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The Mediocre Observer wants you to be familiar with how we collect, use and disclose information.  This Privacy Policy describes our practices in connection with information that we collect online and offline:

• through our websites (“Websites”);
• through social media properties (“Our Social Media”) from which you are accessing this Privacy      Policy;
• through services we provide to our clients (“Client Services”); and
• through any other offline business interactions you may      have with us (“Offline Interactions).

COLLECTION OF PERSONAL INFORMATION

Collectively, we refer to the Websites, Our Social Media, Client Services and Offline Interactions as the “Services.”

“Personal Information” is information that identifies you as an individual or relates to an identifiable individual. Different pieces of information, which collected together can lead to the identification of a particular person, also constitute personal information. These include:

• Name
• Address (including personal, business, billing and shipping addresses)
• Telephone number
• Email address (personal and business)
• Job title and employer

We and our service providers collect Personal Information in a variety of ways, including:

• Through the Services. We collect Personal Information through the Services, for example, when you sign up for a newsletter,  provide information in conjunction with our Client Services, or when you interact with us at an event, call or email our offices. 
• From Other Sources. We receive your Personal Information  from other sources, for example:
• publicly available databases;
• joint marketing partners and event sponsors, when  they share the information with us.
• social media platforms.

We need to collect Personal Information in order to provide the requested Services to you. If you do not provide the information requested, we may not be able to provide the Services. If you disclose any Personal Information relating to other people to us or to our service providers in connection with the Services, you represent that you have the authority to do so and to permit us to use the information in accordance with this Privacy Policy.

USE OF PERSONAL INFORMATION

We and our service providers use Personal Information for legitimate business purposes, including:

• Providing the functionality of the Services and fulfilling your requests.
  • To provide the Services’ functionality to you, such as  arranging access to your account, and providing you with related client  service.
  • To respond to your inquiries and fulfill your requests, when you contact us via one of our online contact forms or otherwise (e.g., when you send us questions, suggestions, compliments or complaints, or when you request other information about our Services).
  • To send administrative information to you, such as  information regarding the Services and changes to our terms, conditions  and policies.

We will engage in these activities to manage our contractual relationship with you and/or to comply with a legal obligation.

• Providing you with our newsletter and/or other marketing materials and facilitating social sharing
  •  To send you our newsletters, publications, legal updates, and mailings related to our seminars or events that we think may be of interest to you.
  • To fulfill your event registration requests and provide services, including the provision of seminars and other events.
  • To send you information about our services and other news about our firm.

We will engage in this activity with your consent or where we have a legitimate interest.

• Aggregating and/or anonymizing Personal Information.
  • We may aggregate and/or anonymize Personal Information so that it will no  longer be considered Personal Information. We do so to generate other data for our use, which we may use and disclose for any purpose.
• Accomplishing our business purposes.
  • For data analysis, for example, to improve the efficiency of our Services.
  • For audits, to verify that our internal processes  function as intended and are compliant with legal, regulatory or  contractual requirements.
  • For fraud and security monitoring purposes, for  example, to detect and prevent cyberattacks or attempts to commit  identity theft.
  • To meet our legal and regulatory obligations.
  • For enhancing, improving, or modifying our current  products and services.
  • For identifying usage trends, for example,  understanding which parts of our Services are of most interest to users.
  • For determining the effectiveness of our promotional  campaigns, so that we can adapt our campaigns to the needs and interests  of our users.
  • For operating and expanding our business activities,  for example, understanding which parts of our Services are of most  interest to our users so we can focus our energies on meeting our users’  interests.

We engage in these activities to manage our contractual relationship with you, to comply with a legal obligation, and/or because we have a legitimate interest.

• Providing Client Services.
  • To validate authorized signatories when concluding agreements and transactions
  • To contact individuals (including employees of institutional clients) in connection with providing Client Services.
  • To respond to inquiries and fulfill requests from our clients, administer their file(s), provide services, and manage our relationships.

