PRIVACY AND COOKIE POLICY
Merge Electric Fleet Solutions (“Merge”) respects the privacy of others. This Privacy and Cookie Policy (this “Privacy Policy”) is intended to explain Merge’s privacy practices with respect to the website(s) that links to this Privacy Policy (together with its respective pages and features, the “Site”). This Privacy Policy is also intended to provide you (together with any person helping you visit, access, register with or use any of those online or digital properties, products or services, “you” or “your”) with an overview of the following:
- the type of information about you Merge collects through the Site;
- how Merge collects such information;
- how Merge uses such information;
- who will have access to such information; and
- Merge’s security measures for protecting such information.
This Privacy Policy applies to information collected through the Site. Carefully read this Privacy Policy in its entirety.
You are automatically accepting and agreeing to the most-recent version of this Privacy Policy, as well as Merge’s Terms and Conditions, whenever you create, register with or log into an account on or through the Site. Similarly, you are automatically accepting and agreeing to the most-recent version of this Privacy Policy, as well as Merge’s Terms and Conditions, whenever you visit, access, register with, subscribe to or use the Site or any services provided by Merge on the Site; and your continuing visit, access, registration with, subscription to or use of any of the forgoing reaffirms your acceptance and agreement in each instance.
As used herein, the term “personal information” means information that relates to an identified or an identifiable individual (e.g., your name, physical address, telephone number, email address, social security number); and the term “non-personal information” means any information other than personal information that Merge may collect from you, such as anonymized data.
1. A Special Note About Minors.
The Site is a general audience website intended for use by adults. The Site is not designed or intended to attract, and is not directed to, children under eighteen (18) years of age, let alone children under thirteen (13) years of age. Merge does not collect personal information through the Site from any person it actually knows to be under thirteen (13) years of age. If Merge obtains actual knowledge that it has collected personal information through the Site from a person under thirteen (13) years of age, then it will use reasonable efforts to refrain from further using such personal information or maintaining it in retrievable form.
Furthermore, if you are under eighteen (18) years of age, then you (or your parent or legal guardian) may at any time request that Merge remove content or information about you that is posted on the Site. Please submit any such request (“Request for Removal of Minor Information”) to info@mergefleet.com, with a subject line of “Removal of Minor Information.”
For each Request for Removal of Minor Information, please state “Removal of Minor Information” in the email or letter subject line, and clearly state the following in the body:
- the nature of your request;
- the identity of the content or information to be removed;
- whether such content or information is found on the Site;
- the location on content or information on the Site (e.g., providing the URL for the specific web page the content or information is found on);
- that the request is related to the “Removal of Minor Information;”
- your name, street address, city, state, zip code and email address; and
- whether you prefer to receive a response to your request by mail or email.
Merge is not responsible for failing to comply with any Request for Removal of Minor Information that is incomplete, incorrectly labeled or incorrectly sent.
Please note that the aforementioned removal does not ensure complete or comprehensive removal of such content or information posted on the Site.
Also, please note that Merge is not required to erase or otherwise eliminate, or to enable erasure or elimination of, such content or information in certain circumstances, such as, for example, when an international, federal, state, or local law, rule or regulation requires Merge to maintain the content or information; when the content or information is stored on or posted to the Site by a third party other than you (including any content or information posted by you that was stored, republished or reposted by the third party); when Merge anonymizes the content or information, so that you cannot be individually identified; when you do not follow the aforementioned instructions for requesting the removal of the content or information; and when you have received compensation or other consideration for providing the content or information.
The foregoing is a description of Merge’s voluntary practices concerning the collection of personal information through the Site from certain minors, and is not intended to be an admission that Merge is subject to the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act, the Federal Trade Commission’s Children’s Online Privacy Protection Rule(s), or any similar international, federal, state, or local laws, rules, or regulations.
