Privacy Notice for California Residents

Effective Date: January 1, 2020

Last Reviewed: December 23, 2019

This Privacy Notice for California Residents supplements the information contained in this privacy policy and applies solely to all visitors, users, and others who reside in the State of California ("consumers" or "you"). We adopt this notice to comply with the California Consumer Privacy Act of 2018 (CCPA) and any terms defined in the CCPA have the same meaning when used in this notice.

Information We Collect

Our Website collects information that identifies, relates to, describes, references, is capable of being associated with, or could reasonably be linked, directly or indirectly, with a particular consumer or device ("personal information"). In particular, www.collegesanddegrees.com has collected the following categories of personal information from its consumers within the last twelve (12) months:

Personal information does not include:

• Publicly available information from government records.
• Deidentified or aggregated consumer information.
• Information excluded from the CCPA's scope, like:

  • health or medical information covered by the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) and the California Confidentiality of Medical Information Act (CMIA) or clinical trial data;

  • personal information covered by certain sector-specific privacy laws, including the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FRCA), the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act (GLBA) or California Financial Information Privacy Act (FIPA), and the Driver's Privacy Protection Act of 1994.

 We obtain the categories of personal information listed above from the following categories of sources:

• Directly from you when you provide it to us. For example, from forms you complete.
• Indirectly from you. For example, we automatically collect information as you use our Site which may include IP addresses, and information collected through cookies, web beacons, and other tracking technologies.
• From third parties, such as our business partners.

Use of Personal Information

We may use, sell, or disclose the personal information we collect for one or more of the following business purposes:

• To fulfill or meet the reason you provided the information. For example, if you share your name and contact information to request more information or ask a question about our products or services, we will use that personal information to respond to your inquiry. 
• To provide, support, personalize, and develop our Website, products, and services.
• To create, maintain, customize, and secure your account with us.
• To process your requests.
• To provide you with support and to respond to your inquiries, including to investigate and address your concerns and monitor and improve our responses.
• To personalize your Website experience and to deliver content and product and service offerings relevant to your interests, including targeted offers and ads through our Website, third-party sites, and via email or text message (with your consent, where required by law).
• To help maintain the safety, security, and integrity of our Website, products and services, databases and other technology assets, and business.
• For testing, research, analysis, and product development, including to develop and improve our Website, products, and services.
• To respond to law enforcement requests and as required by applicable law, court order, or governmental regulations.
• As described to you when collecting your personal information or as otherwise set forth in the CCPA.
• To evaluate or conduct a merger, divestiture, restructuring, reorganization, dissolution, or other sale or transfer of some or all of Optimal's assets, whether as a going concern or as part of bankruptcy, liquidation, or similar proceeding, in which personal information held by us about our Website users is among the assets transferred.

We will not collect additional categories of personal information or use the personal information we collected for materially different, unrelated, or incompatible purposes without providing you notice.

Sharing Personal Information

We may disclose your personal information to a third party for a business purpose or sell your personal information, subject to your right to opt-out of those sales (see Personal Information Sales Opt-Out and Opt-In Rights). When we disclose personal information for a business purpose, we enter a contract that describes the purpose and requires the recipient to both keep that personal information confidential and not use it for any purpose except performing the contract. The CCPA prohibits third parties who purchase the personal information we hold from reselling it unless you have received explicit notice and an opportunity to opt-out of further sales.

We share your personal information with the following categories of third parties:

• Service providers.
• Data aggregators.

Disclosures of Personal Information for a Business Purpose

In the preceding twelve (12) months, Company has disclosed the following categories of personal information for a business purpose:

• Category A: Identifiers.
• Category B: California Customer Records personal information categories.
• Category C: Protected classification characteristics under California or federal law.
• Category D: Commercial information.
• Category F: Internet or other similar network activity.
• Category G: Geolocation data.

We disclose your personal information for a business purpose to the following categories of third parties:

• Service providers.
• Data aggregators.

Sales of Personal Information

In the preceding twelve (12) months, Company has sold the following categories of personal information:

• Identifiers.
• California Customer Records personal information categories.
• Protected classification characteristics under California or federal law.
• Commercial information.
• Internet or other similar network activity.
• Geolocation data.

We sell your personal information to the following categories of third parties:

• Business Partners.
• Data aggregators.

Your Rights and Choices

The CCPA provides consumers (California residents) with specific rights regarding their personal information. This section describes your CCPA rights and explains how to exercise those rights.

Access to Specific Information and Data Portability Rights

You have the right to request that we disclose certain information to you about our collection and use of your personal information over the past 12 months. Once we receive and confirm your verifiable consumer request (see Exercising Access, Data Portability, and Deletion Rights), we will disclose to you:

• The categories of personal information we collected about you.
• The categories of sources for the personal information we collected about you.
• Our business or commercial purpose for collecting or selling that personal information.
• The categories of third parties with whom we share that personal information.
• The specific pieces of personal information we collected about you (also called a data portability request).
• If we sold or disclosed your personal information for a business purpose, two separate lists disclosing:
  • sales, identifying the personal information categories that each category of recipient purchased; and
  • disclosures for a business purpose, identifying the personal information categories that each category of recipient obtained.

Deletion Request Rights

You have the right to request that we delete any of your personal information that we collected from you and retained, subject to certain exceptions. Once we receive and confirm your verifiable consumer request (see Exercising Access, Data Portability, and Deletion Rights), we will delete (and direct our service providers to delete) your personal information from our records, unless an exception applies.

