Privacy Policy

This Privacy Policy discloses the privacy practices of AskTheLawyers.com™, LLC (“We,” “Us,” or “Our”) with respect to the website at www.askthelawyers.com™ (the “Website”) and applies solely to information collected by or in connection with the operation of the Website.  Our Privacy Policy will notify you of the following:

1. What information is collected from you;
2. How your information is used;
3. How your information may be disclosed to others;
4. What actions you can take;
5. What security practices we take;
6. Other related matters.  

By accessing and using the Website, you expressly consent to our privacy practices as described in this Privacy Policy.  If you do not agree with this Privacy Policy, please do not access or use the Website.

1) INFORMATION COLLECTED FROM YOU

Information You Provide to Us.  You may provide to us nonpublic, personal information in connection with your access and use of the Website, for example when ordering services, creating an account, communicating with us, and the like.  Such information may include names, addresses, telephone numbers, email addresses, dates of birth, bank account information, social security numbers, usernames, passwords, and the like.

Information From Other Sources.  We may collect information about you from third parties related to your access and use of the Website, such as to verify your identity, prevent fraud, confirm your eligibility for products and services, and the like.

Automatically Collected Information.  When you access or use the Website, we may automatically collect information from you in the following ways:

1. Logging – we may log information about your access and use of the Website
2. Devices – we may collect information about the devices you use to access and use the Website
3. Software – we may collect information about the software you use to access and use the Website
4. Locations – we may collect information about your geographic location
5. Stored Information – we may access information stored on the device you use to access or use the Website
6. Cookies and Other Tracking Technologies – we may use various technologies to track your access and use of our services, including cookies

Publicly Available User Generated Content.  As part of your access to and use of the Website, you may have the option to voluntarily create or provide your own content to the Website and make it publicly available.  Please be aware that you have no expectation of privacy in such content that you voluntarily create or provide and make publicly available on the Website.

2) HOW YOUR INFORMATION IS USED

We may use information collected from you in the following ways:

1. To develop, operate, monitor, support and improve the Website
2. To enable your access to and use of the Website
3. To communicate with you and fulfill your requests with respect to your access to and use of the Website
4. To verify your identity and information you provide to us;
5. To prevent fraud and illegal activity;
6. To enforce our terms and conditions of use, other documents governing your use and access to the Website, and to comply with all applicable laws, regulations, or legal processes;
7. To offer and personalize to you information about products or services you may be interested in;
8. To answer your legal question as you have inquired about;
9. To put into effect any other purpose for which the information was collected.

The information we collect from you will be retained for as long as necessary to fulfill the purpose for which the information was collected, to fulfill the provisions of this Privacy Policy, or otherwise for such period as may be required or permitted by applicable law, regulation, or legal process.  

3) HOW YOUR INFORMATION MAY BE DISCLOSED TO OTHERS

We may disclose information collected from you to others as follows:

1. To verify your identity and information that you provide to us;
2. To prevent fraud or illegal activity;
3. To perform marketing services;
4. When it is necessary, in our sole discretion, to respond to any legal claims and answer legal questions;
5. When it is necessary, in our sole discretion, to comply with any applicable laws, regulations, or legal processes;
6. When it is necessary, in our sole discretion, to protect the rights, property, interests, or safety of you, us, or others;
7. When it is necessary, in our sole discretion, as part of an acquisition, merger, or sale of all or a portion of our business;
8. When we have your consent.

We also may remove any personally-identifying information from information collected from you and freely share the result, for example for statistical, demographic, or other data aggregation purposes, so long as no individual can be personally identified.  

4) WHAT ACTIONS YOU CAN TAKE

• Options to change or edit account information
• Options to opt in or out of various things, e.g. promotional or advertising communications through email or other means
• Options to opt out of location information
• Cookies – usually on by default in most web browsers with option to turn off
• Contact – a point of contact for inquiries about what data has been collected, changes or corrections, deletions, or other concerns

5) SECURITY PRACTICES WE TAKE

We undertake commercially reasonable steps to secure the information that we collect from you.  

• Technological/encryption. We make sure all passwords and credit cards are encrypted to look like meaningless random strings.
• Storage/backups. We use strict firewall rules and security modules to keep all files and information securely stored on our server. We make regular backups every week that are stored separately from the main site.
• Employee “need-to-know” access policies. Our employees are only allowed to access information required to do the job for their position. Passwords and credit card information is only accessible by top managers and admins.

6) OTHER RELATED MATTERS

If you choose to text us using our text messaging service, you consent to receive transmission of text messages from us to that number, and you waive any rights or claims under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act. You may text us or email us at support@askthelawyers.com if you wish to no longer receive text messages from us.

If you are a resident of California, California law permits you to request information regarding the disclosure of your personal information by us to third parties for the third party’s direct marketing purposes.  The rights granted to California residents apply only to their activities within the State of California. To make such a request, please contact us at support@askthelawyers.com

If you are a resident of California, California law requires us to disclose if we respond to Do Not Track signals from web browsers or like software.  Please note that we do not respond to Do Not Track requests from web browsers.

Please note this Privacy Policy does not apply to any information you provide to third parties as part of your access or use of the Website.  For example, the Website may contain links or other ways to access and use the websites, products, services or the like of third parties. We are not responsible for the content or privacy practices of such third party websites, products, services or the like.  The fact that the Website may provide links or other ways to access and use such third party websites, products, services or the like should not be construed as an endorsement by us of the same.

We are the sole owners of the information collected by and in connection with the operation of the Website.  

We are based in the United States.  Information we obtain as a result of your access to and use of the Website will be processed in, transferred to, and stored in the United States and will be subject to all applicable United States laws, regulations, and legal processes.  Your access to and use of the Website provides your express consent for the same.

We reserve the right to modify this Privacy Policy at any time.  We encourage you to visit the Website periodically to review the current Privacy Policy in effect.