Last modified: February 1, 2022

 

Introduction

Thank you for visiting the Economic Development Partnership of North Carolina’s (“EDPNC”) website.

We at EDPNC (“we” or “us”) respect your privacy and are committed to protecting it through our compliance with this Privacy Policy (this “Policy”).  This Policy describes the types of information we may collect from users or that users may provide when they visit the website www.edpnc.com (our “Website”), and our practices for collecting, using, maintaining, protecting and disclosing that information.    “You” are the user visiting our Website.

 This Policy applies to any information that we collect on the Website, including any information in any emails, posts, texts and other electronic messages between you and the Website.    If we were to obtain information about you offline but the information were processed by automated means using the Website, this Policy would apply to that information as well.  This Policy does not apply to any other information that we collect by any means.

This Policy may change from time to time.  When we make changes to this Policy, we will post the updated Policy on our Website and update the Policy’s “last modified” date.

 

Information We Collect About You and How We Collect It

We collect information from and about users of our Website only as needed to provide our services and to offer you the best experience.  We do not collect personally identifiable information (“Personal Information”) about you, such as your name, the name of your company, and your job title, unless you voluntarily provide it.  Our third party service providers may also collect information from and about users of our Website on our behalf.

The information we collect on or through our Website may include information that you provide by visiting the Website, visiting other websites we provide links to, or requesting further information. We will also retain records and copies of your correspondence (including email addresses), if you contact us.

Traffic, Usage and Computer/Device Information; Use of Cookies

Additionally, as you navigate through and interact with our Website or interact with the e-mails and other electronic messages we send to you, we (or our third party service providers acting on our behalf) may automatically collect certain traffic data, usage information, and information about your computer equipment or mobile device, such as your browser and operating system, your wireless carrier, configuration data, and your actions and patterns when you use our Website (“Technical Information”).  The technologies we use for this automatic data collection may include cookies that are stored on the browser of your computer or mobile device, small embedded electronic files known as web beacons, tags, scripts, pixels, local shared objects (including HTML5 cookies) and software development kits.  We collect this information to manage our content and improve users’ use of our Website; count and review the number of users of our Website and their usage patterns; to track key performance indicators such as pages accessed, frequency of access, and other statistical information related to our Website (for example, recording the popularity of certain content and verifying system and server integrity); to recognize if a user is a return user of our Website; to store information about a user’s visits; to remember a user’s preferences; and for similar purposes in connection with monitoring, operating, maintaining and improving our Website.

The software and hardware you use to access the web site allows you to refuse new cookies or delete existing cookies. Refusing or deleting these cookies may limit your ability to take advantage of some features of this web site.

Our Website does not respond to any “do not track” signals sent by your device.

 

How We Use Your Information

Generally

We use information that we collect about you or that you provide to us, including any Personal Information, to: present our website, its contents and our services to you; provide you with information or services that you request from us; respond to your inquiries; provide you with informational and promotional content and materials regarding the Website and our services offered through the Website as well as the products and services of third parties that we believe may be of interest to you; with respect to Technical Information, to fulfill the purposes described in the section above; and to fulfill any other purpose for which you provide the information.

Use of Google Analytics

We use Google Analytics to track and analyze certain traffic and usage statistics regarding the use of our Website, such as the number of visitors to our Website, how visitors are navigating to our Website, visitors’ general geographic region information, how long individuals are visiting our Website, and information about the equipment individuals are using to access our Website (e.g., browser version and operating system).  Google Analytics may use a Google Analytics cookie as part of this service, and we may share certain Personal Information with Google Analytics as part of this service.  We use this traffic and usage information to gauge, internally, the effectiveness of our advertising efforts and to make improvements to our Website and our marketing and promotional efforts.  We may also enable Google Analytics Advertising Features such as remarketing, which may include use of third-party cookies for purposes of sending targeted advertisements, to target visitors from a certain geographic region, and to advertise our services on other websites you visit.

