PRIVACY NOTICE AND COOKIES POLICY

Privacy Notice and Cookies Policy—Stephen Moore, JD, EA, Website

(Revised January 25, 2019)

READ THIS ENTIRE DOCUMENT BEFORE USING THE STEPHEN MORE, JD, EA, WEBSITE

“Stephen Moore, JD, EA”, “we,” “us,” and/or “our,” is committed to protecting the privacy of anyone who visits our website, registers to use our services, and/or uses our website or its related software-as-a-service (SaaS), if any. This “Privacy Notice and Cookies Policy—Stephen Moore, JD, EA, Website” (hereinafter referred to as this “Notice”) is designed to tell you about our practices regarding collection, use, storage, and disclosure of information we collect via our website, its SaaS, and/or any computerized device software applications and the consent required for those activities. This Notice applies to our Website, its related SaaS (if any), applications, content, features, free-of-charge areas, paid-for access areas, and/or services (hereinafter referred to as “Website” and/or “Websites”) that display a hyperlink to this Notice and/or any other mention—written, verbal, and/or visual—of  its existence. 

BEFORE using our Websites and/or submitting any personal information and/or data to or through our Websites, carefully read: (1) the terms of this Notice in its entirety; and (2) the “Terms of Use and End-User Agreement” for the Stephen Moore, JD, EA, Website in its entirety and the “PRIVACY POLICY—STEPHEN MOOORE, JD, EA” in its entirety, both of which are hereby incorporated by reference. For purposes of any use of the Stephen Moore, JD, EA, Website and its SaaS (if any), if there is any conflict and/or ambiguity between or among the terms of this Notice and the terms of the “PRIVACY POLICY—STEPHEN MOOORE, JD, EA”, the terms of this Notice are paramount and are the governing terms of privacy as between those two separate and distinct privacy policies for such purposes.

USE OF THIS WEBSITE 

Use of this Website constitutes your agreement to the terms of: (1) this Notice; and (2) the “Terms of Use and End-User Agreement” for the Stephen Moore, JD, EA, Website and the applicable rules of law mentioned therein, other applicable rules of law and/or regulations (if any), and the “PRIVACY POLICY—STEPHEN MOOORE, JD, EA” (i.e., a written privacy policy that all financial institutions, including professional tax practitioners, are currently required by the United States Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to provide to their customers and/or clients annually). Whenever you submit personal information and/or data or any other information via this Website, you acknowledge that any such personal information and/or data may be collected, used, and disclosed in accordance with the terms of this Notice. 

Our services are intended to help fulfill the needs of adult customers and/or clients (e.g., adult individual income taxpayers, including adult taxpayers who may have one or more children whose income and/or status as a dependent and/or member of the household of any such adult taxpayer may be relevant to helping such adult taxpayer and/or any member of his or her household comply with applicable tax-related laws) and are not directed towards children. In compliance with the United States “Children's Online Privacy Protection Act” (COPPA), we do not seek to obtain information from any child or children age 13 and under.

INFORMATION WE COLLECT

We may use and process your personal information and/or data lawfully, fairly, and in a transparent manner. We may collect and use your personal information and/or data solely for the specified and legitimate purposes stated in this Notice.  We may use your personal information and/or data to:

1. Verify your identity and/or set up your user account and/or client account;

2. Provide the services and/or products and related activities that you may request;

3. Provide direct and/or digital marketing communications via email, direct mail, and telephone communication and/or through personalized online experiences;

4. Provide you with best-practice guidelines and/or strategic tax-related content that is relevant to your lawful job function and/or your lawful business enterprise;

5. Contact you, if you request that we contact you, or to send information that you may have requested;

6. Provide better customer service if you contact us;

7. Improve the quality, content, and overall user experience of the Websites;

8. Notify you of new features and/or updates to the Websites and/or any of our services or products;

9. Administer surveys, contests, and/or other promotional events; and

10. Address other business needs such as website administration, data security protection, fraud prevention, legal compliance and business continuity.

INFORMATION YOU PROVIDE TO US

The Websites may actively collect information from its visitors both by: 

1. Asking you specific questions when you interact with us, such as when registering and/or creating a user account on our Websites, signing up to receive information from us, entering into an agreement for tax-related services to be rendered for or on behalf of you and/or your business enterprise, entering into promotions or contests, considering whether to grant you access to certain parts and/or functions of the Websites, or potentially benefiting from specified our Website features; or

2. Otherwise (e.g., by permitting you to communicate directly with us via e-mail, phone call, text messaging, and/or video conferencing services). 

