Privacy Policy for:

ABContrast.com, the ABContrast™ System, AUTHENTOLOGY™ and ABSOLUTE HARMONY©

Effective Date: August 9th, 2021, and in conjunction with the ABContrast™ Terms of Use (8-9-21)

~ SUMMARY: WE AREN’T IN THE BUSINESS OF MISUSING OR SELLING YOUR DATA ~

The ABContrast.com website, ABContrast™ System, the field of study called AUTHENTOLOGY™ and the ABSOLUTE HARMONY© companion guidebook are provided by Next Level Services, Inc., a New York corporation (the "Company"). We work diligently to protect the privacy, confidentiality, and security of the personal information (defined below) that we receive. This Privacy Policy describes the principles and practices that apply to the personal information that we collect from individuals (“you”), online or offline, such as individuals who browse through ABContrast, register on ABContrast, use the services provided on ABContrast, interact with ABContrast, communicate with us through telephone, email, text, or other communications means, participate in our interviews, surveys, or promotions, read or receive our newsletters, or apply for employment with us.

Your Agreement to this Privacy Policy

By clicking 'I Accept,' or by creating an ABContrast.com account, or by accessing or otherwise using the ABContrast.com website ("ABContrast") and submitting personal information, you agree to be bound by the ABContrast Privacy Policy ("Policy") as of the date of initial use or sign-up ("Registration Date") as well as any applicable laws, statutes, and regulations.

Furthermore, you agree that we may collect, use, disclose, store, transmit, and/or process such personal information in accordance with this Privacy Policy or as required by law. If you reside in a country or territory that restricts the transfer of personal information out of that country or territory, you agree to the transfer, storage, and processing of your personal information to countries that may not have data protection laws which provide the same level of protection as those that exist in your state or country of residence.

Please do not create an ABContrast account unless you’re at least eighteen (18) years of age OR if under eighteen (18) years of age only use the ABContrast if proper parental / guardian consent is in place. Should we discover that a minor individual has sent personal information directly to us without affirmation of parental / guardian consent, we will use that information only to respond directly to that individual to inform him/her that we will not continue to process his/her personal information. If you are a Provider (counselor – etc.) to a minor, use the same logic & procedure.

Privacy Principles

This Privacy Policy is based on the following privacy principles:

• Access : In those instances where we control your data, we will provide you with
  (i) the opportunity to confirm whether we are processing your personal information;
  (ii) a way to obtain a copy of your personal information that we process;
  (iii) the ability to restrict or object to the processing of your personal information; and
  (iv) the ability to correct, amend, or delete personal information that is inaccurate; all within a reasonable amount of time from the time you submit such a request.

• Accountability for Onward Transfer : We will not disclose your personal information to third parties other than as described in this Privacy Policy or our written agreements with you, and our agreements with third parties with whom we share personal information will reflect our privacy principles.

• Accuracy : We take reasonable steps to ensure that the personal information we have is accurate or rectified without delay if it is determined to be inaccurate.

• Choice : We will provide you with mechanisms that will allow you to opt out of
  (i) our direct marketing campaigns;
  (ii) the disclosure of your personal information to third parties who are not acting as our agents; and
  (iii) the use of your personal information for purposes that are materially different from the purpose for which we originally collected the personal information.

• Data Integrity : You will be able to
  (i) view the personal information that we have about you;
  (ii) correct or modify your personal information if it is inaccurate or incomplete; and
  (iii) limit the collection of data to such data that is relevant to the products and services we provide to you or on your behalf.

• Data Minimization : We process only that personal information which is adequate, relevant, and necessary to achieve the purposes for which it is collected.

• Integrity, Confidentiality, and Security : We take reasonable measures to protect the security of your personal information, and our agreements with third parties with whom we share personal information require similar protections.

• Lawfulness, Fairness, and Transparency : We will process your personal information only when we have a legal basis for doing so, and we will process your personal information in a manner that is fair and transparent to you.

• Non-Discrimination : We will not discriminate against you if you choose to exercise your privacy rights.

• Notice : We will not collect or transfer your personal information without your knowledge. We inform you of such collection and transfer through this Privacy Policy, our written agreements with you, and other disclosures we make available on ABContrast.

• Purpose Limitation : We collect personal information only for specific, explicit, and legitimate purposes, and refrain from further processing that personal information in any manner that is incompatible with those purposes (subject to our reasonable archive, backup, and research practices).