2. Categories of Information Collected.
Merge may collect personal and non-personal information about you through the Site. Depending upon your use of the Site, the categories of such information might include:
- Your name (first, last and/or middle) and unique identifiers (e.g., username);
- Your login information for the Site (e.g., username, password, security questions and answers);
- Your contact information (e.g., mailing address, email address, telephone number, facsimile number);
- Your gender;
- Your date of birth;
- Your business information (e.g., company, title, mailing address, email address, telephone number, facsimile number, tax ID number);
- Information related to your inquires about possible advertising opportunities with Merge and/or one or more of its parent, subsidiary or affiliated companies (e.g., brands, media, markets);
- Information related to your inquiries about possible employment with Merge and/or one or more of its parent, subsidiary or affiliated companies (e.g., name, mailing address, email address, telephone number, salary requirements, interests, resume);
- Your computer, mobile device, and/or browser information (e.g., IP address, mobile device ID information, operating system, connection speed, bandwidth, browser type, referring/exit web pages, web page requests, cookie information, hardware attributes, software attributes);
- Third-party website, network, platform, server and/or application information (e.g., LinkedIn, etc.);
- Usage activity concerning your interactions with the Site and/or third-party websites, networks, platforms, servers or applications accessed through the Site (e.g., how you accessed the Site, where you go when you leave the Site, number of clicks on a page or feature, amount of time spent on the Site or a page or feature, identity of third-party websites, networks, platforms, servers and applications accessed through the Site);
- Usage activity concerning products and services provided to or accessed by you on or through the Site (e.g., number of viewers, viewing habits, viewing preferences, viewing history, title selections, favorites, streams, downloads, demographics and closed captioning selections);
- Information set forth in your online account registration, user profile, and/or user directory forms for the Site;
- Statements or content (e.g., comments, videos, photographs, images), and information about such statements or content, which you submit or publish on or through the Site or which are accessed via your public or linked social media pages (e.g., LinkedIn, etc.);
- Your name associated with your mobile device;
- Your telephone number associated with your mobile device;
- Your geolocation; and/or
- Your mobile device ID information.
3. HOW INFORMATION IS COLLECTED.
Depending upon your use of the Site, Merge might collect personal and non-personal information from you when you visit, access, register with, subscribe to or use the Site; when you register for, subscribe to, order or purchase any products and/or services on, through or in relation to the Site; when you “sign in,” “log in,” or the like to the Site; when you allow the Site to access, upload, download, import or export content found on or through, or to otherwise interact with, your computer or mobile device (or any other device you may use to visit, access or use the Site) or online accounts with third-party websites, networks, platforms, servers or applications (e.g., your online social media accounts, your cloud drives and servers, your mobile device service provider); or whenever Merge asks you for such information, such as, for example, when you process a payment through the Site, or when you answer an online survey or questionnaire.
In addition, if you or a third party sends Merge a comment, message or other communication (such as, by way of example only, email, letter, fax, phone call, or voice message) about you or your activities on or through the Site, then Merge may collect any personal or non-personal information provided therein or therewith.
Finally, Merge might use various tracking, data aggregation and/or data analysis technologies, including, for example, the following:
- Cookies, which are small data files (e.g., text files) stored on the browser or device you use to view a website or message. They may help store user preferences and activity, and may allow a website to recognize a particular browser or device. There are several types of cookies, including, for example, browser cookies, session cookies, and persistent cookies. Cookies may record information you access on one page of a website to simplify subsequent interaction with that website, or to help streamline your transactions on related pages of that website. Most major browsers are set up so that they will initially accept cookies, but you might be able to adjust your browser’s or device’s preferences to issue you an alert when a cookie is downloaded, or to block, reject, disable, delete or manage the use of some or all cookies on your browser or device.
- Flash cookies, which are cookies written using Adobe Flash, and which may be permanently stored on your device. Like regular cookies, Flash cookies may help store user preferences and activity, and may allow a website to recognize a particular browser or device. Flash cookies are not managed by the same browser settings that are used for regular cookies.
- Retargeting pixels, which are cookie-based technologies that might follow you across the web.
- Web beacons, which are pieces of code embedded in a website or email to monitor your activity on the website or your opening of the email, and which can pass along information such as the IP address of the computer or device you use to view the website or open the email, the URL page on which the web beacon is located, the type of browser that was used to access the website, and previously set cookie values. Web beacons are sometimes used to collect advertising data, such as counting page views, promotion views or advertising responses. Disabling your computer’s, device’s or browser’s cookies or other tracking technology features may prevent some web beacons from tracking or recording certain information about your activities.
- Tokens, which are digital objects or pieces of code that enable the tracking of emails and other electronic communications, online activities and devices (such as, for example, tracking tokens, device tokens), or that authenticate the identity of individuals or devices authorized to access certain secured information (such as, for example, access tokens). Disabling your computer’s, device’s or browser’s cookies or other tracking technology features may prevent some tokens from tracking certain information about your activities.
- Scripts, which are pieces of code embedded in a website to define how the website behaves in response to certain key or click requests sent by the user. Scripts are sometimes used to collect information about the user’s interactions with the website, such as the links the user clicks on. Scripts are often times temporarily downloaded to the user’s computer or device from the website server, active only while the user is connected to the Site, and deactivated or deleted when the user disconnects from the Site.
- Analytic tools and services, which are sometimes offered by third parties, and which track, measure and/or generate information about a website’s or program’s traffic, sales, audience and similar information, and which may be used for various reasons, such as, for example, statistical research, marketing research, and content ratings research, and conversion tracking.