You can choose not to enter any of your personal information and/or data into the Websites; however, if you choose not to provide us with your personal information and/or data in such circumstances, we may unilaterally choose to not respond to your inquiry, not engage in any further communications with you, and/or not provide any requested services. 

We may, depending on the nature of your communication with us regarding your visit to and/or use of the Websites, use your personal information and/or data as follows:

A. If you are making an inquiry about how our services could help you or your business, we may use your personal information and/or data to respond to any inquiry that you may make and/or provide you with information that you requested from us because it is in our legitimate interests to use your personal information and/or data to communicate with you, to respond to your request(s), and to develop a business relationship between you and us;

B. If you view or download Website content (e.g., a research paper, survey, case study, qualitative and/or quantitative analysis, strategic competitive-position analysis study, etc.), we may use your personal information and/or data to help provide you with information and materials that might be relevant or related to the Website content that you viewed or downloaded because it is in our legitimate interests to use your personal information and data to communicate with you and to develop the business relationship between you and us;

C. If you are making an inquiry about how your business could support or work with our business, we may use your personal information and data to consider how your business could support or work with our business because it is in our legitimate interests to use your personal information and/or data to consider whether it would be beneficial to work with your business;

D. If you are an existing client, supplier, or partner of ours and you are making an inquiry about your agreement or relationship with us, we may use your personal information and/or data to respond to you as an existing client, supplier or partner of ours in relation to a pre-existing agreement or relationship because it is in our legitimate interests to use your personal information and data to manage your business' relationship with us. It may also be necessary for us to: (A) Use your personal information and/or data to perform an agreement with your business, where we would be unable to provide those services to or receive them from your business without that information (e.g., if a particular service or information is to be provided to you or your business, we would be unable to provide that service or information unless we were able to use your personal information and/or data for that reason); or (B) Use your personal information and/or data to comply with a legal obligation relating to how we manage our business or our relationship with your business;

E. If you are member of the public and you are making an inquiry about whether you could work for us, we may use your personal information and/or data to consider and decide how to respond to your inquiry because it is in our legitimate interests to use your personal information and/or data to consider whether we may have any suitable job vacancies and to contact you about them. It may also be necessary for us to use your personal information and/or data to comply with a legal obligation relating to how we manage our business;

F. If you are making any other type of inquiry, we may use your personal information and/or data to consider and respond to your inquiry because it is in our legitimate interests to use your personal information and/or data to determine how to answer your query and/or provide you with the relevant information and/or service. Depending on the subject of your inquiry, it may also be necessary for us to use your personal information and/or data to comply with a legal obligation relating to how we manage our business or our relationship with your business;

G. If we do not know you or your role at your business, we may also use your personal information and/or data to confirm your identity and the business that you work for, as well as your role at that business. We do this because it is in our legitimate interests to make sure that your inquiry is genuine and is not being made for fraudulent reasons or is spam. We may also do this because we may be subject to legal obligations which require us to confirm the details that you provide to us before entering into a relationship with you; and

H. We may use your personal information and/or data to contact you to share information about the relevant services, products, news, and events. When you enter your contact details for this reason and click a "Submit" button and/or a similar button (e.g., “Sign In”), you will be consenting to us contacting you for these purposes. We may only send you marketing communications if you have provided your consent, unless you are a past or present customer or client of ours, in which we would be permitted by law to do that.

When you provide us with your information, you are giving your consent for your personal information and/or data to be used by us to contact you by email, text message, direct mail, telephone, and to deliver personalized website experiences, to share information about relevant services, best practice information, products, industry news, and events. You are entitled to withdraw your consent to us contacting you at the email address listed under “Contact Information” below, unless you are a past or present customer or client of ours.

If you decide that you do not want to receive any correspondence from us about the services we could provide to you and/or your business, including communications regarding services, product information, press releases, newsletters, marketing, promotions, and/or other topics please contact us at the email address listed under “Contact Information” below.

Withdrawing your consent will not affect our use of your personal information and/or data prior to you withdrawing that consent but it will mean that we will not be able to contact you, unless you are a customer or client, about services we may be able to offer you or your business in the future.

We will let you know where you must provide us with personal information and/or data to perform an agreement with you and/or your business or to comply with a legal obligation.

INFORMATION WE COLLECT FROM YOUR BROWSER AND/OR DEVICES

As you browse through the Websites, information about your interaction with the Websites (e.g., your IP address, traffic data, clickstream information, time stamp, location data, web logs, other communication data, and the resources that you access when you visit the Websites and your browser and/or other applications on your device that interact with it) may be automatically collected. Such information may be automatically collected using various technologies (e.g., “cookies”, web logs, beacons, internet tags, etc., as described below). Such information may allow better tailoring of Website content to users’ needs and may be gathered while you are on the Website.  

