OpenCounseling Privacy Policy for European Union (EU) and the United Kingdom
Privacy policy
Updated June 23, 2020
1. Introduction
1.1 We are committed to safeguarding the privacy of our website visitors and service users of www.opencounseling.com (the “Website”).
1.2 This policy applies to users who are based in the European Economic Area (“EEA”) and the United Kingdom. This policy applies where we are acting as a data controller with respect to the personal data of our website visitors and service users; in other words, where we determine the purposes and means of the processing of that personal data.
1.3 By using our website and agreeing to this policy, you consent to our use of cookies in accordance with the terms of this policy.
1.4 In this policy, “we”, “us” and “our” refer to OpenCounseling.
2. How we use your personal data
2.1 In this Section 2 we have set out:
(a) the general categories of personal data that we may process;
(b) the purposes for which we may process personal data; and
(c) the legal bases of the processing.
2.2 We may process data about your use of our website and services (“usage data“). The usage data may include your IP address, geographical location, browser type and version, operating system, referral source, length of visit, page views and website navigation paths, as well as information about the timing, frequency and pattern of your service use. The source of the usage data is our analytics tracking system. This usage data may be processed for the purposes of analysing the use of the website and services. The legal basis for this processing is our legitimate interests, namely monitoring and improving our website and services.
2.3 We also collect information on counseling providers provided by third-party vendors and our own research from internet sources (“counselor data”). The legal basis for this processing is our legitimate interests, namely the proper administration of our website and business.
2.4 We may process information contained in any inquiry you submit to us regarding goods and/or services (“inquiry data“). The inquiry data may be processed for the purposes of offering, marketing and selling relevant goods and/or services to you. The legal basis for this processing is consent.
2.5 We may process information contained in or relating to any communication that you send to us (“correspondence data“). The correspondence data may include the communication content and metadata associated with the communication. Our website will generate the metadata associated with communications made using the website contact forms. The correspondence data may be processed for the purposes of communicating with you and record-keeping. The legal basis for this processing is our legitimate interests, namely the proper administration of our website and business and communications with users.
2.6 We may process any of your personal data identified in this policy where necessary for the establishment, exercise or defence of legal claims, whether in court proceedings or in an administrative or out-of-court procedure. The legal basis for this processing is our legitimate interests, namely the protection and assertion of our legal rights, your legal rights and the legal rights of others.
2.7 We may process any of your personal data identified in this policy where necessary for the purposes of obtaining or maintaining insurance coverage, managing risks, or obtaining professional advice. The legal basis for this processing is our legitimate interests, namely the proper protection of our business against risks.
2.8 In addition to the specific purposes for which we may process your personal data set out in this Section 2, we may also process any of your personal data where such processing is necessary for compliance with a legal obligation to which we are subject, or in order to protect your vital interests or the vital interests of another natural person.
2.9 Please do not supply any other person’s personal data to us, unless we prompt you to do so.
3. Providing your personal data to others
3.1 We may disclose your personal data to any member of our group of companies (this means our subsidiaries, our ultimate holding company and all its subsidiaries) insofar as reasonably necessary for the purposes, and on the legal bases, set out in this policy.
3.2 We may disclose your personal data to our insurers and/or professional advisers insofar as reasonably necessary for the purposes of obtaining or maintaining insurance coverage, managing risks, obtaining professional advice, or the establishment, exercise or defense of legal claims, whether in court proceedings or in an administrative or out-of-court procedure.
3.3 In addition to the specific disclosures of personal data set out in this Section 3, we may disclose your personal data where such disclosure is necessary for compliance with a legal obligation to which we are subject, or in order to protect your vital interests or the vital interests of another natural person. We may also disclose your personal data where such disclosure is necessary for the establishment, exercise or defence of legal claims, whether in court proceedings or in an administrative or out-of-court procedure.
4. International transfers of your personal data
4.1 In this Section 4, we provide information about the circumstances in which your personal data may be transferred to countries outside the European Economic Area (EEA).
4.2 We have offices and facilities in the United State of America.
4.3 The hosting facilities for our website are situated in the United State of America.
4.4 You acknowledge that personal data that you submit for publication through our website or services may be available, via the internet, around the world. We cannot prevent the use (or misuse) of such personal data by others.
5. Retaining and deleting personal data
5.1 This Section 5 sets out our data retention policies and procedure, which are designed to help ensure that we comply with our legal obligations in relation to the retention and deletion of personal data.
5.2 Personal data that we process for any purpose or purposes shall not be kept for longer than is necessary for that purpose or those purposes up to a maximum period of ten (10) years.
5.3 We will retain your personal data as follows: where such retention is necessary for compliance with a legal obligation to which we are subject, or in order to protect your vital interests or the vital interests of another natural person.