• Recourse, Enforcement, and Liability : We have processes for handling complaints relating to use of your personal information.

• Storage Limitation : We keep data in personally-identifiable form only for as long as necessary to achieve the purposes for which it is being processed (subject to our reasonable archive, backup, and research practices).

Updates

We reserve the right to revise this Privacy Policy at any time by updating this posting without advance notice to you. Such revisions shall be effective immediately, and we encourage you to check this Privacy Policy often for any changes.

Links to External Websites

The ABContrast may link to websites that are operated by third parties. Because such websites are not operated by the Company, they are not subject to this Privacy Policy. We recommend that you read the privacy statements that are posted on these third-party websites to understand their procedures for collecting, using, and disclosing personal information.

What Personal Information We Collect and How

We collect only such personal information as necessary to
(i) provide our products or services to you;
(ii) inform you about our products and services;
(iii) continue our research in the field; and
(iv) improve ABContrast, our products or services, and your experience interacting with us.
We describe below the different ways in which we collect or obtain personal information. Unless otherwise stated below, the legal basis for our processing of your personal information is our legitimate business interest in
(i) providing ABContrast and our products or services to you; or
(ii) considering you as a candidate for employment with us. While the Company may disclose your personal information for the business purposes set forth below, the Company does not sell your personal information to third parties.

If you visit ABContrast: We automatically collect the related Session Data. Session Data is provided to us by your browser, by third-party integrations on ABContrast, and through our log files, which record your activities while browsing ABContrast, such as when you click on a link. We may record some of this data in one or more cookies that we send to your browser. Furthermore, we may collect your computer's internet address and referring website URL.

If you register or create an account: We require that you provide certain personal information during account registration. We collect your name, email address, contact information, date of birth, credit card payment information, and may ask you for other optional information that helps us serve you better.

If you complete an Assessment: We collect your name, email address, contact information, Assessment responses, Session Data, and other information you may choose to provide or associate with your account. In some cases, we ask questions to which the response is optional (such as demographic questions), and these questions are identified as such. In some instances, these optional demographic questions may involve collection of special categories of personal information, such as information regarding your racial or ethnic origin. You are free not to respond to these optional questions. For all optional questions, our legal basis for processing your personal information is your explicit, informed consent.

If you participate in a survey: We may collect personal information such as your name, email address, and any other personal information that you may provide in your survey responses. Participation in surveys is optional, and we give you the ability to opt out of being contacted for surveys at any time.

If you sign up to receive marketing communications: We may collect information on the open rate of the communications, and whether a specific individual has clicked on a link contained in a particular communication. Our marketing communications contain instructions on how to opt out of receiving future marketing communications if you no longer wish to receive them.

If you interact with third parties regarding our Products or Services: We may receive personal information about you from third parties, such as from customers, websites where we advertise, business partners, and service providers. Some of this information pertains to a specific individual; other information can only be linked to an access point or a device.

If you apply for employment: We may collect personal information such as your name, email address, and any other personal information that you may provide in conjunction with your application. We use this information only to consider you as a candidate for the position for which you are applying and to contact you for legitimate purposes relating to that application.

If you use our mobile application: We may collect certain additional personal information from you, including your location information. We may also collect personal information relating to your third-party contacts, including any additional information you choose to add regarding such contacts, but only if you choose to make use of the app’s feature(s) that require or utilize this information.

How We Use Personal information

We use personal information in order to provide and enhance the products or services that we offer as explained below:

To facilitate the use of the ABContrast: We use Session Data to ease navigation throughout the ABContrast, to enhance navigation, keep track of login name and password in order to avoid requesting identity information when the visitor moves from page to page, and in general to enhance the quality of ABContrast and the content provided.

In connection with Assessments: We use the responses to Assessments to score the Assessments and to generate Reports and other data related to the Respondents to those Assessments. We may also combine Respondent data with our general research data, or compare or associate Respondent data with other Respondent data.

For research purposes: We may use aggregated Session Data to better understand how ABContrast is navigated, how many visitors arrive at specific pages, which pages or content attract more viewers, the length and frequency of stays at ABContrast, the different types of searches of ABContrast content and databases, the types of browsers and computer operating systems that our visitors use, and the IP addresses from which visitors connect to ABContrast, in order to improve ABContrast and enhance our content. We may use IP addresses to gather broad demographic information—information that is not associated with any individual, and is therefore anonymous. We also use aggregated Assessment responses, demographic data, and other data to improve our products and services. We may use location information gathered from our mobile application(s) for research and development purposes.

