Lawdingo Privacy Policy

PRIVACY POLICY

Last Updated: June 26, 2014

Version 1.1
At Lawdingo, Inc. (collectively with its subsidiaries and affiliates, “Lawdingo”, “we”, “our” or “us”), we care about your privacy and want you to understand how we collect, use and disclose your private information. Lawdingo operates the website located at www.lawdingo.com and the Lawdingo mobile application (collectively, the “Site”). This privacy policy (“Privacy Policy”) explains the ways in which your information is collected and used on the Site and any other online and/or mobile or telephone services which are owned or operated by Lawdingo, including all features, content, products and services which may be offered from time to time by any or all of the foregoing. The services, features, content, or applications that may be offered from time to time by Lawdingo in connection with the Site and/or Lawdingo’s business are collectively referred to as the “Services”.
By accessing or signing up for a user account on the Site, or by instructing a Lawdingo representative to create such an account on your behalf, you are accepting the terms and conditions of this Privacy Policy and agreeing that Lawdingo will have the right to use your personal and other information as described in this Privacy Policy. If you do not agree to the terms and conditions of this Privacy Policy, you must immediately discontinue your access to and use of the Site and Services.
As used in this Privacy Policy, the terms “you” and “your” mean each individual or entity that accesses, browses or uses the Site and/or Services in any manner. If you are accessing the Site and/or using the Services on behalf of an entity, you represent and warrant to Lawdingo that you personally satisfy the eligibility criteria in Paragraph 3 below and you have the authority to bind the business to the Privacy Policy. Your agreement to these terms will be treated as the agreement of the entity you represent.
1. Scope of this Privacy Policy
This Privacy Policy covers personally identifiable and non-personally identifiable information collected by Lawdingo when you visit or use the Site or use the Services. Please note that this Privacy Policy does not apply to third parties, including, without limitation, entities that Lawdingo does not own or control, such as third party sites that may have a link to or from the Site.
2. Information is Not Subject to Attorney-Client Privilege
By using the Site and/or Services, no attorney-client relationship will be created with Lawdingo. Accordingly, while communications between you and Lawdingo are protected by this Privacy Policy, they are not protected by attorney-client privilege, an attorney’s duty of confidentiality, or the work product doctrine.
3. Children under 13 Years of Age
The Site and Services are general audience services, and are not directed to individuals under 13 years of age. Lawdingo does not knowingly collect personal information from individuals under 13 years of age. If you are under 13 years of age, you may not use the Site or Services.
4. Personal Information
Lawdingo may collect both personally identifiable information (“PII”) as well as non-personally identifiable information (“Non-PII”) when you visit or use the Site.
4.1 Personally Identifiable Information
PII means information that would allow a third party to identify or locate a particular person. PII includes, without limitation, your full name, email address, zip code, telephone number, birth date, and credit card number. Lawdingo only collects PII if that information is voluntarily provided by you. This may happen in several ways:
4.1.1. User Accounts
In order to access and utilize certain products or services provided by Lawdingo, you may be required to create a user account or to have our customer service personnel create one on your behalf and to provide certain PII, such as your full name, an email address, telephone number, a user name and/or a password, etc. You are under no obligation to provide this information to Lawdingo. However, if you decide not to share this information, you may be unable to create an account on the Site and/or you may be unable to fully utilize all or some of the Services.
4.1.2. Financial Transactions
Lawdingo uses third parties to provide credit card and other payment processing services, such as billing services for lawyers, for the Site and/or Services. When you make or receive any payment on or through the Site, you will be required to provide Lawdingo and/or its authorized third party agents with financial information and related payment information. Lawdingo and its third party agents may retain the details of financial transactions or payments you make on or through the Site.