We engage in these activities to manage our contractual relationship with you, to comply with a legal obligation, and/or because we have a legitimate interest.

DISCLOSURE OF PERSONAL INFORMATION

We disclose Personal Information:

• To our third party service providers, to facilitate services they provide to us.
  • These can include providers of services such as website hosting, Services-related consulting and monitoring, data analysis, information technology and related infrastructure provision,  customer service, email delivery, auditing, and other services related to  meeting our clients’ lending needs.
  • We may disclose Personal Information to lenders with whom we may consult to perform Services on your behalf. 
• By using the Services, you may elect to disclose Personal Information
  • On message boards, chat, profile pages, blogs and other services to which you are able to post information and content  (including, without limitation, our Social Media), or through which you are able to send messages through the Services.  Please note that any information you post or disclose through these services will become public and may be available to other users and the general public.

We also use and disclose your Personal Information as necessary or appropriate, especially when we have a legal obligation or legitimate interest to do so:

• To comply with applicable law and regulations.
  • This can include laws outside your country of residence.
• To cooperate with public and government authorities.
  • For example, when we respond to a request or provide information we believe is important or to fulfill Federal reporting requirements.
  • These can include authorities outside your country of residence.
• To cooperate with law enforcement.
  • For example, when we respond to law enforcement  requests and orders or provide information we believe is important.
• For other legal reasons.
  • To enforce our terms and conditions; and
  • To protect our rights, privacy, safety or property,  and/or that of our affiliates, you or others.
• In connection with a sale or business transaction.
  • We have a legitimate interest in disclosing or transferring your Personal Information to a third party in the event of any reorganization, merger, sale, joint venture, assignment, transfer or other disposition of all or any portion of our business, assets or stock (including in connection with any bankruptcy or similar proceedings) Such third parties may include, for example, an acquiring entity and its advisors.

OTHER INFORMATION

“Other Information” is any information that does not reveal your specific identity or does not directly relate to an identifiable individual, including:

• Browser and device information
• App usage data
• Information collected through cookies, pixel tags and other technologies
• Demographic information and other information provided by you that does not reveal your specific identity
• Information that has been aggregated in a manner such that it no longer reveals your specific identity

If we are required to treat Other Information as Personal Information under applicable law, then we may use and disclose it for the purposes for which we use and disclose Personal Information as detailed in this Policy.

We and our service providers may collect Other Information in a variety of ways, including: 

• Through your browser or device:
  • Certain information is collected by most browsers or automatically through your device, such as your Media Access Control (MAC)  address, computer type (Windows or Mac), screen resolution, operating system name and version, device manufacturer and model, language, Internet browser type and version and the name and version of the Services (such as the App) you are using.  We use this information  to ensure that the Services function properly.
• Using cookies
  • Cookies are pieces of information stored directly on the computer that you are using.  Cookies allow us to collect  information such as browser type, time spent on the Services, pages visited, language preferences and other traffic data.  We do not  currently respond to browser do-not-track signals. To learn more about  how we use cookies, or to opt out of the collection and use of cookies,  please see our Cookies Policy below.  
• Using pixel tags and other similar technologies
  • Pixel tags (also known as web beacons and clear GIFs)   may be used to, among other things, track the actions of users of the  Services (including email recipients), measure the success of our  marketing campaigns, and compile statistics about usage of the Services       and response rates.
  • Analytic
    • We use Google Analytics, which uses cookies and similar technologies to collect and analyze information about use of the Services and report on activities and trends.  This service may also collect information regarding the use of other websites, apps and        online resources. You can learn about Google’s and YouTube’s practices by going to www.google.com/policies/privacy/partners/, and opt out of them by downloading the Google  Analytics opt-out browser add-on, available at https://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout. To view Google’s and YouTube’s privacy policy,  please click here.
    • We use SiteImprove, which uses cookies to collect  information about how visitors use the Site. We use this information to  compile reports and to help us improve the Site. The cookies collect  information in an anonymous form, including the number of visitors to  the Site, where visitors have come to the Site from and the pages they        visited.
    • To opt out of being tracked by cookies across all websites visit http://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout.
• IP Address
  • Your IP address is automatically assigned to your computer by your Internet Service Provider.  An IP address may be identified and logged automatically in our server log files whenever a user accesses  the Services, along with the time of the visit and the page(s) that were visited.  Collecting IP addresses is standard practice and is done automatically by many websites, applications and other services.  We  use IP addresses for purposes such as calculating usage levels ,diagnosing server problems and administering the Services.  We may  also derive your approximate location from your IP address