For maintenance purposes: We may use IP addresses and Session Data to diagnose problems with our server, and to administer the ABContrast Assessment.

For marketing purposes: We may use email addresses or other contact information to send mailings, newsletters, and other marketing communications regarding product information and releases. We may use your telephone number to contact you for marketing purposes. We may use pixel tags to monitor the open rate of our communications. This helps us understand the effectiveness of the communications that we send. We give you the ability to opt out of marketing communications at any time.

For survey analysis: The information that we collect through our surveys is not used other than to garner survey results and statistical analysis.

To Whom We Disclose Personal information

From time to time, we may disclose personal information to someone other than the individual who provided the personal information, as further described below:

Customers : The Company provides its customers with the information that they need to properly administer or interpret Assessments. If you take an Assessment at the direction of one of our customers or as a “counselee”, “dependent”, “couple” or “group”, that customer will receive from the Company one or more reports based on the Assessment you took and the responses you provided to that Assessment so that the customer may properly counsel or advise you or provide you with other services.

Login Code Generation / Access Initiated By or For Others: If you purchase products or services for use by another individual or entity (for example, for a client, as a Comparison report or as a gift), then we may provide the Product or Service end user with your contact information. **Note: If you’re the recipient of access code(s), your results report may be solely sent to or shared with the originator of that code and/or your results report info may be included in a Comparison report to the originator of that access.

Service providers : We may engage certain third parties to perform functions and provide services to us, including, without limitation, customer relationship management, contract management, order fulfillment, mass mailing, hosting and maintenance, database storage and management, business analytics, and direct marketing campaigns.

Pursuant to written agreements between the Company and these service providers, each of these service providers only has access to such personal information as necessary to fulfill its obligation to the Company, is not permitted to use personal information for any purposes other than those directed by the Company, and is required to act in a manner consistent with the privacy principles articulated in this Privacy Policy and applicable law.

To Defend or Enforce Our Rights: The Company may use personal information to protect itself, to respond to a breach of its Terms of Use (or other applicable legal terms), to prevent fraudulent activity, or where it is necessary to pursue available remedies. If a customer neglects to pay amounts due and owing to the Company, the Company may send that customer’s name, contact information, and account information to a third-party service provider for collection of overdue payments.

Co-Marketing Partners: We may collaborate with other companies to offer you additional products or services. We may share personal information that is necessary for these other companies to provide the products or services that you have requested. This Privacy Policy does not cover the use of your personal information by these companies. We encourage you to read the relevant company’s Privacy Policy before requesting any additional products or services.

Mergers & Acquisition; Bankruptcy: If any or all of the Company's assets are acquired by or merged with those of another entity, or in the unlikely event of a bankruptcy, we may disclose, share or transfer some or all of our users’ personal information to or with this entity in preparation of the transaction, as part of the due diligence, or after the transaction has been consummated, so that the successor entity can continue providing our services to our users. If the recipient of the personal information has privacy practices that do not meet the substance of this Privacy Policy, you will be given the opportunity to exercise your rights with respect to your personal information.

Law Enforcement; Litigation: Certain federal, state, local, or other government regulations may require that we disclose information that we hold. In such cases, we will use reasonable efforts to disclose only the personal information required under applicable law, such as in response to a facially valid court order, warrant or subpoena issued or made by a court, person or body. We may use or disclose personal information
(a) if we believe in good faith that a law, regulation, rule or guideline requires it; or
(b) to a person who needs the information because of an emergency that threatens the life, health or security of an identified group or person.

Aggregated data: Other than as stated above, if the Company provides a third- party with personal information, it will be in the form of aggregated data and used for product development, research, or statistical analysis. Aggregated data are created from records that are stripped of all personal identifiers, such as aggregated Assessment responses.