Such information may be automatically received and recorded on server logs from your browser. As discussed below, such information may be used to diagnose server problems; report aggregate information for statistical analysis; determine the fastest route for your computer to connect to our Websites; and administer and improve the Websites.

To the extent such information may constitute your personal information and/or data, it may be used, for example, to help ensure that content from the Websites is presented in an effective manner for you and your device because it is in our legitimate interests to improve our online experiences pertaining to the Websites.

SHARING OF INFORMATION WITH THIRD PARTIES

We do not sell, rent, or lease your personal information and/or data to unaffiliated third parties; however, we may share your personal information or data with third-parties in certain situations to confirm your identity, respond to your query, and/or facilitate your use of the Websites. By visiting the Websites you agree to the following disclosures:

1. We may check your personal information and/or data by searching for your name and the name of your business in publically available and/or private databases of businesses and individuals, which may use the details provided by us to generate search results.

2. We may pass your personal information and/or data on to selected third parties including:

A. Service providers and sub-contractors for the performance of any agreement we enter into with them or you;

B. A purchaser or successor entity in the event of a sale or other transaction involving some or all of our business or as needed to affect the sale or transfer of business assets, or as needed for external audit or compliance matters;

C. Security, forensics, investigative, analytics, and/or search engine providers that may help us design, defend, redesign, improve, optimise, secure, repair, and/or replace the Websites; and

D. A third party to which we have a duty to disclose and/or share your personal information and/or data: (a) To enforce and/or apply our “Terms of Use and End-User Agreement” and/or other agreements and policies; (b) As required by applicable law, court orders, government regulators or legal process (including subpoenas); and (c) as necessary to protect the property, safety, and rights others. This may include exchanging information with other companies and organisations for purposes of data security, fraud prevention, and risk management.

We do not share your personal information and/or data with our affiliates because, as of the date of this notice, we have no affiliates; but we reserve the right to do so at anytime for the purposes set forth in a revised version of this Notice, in which case your use or continued use of our Websites after publication of any such revised Notice constitutes your consent to its terms.

USE OF “COOKIES”

Our Websites may use “cookies” to enhance your use of the Websites and/or services and to monitor your activity during your visit(s) to the Websites. Cookies are small text files that may be stored on your browser and/or the hard drive of your computer, mobile phone, or other handheld device (e.g., tablet). The cookies store information about your visit to the Websites and distinguish you from other users. Our use of cookies may allow us to provide you with an excellent user experience when you browse or otherwise use our Websites.

The use of cookies helps us to display content on the Websites and also allows us to obtain and analyze statistics about the use of the Websites so that we can improve it. By continuing to use the Websites you consent to our use of cookies as explained in this Notice and any revision of it if you continue to browse and/or use our Websites after publication of such revised Notice. 

Below is a description of the types of cookies used on the Websites and provides some details about what they may be used for. When you use the Websites for the first time, cookies which are essential to make the Websites operate (see those identified as "essential cookies" below) may have been set. If you do not want other cookies set, please adjust your browser settings as described below under “Disabling or deleting cookies.”

Some cookies are deleted when you close your browser. These are commonly known as session cookies; other cookies remain on your device until they expire or you delete them. These are commonly known as persistent cookies; they enable the Websites to remember things about you and/or your devices as a returning visitor.

If you do not want cookies to be stored, then you may turn off certain cookies described below by selecting the appropriate options on your web browser to delete some or all cookies. Please note, however, that if you block some or all cookies (including essential cookies) you may not be able to use or access all or parts of the Websites, such as being able to “Sign In” to specific Website areas and/or access certain Website features and/or functionality.

HOW WE MAY USE “COOKIES” ON OUR WEBSITES

In general, there are three types of “cookies”:

1. “Session Cookies”

We may use session cookies for the following purposes: To allow you to access stored information for future use (e.g. personal information and/or data provided during registration and/or setting up a user account); to control entry to paid-for access and/or features, functionality, or content; to allow your device to carry information across web pages of our Website and perhaps avoid having to frequently re-enter certain information (e.g., “Sign In” information, such as user name, password, and two-factor authentication identification, if applicable); and/or to compile anonymous, aggregated, statistics that may allow us to understand how users use our Websites and help to improve the design, structure, functionality, and/or security of our Websites.

2. “Persistent Cookies”

We may use persistent cookies for the following purposes: To control access to paid-for content; to help us recognize your device as a unique visitor (a numeric value) when you return to our Website; to compile anonymous, aggregated, statistics that may allow us to understand how users use our Website and to help us improve the design, structure, functionality, and/or security of our Websites; to internally identify you by account name, email address, customer ID, and/or location (e.g., geographic and computer ID/IP address); and/or to tailor content to your preferences.

