in Company’s Services;
• Develop new products and Services;
• Ensure internal quality control;
• Verify your identity;
• Communicate about your account and activities on Company’s Services and systems, and, in Company’s discretion, changes to any Company policy;
• Send email to the email address you provide to us to verify your account and for operational purposes, such as account management, customer service, or system maintenance;
• Verify that you received care from a health care provider for whom you submit a review;
• Process payment for products or services purchased;
• Process applications and transactions;
• Prevent potentially prohibited or illegal activities;
• Pursue our legitimate interests such as direct research and development, network and information security, and fraud prevention;
• Detect security incidents, protect against malicious, deceptive, fraudulent, or illegal activity, and prosecute those responsible for that activity;
• Improve, upgrade, or enhance our Services;
• Debug to identify and repair errors with our Services;
• Conduct audits relating to interactions, transactions, and other compliance activities;
• Share information with third parties as needed to provide the Services;
• Enforce our agreements, Terms, and policies; and
• Comply with our legal obligations.
4.3. To Provide Information Regarding Us and our Services. We may use Personal Information about you to provide you information regarding the Company and its Services. For example, we may send you promotional emails regarding new features or benefits of our Services, or non-promotional emails regarding updates to our Terms or this Privacy Policy.
4.4. Other Purposes
We also use your information for other purposes as requested by you or as permitted by applicable law.
Consent. We may use Personal Information for other purposes that are clearly disclosed to you at the time you provide Personal Information or with your consent.
De-identified and Aggregated Information. We may use Personal Information and other information about you to create de-identified and/or aggregated information, such as de-identified demographic information, de-identified location information, information about the device from which you access our Services, or other analyses we create.
Content You Share with Friends or Colleagues. Our Services may offer various tools and functionalities. For example, we may allow you to provide information about your friends through our referral services. Our referral services may allow you to forward or share certain content with a friend or colleague, such as an email inviting your friend to use our Services. Please only share with us contact information of people with whom you have a relationship (e.g., relative, friend, neighbor, or co-worker).
5. Information We Share
We disclose your information to third parties for a variety of business purposes, including to provide our Services, to protect us or others, or in the event of a major business transaction such as a merger, sale, or asset transfer, as described below.
We Use Vendors and Service Providers. We may share any information we receive with vendors and service providers. The types of service providers (processors) to whom we entrust Personal Information include service providers for: (i) provision of IT and related services; (ii) provision of information and services you have requested; (iii) payment processing; (iv) customer service activities; and (v) in connection with the provision of the Site. Company has executed appropriate contracts with our service providers that prohibit them from using or sharing Personal Information except as necessary to perform the contracted services on our behalf or to comply with applicable legal requirements.
Reviews. To the extent you decide to post reviews on the Site, other users will be able to see your reviews, except for your name, email address, and employer.
Other Users/Website Visitors. As described above in “Personal Information We Collect,” our Services allow you to share your profile and other content with other users or publicly, including to those who do not use our Services.
APIs/SDKs. We may use third-party Application Program Interfaces (“APIs”) and Software Development Kits (“SDKs”) as part of the functionality of our Services. For more information about our use of APIs and SDKs, please contact us as set forth in “Contact Us” below.
Disclosures to Protect Us or Others (e.g., as Required by Law and Similar Disclosures). We may access, preserve, and disclose any information we store associated with you to external parties if we, in good faith, believe doing so is required or appropriate to: comply with law enforcement or national security requests and legal process, such as a court order or subpoena; protect your, our, or others’ rights, property, or safety; enforce our policies or contracts; collect amounts owed to us; or assist with an investigation or prosecution of suspected or actual illegal activity.
Merger, Sale, or Other Asset Transfers. If we are involved in a merger, acquisition, financing due diligence, reorganization, bankruptcy, receivership, purchase or sale of assets, or transition of service to another provider, your information may be sold or transferred as part of such a transaction, as permitted by law and/or contract.
6. Your Privacy Choices and Rights
Your Privacy Choices. The privacy choices you may have about your Personal Information are determined by applicable law and are described below.
- Email Communications. If you receive an unwanted email from us, you can use the unsubscribe link found at the bottom of the email to opt out of receiving future emails. Note that you will continue to receive transaction-related emails regarding products or Services you have requested.
We process requests to be placed on do-not-contact lists as required by applicable law.