4.1.3. Public Forums
Lawdingo may provide areas on the Site where you can post information about yourself and others, such as the function of the site that allows users to review lawyers or that allows lawyers to create a public profile on the Site. Whenever you disclose personal information on publicly-viewable web pages, that information will be publicly available and may also appear on other websites and in publicly available search results. If you post your personal contact information, you may receive unsolicited messages. Lawdingo encourages you to exercise discretion and caution with respect to the public posting of your personal information.
4.2 Non-Personally Identifiable Information
Non-PII means information that does not allow a third party to identify or locate a particular person. You can visit the Site to read information about the Site and the products and services offered without revealing any PII. However, during your visit to the Site, Lawdingo may collect anonymous Non-PII such as the activity of your browser when you are viewing the Site; your site path during your visit to the Site; demographic data; the amount of time you spend on the Site and general information regarding your Internet service provider and host. The Non-PII may be collected by Lawdingo in several ways:
4.2.1. Logging of Your Activities on the Site
When you access the Site or Services from a computer, mobile phone or other device, Lawdingo may collect and log information from that device about your browser type, location, and IP address (the number assigned to computers on the Internet), a telephone number from which you contacted Lawdingo, etc. Lawdingo may also collect and log anonymous “traffic data” information that does not personally identify you, but that may be helpful to Lawdingo for marketing purposes or for improving the services that Lawdingo offers to its users, such as, without limitation, the pages you visit, the length of your visit, your referring/exit pages, the timing and duration of calls made through the Site and Services, and your clickstream activity and the actions you take while using or visiting the Site.
4.2.2. Cookies
Lawdingo may use “cookies” to enhance your use of the Site and the Services and to monitor your activity during your visit(s) to the Site. Cookies are text files placed in your computer’s browser to identify your Internet browser and to store your preferences. You can remove or block cookies by programming your Internet browser, but in some cases that may impact your ability to access certain portions of the Site and certain Services.
4.2.3. Beacons
Lawdingo may also use “web beacons”, clear.gifs, or similar technologies, to track the activity and flow of your visit(s) to the Site. “Web beacons” and clear.gifs are small pieces of code placed on a web page to monitor the behavior of and to collect data about the visitors to that page.
5. Information Collected by Third Parties
Lawdingo may use the services of third parties for various purposes, including, without limitation, to provide Lawdingo with data collection (such as impressions, clicks, date and time of impressions and clicks, pages viewed, amount of time spent on certain pages or engaged in certain activities, browser type and operating system, and other general click stream information), user traffic activity, reporting and ad response measurement, and to deliver advertisements and marketing messages. These third parties, or Lawdingo on their behalf, may use their own cookies to monitor your activity during your visit to the Site and/or use of the Site and the Services. Additionally, these third parties, or Lawdingo on their behalf, may place web beacons, clear.gifs or similar technologies on the Site, including, without limitation, on any and all (i) webpages and (ii) email or other electronic communications generated as part of the Site or the Services which are sent to you, as well as your replies thereto, and your actions in connection therewith, such as whether or not an email has been opened, a link has been clicked, or a page has been visited. Lawdingo does not control the foregoing third party monitoring technologies or the information which they may collect and Lawdingo has no responsibility or liability in connection with the foregoing. A third party’s use of the foregoing monitoring technologies and the information collected is subject to the third party’s own privacy policies and is not covered by this Privacy Policy. You can remove or block third party cookies and similar technologies by programming your Internet browser, but in some cases that may impact your ability to access certain portions of the Site and certain Services.
6. Lawdingo’s Use of PII and Non-PII
Lawdingo may use the PII and Non-PII it collects under this Privacy Policy as follows:
6.1 Use of PII
6.1.1.
Lawdingo may use the PII you share with Lawdingo to manage your account, to fulfill your requests for products, programs and services, to respond to your inquiries about Lawdingo’s offerings, to offer you other Lawdingo products, programs or services that Lawdingo believes may be of interest to you, to enforce the legal terms that govern your use of the Site and the Services, and for the purposes for which you provided the information. Lawdingo may share your PII with attorneys and law firms registered with Lawdingo, and may share the PII of attorneys registered on Lawdingo with potential clients.
