Privacy Policy

Principles of data protection

This Privacy Policy covers information we collect from users and visitors of https://directory.whitelabelwebdesign.org/ and our related research and review services (collectively, the “Services”).  By using the Services or otherwise agreeing to this Privacy Policy, you are consenting to the collection, use, disclosure and other handling of your information as described below.

If you have any concern about providing information to us or having such information displayed on the Services or otherwise used in any manner permitted in this Privacy Policy, you should not use the Services.

1. The Information We Collect.

Information Submitted by You

Information about you. We collect information about you when you participate in our research process and use the Services in a variety of ways:

• When you create an account, you supply us with information such as your name and email address, either directly or through your LinkedIn account. Additionally, if you purchase certain Clutch Services, we may request your credit card or other banking details. You can enhance your profile by providing supplementary information such as your location, industry, bio, picture, and phone number. Should you suspect the creation of an unauthorized account impersonating you or your likeness, please contact us to request its removal.
• During the review submission process, we collect your name, company name, phone number, and email address for our records; however, this information remains private and is not disclosed to the public.
• For published reviews, you have the option to remain anonymous, whereby only generic job title, company description, industry, company size, and location will accompany your review. Alternatively, you can choose to attribute your comments by providing details such as your name, company name, project specifics, and your photo. By opting to attribute your review, you consent to the public display of such information in connection with your review through the Services.
• Your responses to surveys are kept anonymous, with only the results being displayed alongside a generic job title, department, industry, company size, and location.
• When submitting a project request form or consultation form, accuracy and completeness are crucial. The more relevant information you provide, the better we can match you with appropriate Vendors for your project. Essential details we require include your name, company name, project specifics, email contact details, and preferred method of contact. Please be aware that your email address, phone number, and other submitted information may be shared with service providers, as well as our affiliate network and partner Vendors who are best suited to fulfill your project requirements. 

 

Information about others.  You may provide information about others (e.g. clients), including their names, emails, phone numbers and companies to support our reference check and review process. You should obtain the consent of other individuals prior to providing Clutch with their information. The information you provide about others is only used in the reference check and review process.

Third-Party Information

We may gather, process, and retain your user ID linked to any social media account (such as LinkedIn) that you utilize to log in to or interact with the Services. By signing in to your account via your social media credentials or connecting your social media account to the Services, you implicitly consent to our collection, storage, and utilization, in compliance with this Privacy Policy, of the data you opt to share with us through the social media interface. This may encompass, but is not limited to, any publicly available information associated with your social media account, data shared by the social media service, or information revealed during the sign-in process. For further details on how your social media provider shares information when you link your account, please refer to their privacy policy and support resources.

Furthermore, we may acquire information about you if it is included in user-generated content posted by other users on or through our Services. For instance, another user might mention you in a review they submit.

Automated Data Collection

We and third parties utilize automated methods to gather information about you, your computer, or other devices, and your usage of the Services. These methods include technologies such as cookies, web server logs, web beacons, and JavaScript.

Cookies are files that websites and online services generate and access on your computer or other internet-connected devices to uniquely identify your browser or store information or settings on your device, aiding in recognizing you, enhancing your experience, bolstering security, and gauging the use of our Services. Our Services may employ various types of cookies, including HTTP cookies, HTML5 cookies, Flash cookies, and other forms of local storage (such as browser-based or plugin-based local storage). Your browser may offer options for notifying you when certain types of cookies are received and how to restrict or disable them. Additionally, you may have the ability to delete Flash cookies or adjust your Flash cookie settings through the Adobe Flash Website Storage Settings Manager, following Adobe’s instructions (instructions may vary based on your operating system and Flash version). However, please be aware that without cookies or local storage, you may not be able to utilize all features of our Services.

In tandem with data collection via cookies and other automated methods, web servers may log details such as your device type, operating system, mobile device identifier (provided by your mobile device’s operating system), browser type, domain, system settings, ISP or mobile carrier name, as well as language, country, and time zone settings. Web server logs may also document information like the webpage that directed you to our Services and your device’s IP address, alongside your interaction details with our Services, such as visited pages. To regulate which web servers collect data via automated methods, we may employ tags called “web beacons” on our web pages, linking them to specific web servers and their associated cookies. Web beacons may also be incorporated into email communications. Additionally, we or third parties may utilize JavaScript or other computer languages to send instructions to your device, storing or gathering additional information about your Service interactions.