Cookies and Other Technologies

A cookie is a small text file that a website sends to a visitor’s browser and that sends back information each time the visitor makes a request from the website. A cookie contains a unique identification number that identifies the visitor’s browser, but not necessarily the visitor. Cookies can be accepted, rejected, or identified by configuring a browser’s preferences or settings. Pixel tags or clear gifs are tiny graphics with a unique identifier that are embedded invisibly on a webpage and are used to track a visitor’s movements on a website. We use the information gathered by clear gifs to help us better manage content on ABContrast. Cookies and pixel tags are used to help recognize a returning visitor, and to help customize the visitor’s online experience. Unless a visitor specifically informs us of his/her identity (e.g., by registering with us), we will not know who the individual visitor is.

ABContrast uses cookies as follows:

To collect Session Data & other session information; to process orders & to store order and shopping cart information; to store & hash usernames and passwords so that users do not have to re-enter this information each time they log in; and to collect analytics relating to visitors’ use of ABContrast.

How We Retain Personal information

As a general principle, we keep data in personally-identifiable form only for as long as necessary to achieve the purposes for which it is being processed (subject to our reasonable archive, backup, and research practices). In practice, that generally means we may retain your personal information
(i) for as long as your account remains active;
(ii) for as long as you continue to do business with us; or
(iii) for as long as we are required or permitted to by applicable law. When your account becomes inactive (as determined by us in our sole discretion), or if you cease doing business with us, we may retain your personal information for an additional period for our reasonable archive and backup purposes. The duration of our retention of your personal information may be set forth more specifically in our written agreement(s) with you, or our applicable Terms of Use or other legal terms. At all times, both while you are a registered user and thereafter, we may retain Assessment responses and other data in non-personally-identifiable format for as long as the information is needed for our research, statistical analysis, product development, or other commercial purposes.

How We Protect Personal information

We follow generally-accepted industry standards to protect personal information, both during transmission and once we receive it. We use administrative, physical, and technical measures designed to protect personal information from unauthorized access, loss, misuse, disclosure, alteration, or destruction.

We use industry-standard technological means to protect personal information while in transit through the Internet. We use encryption and a comprehensive authentication protocol to provide reasonable security.

No method of transmission over the Internet, or method of electronic storage, is fully secure, however. Therefore, while we strive to use commercially acceptable means to protect your personal information, we cannot guarantee its absolute security, and will notify you promptly in the event of a data breach.

Your Rights

We respect your rights as a data subject. In those instances when we are a data controller, we provide you with the rights described below. In those instances where we are a data processor, we will reasonably assist the data controller in facilitating your ability to exercise the rights below.

Right of access : You have the right to obtain confirmation as to whether or not your personal information is being processed. If your personal information is being processed, you have the right to access your personal information and the following information:
(a) the purposes of the processing;
(b) the categories of personal information concerned;
(c) the recipients or categories of recipients to whom your personal information has been or will be disclosed (including international organizations and recipients in other countries);
(d) where possible, the period for which your personal information will be stored or the criteria used to determine that period;
(e) the existence of your right to request that the data controller rectify or erase your personal information, or restrict processing of your personal information, or to object to processing of your personal information;
(f) your right to lodge a complaint with a supervisory authority;
(g) the source of your personal information (if it was not obtained from you directly); and
(h) the existence of any automated decision-making (including profiling) along with meaningful information about the logic of such automated decision-making and its consequences.

Right to rectification : You have the right to rectify inaccurate personal information concerning you. Taking into account the purposes of the processing, in some instances you will have the right to have incomplete personal information completed by providing supplementary written statements to us.

Right to erasure : You have the right to request erasure of your personal information when one of the following applies:
(a) your personal information is no longer needed to achieve the purpose(s) for which it was originally collected or processed;
(b) the processing of your personal information is based on your consent, you choose to withdraw that consent, and we have no other legal basis for ongoing processing;
(c) you object to the processing and we have no overriding legitimate grounds for ongoing processing;
(d) your personal information has been processed unlawfully; or
(e) your personal information must be erased for compliance with applicable law. In those instances where you exercise this right against the Company as the data controller, we will accommodate your request to the extent practicable, and to the extent that it does not otherwise conflict with any of our other obligations. We reserve the right to retain and use your information as necessary to comply with our legal obligations, resolve disputes, and enforce our contractual agreements.

Right to restriction of processing : You have the right to restrict processing of your personal information where one of the following applies:
(a) you contest the accuracy of your personal information, in which case processing will be restricted for a period allowing the data controller to verify or rectify the accuracy of your personal information;
(b) processing of your personal information is unlawful;
(c) processing of your personal information is no longer necessary for the purpose(s) for which it was collected or processed but you require it for the establishment, exercise, or defense of legal claims; or
(d) you object to the processing, in which case processing will be restricted for a period allowing the controller to demonstrate whether legitimate grounds exist that override your objection.

