Search Simplified (owned and operated by Cox Career Pathways, LLC) provides this Privacy Policy to let you know our policies and procedures regarding the collection, use and disclosure of information through www.searchsimplified.com, and any other websites, features, applications, widgets or online services that are owned or controlled by Search Simplified and that post a link to this Privacy Policy (together with the Site, the “Service”), as well as any information Search Simplified collects offline in connection with the Service. It also describes the choices available to you regarding the use of, your access to, and how to update and correct your personal information. Note that we combine the information we collect from you from the Site, through the Service generally, or offline.

By accessing or using the Service, you consent to the information collection, disclosure and use practices described in this Privacy Policy. Please note that certain features or services referenced in this Privacy Policy may not be offered on the Service at all times.

1. INFORMATION COLLECTION

Users of the Service may be Clients (anyone utilizing the Search Simplified platform to request services to be performed by a Freelancer) or Freelancers (any company, individual user, or groups of associated individual users or companies utilizing the Search Simplified platform to offer services to Clients). Freelancers may also operate as an Agency (a legally recognized entity with the ability to hire and/or contract) with other Freelancers.

Information You Provide to Us

●     Personal Information: In the course of using the Service we may require or otherwise collect information that identifies you as a specific individual and can be used to contact or identify you (“Personal Information”). Examples of Personal Information include your name, email address, company address, billing address, and phone number.

●     Payment Information: If you use the Service to make or receive payments, we will also collect certain payment information, such as credit card, PayPal or other financial account information, and billing address.

●     Identity Verification: We may collect Personal Information, such as your date of birth or taxpayer identification number, to validate your identity or as may be required by law, such as to complete tax filings. We may request documents to verify this information, such as a copy of your government-issued identification or photo or a billing statement.

●     General Audience Service: The Service is general audience and intended for users 18 and older. We do not knowingly collect Personal Information from anyone younger than age 18. If we become aware that a child younger than 18 has provided us with Personal Information, we will use commercially reasonable efforts to delete such information from our files. If you are the parent or legal guardian of a child younger than age 18 and believe that Search Simplified has collected Personal Information from your child, please contact us at: info@searchsimplified.com.

●     Non-Identifying Information/Usernames: We also may collect other information, such as zip codes, demographic data, information regarding your use of the Service, and general project-related data (“Non-Identifying Information”). We may aggregate information collected from Search Simplified registered and non-registered users (“Search Simplified Users”). We consider usernames to be Non-Identifying Information. Usernames are made public through the Service and are viewable by other Search Simplified Users.

In some cases, we may render Personal Information (generally, email address) into a form of Non-Identifying Information referred to in this Privacy Policy as “Hashed Information.” This is typically accomplished using a mathematical process (commonly known as a hash function) to convert information into a code. The code does not identify you directly, but it may be used to connect your activity and interests.

●     Combination of Personal and Non-Identifying Information: Certain Non-Identifying Information would be considered a part of your Personal Information if it were combined with other identifiers in a way that enables you to be identified (for example, combining information with your name). But the same pieces of information are considered Non-Identifying Information when they are taken alone or combined only with other non-identifying information (for example, your viewing preferences). We may combine your Personal Information with Non-Identifying Information, but Search Simplified will treat the combined information as Personal Information.

●     Collection of the Third Party Personal Information: We collect the following personal information from you about your contacts or friends: First, last name and email address when you provide it to us for the purpose of adding your contacts to a message room.

Information Received from Third Parties

We also may receive information about you from third parties. For example, we may supplement the information we collect with outside records or third parties may provide information in connection with a co-marketing agreement or at your request (such as if you choose to sign in with a third-party service). If we combine the information we receive from others with information we collect through the Service, we will treat the combined information as described in this Privacy Policy.

Information Collected from Users Automatically

We and our third party service providers, including analytics and third party content providers, may automatically collect certain information from you whenever you access or interact with the Service. This information may include, among other information, the browser and operating system you are using, the URL or advertisement that referred you to the Service, the search terms you entered into a search engine that led you to the Service, areas within the Service that you visited, and other information commonly shared when browsers communicate with websites. We may combine this automatically collected log information with other information we collect about you. We do this to improve services we offer you, to improve marketing, analytics, and site functionality.