6. Amendments
6.1 We may update this policy from time to time by publishing a new version on our website.
6.2 You should check this page occasionally to ensure you are happy with any changes to this policy.
6.3 We may notify you of changes to this policy by email or through the private messaging system on our website.
7. Your rights
7.1 In this Section 7, we have summarized the rights that you have under data protection law. Some of the rights are complex, and not all of the details have been included in our summaries. Accordingly, you should read the relevant laws and guidance from the regulatory authorities for a full explanation of these rights.
7.2 Your principal rights under data protection law are:
(a) the right to access;
(b) the right to rectification;
(c) the right to erasure;
(d) the right to restrict processing;
(e) the right to object to processing;
(f) the right to data portability;
(g) the right to complain to a supervisory authority; and
(h) the right to withdraw consent.
7.3 You have the right to confirmation as to whether or not we process your personal data and, where we do, access to the personal data, together with certain additional information. That additional information includes details of the purposes of the processing, the categories of personal data concerned and the recipients of the personal data. Providing the rights and freedoms of others are not affected, we will supply to you a copy of your personal data. The first copy will be provided free of charge, but additional copies may be subject to a reasonable fee.
7.4 You have the right to have any inaccurate personal data about you rectified and, taking into account the purposes of the processing, to have any incomplete personal data about you completed.
7.5 In some circumstances you have the right to the erasure of your personal data without undue delay. Those circumstances include: the personal data are no longer necessary in relation to the purposes for which they were collected or otherwise processed; you withdraw consent to consent-based processing; you object to the processing under certain rules of applicable data protection law; the processing is for direct marketing purposes; and the personal data have been unlawfully processed. However, there are exclusions of the right to erasure. The general exclusions include where processing is necessary: for exercising the right of freedom of expression and information; for compliance with a legal obligation; or for the establishment, exercise or defence of legal claims.
7.6 In some circumstances you have the right to restrict the processing of your personal data. Those circumstances are: you contest the accuracy of the personal data; processing is unlawful but you oppose erasure; we no longer need the personal data for the purposes of our processing, but you require personal data for the establishment, exercise or defense of legal claims; and you have objected to processing, pending the verification of that objection. Where processing has been restricted on this basis, we may continue to store your personal data. However, we will only otherwise process it: with your consent; for the establishment, exercise or defense of legal claims; for the protection of the rights of another natural or legal person; or for reasons of important public interest.
7.7 You have the right to object to our processing of your personal data on grounds relating to your particular situation, but only to the extent that the legal basis for the processing is that the processing is necessary for: the performance of a task carried out in the public interest or in the exercise of any official authority vested in us; or the purposes of the legitimate interests pursued by us or by a third party. If you make such an objection, we will cease to process the personal information unless we can demonstrate compelling legitimate grounds for the processing which override your interests, rights and freedoms, or the processing is for the establishment, exercise or defense of legal claims.
7.8 You have the right to object to our processing of your personal data for direct marketing purposes (including profiling for direct marketing purposes). If you make such an objection, we will cease to process your personal data for this purpose.
7.9 You have the right to object to our processing of your personal data for scientific or historical research purposes or statistical purposes on grounds relating to your particular situation, unless the processing is necessary for the performance of a task carried out for reasons of public interest.
7.10 To the extent that the legal basis for our processing of your personal data is:
(a) consent; or
(b) that the processing is necessary for the performance of a contract to which you are party or in order to take steps at your request prior to entering into a contract, and such processing is carried out by automated means, you have the right to receive your personal data from us in a structured, commonly used and machine-readable format. However, this right does not apply where it would adversely affect the rights and freedoms of others.
7.11 If you consider that our processing of your personal information infringes data protection laws, you have a legal right to lodge a complaint with a supervisory authority responsible for data protection. You may do so in the UK or EU member state of your habitual residence, your place of work or the place of the alleged infringement.
7.12 To the extent that the legal basis for our processing of your personal information is consent, you have the right to withdraw that consent at any time. Withdrawal will not affect the lawfulness of processing before the withdrawal.
7.13 You may exercise any of your rights in relation to your personal data by written notice to us, in addition to the other methods specified in this Section 7.
8. About cookies
8.1 A cookie is a file containing an identifier (a string of letters and numbers) that is sent by a web server to a web browser and is stored by the browser. The identifier is then sent back to the server each time the browser requests a page from the server.
8.2 Cookies may be either “persistent” cookies or “session” cookies: a persistent cookie will be stored by a web browser and will remain valid until its set expiry date, unless deleted by the user before the expiry date; a session cookie, on the other hand, will expire at the end of the user session, when the web browser is closed.
8.3 Cookies do not typically contain any information that personally identifies a user, but personal information that we store about you may be linked to the information stored in and obtained from cookies.
9. Cookies that we use
9.1 Some cookies we set, and some are set by service providers. These cookies may be stored on your computer when you visit our website.
9.2 We use Google Analytics to analyse the use of our website. Google Analytics gathers information about website use by means of cookies. The information gathered relating to our website is used to create reports about the use of our website. Google’s privacy policy is available at: https://www.google.com/policies/privacy/.