Furthermore, we may gather various types of location information, including general details (e.g., IP address, zip code) and more specific data (e.g., GPS-based functionality on mobile devices accessing the Services), to customize the Services with location-based content, advertisements, and features. For instance, providing a zip code indicating residence in New York may tailor the Services with New York-specific information and ads. To facilitate this, your location information may be shared with our agents, vendors, or advertisers. If you access the Services via a mobile device and prefer not to share GPS location-tracking data, you can disable GPS or other location-tracking functions on your device, subject to your device’s capabilities. Refer to your device manufacturer’s instructions for further guidance.

2. How We Use Your Information

What legal basis do we rely on to process your Personal data?

1. Consent: By receiving our promotional material, you consent to the processing of your Personal data by us, and we rely on this consent. You have the right to withdraw consent at any time. We will cease processing data upon withdrawal of consent, where consent is the sole legal basis for processing.
2. Contractual Obligations: We process your Personal data when you take steps to enter into a contract with us, such as signing up for a free trial, using, or purchasing our services or products, and for the performance of contracts you have entered with us.
3. Legitimate Interest: We process your data when it is in our legitimate interests to do so, provided these interests are not overridden by your data protection rights.
4. Legal Obligation: We may process your Personal data to comply with our legal and regulatory obligations, such as preventing, investigating, and detecting crime, fraud, or anti-social behavior, and prosecuting offenders, including collaborating with law enforcement agencies. Your data may be processed to satisfy applicable laws or enforceable governmental requests.

We use the information collected about you to:

•  Establish your account and provide the Services;
•  Fulfill your requests and deliver customized content to you;
•  Communicate with you via email, notices posted on the website, and other available means through the Services;
•  Create, customize, deliver, and evaluate the effectiveness of advertising and promotional material both on and off the Services, as well as for analytics (including as described in the Online Analytics, Advertising, and Do-Not-Track section below);
•  Improve the Services and research and develop innovative features and new services;
•  Provide feedback to third-party businesses listed on the Services; and
•  Investigate, prevent, or take action regarding unlawful or harmful activities, including potential threats to the physical safety of a person, potential fraud, and violations of our Terms of Service.

Please note that we may anonymize and/or de-identify information collected through the Services or via other means so that it no longer relates to you. Where we have appropriately anonymized and/or de-identified information so that it no longer identifies you personally, our use and disclosure of such information are not subject to this Privacy Policy and may be used and disclosed to others without restriction.

3. How We Share Your Information

Information about you may be shared for the following purposes:

1. User Profile and Content Sharing: Any information included in your user profile and any content you post on Clutch (e.g., reviews) may be visible to others. When you submit a review, your content, along with your name as the contributor (if the review is not anonymous), may also appear in search engine results.
2. Reviews and Testimonials: If you provide reviews or testimonials about Clutch or service providers covered in our research, we may post those reviews or testimonials, or portions thereof. These may include your name (if the review is not anonymous), title, company, and other information you have provided.
3. With Your Consent or Instruction: We may share your information when we have your consent or where it is necessary to carry out your instructions.
4. Service Provision: Your information may be shared with third-party vendors or business partners who provide services on our behalf. These services may include analytics, customer service, surveys, payment processing, marketing, and fraud prevention. Third-party vendors are authorized to collect information on our behalf only as necessary to perform their functions and are prohibited from sharing or using the information for any other purpose.
5. Corporate Events: In connection with significant corporate events, such as a merger, acquisition, reorganization, bankruptcy, dissolution, or liquidation, we may share or disclose information we have about you as part of selling or transferring all or a portion of our business or assets.
6. Legal Compliance and Safety: We may share your information in good faith if we believe it is reasonably necessary to investigate, prevent, or take action regarding possible unlawful activities, or to comply with legal process or other legal requirements. We may also disclose information in situations involving potential threats to the physical safety of any person, potential violations of our terms, or claims of violation of the rights of third parties. Disclosure may be necessary to protect our rights, property, and safety, as well as the rights, property, and safety of our employees, users, or other individuals or entities. Such disclosures may involve sharing your information with law enforcement, government agencies, courts, or other relevant parties.

4. Online Analytics, Advertising, and Do-Not-Track.

Online Analytics Providers

To gain insight into your usage of the Services, we may utilize third-party analytics. These parties employ technologies similar to those described in the “Automatically Collected Information” section above. The data collected via this technology will either be disclosed to or directly collected by these service providers.