“Do Not Track.” Do Not Track (“DNT”) is a privacy preference that users can set in certain web browsers. Please note that we do not respond to or honor DNT signals or similar mechanisms transmitted by web browsers.
Cookies You may stop or restrict the placement of Technologies on your device or remove them by adjusting your preferences as your browser or device permits. However, if you adjust your preferences, our Services may not work properly. Please note that cookie-based opt-outs are not effective on mobile applications.
Your Privacy Rights. In accordance with applicable law, you may have the right to:
Access Personal Information about you, including: (i) confirming whether we are processing your Personal Information; (ii) obtaining access to or a copy of your Personal Information in a structured, commonly used, and machine readable format; and (iii) receiving an electronic copy of Personal Information that you have provided to us, or asking us to send that information to another company in a structured, commonly used, and machine readable format (the “right of data portability”);
Request Correction of your Personal Information where it is inaccurate or incomplete. In some cases, we may provide self-service tools that enable you to update your Personal Information;
Request Deletion of your Personal Information;
Request Restriction of or Object our processing of your Personal Information including where the processing of your Personal Information is based on our legitimate interest; and
Withdraw your Consent to our processing of your Personal Information. If you are a resident of the European Economic Area, United Kingdom, or Switzerland, you may revoke your consent at any time via email to the address listed in section 13 below. Revoking your consent does not affect the lawfulness of any processing based on your consent before its revocation.
7. Data Retention
Company retains the personal information we receive as described in this Privacy Policy for as long as you use our Services or as necessary to fulfill the purpose(s) for which it was collected, provide our Services, resolve disputes, establish legal defenses, conduct audits, pursue legitimate business purposes, enforce our agreements, and comply with applicable laws.
8. Security of Your Information
We take steps to ensure that your information is treated securely and in accordance with this Privacy Policy. Unfortunately, the Internet cannot be guaranteed to be 100% secure, and we cannot ensure or warrant the security of any information you provide to us. We do not accept liability for unintentional disclosure.
By using the Site or providing Personal Information to us, you agree that we may communicate with you electronically regarding security, privacy, and administrative issues relating to your use of the Site. If we learn of a security system’s breach, we may attempt to notify you electronically by posting a notice on the Site or sending an email to you. You may have a legal right to receive this notice in writing.
9. Transfers of Personal Information to Other Countries
All Personal Information that we collect or process may be transferred, processed, or stored outside of the country where you live, including, but not limited to, the United States. Laws regarding Personal Information vary among countries, with some providing greater data protection or rights than others. For example, the European Commission has determined that United States law currently does not provide protection of Personal Information equivalent to the law of the European Economic Area due to United States laws like the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978, which allows the United States Government to conduct electronic surveillance with court approval, and other laws permitting federal and state authorities to request that we provide information, including Personal Information, for law enforcement or national security purposes. In contrast, the European Commission has issued “adequacy determinations” that certain other countries outside of the European Economic Area adequately protect Personal Information.
Regardless of where your Personal Information is stored or processed, we apply the protections and safeguards described in this Privacy Policy, including contracts with service providers that prohibit them from using or sharing Personal Information except as necessary to perform the contracted services or as required by law, which contracts may include Standard Contractual Clauses approved by the European Commission as providing appropriate data protection safeguards, as well as technical safeguards like encryption. For more information about these safeguards, please contact us as set forth below.
10. Supplemental Notice for Nevada Residents
If you are a resident of Nevada, you have the right to opt-out of the sale of certain Personal Information to third parties who intend to license or sell that Personal Information. You can exercise this right by contacting us at privacy@ivfguide.com with the subject line “Nevada Do Not Sell Request” and providing us with your name and the email address associated with your account. Please note that we do not currently sell your Personal Information as sales are defined in Nevada Revised Statutes Chapter 603A. If you have any questions, please contact us as set forth below.
11. Children’s Privacy
The Services are not directed to children under 13 (or other age as required by local law), and we do not knowingly collect Personal Information from children. If you are a parent or guardian and believe your child has uploaded Personal Information to our site without your consent, you may contact us as described in “Contact Us” below. If we become aware that a child has provided us with Personal Information in violation of applicable law, we will delete any Personal Information we have collected, unless we have a legal obligation to keep it, and terminate the child’s account, if applicable.
12. Consumer Health Data
The Personal Information that we collect, use, process, and share may include Consumer Health Data, meaning information that is linked to, or reasonably linkable to, a consumer and that identifies, or may be used to identify, a consumer’s past, present, or future physical or mental health status.