The information we collect also includes the Internet Protocol (“IP”) address or other unique device identifier (“Device Identifier”) for any device (computer, mobile phone, tablet, etc.) used to access the Service. A Device Identifier is a number that is automatically assigned or connected to the device you use to access the Service, and our servers identify your device by its Device Identifier. Some mobile service providers may also provide us or our third party service providers with information regarding the physical location of the device used to access the Service.

The technology used to collect information automatically from Search Simplified Users may include the following:

●     Cookies: Like many websites, we and our marketing partners, affiliates, analytics, and service providers use “cookies” to collect information. A cookie is a small data file that we transfer to your computer’s hard disk for record-keeping purposes. We use both persistent cookies that remain on your computer or similar device (such as to save your registration ID and login password for future logins to the Service and to track your compliance with the Search Simplified Terms of Service) and session ID cookies, which expire at the end of your browser session (for example, to enable certain features of the Service, to better understand how Search Simplified Users interact with the Service and to monitor aggregate usage by Search Simplified Users and web traffic routing on the Service). You may be able to instruct your browser, by changing its options, to stop accepting cookies or to prompt you before accepting a cookie from the websites you visit. If you do not accept cookies, however, you may not be able to use all functionality of the Service.

●     Web Beacons: We and our marketing partners, affiliates, analytics, and service providers may also employ software technology known as “web beacons” and/or “tracking tags” to help us keep track of what content on our Service is effective and to serve relevant advertising to you. Web beacons are small graphics with a unique identifier that may be invisible to you, and which are used to track the online activity of Internet users. Web beacons are embedded in the web pages you review or email messages you receive. Web beacons or similar technologies may be used for a number of purposes, including, without limitation, to count visitors to our Service, to monitor how Search Simplified Users navigate the Service, to count how many emails that were sent were actually opened, or to count how many particular articles or links were actually viewed.

●     Embedded Scripts: We and our marketing partners, affiliates, analytics, and service providers may also employ software technology known as an Embedded Script. An Embedded Script is programming code that is designed to collect information about your interactions with the Service, such as the links you click on. The code is temporarily downloaded onto your computer or other device and is deactivated or deleted when you disconnect from the Service.

In addition, we and our marketing partners, affiliates, analytics, and service providers may use a variety of other technologies (such as tags) that collect similar information for security and fraud detection purposes and we may use third parties to perform these services on our behalf.

HOW WE RESPOND TO DO NOT TRACK SIGNALS

Please note that your browser setting may allow you to automatically transmit a “Do Not Track” signal to websites and online service you visit. There is no consensus among industry participants as to what “Do Not Track” means in this context. Like many websites and online services, Search Simplified does not alter its practices when it receives a “Do Not Track” signal from a visitor’s browser.

User Profiles You may have the opportunity to create a profile, which consists of information about you, and may include Personal Information, photographs, examples of your work, information on work previously performed via the Service and outside the Service, skills, hourly pay rates, feedback/rating information and other information, including your username (“Profile”). The information in your Profile may be visible to all Search Simplified Users and the general public subject to the privacy choices you make within your Search Simplified Profile. You may edit certain information in your Profile via your account and may choose to limit who is able to view certain content you post to your Profile. Clients and Agencies of associated individual users or companies may also have the opportunity to create an organization Profile. If, in any case, you believe that an unauthorized profile has been created about you, you can request for it to be removed by contacting us at http://searchsimplified.com/#contact-us.

Community Forums The Service may provide you the opportunity to participate and post content publicly in forums, on blogs, through interactive features Search Simplified and through other communication functionality (“Community Forums”). You may choose, through such features or otherwise, to submit or post questions, comments, or other content (collectively, “User Forum Content”). Please note that certain information, such as your name and Profile may be publicly displayed on the Service along with your User Forum Content. Please note that your use of Community Forums is subject to the Search Simplified Forum Rules and our Terms of Service.

Note that anything you post to a Community Forum is public — others will have access to your User Forum Content and may use it or share it with third parties. If you choose to voluntarily disclose Personal Information in your User Forum Content or use Community Forums to link to your Profile, that information will be considered public information and the protections of this Privacy Policy will not apply.