6.1.2.
Lawdingo may use the PII you share with Lawdingo to communicate with you, to contact you about your account, to respond to your comments or requests for information, etc. If a comment or request is made by email or direct message, Lawdingo may respond by sending an email or direct message response back to the sender. Lawdingo may store the emails or direct message conversations received by Lawdingo for archival purposes and also for marketing purposes.
6.1.3.
Lawdingo may share your PII with Lawdingo’s affiliated entities if Lawdingo has a business reason to do so.
6.1.4.
Lawdingo may share your PII with third parties that assist Lawdingo with the management, operation or administration of the Site; the analysis of the performance of the Site; and the provision of Lawdingo products and services (including, without limitation, the processing and serving of email and other electronic communications). Lawdingo will not rent, share, or sell the PII you share with us to third parties for marketing purposes.
6.1.5.
Lawdingo may also provide your PII to a third party in those instances where you have been notified that the fulfillment of your request for information, services or products will require Lawdingo to share your PII with a third party and you have agreed that Lawdingo may provide your PII or access thereto to the third party. For example, you may choose to authorize us to share your PII with selected legal services providers. Lawdingo has no control over the use of your PII by any of these third parties.
6.1.6.
Lawdingo may use your email address, phone number, mailing address, or other contact information to send you communications, such as notifications, information about new services offered by Lawdingo, special offers, promotions, the Lawdingo newsletter, etc. If you do not wish to receive communications, you may be able to unsubscribe from certain communications by going to your account page.
6.1.7.
If you choose to submit content for publication on or through the Site, such as a posting an article, Lawdingo may post/publish your name and other PII which you have provided to Lawdingo; however, if you post a lawyer review on the Site, Lawdingo does not post/publish your name or PII in connection with the review unless you include such information in the content of the review itself.
6.2 Use of My Non-PII
6.2.1.
Lawdingo may measure and analyze anonymous statistical Non-PII collected on an aggregated and/or un–aggregated basis in connection with your visit(s) to the Site in order to administer the Site and the Services; improve the quality of the Services; improve the design, performance and content of the Site and the Services; and improve your experience on the Site, such as by providing more relevant content to you during your visits.
6.2.2.
Lawdingo may use and/or share anonymous, aggregated and/or un-aggregated Non-PII with third parties for any and all reasonable business purposes as Lawdingo determines in its sole discretion, including, without limitation, advertising, promotion, business opportunities, etc. Lawdingo may combine (a) your Non-PII with the Non-PII of other users of the Site and (b) Non-PII Lawdingo collects through the Site with Non-PII Lawdingo may collect from other sources.
6.2.3.
Lawdingo, Lawdingo’s licensors, third party service providers and advertisers may use Non-PII to customize content, services, promotions, advertising, etc.; to offer you services, products, etc.; to manage and measure the performance of advertisements displayed on or delivered by or through the Site; to manage your account and preferences; to compile aggregate data about traffic and interaction on or through the Site so that Lawdingo can improve your user experience; to protect against misuse of the Site and the Services; to enforce the Lawdingo Terms of Service [hyperlink] and all other legal terms that govern your use of the Site and the Services and/or for the purposes for which you provided the information.
6.3 Additional Circumstances In Which Lawdingo May Use and Disclose PII and Non-PII
Additionally, Lawdingo may disclose the information it collects on the Site, both PII and Non-PII (collectively “User Information”), under the following circumstances:
6.3.1.
Lawdingo reserves the right to access, read, preserve, and disclose any or all User Information as we reasonably believe is necessary to: satisfy any applicable law, regulation, legal process or governmental request; enforce our Terms of Service [hyperlink], including investigation of potential violations hereof; detect, prevent, or otherwise address fraud, security or technical issues; respond to user support requests; protect our rights, property or safety, our users and the public. This includes exchanging information with other companies and organizations for fraud protection and spam/malware prevention.