- Other third-party data tracking or analytic technologies (e.g., deep linking, eTags, device fingerprinting or cross-device tracking).
Please be advised that if you choose to block, reject, disable, delete or change the management settings for any or all of the aforementioned technologies and/or other tracking, data aggregation and data analysis technologies, then certain areas of the Site might not function properly.
By visiting, accessing, registering with or using the Site, you acknowledge and agree in each instance that you are giving Merge permission to monitor or otherwise track your activities on the Site, and that Merge may use the aforementioned technologies and/or other tracking, data aggregation and data analysis technologies.
4. USE OF INFORMATION COLLECTED.
Merge may use the personal and/or non-personal information it collects from you through the Site in a variety of ways, such as, for example, to:
- Fulfill your requests;
- Process your payments;
- Place, fulfill, process and/or track your orders and purchases;
- Facilitate your movement through the Site;
- Facilitate your use of the Site and/or its respective products and services and/or various events hosted by Merge and/or its representatives;
- Provide customer service;
- Send you communications like, for example, videos welcoming you to our Site and/or membership; our Newsletter, administrative emails, answers to your questions and updates about the Site;
- Allow you to communicate with others through the Site like, for example, through online forums, chat rooms, and bulletin boards;
- Provide you with information about Merge, its parent, subsidiary or affiliated companies and/or their respective businesses, products and services by letter, email, text, telephone or other forms of communication;
- Provide you with customized content and services, including advertising and promotional information (e.g., targeted ads, retargeted ads), recommendations for content you might like, and cross-site functionality across multiple third-party websites;
- Provide you with information about third-party businesses, products and/or services by letter, email, text, telephone or other forms of communication;
- Improve the Site and/or its respective content, features and services;
- Improve the products, services, marketing and/or promotional efforts of Merge and/or its parent, subsidiary or affiliated companies;
- Create new products, services, marketing and/or promotions (e.g., sweepstakes) for Merge and/or its parent, subsidiary or affiliated companies;
- Market the businesses, products and/or services of Merge and/or its parent, subsidiary or affiliated companies;
- Help personalize user experiences with the Site and/or its respective products and services;
- Analyze traffic to and through the Site;
- Analyze user behavior and activity on or through the Site;
- Conduct research and measurement activities for purposes of product and service research and development, advertising claim substantiation, market research, and other activities related to Merge, its parent, subsidiary or affiliated companies, the Site, and/or their respective products and/or services;
- Monitor the activities of you and others on or through the Site;
- With your consent;
- Create device fingerprints and profiles about the possible relationships among different browsers and devices;
- Create consumer profiles, which may combine your personal or non-personal information from the Site with your personal or non-personal information from another source or service;
- Protect or enforce Merge’s and/or its parent, subsidiary or affiliated companies’ respective rights and properties; and/or
- Protect or enforce the rights and properties of others (which may include you).
Merge reserves the right to use your personal and non-personal information when:
- Required by applicable law, court order or other governmental authority (including, without limitation and by way of example only, in response to a subpoena or other legal process); or
- Merge believes in good faith that such use is otherwise necessary or advisable (including, without limitation and by way of example only, to investigate, prevent, or take legal action against someone who may be causing injury to, interfering with, or threatening the rights, obligations or properties of Merge, a user of the Site which may include you or anyone else who may be harmed by such activities or to further Merge’s legitimate business interests).
5. Sharing of Information Collected.
Merge may share your personal information with the following:
- Merge’s employees, agents and administrators;
- Merge’s accountants, financial advisors and legal advisors;
- Merge’s parents, subsidiaries and affiliates;
- Service providers and other third parties who help Merge provide, manage, administer, maintain, monitor, distribute, operate or facilitate the Site, who help Merge develop, market or provide its products and services, or who help further Merge’s business efforts (e.g., web hosting companies, website administrators, mobile app distribution platforms, support services companies, data analysis companies, credit card or other payment processing companies, online shopping cart providers, advertising partners, digital marketing agents, and digital marketing service providers, including without limitation: Prospect Global Ltd (trading as Sopro) Reg. UK Co. 09648733), as needed in order for them to perform such services;
- Law enforcement or other governmental entities in response to what Merge believes to be an allegation or suspicion of illegal activity, a request relating to a civil or criminal investigation, an allegation or suspicion of illegal activity, a subpoena, a court order, or any other activity that may expose Merge to liability if it does not act or comply;
- Any third parties who Merge believes are necessary to help or allow Merge to protect and enforce its rights and properties, including, without limitation, to enforce its rights under Merge’s Terms and Conditions or any other agreements Merge has with you, and to protect and enforce its intellectual property rights; and/or
- Any third parties who Merge believes are necessary to help or allow Merge to protect the rights and properties of other (which may include you), assuming that Merge believes it has an obligation to do so.