Right to data portability: Where technically feasible, and as related to personal information you have provided to a data controller based on your consent or a contract with you, you have the right to receive that personal information in a structured, commonly-used and machine-readable format and to transmit that personal information to another controller if the processing of that personal information is performed by automated means.

Right to object to processing: In certain instances, you may have the right to object to processing of your personal information. Should you so object, the controller of your personal information must stop processing your personal information unless the controller can demonstrate
(i) compelling legitimate grounds for ongoing processing of your personal information that override your objection; or
(ii) the need for the establishment, exercise, or defense of legal claims.

Right not to be subject to automated decision-making: In certain instances, you have the right not to be subject to decisions based solely on automated processing (including profiling) that produces legal effects concerning you or otherwise significantly affects you. As of the effective date of this Privacy Policy, we do not engage in any such automated decision-making or profiling.

Right to opt-out of marketing communications: If you are receiving marketing communications from us and you wish to unsubscribe, you may do so by clicking on the “unsubscribe” link provided in the communication or by managing your marketing communication preferences on ABContrast.

Right to block cookies: You have the right to block pixel tags and certain cookies. Most browsers automatically accept cookies. You can instruct your browser, by editing its options, to stop accepting cookies, or prompt you before accepting a cookie from the website that you visit. If you decide not to accept our cookies, you may not be able to access portions of our products or services. Some cookies are strictly necessary for us to deliver our products or services, and those cookies cannot be disabled.

Right to non-discrimination: You have the right not to be discriminated against if you choose to exercise your privacy rights. As such, if you choose to exercise your privacy rights the Company will not:
(i) deny you goods or services;
(ii) charge you different prices or rates;
(iii) provide a different level of service; or
(iv) suggest that you will be provided with a different level of service. In some cases, the nature of the product or service you receive may differ depending on whether (or to what extent) you choose to provide personal information; however, in those cases there is a direct relationship between the product/service and the personal information you provide (for example: if you refuse to provide us with your email address, then our products and services that depend on delivering materials to you via email will not operate as intended).

California Privacy Rights: California law requires that individuals be informed when their personal information is shared with third parties for these third parties’ direct marketing purposes. Other than as described in this Privacy Policy, we do not disclose your personal information to third parties for the direct marketing purposes of these third parties. If our practices change in the future, we will inform you of the change and will provide you with an opportunity to opt out of such information sharing for direct purposes of a third party.

If the Company is the controller of your personal information and you wish to exercise any of the rights described above, please contact us with proof of identity, as provided in the Contact Us section of ABContrast or below. In general, you can expect a response to your request within 30 days. However, if your request is complex or involves a high volume of data, the Company may inform you that the request could take up to an additional sixty (60) days. In some instances, fees may apply. If the Company is not the controller of your personal information, we will ask you to direct your request to the data controller, and the Company will reasonably assist the data controller in facilitating the request.

Complaints and Disputes

If you have questions or complaints regarding our Privacy Policy or practices, you should first contact us as indicated the Contact Us section of ABContrast or below. However, if our efforts to resolve your complaint through the Company’s internal dispute resolution mechanisms are unsatisfactory, you agree to first attempt to settle in good faith the dispute through mediation. The mediator may propose any appropriate remedy, such as publicity for findings of non- compliance, payment of compensation for losses incurred as a result of non- compliance, or cessation of processing of the personal information who has brought the complaint. The mediation will be held online, and all documents and other correspondence will be transmitted through email.

If our efforts to resolve the dispute through mediation are unsuccessful, you agree to binding arbitration. Judgment on the award rendered by the arbitrator may be entered into any court having jurisdiction over the matter. The arbitration will be held online, and all documents and other correspondence will be transmitted through email.

Contact Us

If you have any question about
(a) this Privacy Policy, or
(b) the collection, use, management, or disclosure of your personal information, or
(c) accessing, modifying, or closing your account, please contact us as indicated below. We will attempt to respond promptly.

By email:
team@abcontrast.com

By mail:
the ABContrast
c/o Next Level Services, Inc.
P.O. Box #186
Horseheads, NY 14845