We may use and disclose Other Information for any purpose, except where we are required to do otherwise under applicable law.  In some instances, we may combine Other Information with Personal Information. If we do, we will treat the combined information as Personal Information as long as it is combined.

SECURITY

We seek to use reasonable organizational, technical and administrative measures to protect Personal Information within our organization. Unfortunately, no data transmission or storage system can be guaranteed to be 100% secure.  If you have reason to believe that your interaction with us is no longer secure, please immediately notify us in accordance with the “Contacting Us” section below.

OPTING OUT

If you no longer want to receive marketing-related emails from us on a going-forward basis, you may opt-out by following the unsubscribe instructions in any such message or by contacting us by email at joshuastewart@themediocreobserver.com. We will try to comply with your request(s) as soon as reasonably practicable.  Please note that if you opt-out of receiving marketing-related emails from us, we may still send you important administrative messages, from which you cannot opt-out.

If you would like to request to review, correct, update, suppress/delete, or object to or restrict processing of Personal Information that you have previously provided to us, or if you would like to request to receive an electronic copy of your Personal Information for purposes of transmitting it to another company, please contact us.  We will respond to your request consistent with applicable law. If you are a California resident, please refer to the “Additional Information Regarding California” section at the end of this Policy for more information about the requests you may make under the CCPA.

In your request, please make clear what Personal Information you would like to have changed, whether you would like to have your Personal Information suppressed from our database or otherwise let us know what limitations you would like to put on our use of your Personal Information.  For your protection, we may need to verify your identity before implementing your request.  

RETENTION PERIOD

We retain Personal Information for as long as needed or permitted in light of the purpose(s) for which it was obtained and consistent with applicable law.  The criteria used to determine our retention periods include:

• The length of time we have an ongoing relationship with  you and provide the Services to you (for example, for as long as you have an account with us or keep using the Services);
• The length of time we have an ongoing relationship with  you as our client and provide you with Client Services;
• Whether there is a legal obligation to which we are subject (for example, certain laws require us to keep records of your transactions or communications for a certain period of time before we can delete them); or
• Whether retention is legally advisable for our company (such as in regard to applicable litigation or regulatory investigations). 

THIRD PARTY SERVICES

This Privacy Policy does not address, and we are not responsible for, the privacy, information or other practices of any third parties.

This includes any third party operating any website or service to which the Services link.  The inclusion of a link on the Services does not imply endorsement of the linked site or service by us or by our affiliates.

In addition, we are not responsible for the information collection, use, disclosure or security policies or practices of other organizations, such as Facebook, Apple, Google, Microsoft, RIM or any other app developer, app provider, social media platform provider, operating system provider, wireless service provider or device manufacturer, including with respect to any Personal Information you disclose to other organizations through or in connection with the Apps or our Social Media.

USE OF SERVICES BY MINORS

The Services are not directed to individuals under the age of eighteen (18), and we do not knowingly collect Personal Information from individuals under 18.

CROSS-BORDER TRANSFER

Your Personal Information may be stored and processed in any country where we engage service providers. By using the Services you understand that your information will be transferred to countries outside of your country of residence, including the United States, which may have data protection rules that are different from those of your country.  In certain circumstances, courts, law enforcement agencies, regulatory agencies or security authorities in those other countries may be entitled to access your Personal Information.