You can opt out of our use of certain Google Analytics features by updating the “Ads Settings” in your browser (www.adssettings.google.com/authenticated) or mobile device (www.support.google.com/ads/answer/1660762#mob), by enabling the Google Analytics Opt-out Browser Add-on in your browser (https://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout), or by visiting the Network Advertising Initiative’s Consumer Opt-Out page (www.optout.networkadvertising.org/).  Because those opt-out and preference control pages are specific to the individual browser used to visit it, and because those pages are not operated by us, we are unable to perform the opt-outs on your behalf.

 Disclosure of Your Information

We may disclose Personal Information to any contractors, service providers and other third parties who need to know such information (or service providers that may collect Personal Information directly from you on our behalf while you use our Website) in order to provide services to us that support our hosting, maintenance, operation and promotion of our Website, our Services and our permitted uses of Personal Information under this Policy.  For example, we may use a third party cloud-hosting infrastructure service provider (e.g., Amazon Web Services, Google Cloud or Microsoft Azure) and we may use a relationship management or an e-mail marketing software platform offered by a third party service provider (e.g. Salesforce).

We may also disclose your Personal Information to comply with any court order, law or legal process, including to meet national security and law enforcement requirements and to respond to any government or regulatory request or audit, and to enforce or apply any legal agreements between you and us or if we believe disclosure is necessary or appropriate to protect the rights, property or safety of anyone.  This includes exchanging information with other companies and organizations for the purposes of fraud protection and credit risk reduction.

Finally, we may disclose your Personal Information for any purpose disclosed when the information is provided, and for any other purpose with your consent.

Social Media Sites and Links

If you log onto the Website through LinkedIn or a similar social media site, certain information about you will be transferred to the Website, and the fact that you have logged onto the Website and some of that transferred information may be available to other users of the social media site.  That information may be subject to the privacy policies of any such social media site, and you should review those policies before using a social media site to log onto the Website.  Any such transferred information will otherwise be subject to the terms of this Policy.

We are not responsible for the privacy or security of any information you provide to a third-party website or the information practices used by any third-party site, including links to any third-party site from our Website.  By including a link to a third-party site we are not endorsing any product or service offered or referenced on the site, and we make no representations, express or implied, concerning the accuracy, privacy, safety, security, or the information practices of any third-party site.  We are not responsible for any loss or damage you may sustain resulting from your use of any third-party website or any information you share with a third-party website.

Your Rights and Choices

You have certain choices regarding the Personal Information you provide to us.  You can set your browser to refuse all or some browser cookies.  If you choose not to accept cookies, you may be unable to access certain parts or pages of our Website, or certain parts or features of our Website may not function properly.

If you do not wish to have your Personal Information used by us to contact you for marketing or promotional purposes or with information about opportunities that may be of interest to you, you can opt out by sending us an e-mail with your request to privacy@edpnc.com or by clicking on the “Unsubscribe” or similar link in the most recent e-mail you received from us and by following the prompts that appear.  This opt-out does not apply to information provided as a result of a transactional communications (e.g., confirmation of registration, updates to this Policy, or response to a specific inquiry or request you have made to us).

You can review, change and request the deletion of your Personal Information by sending us an e-mail at privacy@edpnc.com.  We may not accommodate a request to change information if we believe the change would violate any law or legal requirement or cause the information to be incorrect.

 Children

Our Website is not intended for children under 18 years of age, and no one under age 18 may provide any information to this Website.  We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under the age of 18.  If you are under age 18, do not use or provide any information on this Website, or otherwise provide any information about yourself to us, including your name, address, telephone number, email address, or any screen name or username you may use.

Data Security

We have implemented measures designed to secure your Personal Information from accidental loss and from unauthorized access, use, alteration and disclosure.  All information that you provide to us is stored on servers behind firewalls, and certain Personal Information will be encrypted using secure socket layer (SSL) technology.