6.3.2.
If Lawdingo sells all or a part of its business or makes a sale of all or a material part of its assets or is otherwise involved in a merger or transfer of all or a material part of its business, then as part of the applicable transaction, Lawdingo may transfer your User Information to the party or parties involved in the transaction. Lawdingo may also share and/or transfer your User Information to any or all of its affiliated entities (such as any subsidiary or parent).
6.3.3.
Lawdingo may disclose any or all User Information to protect or defend the legal rights or property of Lawdingo or its employees, agents and contractors; to protect the safety of the general public, the users of the Site and the Services and/or the Lawdingo employees, agents and contractors; and to investigate, prevent or take action regarding suspected or actual illegal activities or fraud.
7. Content Posted to Public Areas of the Site
If you post or provide any information in any public area on the Site (such as user reviews or in an attorney profile) or if you otherwise make any information about yourself publicly available on the Site, you should be aware that any publicly disclosed PII can be read, collected, or used by other users of the Site, and could be used to send you unsolicited messages or otherwise. Lawdingo is not in any way responsible for the non-disclosure or protection of any PII or other information you choose to publicly disclose on or through the Site. You are solely responsible for all of the consequences resulting from any such public disclosure.
8. Third Party Websites
The Site may contain links to third party websites. By accessing and/or using a linked third party website, you may be disclosing your personal information to such linked website. Therefore, you should carefully review the privacy policies of these other websites. If you are not comfortable with the policies of a linked website, you should not access and/or use that website. Lawdingo is not responsible for the policies (privacy or otherwise) or the content, services or products offered by or through any third party website. It is solely your responsibility to review the privacy policy and other policies of third party websites to confirm that you understand and agree with their policies.
9. Data Security
The User Information we collect is stored on a secure, password-protected server and only authorized personnel have access to your information. We use commercially reasonable encryption technologies with respect to the receipt and transfer of User Information you submit to us via the Site and Services, including using SSL technology for certain sensitive information. Nevertheless, despite our best efforts, no transmission over the Internet and no data storage method can be guaranteed to be safe 100% of the time. Lawdingo does not guarantee that its security measures will not be circumvented or breached or that your User Information will not be accessed by, used by, modified by or disclosed to a third party. Lawdingo is not responsible for any such circumvention or breach by any third party. Additionally, it is solely your responsibility, and not the responsibility of Lawdingo, to protect the confidentiality of your password and login credentials.

10. Updating Your Information and Deleting Your Account
Once you have set up your account or a Lawdingo customer service representative has set up an account for you at your request, you can at any time access your account to add, delete or modify any information which you have provided. Should you ever decide to delete your account, you may do so by emailing us at info@lawdingo.com. Please note that even after you terminate your account or delete or modify information from your profile, copies of the original information may remain viewable on the Site and/or elsewhere to the extent that your information was publicly posted by you or with your authorization, previously shared with others, or otherwise distributed pursuant to your privacy settings. Additionally, even if you have requested that your User Information be deleted, Lawdingo may retain a record of certain (including PII).
11. Changes to this Privacy Policy
Lawdingo may from time to time amend this Privacy Policy to reflect changes in Lawdingo’s practices and services. If Lawdingo makes any material changes to the way Lawdingo collects, uses, or shares your User Information, Lawdingo will notify you of those changes via a posting on the Site or an electronic communication to you which notice will also indicate the effective date of the posted changes. Your continued use of the Site and the Services following the effective date of a change to this Privacy Policy signifies your acceptance of and agreement to the terms of the revised Privacy Policy. Lawdingo encourages you to regularly review this Privacy Policy so that you remain updated as to any changes. Lawdingo will indicate that changes have been made hereto by providing a “Last Updated” date at the top of this Privacy Policy following the effective date.
12. Contact Us
If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy or to report any privacy concerns, please email us at info@lawdingo.com or call us at 212-785-0632.