SENSITIVE INFORMATION

We ask that you not send us, and you not disclose, any sensitive Personal Information (e.g., social security numbers, information related to racial or ethnic origin, political opinions, religion or other beliefs, health, biometrics or genetic characteristics, criminal background or trade union membership) on or through the Services or otherwise to us.

CONTACTING US

The Mediocre Observer LLC is the company responsible for collection, use and disclosure of your Personal Information under this Privacy Policy.

If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy, please contact us.

You can reach us at joshuastewart@themediocreobserver.com.

Because email communications are not always secure, please do not include credit card or other sensitive information in your emails to us.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION REGARDING THE EEA AND THE UK

You may lodge a complaint with a data protection authority for your country or region, or where an alleged infringement of applicable data protection law occurs. A list of EEA data protection authorities is available at: http://ec.europa.eu/justice/data-protection/article-29/structure/data-protection-authorities/index_en.htm. Information regarding the UK data protection authority is available at: https://ico.org.uk/.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION REGARDING CALIFORNIA

California Consumer Privacy Act

Pursuant to the California Consumer Privacy Act of 2018 (“CCPA”), we are providing the following additional details regarding the categories of Personal Information about  California residents that we collect, use, and disclose about California residents and households.

Sources of Personal Information

As described above, we collect this Personal Information from you, publicly available databases, social media platforms, and joint marketing partners and event sponsors. 

Categories of Personal Information Collected and Disclosed

The following are the categories of Personal Information about California residents we plan to collect, as well as which categories of Personal Information we have collected and disclosed to services providers and other vendors for our operational business purposes in the preceding 12 month period:

• Identifiers such as name, postal address, online/device identifier, IP address, email address and social media account.
• Personal information as defined in the California customer records law, such as name, signature, contact information, and   social media account handle and other information you may share or make public  on social networks.
•  Characteristics of protected classifications under California or federal law, which we may collect in order to provide you with our Client Services, such as age.
• Commercial information, such as Client Services transaction history, financial details and payment information.
•  Internet or other electronic network activity   information, such as browsing history and interactions with our Websites,   applications, systems, and emails.
• Geolocation data, such as device location and IP location.
• Audio, electronic, visual and similar information, such as   call recordings and CCTV footage created for safety and security purposes,   and audio and video recordings of events, conferences and meetings.
• Professional or employment-related information, such as   employer name and role/title.
• Education information subject to the federal Family   Educational Rights and Privacy Act, such as student records.

Use of Personal Information

Also as described above, we may use this Personal Information to operate, manage, and maintain our business, to provide our services, for vendor and employment management, and to accomplish our business purposes and objectives, including, for example, using Personal Information to: provide Client Services; personalize, advertise, and market our services and provide you with content and events of interest; conduct research, analytics, and data analysis; host conferences and events; maintain our facilities and infrastructure; undertake quality and safety assurance measures; conduct risk and security control and monitoring; detect and prevent fraud; perform accounting, audit, and other internal functions, such as internal investigations; comply with law, legal process, and internal policies; maintain records; facilitate corporate transactions; and exercise and defend legal claims. 

Under the CCPA, if a business sells Personal Information, it must allow California residents to opt out of the sale of their Personal Information. However, we do not “sell” and have not “sold” Personal Information in the preceding 12 months for purposes of the CCPA. For example, and without limiting the foregoing, we do not "sell" the Personal Information of minors under 16 years of age.

Individual Rights and Requests

If you are a California resident, you may request that we:

1. Disclose to you the following information covering the  12 months preceding your request:
   • The categories of Personal Information we collected  about you and the categories of sources from which we collected such  Personal Information;
   • The specific pieces of Personal Information we collected about you;
   • The business or commercial purpose for collecting Personal Information about you; and
   • The categories of Personal Information about you that   we shared or disclosed, and the categories of third parties with whom we shared or to whom we disclosed such Personal Information.