Unfortunately, the transmission of information over the Internet is not completely secure.  Although we have implemented security measures that we think are adequate, we cannot guarantee the security of your Personal Information transmitted to our Website.  Any transmission of Personal Information is at your own risk.  We are not responsible for the circumvention of any privacy settings or security measures contained on the Website.

Users Outside of the United States

Generally

Our Website is hosted in the United States and is provided from the United States.  It is possible that certain information will be stored on servers in multiple other countries on the “cloud” or other similar distributed hosting platforms.  If you are accessing our Website from the European Union, Asia or any other jurisdiction with laws governing personal data collection, use, and disclosure that differ from United States laws, please note that by using the Website and providing your Personal Information to us and others through the Website you are expressly and knowingly consenting to the transfer of your Personal Information from your home country to the United States and other jurisdictions as indicated above (where laws may differ from the laws of your jurisdiction) and you are expressly and knowingly consenting to our use and disclosure of such Personal Information in accordance with this Policy.

Canadian Users: Individual Access

If you are a user accessing and using our Website from Canada then, upon your request, and subject to certain exceptions under applicable law, we will inform you of the existence, use, and disclosure of your Personal Information and give you access to that information, and you may challenge the accuracy and completeness of the information and have us amend it as appropriate. You may submit a request under this section by sending us an e-mail stating your request to privacy@edpnc.com.  Please indicate in your communication that you are making an individual access request under Canadian law.

European Users

If you are a user accessing and using our Website from the European Union, the European Economic Area, Switzerland, or the United Kingdom (collectively, “European Users”), please read this section carefully for more information about our collection, processing and transfer of your Personal Information and your rights related to such activities.

A. Legal Basis for Processing

If you are a European User, we have the legal right to collect, process, use, and retain your Personal Information (“E.U. Personal Information”) in the ways described in this Policy, based on your consent, the need to use your E.U. Personal Information to provide you with services that you have requested and/or our legitimate interests in furthering our existing relationship with you or preventing fraud.  If you do not provide such information, in certain cases you may be unable to use our Website and we may be unable to provide any services that you request.

B. Transfers of Your E.U. Personal Information to the United States

In connection with our collection and use of your E.U. Personal Information, we may transfer all or certain portions of your E.U. Personal Information to our servers in the United States or our third-party service providers in the United States.  Please note that the governing bodies in your jurisdiction have determined that the laws of the United States do not provide adequate protection for your E.U. Personal Information.  Accordingly, we are transferring your E.U. Personal Information from your country to the United States based on your explicit consent, and/or because the transfer is necessary for the performance of a contract between you and us or the implementation of pre-contractual measures taken at your request, and/or because the transfer is necessary for the conclusion or performance of a contract concluded in your interest between us and a third party, and in any case you acknowledge and agree that we may collect, use and disclose your E.U. Personal Information, both before and after such transfer, in accordance with this Policy.

C. Storage of Your E.U. Personal Information

We securely store your E.U. Personal Information in distributed locations in the United States using our own servers or the servers of reputable, third-party service providers such as our cloud-hosted infrastructure service provider and other cloud-based software service providers.  We will keep such information for no longer than necessary.  The length of time we retain your E.U. Personal Information will depend on any legal obligations we have (such as tax recording purposes), the nature of any contracts we have in place with you, the existence of your consent or our legitimate interests as a business.

D. Your E.U. Privacy Rights

If you are a European User, you will have the following additional rights with respect to your E.U. Personal Information (your “E.U. Privacy Rights”):

If we intend to disclose your E.U. Personal Information to any third party that will have the right to process your E.U. Personal Information, we will enter into a contract with that third party that provides that your E.U. Personal Information may be processed only for limited and specified purposes consistent with the consent that you have provided to us, and that the third party must provide the same level of protection for your E.U. Personal Information that we are obligated to provide under this Policy.  In addition, we will notify you if that third party will have the right to determine the purposes for which it will process your E.U. Personal Information and the means it will use to process your E.U. Personal Information (rather than just providing requested assistance to us in support of our permitted uses of your E.U. Personal Information).  In certain situations, we may be required to disclose your E.U. Personal Information in response to lawful requests by public authorities, including to meet national security or law enforcement requirements.