To request removal of your personal information from our blog or community forum, contact us at info@searchsimplified.com. In some cases, we may not be able to remove your Personal Information, in which case we will let you know if we are unable to do so and why.

Testimonials We display personal testimonials of satisfied customers on our Service, in addition to other endorsements. With your consent we may post your testimonial along with your name. If you wish to update or delete your testimonial, you can contact us at info@searchsimplified.com.

Feedback

We collect feedback from Search Simplified Users about their experience with other Search Simplified Users of our Service. Please note that any feedback you provide via the Service or feedback provided about you is publicly viewable via the Service. On very rare occasions, we may remove feedback pursuant to the relevant provisions of our Terms of Service.

Social Networking Services

You may register to join the Service directly via the Service or by logging into your account with a third party social networking service (“SNS”) via our Service (e.g., Facebook, LinkedIn and other third party services that let you sign in using your existing credentials with those services). If you choose to register via an SNS, or to later link your account with the Service to your account with an SNS, we will use the Personal Information you have provided to the SNS (such as your name, email address, gender and other information you make publicly available via the SNS) to create your account. Note that the information we collect from and through an SNS may depend on the privacy settings you have set with the SNS and the permissions you grant to us in connection with linking your account with the Service to your account with an SNS. Other than what we may share with the SNS as described below, the Personal Information an SNS has about you is obtained by the SNS independent of our Service, and Search Simplified is not responsible for it.

The Search Simplified Service also may permit additional interactions between it and a third party website, service, or other content provider, such as enabling you to “like” or share content to a third party SNS. If you choose to “like” or share content, or to otherwise share information from or via our Service with a third party site or service, that information may be publicly displayed, and the third party may have access to information about you and your use of our Service (and we may have access to information about you from that third party). These features may collect your IP address, which page you are visiting on our site, and may set a cookie to enable the feature to function properly. Your interactions with third parties through an SNS or similar features are governed by the respective privacy policies of those third parties.

You represent that you are entitled to use your SNS account for the purposes described herein without breach by you of any of the terms and conditions that govern the SNS, and without obligating Search Simplified to pay any fees or making Search Simplified subject to any usage limitations imposed by such SNS. You can disable the link between your Search Simplified account and your SNS account at any time though the “Settings” section of our Service. Please note that your relationship with any SNS is governed solely by your agreement(s) with such SNS. If your SNS account terminates, then functions enabled through the link between your Search Simplified account and your SNS account will terminate as well.

2. USE AND RETENTION OF INFORMATION

WE USE INFORMATION WE COLLECT:

●     To provide and improve the Service, complete your transactions, and address your inquiries, process your registration, verify the information you provide is valid and for compliance and internal business purposes;

●     To contact you with administrative communications and Search Simplified newsletters, marketing or promotional materials (on behalf of Search Simplified or third parties) and other information that may be of interest to you. If you decide at any time that you no longer wish to receive such communications from us, please send us an email at info@searchsimplified.com.

●     To tailor content we display to you and offers we may present to you, both on the Service and elsewhere online;

●     To administer and develop our business relationship with you and, if applicable, the corporation or other legal entity you represent;

●     To assess your proposal to perform a freelance project for Search Simplified and prepare related governmental and internal statistics reports;

●     To enforce and comply with the law, including to conduct an investigation, to protect the property and rights of Search Simplified or a third party, to protect the safety of the public or any person, or to prevent or stop activity we may consider to be, or to pose a risk of being, illegal, fraudulent, unethical or legally actionable activity. We may also use Device Identifiers to identify Search Simplified Users; and

●     For the purposes disclosed at the time you provide your information, with your consent, and as further described in this Privacy Policy.

UNLESS YOU REQUEST THAT WE DELETE CERTAIN INFORMATION WE RETAIN THE INFORMATION WE COLLECT FOR AT LEAST 5 YEARS AND MAY RETAIN THE INFORMATION FOR AS LONG AS NEEDED FOR OUR BUSINESS AND LEGAL PURPOSES.