We may deny your deletion request if retaining the information is necessary for us or our service provider(s) to:

1. Complete the transaction for which we collected the personal information, provide a good or service that you requested, take actions reasonably anticipated within the context of our ongoing business relationship with you, or otherwise perform our contract with you.
2. Detect security incidents, protect against malicious, deceptive, fraudulent, or illegal activity, or prosecute those responsible for such activities.
3. Debug products to identify and repair errors that impair existing intended functionality.
4. Exercise free speech, ensure the right of another consumer to exercise their free speech rights, or exercise another right provided for by law.
5. Comply with the California Electronic Communications Privacy Act (Cal. Penal Code § 1546 et. seq.).
6. Engage in public or peer-reviewed scientific, historical, or statistical research in the public interest that adheres to all other applicable ethics and privacy laws, when the information's deletion may likely render impossible or seriously impair the research's achievement, if you previously provided informed consent.
7. Enable solely internal uses that are reasonably aligned with consumer expectations based on your relationship with us.
8. Comply with a legal obligation.
9. Make other internal and lawful uses of that information that are compatible with the context in which you provided it.

Exercising Access, Data Portability, and Deletion Rights

To exercise the access, data portability, and deletion rights described above, please submit a verifiable consumer request to us by either:

• Calling us at (425) 605-8898.
• Visiting collegesanddegrees.com/contact.
• Email us at removal_request@optimal.com
• Send a letter to 123 Lake Street, Suite B-1, Kirkland, WA 98033

We may need to request specific information from you to help us confirm your identity and complete your request. This is a security measure to ensure that personal data is not disclosed to any person who has no right to receive it. We may also contact you to ask you for further information related to your request to speed up our response to your request.

Only you, or a person registered with the California Secretary of State that you authorize to act on your behalf, may make a verifiable consumer request related to your personal information. You may also make a verifiable consumer request on behalf of your minor child.

You may only make a verifiable consumer request for access or data portability twice within a 12-month period. The verifiable consumer request must:

• Provide sufficient information that allows us to reasonably verify you are the person about whom we collected personal information or an authorized representative.
• Describe your request with sufficient detail that allows us to properly understand, evaluate, and respond to it.

We cannot respond to your request or provide you with personal information if we cannot verify your identity or authority to make the request and confirm the personal information relates to you.

Making a verifiable consumer request does not require you to create an account with us.

We will only use personal information provided in a verifiable consumer request to verify the requestor's identity or authority to make the request.

For instructions on exercising sale opt-out rights, see Personal Information Sales Opt-Out and Opt-In Rights.

Response Timing and Format

We endeavor to respond to a verifiable consumer request within forty-five (45) days of its receipt. If we require more time (up to 90 days), we will inform you of the reason and extension period in writing.

If you have an account with us, we will deliver our written response to that account. If you do not have an account with us, we will deliver our written response by mail or electronically, at your option.

Any disclosures we provide will only cover the 12-month period preceding the verifiable consumer request's receipt. The response we provide will also explain the reasons we cannot comply with a request, if applicable. For data portability requests, we will select a format to provide your personal information that is readily useable and should allow you to transmit the information from one entity to another entity without hindrance.

We do not charge a fee to process or respond to your verifiable consumer request unless it is excessive, repetitive, or manifestly unfounded. If we determine that the request warrants a fee, we will tell you why we made that decision and provide you with a cost estimate before completing your request.

Personal Information Sales Opt-Out and Opt-In Rights

If you are 16 years of age or older, you have the right to direct us to not sell your personal information at any time (the "right to opt-out"). We do not sell the personal information of consumers we actually know are less than 16 years of age, unless we receive affirmative authorization (the "right to opt-in") from either the consumer who is between 13 and 16 years of age, or the parent or guardian of a consumer less than 13 years of age. Consumers who opt-in to personal information sales may opt-out of future sales at any time.

To exercise the right to opt-out, you (or your authorized representative) may submit a request to us by visiting the following Internet Web page link:

Do Not Sell My Personal Information

Once you make an opt-out request, we will wait at least twelve (12) months before asking you to reauthorize personal information sales. However, you may change your mind and opt back in to personal information sales at any time by emailing your request to: removal_request@optimal.com

You do not need to create an account with us to exercise your opt-out rights. We will only use personal information provided in an opt-out request to review and comply with the request.

Non-Discrimination

We will not discriminate against you for exercising any of your CCPA rights. Unless permitted by the CCPA, we will not:

• Deny you goods or services.
• Charge you for services or impose penalties.
• Provide you a different level or quality of goods or services.
• Suggest that you may receive a different price or rate for goods or services or a different level or quality of goods or services.

Other California Privacy Rights

California's "Shine the Light" law (Civil Code Section § 1798.83) permits users of our Website that are California residents to request certain information regarding our disclosure of personal information to third parties for their direct marketing purposes. To make such a request, please send an email to removal_request@optimal.com or write us at: Optimal, 123 Lake Street S B-1, Kirkland, WA 98033.

Contact Information

If you have any questions or comments about this notice, the ways in which we collect and use your information described below and in the Privacy Policy, your choices and rights regarding such use, or wish to exercise your rights under California law, please do not hesitate to contact us at:

Phone: (425) 605-8898

Website: collegesanddegrees.com/contact

Email: removal_request@optimal.com

Postal Address:
Optimal
Attn: Compliance/Accounts Department
123 Lake Street South B-1
Kirkland, WA 98033