If we are processing your E.U. Personal Information based on your consent, you may withdraw that consent at any time.  Your withdrawal will not affect the lawfulness of our processing based on your consent before your withdrawal.  If you withdraw your consent, we may not be able to provide our Website or our other products or services to you. We will advise you if this is the case at the time you withdraw your consent.

You may restrict our use and processing of your E.U. Personal Information by sending us an e-mail stating your request to privacy@edpnc.com, if you have contested the accuracy of that information, if the processing is unlawful or if we no longer need such information for the purposes for which it was collected.  We will then store your E.U. Personal Information and process it only with your consent, or to establish, exercise or defend a legal claim or to protect the rights of others.  The restriction with respect to information claimed to be inaccurate would end if we verify the accuracy of that contested information.

We do not collect, store or process sensitive information related to your racial or ethnic identity, political opinions, religious or philosophical beliefs, trade union membership, health (including genetic and biometric data), sex life or sexual orientation (“E.U. Sensitive Information”) unless you have given your explicit consent.  Specifically, we may choose to collect certain demographic information (such as gender or ethnicity) in connection with using the interactive features of our Website or otherwise, but in each case you will have the option to decline to disclose this information in connection with your submission.  We will not use or disclose any of your E.U. Sensitive Information without your explicit consent, subject to certain limited exceptions.

We may create a profile to analyze or predict your personal preferences or interests solely related to your use of our Website and for the purposes described in this Policy. We do not otherwise create profiles to analyze or predict your performance at work, economic situation, health, personal preferences, interests, reliability, behavior, location or movements.  We do not make any decision about you that would have legal consequences or similarly significant effects on you based solely on automated decision-making, including the use of profiles.

Upon our receipt of your request by e-mail at privacy@edpnc.com and our verification of your identity, we will advise you whether we are processing E.U. Personal Information concerning you and, if so, will provide you with a copy of your E.U. Personal Information being processed and certain information about the nature and purposes of the processing.  You may correct, amend or delete any such E.U. Personal Information that is inaccurate or incomplete.

Upon your request, we will erase any of your E.U. Personal Information that is no longer needed for the purpose for which it was collected or that is being used for direct marketing purposes, or if our use is based on your consent and you withdraw that consent, or if we have made such E.U. Personal Information public.  We will not erase such information, however, to the extent it is necessary for the establishment, exercise or defense of a legal claim or another exception applies under applicable law in your jurisdiction.

If we are using your E.U. Personal Information on the basis of your consent and we change our Policy to permit any use or disclosure of your E.U. Personal Information that is materially different than the uses for which it was originally collected or subsequently authorized by you, we will obtain your consent before we make such further uses of your E.U. Personal Information.

You will not have to pay a fee to exercise any of your E.U. Privacy Rights.  We may, however, charge a reasonable fee if a request is clearly unfounded, repetitive or excessive. Alternatively, we may refuse to comply with your request in those circumstances.  We may need to request specific information from you to help us confirm your identity and to ensure your right to exercise your E.U. Privacy Rights. This is a security measure to ensure that your E.U. Personal Information is not disclosed to a person who does not have a right to receive it.

We try to respond to all legitimate requests within a reasonable timeframe.

Changes to Our Privacy Policy

We post any changes we make to our Policy on this page.  The date this Policy was last revised is identified at the top of the page.  You are responsible for ensuring we have an up-to-date, active and deliverable email address for you, and for periodically visiting our Website and this Policy to check for any changes.

Contact Information

To ask questions or comment about this Policy and our privacy practices, you may contact us via e-mail at privacy@edpnc.com or via postal mail at 150 Fayetteville St., Suite 1200, Raleigh, North Carolina 27601 USA.

If you have a complaint that has not been satisfied by contacting us at the email address above, you have the right to complain to the independent public authority created by your country of residence with the responsibility for monitoring the laws governing the processing of Personal Information.