3. INFORMATION SHARING AND DISCLOSURE

We may share aggregated Non-Identifying Information and we may otherwise disclose Non-Identifying Information (including, without limitation, Hashed Information) to third parties. We do not share your Personal Information with third parties for those third parties’ marketing purposes unless we first provide you with the opportunity to opt-in to or opt-out of such sharing. We may also share the information we have collected about you, including Personal Information, as disclosed at the time you provide your information, with your consent, as otherwise described in this Privacy Policy, or in the following circumstances:

●     Service Providers: We may employ third party companies and individuals to facilitate our Service, to provide the Service on our behalf, to perform Service-related services (e.g., without limitation, maintenance services, database management, web analytics and online advertising, payment processing, fraud detection and improvement of Search Simplified’s features) or to assist us in analyzing how our Service is used. These third parties may have access to your Personal Information in order to perform these tasks on our behalf.

●     What Happens If You Agree to Receive Information From Third Parties or Request That We Share Your Information: You may be presented with an opportunity to receive information and/or marketing offers from one or more third parties. If you agree at that time to have your Personal Information shared, your Personal Information will be disclosed to that third party (or parties) and will be subject to the privacy policy and practices of that third party. We are not responsible for the privacy policies and practices of third parties, and, if you later decide that you no longer want to receive communications from a third party, you will need to contact that third party directly. You also may request, sometimes through your use of an SNS or similar interactive feature or third party application, that we share information about you with a third party and we will typically do so under those circumstances.

●     Legal and Investigative Purposes: Search Simplified will share information with government agencies as required by law, including without limitation, in connection with reporting earnings. We cooperate with government and law enforcement officials and private parties to enforce and comply with the law. We will disclose information about you to government or law enforcement officials or private parties as we, in our sole discretion, believe necessary or appropriate to respond to claims and legal process (including but not limited to subpoenas), at the request of governmental authorities or other third parties conducting an investigation, to protect the property and rights of Search Simplified or a third party, to protect the safety of the public or any person, or to prevent or stop activity we may consider to be, or to pose a risk of being, illegal, fraudulent, unethical or legally actionable activity. We may also use Device Identifiers to identify Search Simplified Users, and may do so in cooperation with third parties at our discretion.

●     Internal and Business Transfers: Search Simplified may share information, including Personal Information, with its subsidiaries, and affiliates, primarily for business and operational purposes. We may sell, transfer or otherwise share some or all of our assets, including your Personal Information, in connection with a merger, acquisition, reorganization or sale of assets (including, in each case, as part of the due-diligence process with any potential acquiring entity) or in the event of bankruptcy. You will be notified via email and/or a prominent notice on our website of any change in ownership or uses of your personal information, as well as any choices you may have regarding your personal information.

4. THIRD PARTY ANALYTICS PROVIDERS, AD SERVERS AND SIMILAR THIRD PARTIES

Search Simplified works with (or may in the future work with) network advertisers, ad agencies, analytics service providers and other vendors to provide us with information regarding traffic on the service, including pages viewed and the actions taken when visiting the Service; to serve our advertisements on other web sites, within mobile apps and elsewhere online; and to provide us with information regarding the use of the Service and the effectiveness of our advertisements. Our service providers may collect certain information about your visits to and activity on the Service as well as other websites or services, they may set and access their own tracking technologies on your device, and may use that information to show you targeted advertisements. Some of these parties may collect Personal Information when you visit the Service or other online websites and services. We may also share certain Non-Identifying Information with these parties, including Hashed Information, in connection with the services they provide to us.

5. YOUR CHOICES AND OPTING OUT

Registered Search Simplified Users may update their choices regarding the types of communications you receive from us through your online account. You also may opt-out of receiving marketing emails from us by following the opt-out instructions provided in those emails. Please note that we reserve the right to send you certain communications relating to your account or use of the Service (for example, administrative and service announcements) via email and other means and these transactional account messages may be unaffected if you opt-out from receiving marketing communications. You may opt-out of receiving text messages by replying “STOP” to any text message received. Registered Search Simplified Users who access the Service by using a Search Simplified mobile application may, with permission, receive push notifications. Similarly, registered Search Simplified Users who access the Service by using certain desktop browsers may, with permission, receive push notifications. Notification preferences can be modified in the settings menu for the mobile application or the applicable browser.