3. “Third Party Cookies”

Third parties (e.g. website hosting companies and SaaS companies) may serve cookies via our Websites. Such third-party cookies may be used for the following purposes: To provide security features for our Websites, serve content on our Websites, and track whether this content is clicked on by users; to control how often you and/or your device is shown particular content; to count the number of anonymous users of our Websites and/or Website usage analysis; and/or to link the information stored in cookies to any of your personal information and/or data that you submitted and/or your device submitted while using our Websites.

DISABLING AND/OR DELETING “COOKIES”

You can set your device’s browser(s) so that installed cookies are deleted and so that you do not receive cookies during your next use of the website. Procedures and instructions for disabling and/or deleting cookies may be different for different types of browsers and devices (know how to do that if you ever want to do it). Note, however, that if you disable and/or delete cookies, the results may be that you will not be able to access some or all parts of the Websites or that the Websites do not function optimally. To find out more about these functions, consult your browser’s instructions, its help function, and/or its “Settings”.

Be aware that Google and/or other third parties (e.g., advertising networks and providers of external services such as web traffic analysis services) may use cookies as a result of you visiting other websites, over which we have no control.

We do not currently commit to responding to web-browser “Do not track” requests, signals, or other mechanisms that provide users the ability to exercise choice regarding the collection of personal information and/or data about a user's online activities over time and across third-party websites or online services (“DNT”). This may be partly because no common industry standard for DNT has been adopted by industry groups, technology companies, or regulators.

SECURITY

We have implemented necessary and/or appropriate technological and other data protection strategies and tactics which are intended to help protect your personal information and/or data from accidental and/or unlawful destruction, loss, alteration, unauthorized disclosure of, or access to, your personal information and/or data transmitted, stored, or otherwise processed. 

Our “Terms of Use and End-User Agreement” governs such matters; therefore, you should read its terms and conditions, as a wise person would do. 

You should also know that, as a matter of common knowledge nowadays in the 21st Century, that the Internet, Internet transmissions, and the devices you may use to access the Internet to, e.g., visit or use any website and/or send or receive any email or text message are nowadays and may never be completely safe, secure, and/or error-free. 

Consequently, you should know that it is necessary and appropriate for you to do what needs to be done to help protect personal information and/or data (e.g., ensuring that your devices have the latest operating system, firmware, and software application updates), especially online, and take special care in deciding what personal information and/or data you send to us via e-mail and text messaging systems, our Websites, and other types of electronic transmissions (e.g., via phones and FAX devices). 

Furthermore, where you use passwords, ID numbers, or other special access features on the Websites, it is your responsibility to safeguard them. You should choose a very strong password; do not use the same password that you use on other websites; and do not share your password with anyone.  

Also, remember to “Sign out” of our Websites and immediately close your browser when you have finished using our Websites to help ensure that other persons and/or things (e.g., computer viruses and malware) cannot easily access your personal information and/or data.

LINKS TO OTHER WEBSITES, SOCOAL MEDIA, AND PUBLIC FORUMS

Our Websites may contain hyperlinks links or references to other websites. Please be aware that we do not control other websites and, except as otherwise noted in the applicable website, this Notice does not apply to those websites. We encourage you to read the privacy and cookie policy of every website you visit. We are not responsible for the security or privacy of any information collected by any third parties.

We may offer certain “share” or “social media” functionality on some of our Websites.  If you choose to use these functions, we may or the third party social media networks may collect certain information about you depending on the function or feature you use.  With respect to social media features (such as allowing you to post information about your activities or share your information with others on a social media site), the collection and use of information by, and your interactions with, the third party social media network will be governed by the privacy policy of the company providing those social media features.  We are not responsible for the security or privacy of any information collected by any such third parties.

Significantly, by providing us with personal information and/or data about other people or persons, you warrant that they have willingly and knowingly given you their lawful consent to receive the relevant “share” or “social media” communication and that you agree to solely bear any and all legally liable for any damages or injury that may result from any such unauthorized disclosure and to indemnify us for any legal liability for damages or injury that may result therefrom, as set forth in our “Terms of Use and End-User Agreement”. 

Some of our Websites may provide forums and other areas where you may be able to communicate with others and/or publicly post information. All the information (including any of your personal information and/or data) that you post may not be private and may be accessible by anyone with Internet access, and may be read, collected, and used by others. Consequently, you should use extreme caution if and when you decide to post any personal information or data to such public areas. Furthermore, as herein provided, our “Terms of Use and End-User Agreement” also govern any damages or injury that may result from any unauthorized disclosure of personal information and/or data of yours or other people or persons when you or your device uses our Websites.