9.3 We use Hotjar in order to better understand our users’ needs and to optimize this service and experience. Hotjar is a technology service that helps us better understand our users’ experience (e.g. how much time they spend on which pages, which links they choose to click, what users do and don’t like, etc.) and this enables us to build and maintain our service with user feedback. Hotjar uses cookies and other technologies to collect data on our users’ behavior and their devices. This includes a device’s IP address (processed during your session and stored in a de-identified form), device screen size, device type (unique device identifiers), browser information, geographic location (country only), and the preferred language used to display our website. Hotjar stores this information on our behalf in a pseudonymized user profile. Hotjar is contractually forbidden to sell any of the data collected on our behalf. Hotjar’s privacy policy is available at: https://www.hotjar.com/legal/policies/privacy/.
Necessary Cookies:
Necessary cookies help make a website usable by enabling basic functions like page navigation and access to secure areas of the website. The website cannot function properly without these cookies.
| Name | Provider | Purpose |
| _abck | .list-manage.com | Stores information necessary to sign-up users to newsletter. |
| _AVESTA_ENVIRONMENT | opencounseling.us15.list-manage.com | Stores information relating to which server user is currently using. |
| ak_bmsc | .us15.list-manage.com | Stores information necessary to sign-up users to newsletter. |
| bm_sz | .list-manage.com | Stores information necessary to sign-up users to newsletter. |
| CookieConsent | opencounseling.com | Stores the user’s cookie consent state for the current domain |
| rc::c | google.com | This cookie is used to distinguish between humans and bots. |
| rc::a | google.com | This cookie is used to distinguish between humans and bots. |
| SESS# | opencounseling.com | Preserves users states across page requests. |
| sessionID5 | www.opencounseling.com | Preserves users states across page requests. |
Statistics Cookies
Statistic cookies help website owners to understand how visitors interact with websites by collecting and reporting information anonymously.
| Name | Provider | Purpose |
| _ga | opencounseling.com | Google Analytics: Registers a unique ID that is used to generate statistical data on how the visitor uses the website. |
| _gat | opencounseling.com | Google Analytics: Used by Google Analytics to throttle request rate |
| _gid | opencounseling.com | Google Analytics: Registers a unique ID that is used to generate statistical data on how the visitor uses the website. |
| _hjAbsoluteSessionInProgress | opencounseling.com | Hotjar: The cookie is set so Hotjar can track the beginning of the user’s journey for a total session count. It does not contain any identifiable information. |
| _hjid | opencounseling.com | Hotjar: Sets a unique ID for the session. This allows the website to obtain data on visitor behaviour for statistical purposes. |
| _hjid | opencounseling.com | Hotjar: Sets a unique ID for the session. This allows the website to obtain data on visitor behaviour for statistical purposes. |
| _hjIncludedInSample | opencounseling.com | Hotjar: This session cookie is set to let Hotjar know whether that visitor is included in the sample which is used to generate funnels. |
| _hjTLDTest | opencounseling.com | Hotjar: Helps determine if same Hotjar cookie can be shared across sub-domains. |
| bhsup | opencounseling.com | Stores statistic of which site referred visitor to opencounseling.com |
| collect | google-analytics.com | Google Analytics: Used to send data to Google Analytics about the visitor’s device and behavior. Tracks the visitor across devices and marketing channels. |
| gclid | opencounseling.com | Stores referring information if users is referred from Google Ads |
| hjViewportId | opencounseling.com | Hotjar: Sets a unique ID for the session. This allows the website to obtain data on visitor behaviour for statistical purposes. |
10. Managing cookies
10.1 Most browsers allow you to refuse to accept cookies and to delete cookies. The methods for doing so vary from browser to browser, and from version to version. You can however obtain up-to-date information about blocking and deleting cookies via these links:
(a) https://support.google.com/chrome/answer/95647?hl=en (Chrome);
(b) https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/enable-and-disable-cookies-website-preferences (Firefox);
(c) http://www.opera.com/help/tutorials/security/cookies/ (Opera);
(d) https://support.microsoft.com/en-gb/help/17442/windows-internet-explorer-delete-manage-cookies (Internet Explorer);
(e) https://support.apple.com/kb/PH21411 (Safari); and
(f) https://privacy.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-10-microsoft-edge-and-privacy (Edge).
10.2 Blocking all cookies will have a negative impact upon the usability of many websites.
10.3 If you block cookies, you may not be able to use all the features on our website.
11. Our details
11.1 This website is owned and operated by OpenCounseling, Inc..
11.2 You can write to us at 6272 Pacific Coast Hwy, Suite D, Long Beach, CA 90803
11.3 You can contact us:
(a) by post, to the postal address given above;
(b) using our website contact form;
(c) by telephone, on the contact number published on our website from time to time; or
(d) by email, using the email address published on our website from time to time.
12. Data protection officer
12.1 Our data protection officer’s contact details are through our customer service form: www.opencounseling.com/about/contact .