6. CHANGING YOUR INFORMATION OR CLOSING YOUR ACCOUNT

Upon request Search Simplified will provide you with information about whether we hold any of your personal information. You are responsible for maintaining the accuracy of the information you submit to us, such as your contact information. You may access, correct, or request deletion of your personal information by making updates to that information or by contacting Search Simplified through your online account. If you request to access all personal information you’ve submitted, we will respond to your request to access within 30 days. If you completely delete all such information, then your account may become deactivated. If your account is deactivated or you ask to close your account, you will no longer be able to use the Service. If you would like us to delete your account in our system, you can do so through the Search Simplified Service (once you logged in, visit account details, and then click on the close my account link). We will use commercially reasonable efforts to honor your request; however, certain information will actively persist on the Service even if you close your account, including information in your messages you posted to the Service. In addition, your Personal Information may remain in our archives and information you update or delete, or information within a closed account, may persist internally or for our administrative purposes.

7. SECURITY

Search Simplified takes commercially reasonable steps to help protect and secure the information it collects and stores about Search Simplified Users. All access to the Site is encrypted using industry-standard transport layer security technology (TLS). When you enter sensitive information (such as tax identification number), we encrypt the transmission of that information using secure socket layer technology (SSL). We also use HTTP strict transport security to add an additional layer of protection for our Search Simplified Users. No method of transmission over the Internet, or method of electronic storage, is 100% secure. Thus, while we strive to protect your personal data, Search Simplified cannot ensure and does not warrant the security of any information you transmit to us.

8. INTERNATIONAL TRANSFER OF PERSONAL INFORMATION

Search Simplified is a United States company. If you are located outside the United States and choose to provide information to us, Search Simplified transfers Personal Information to the United States for processing. The U.S. may not have the same data protection laws as the country in which you initially provided the information. When we transfer your information to the U.S., we will protect it as described in this Privacy Policy. By visiting the Service, or providing Search Simplified with any information, you fully understand and unambiguously consent to this transfer, processing and storage of your information in the United States.

Search Simplified protects personally identifiable information from residents of the European Union, other European Economic Area countries, and Switzerland in accordance with applicable law (including, as applicable, reliance upon your consent and EU-approved standard contract clauses).

9. PUBLIC PROFILE

The profile you create on our site will be publicly accessible unless otherwise indicated. You may change the privacy settings of your profile through your account portal.

10. PHISHING

Phishing websites imitate legitimate websites in order to obtain personal or financial information. Identity theft and the practice currently known as “phishing” are of great concern to Search Simplified. For more information about phishing, visit the website of the Federal Trade Commission at http://www.consumer.ftc.gov/articles/0003-phishing. In addition, if you believe you have received an email or had a similar interaction with a third party pretending to be Search Simplified, please report it at info@searchsimplified.com.

12. CHANGES TO THIS POLICY

Search Simplified may update this Privacy Policy at any time and any changes will be effective upon posting. In the event that there are material changes to the way we treat your Personal Information, we will display a notice through the Services prior to the change becoming effective. We may also notify you by email, in our discretion. However, we will use your Personal Information in a manner consistent with the Privacy Policy in effect at the time you submitted the information, unless you consent to the new or revised policy.

13. CONTACTING US

If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy, please contact us at info@searchsimplified.com; or by mail addressed to Search Simplified, Attn: Legal, 7238 Life Quest Lane, Columbia, MD 21045.

Notice to California Residents – California Privacy Rights

If you are a California resident and have provided us with personal information, California law requires that we provide you with a summary of your privacy rights under the California Online Privacy Protection Act (the “Act”) and the California Business and Professions Code. As required by the Act, we will provide you with the categories of personally identifiable information that we collect through YouVersion and the categories of third party persons or entities with whom such personally identifiable information may be shared for direct marketing purposes at your request. California law requires us to inform you, at your request, (1) the categories of personally identifiable information we collect and what third parties we share that information with; (2) the names and addresses of those third parties; and (3) examples of the products marketed by those companies. The Act further requires us to allow you to control who we can and cannot share that information with. To obtain this information, please send a request to info@searchsimplified.com and include the phrase “California Privacy Request” in the subject line. When contacting us, please indicate your name, address, email address, and what personally identifiable information you do not want us to share with third parties. Please allow thirty (30) days for a response. Also, please note that there is no charge for controlling the sharing of your personally identifiable information or requesting this notice.