Like other Personal Information that you provide to us as described in Section 3.1 above, we collect Consumer Health Data that you include in your communications with us, reviews, surveys, posts and private messages.
We may use Consumer Health Data about individuals for a variety of business purposes, including to provide products, services, or information requested as described in section 4.1 above, for administrative purposes as described in section 4.2, to provide information regarding us and our services as described in section 4.3, or for other purposes as described in section 4.4.
Like other Personal Information, and as described in section 5 above, we may disclose your Consumer Health Data to third parties for a variety of business purposes, including to provide our Services. We may share Consumer Health Data with vendors and service providers subject to contractual confidentiality obligations, in reviews or in communications to other website users to the extent you choose to include your Consumer Health Data in either, in disclosures as required to protect Us or others, or in the event of a major business transaction such as a merger, sale, or asset transfer.
In accordance with applicable law, you may exercise the rights specified in section 6 (“Your Privacy Rights”) with regard to your Consumer Health Data by contacting Us as provided in section 14 below. When submitting a request pursuant to section 6, please specify whether you are making your request with regard to all Personal Information or to Consumer Health Data only.
13. Other Provisions
Third-Party Websites/Applications. The Services may contain links to other websites/applications and other websites/applications may reference or link to our Services. These third-party services are not controlled by us. We encourage our users to read the privacy policies of each website and application with which they interact. We do not endorse, screen, or approve, and are not responsible for, the privacy practices or content of such other websites or applications. Providing Personal Information to third-party websites or applications is at your own risk.
Supervisory Authority. If you are located in the European Economic Area, Switzerland, or the United Kingdom, you have the right to lodge a complaint with a supervisory authority if you believe our processing of your Personal Information violates applicable law.
Changes to our Privacy Policy. We may revise this Privacy Policy from time to time at our sole discretion. If there are any material changes to this Privacy Policy, we will notify you as required by applicable law. You understand and agree that you will be deemed to have accepted the updated Privacy Policy if you continue to use our Services after the new Privacy Policy takes effect.
14. Contact Us
If you have any questions about our privacy practices or this Privacy Policy, or to exercise your rights as detailed in this Privacy Policy, please contact us at:
IVF Guide, Attn: Randy Puro, Data Protection Officer
2443 Fillmore St. #133, San Francisco, CA 94115
privacy@ivfguide.com
EU Representative. VeraSafe has been appointed as the Company’s representative in the European Union for data protection matters, pursuant to Article 27 of the General Data Protection Regulation of the European Union. VeraSafe can be contacted in addition to privacy@ivfguide.com only on matters related to the processing of personal data. To make such an inquiry or file a complaint, please contact VeraSafe using this contact form: https://www.verasafe.com/privacy-services/contact-article-27-representative or via telephone at: +420 228 881 031. Alternatively, VeraSafe can be contacted at:
VeraSafe Ireland Ltd.
Unit 3D North Point House, North Point Business Park, New Mallow Road
Cork T23AT2P, Ireland.
UK Representative.VeraSafe has been appointed as the Company’s representative in the United Kingdom for data protection matters, pursuant to Article 27 of the United Kingdom General Data Protection Regulation. If you are located within the United Kingdom VeraSafe, can be contacted in addition to or instead of privacy@ivfguide.com only on matters related to the processing of personal data. To make such an inquiry or file a complaint, please contact VeraSafe using this contact form: https://verasafe.com/public-resources/contact-data-protection-representative or via telephone at +44 (20) 4532 2003. Alternatively, VeraSafe can be contacted at:
VeraSafe Ireland Ltd.
Unit 3D North Point House, North Point Business Park, New Mallow Road
Cork T23AT2P, Ireland.
15. Revision history
| Title | Effective Date |
|---|---|
| Company Updated Privacy Policy | September 11, 2019 |
| Third Party Analytics Update | November 24, 2019 |
| Company Annual Review | April 27, 2020 |
| UK GDPR Representative Update | April 19, 2021 |
| Privacy Policy Update | January 11, 2022 |
| Privacy Policy Update | March 24, 2023 |
| Transfers of Personal Information to Other Countries Update | June 29, 2023 |
| Removed unused Analytics partners | Sep 12, 2023 |
| Update privacy email address | Jan 26, 2024 |
| Add Consumer Health Data | Jun 30, 2024 |