            2. Delete Personal Information we collected from you.

To make a request for the disclosures or deletion described above, please contact us through the Contact Us section of this website. 

We will verify and respond to your request consistent with applicable law, taking into account the type and sensitivity of the Personal Information subject to the request. For your protection, we may need to request additional information from you (such as your name, email address, mailing address, and relationship with us) in order to verify your identity and protect against fraudulent requests. If you make a deletion request, we may ask you to verify your request before we delete your Personal Information.

You have the right to be free from unlawful discrimination for exercising your rights under the CCPA.

Authorized Agents

If you want to make a request as an authorized agent on behalf of a California resident, you may use the submission methods noted above. As part of our verification process, we may request that you provide, as applicable, proof concerning your status as an authorized agent, which also may include:

• Proof of your registration with the California  Secretary of State to conduct business in California; and/or
• A power of attorney from the California resident  pursuant to Probate Code sections 4121-4130.

If you are making a request on behalf of a California resident and have not provided us with a power of attorney from the resident pursuant to Probate Code sections 4121-4130, we may also require the resident to:

• Verify the resident’s own identity directly with us; or
• Directly confirm with us that the resident provided you  permission to submit the request.

California “Shine the Light” Disclosures

As noted above we may disclose Personal Information to affiliates of Bruss Legal PLLC, which may use this information for all purposes outlined in this Privacy Policy. Because separate legal entities are considered “third parties” for purposes of California Civil Code Section 1798.83, and certain communications from our affiliates might be viewed as promoting their legal services. If you would like to learn more about this or to make a request to discontinue this type of sharing, please email us at joshuastewart@themediocreobserver.com.

We will provide a list of the categories of Personal Information disclosed to third parties (i.e., our affiliates) for their direct marketing purposes during the immediately preceding calendar year, along with the names and addresses of these third parties. This request may be made no more than once per calendar year. We will respond to your request in accordance with applicable law and we reserve our right not to respond to requests submitted other than to the email or mailing addresses specified in this section.

COOKIE POLICY

Cookies are a standard feature of websites that allow us to store small amounts of data on your computer about your visit to the Site. Cookies help us learn which areas of the Site are useful and which areas need improvement. For this purpose, we also use technologies similar to cookies, such as Flash Local Shared Objects (also known as Flash cookies) or pixel tags.

You can choose whether to accept the use of various categories of cookies.  However, if you disable cookies and similar technologies, your experience on the Site may be diminished and some features may not work as intended.

· Cookies We Use. Below are the different types of cookies that we use on the Site. To the extent any personal information is collected through cookies, our Privacy Policy applies and complements this Policy.

o Required Cookies. Required cookies enable you to navigate the Site and to use its services and features. Without these absolutely necessary cookies, we may not be able to provide the Site or certain services or features.

o Analytics Cookies. These cookies allow us to analyze your use of the Site to evaluate and improve our performance, for example, by providing us information about how our site is used.

o Enhanced Experience Cookies. These cookies enhance your experience on the Site, for example, by enabling social sharing functionalities for LinkedIn and Twitter, and by enabling our video content.

o Google Analytics. Google Analytics is a service provided by Google, Inc. ("Google"). We use Google Analytics to collect anonymized statistics in order to improve the Site. You can learn about Google’s practices by going to Google Analytics and privacy, and opt out of them by downloading the Google Analytics Opt-out Browser Add-on. 

o Browser or Device Information. Certain information is collected by most browsers or automatically through your device, such as your Media Access Control (MAC) address, computer type (Windows or Mac), screen resolution, operating system name and version, device manufacturer and model, language, Internet browser type and version, and the name and version of the Site you are using. We use this information to ensure that the Site functions properly.

Managing Cookies. You can refuse or accept cookies using the consent manager shown when you first visit the Site. You can review and change your cookie settings at any time by revisiting the consent manager. You can also choose to set your cookie preferences in your Internet browser. Please be aware that if cookies are disabled, not all features of the Site may operate as intended.