Advertising Technology Providers

Information regarding your activities on our Services may be gathered by us or advertising technology providers for the purpose of delivering personalized online advertisements based on your unique characteristics, activities, interests, and other factors. These advertising services may track your online activities over time by utilizing information collected through automated means, including the technologies described above. They may employ this information, along with data received from us or other sources, to deliver ads to you on our website, in our emails, and on other websites. Both first-party and third-party cookies, along with additional automated technologies, may be utilized for (i) ad personalization based on past visits to our Services or other criteria and (ii) reporting on the relationship between ad impressions, ad service utilization, and interactions with said impressions and services relative to visits to our Services or other criteria.

To opt out of receiving tailored advertising based on your internet browsing activities from participating companies, you can visit the Network Advertising Initiative’s Consumer Opt-Out page or the Digital Advertising Alliance’s Consumer Opt-Out page. Some of our advertising activities may involve companies that do not participate in these programs. For instance, we utilize the Google AdWords remarketing service to advertise to previous visitors on third-party websites (including Google). You can set preferences for Google’s advertising to you via the Google Ad Preferences page. Please note that opt-outs apply only to the browser in which they are set. If you switch browsers, you will need to repeat the opt-out process in the new browser.

The opt-outs outlined in this Privacy Policy do not block or remove cookies, nor do they prevent the utilization of cookies or other technologies for purposes beyond selecting ads based on inferred interests from online behavior. Even if you opt out, data about your web browsing activities may still be collected, and you may continue to see advertisements. Ads may be delivered based on other factors, such as the content of the webpage or demographic information obtained through other means.

Do Not Track Disclosure

Do Not Track (DNT) is a privacy preference that users can set in certain web browsers to indicate to websites and services their desire not to have certain information about their webpage visits collected over time and across websites or online services. However, we do not acknowledge or respond to browser-initiated DNT signals, as the internet industry is still determining the interpretation of DNT, compliance with DNT, and the establishment of a unified approach to addressing DNT.

5. Information Access, Correction, and Deletion Options

You have the right to:

1. Access, Modify, Correct, or Delete: Access, modify, correct, or delete certain aspects of your information pertaining to your user profile. You can also close your user account. Additionally, you can contact us regarding any account information not readily accessible to you. Upon account closure, your information may be removed or unpublished from the Services within a reasonable timeframe.
2. Review Revision: Once a review has been approved for posting, it cannot be edited or removed. However, you can submit a revision to appear below your original posting and revise your star ratings.

Please note that information copied by others may remain visible, and you may not have access to, correct, or remove any information about you that others have copied or exported from Clutch. This information may not be within our control, and it may continue to appear in search engine results until the search engine refreshes its cache.

Data Retention

We retain your information as long as your account is active or as needed to provide you with services, or due to ongoing legitimate business needs. We also retain and utilize your information as necessary to comply with legal obligations, resolve disputes, and enforce agreements. When we no longer have a legitimate business need to process your personal information, we will either delete or anonymize it. If it is stored for backup archives, we will securely store your personal information and isolate it from further processing until deletion or erasure is possible.

6. Security

We have implemented various technical, administrative, and physical safeguards to protect your information. These safeguards are tailored to the sensitivity of the information involved.

7. Third-Party Links and Services

The Services may include links to third-party websites, applications, and services, along with embedded images or other third-party content and features. Your use of these features may result in the collection, processing, or sharing of information about you, depending on the feature. We are not responsible for the content, features, security, or practices of any third parties. We do not vet, endorse, or make representations about third parties or their websites, applications, or services. The information you provide to or that is collected by these third parties is not covered by our Privacy Policy.

8. Changes to this Policy

This Privacy Policy may be modified from time to time as our business practices and legal requirements evolve. If modified, we will provide appropriate notice of the change, including the effective date of the update. Please review the changes carefully. If you disagree with the Privacy Policy, you must stop using the Service. By continuing to use Clutch after we publish or communicate a notice about any changes to this Privacy Policy, you are consenting to such changes.

9. Children’s Privacy

The Services are not intended for use by children under the age of 13. We do not knowingly collect personal information from persons under the age of 13. If we become aware of such information being collected, we will delete it and terminate the person’s account as quickly as possible.

10. International Users

The Services are hosted in the United States and governed by United States law. If you use the Services from outside the United States, please note that your information may be transferred to, stored, and processed in the United States or Canada. The data protection and other laws of the United States and Canada might not be as comprehensive as those in your country. By using the Services, you consent to your information being transferred to our facilities and those of third parties with whom we share it, as described in our Privacy Policy.

11. No Third-Party Rights

This Privacy Policy does not establish rights that can be enforced by third parties.

12. Contacting Us

If you have any inquiries, questions, comments, or concerns regarding our Privacy Policy or practices, please reach out to us through this contact form.