MARKETING AND/OR CUSTOMER RELATIONSHIP SOFTWARE APPLICATIONS

Your personal information and data may be stored in our marketing automation software and customer relationship management software, if any, for the purposes stated above, and to properly track compliance, such your relationship history with us.

EUROPEAN DATA PROTECTION LEGISLATION

For the purposes of this Notice, "European Data Protection Legislation" means all applicable legislation relating to data protection in the European Economic Area ("EEA"), including the EU General Data Protection Regulation 2016/679 ("GDPR") and all legislation implementing or made under or pursuant to or replacing or superseding the GDPR. Where this Notice uses terms which are defined in the GDPR, the definitions set out in the GDPR will apply.

The phrase "personal information and/or data" which has been used frequently in this Notice means data relating to you from which you may be reasonably identified (e.g., your first and last name, email address, postal mailing address, telephone number, job title, the name of your business enterprise, the name of the business or organization that employs you or that has hired you to do work for it as an independent contractor. 

We know that your personal information and data is valuable and we process it in accordance applicable law, and, to the extent that it applies to your personal information and/or data, with European Data Protection Legislation.

Data Protection Officer

Stephen Moore, JD, EA, is the Data Protection Officer responsible for the processing of your personal information and/or data collected from our Websites pursuant to the European Data Protection Legislation (to the extent that it applies to Personal Data collected about you) and other applicable law.

Your Rights under the European Data Protection Legislation 

With respect to the personal information and/or data that we collect about you from the Websites, to the extent that you are located in the EEA, pursuant to the European Data Protection Legislation you have the right to:

1. Request access to that personal information and/or data;

2. Receive a copy of the personal information and/or data that you have provided to us in a structured commonly used format so that you can share it with others;

3. Request that your personal information and/or data be corrected, rectified, or completed properly and lawfully if it is lawfully inaccurate or lawfully incomplete;

4. Request the transfer of your personal information and/or data to another party;

5. Request that your personal information and/or data be erased;

6. Object to us processing your personal information and/or data by asking for the processing of that personal information and/or data to be restricted or stopped (e.g., if we use your personal information and/or data for marketing purposes); and

7. File a complaint to a European data protection authority about the manner in which we processes your personal information and/or data.

Please contact the person listed under “Contact Information” below to exercise these rights or for additional information. When you contact us to exercise the above rights, we may ask for further information from you, to confirm your identity, as we take the protection of your personal information and/or data seriously.  If you have an online account with us, you may be able to “Sign in” to your account to access and update the information you have provided to us.

International data transfers

We may store, process, transfer, and access your personal information and/or data anywhere in world, including countries other than the United States, depending primarily on where the website hosting service provider for our Website and/or the service provider for its related SaaS (if any) has located its web servers and/or “cloud storage and computing servers”, which is something over which we have no control. By providing us with your personal information and/or data, you agree and consent to storing, processing, transferring, and/or accessing your personal information and/or data in any such geographic location and/or locations. Your personal information and/or data shall be protected in accordance with the terms of this Notice, including the “Terms of Use and End-User Agreement” for the Stephen Moore, JD, EA, Website which is incorporated by reference herein as stated in the first paragraph of this Notice, regardless where your personal information and/or data is or may be stored, processed, transferred, and/or accessed from time to time now and/or in the future.

CHANGES TO THIS PRIVACY NOTICE AND COOKIE POLICY

We may amend this Notice at anytime and from time to time in the future to reflect any changes in our practices, services, and/or legal obligations. If we make any material changes to the way we collect, use, and/or share your personal information and/or data, we will notify you of those changes by posting an updated notice on the specific site to which it relates or by an electronic communication to you, which will indicate the effective date of any such changes. Your continued use of our Websites, its SaaS (if any), and/or related services on and/or after the effective date of any change to this Notice signifies your acceptance and agreement to the terms of the revised notice. We encourage you to periodically visit our websites and especially the web page where this Notice is posted to determine its terms to which you are bound now and/or in the future. This Notice has been revised as of the “Revised” date displayed near the beginning of this Notice (i.e., on the line of text immediately beneath the title of this Notice).

CONTACT INFORMATION

If you have any questions, comments, or concerns about this Notice, our privacy practices, or if you want to make a complaint pertaining to those matters, contact our Data Protection Officer in one or more of the following ways:

· Our Website: Information provided on the “Contact Us” webpage. 

· Email: dpo@stephenmoore.us