Merge also reserves the right to share your personal information with third parties in connection with or as a result of any potential or actual merger, acquisition or other event involving a change in ownership or control of Merge or Merge’s business (whether by sale of assets, merger, stock purchase or otherwise).
Merge does not limit the ways in which it might use or share non-personal information – and Merge reserves the unencumbered right, but not the obligation, to use or share non-personal information – because non-personal information does not identify you. For example, Merge may freely share non-personal information with its parent, subsidiary and affiliated companies, its vendors, its suppliers, its representatives and other individuals, businesses and government entities.
You may choose to share certain information and/or follow other users on the Site. You may choose to share your contact information with other users or provide it publicly.
6. DATA RETENTION.
Merge may retain your personal information and non-personal information for as long as it is reasonably necessary for a legitimate business purpose. Merge may dispose of or delete any such personal information or non-personal information at any time, except as set forth in any other agreement or document executed by both you and Merge concerning the same or as required by law.
7. THIRD PARTIES AND THEIR APPLICATIONS AND NETWORKS.
The Site and/or any communications sent through or as a function of the Site might contain links to third-party websites, networks, platforms, servers and/or applications. Third-party websites, networks, platforms, servers and/or applications might also contain links to the Site.
In addition, you might have the opportunity to access the Site using your online user accounts with certain third-party websites, networks, platforms, servers or applications, which might be subject to separate privacy policies pertaining to those third-party websites, networks, platforms, servers or applications. Merge might also collect information from those third-party websites, networks, platforms, servers or applications (such as, for example, your name, gender, date of birth and personal interests, when you “like” or click links provided by or through those third-party websites, networks, platforms, servers, or applications and other information available through your online account or page with those third-party websites, networks, platforms, servers or applications).
Moreover, Merge might permit third parties to use their own tracking, data aggregation and/or data analysis technologies like the ones described above (e.g., third-party cookies).
You should carefully review the relevant terms of use and privacy policies associated with third party websites, networks, platforms, servers and applications.
8. SECURITY.
Merge implements security measures to help protect the personal information it collects through the Site. For example, Merge encrypts the transmission of information through the Site by using secure socket layer (SSL) technology.
9. Retention, Review, and Change of Information Collected.
You may request at any time that Merge provide you with an opportunity to review and change your personal information collected through the Site, if any, or to no longer use your personal information to provide you with any products or services. Please submit any such request (“Request Concerning Personal Information”) to info@mergefleet.com, with a subject line of “Your Personal Information.”
For each Request Concerning Personal Information, please state “Your Personal Information” in the email or letter subject line, and clearly state the following in the body:
- the nature of your request;
- that the request is related to “Your Personal Information;”
- your name, street address, city, state, zip code and email address; and
- whether you prefer to receive a response to your request by mail or email.
Merge is not responsible for any Request Concerning Personal Information that is incomplete, incorrectly labeled or incorrectly sent. You are solely responsible for the accuracy and content of your personal information, and for keeping your personal information current and correct.
10. California Privacy Rights.
Merge is not subject to regulation under the California Consumer Privacy Act of 2018 (“CCPA”). Therefore, even if you are a California resident and Merge may have personal information about you that is the type of the information subject to the CCPA, the CCPA is not applicable to Merge or to our relationship with you. However, if you are a resident of the State of California and Merge has an established business relationship with you, then, pursuant to Section 1798.83 of the California Civil Code, you have the right to request the following at any time: (a) information from Merge free of charge regarding the manner in which Merge shares certain personal information collected through the Site with third parties who use such information for direct marketing purposes; and (b) the discontinuation (or opt-out) of Merge’s sharing of such information with such third parties. Please submit any such request (“California Privacy Rights Request”) to any one of the following:
By mail: Merge Electric Fleet Solutions, 100 Waugh Dr., Ste. 600, Houston, TX 77007, with a subject line of “Your California Privacy Rights.”
By email: info@mergefleet.com with a subject line of “Your California Privacy Rights.”
For each California Privacy Rights Request, please state “Your California Privacy Rights” in the email or letter subject line, and clearly state the following in the body:
- the nature of your request;
- that the request is related to “Your California Privacy Rights;”
- your name, street address, city, state, zip code and email address; and
- whether you prefer to receive a response to your request by mail or email.
If you send a California Privacy Rights Request by mail, then please do so by U.S. Certified Mail, Return Receipt Requested to allow for confirmation of mailing, delivery and tracking. Merge will not accept a California Privacy Rights Request via telephone or fax; and is not responsible for a California Privacy Rights Request that is incomplete, incorrectly labeled or incorrectly sent.
You are solely responsible for the accuracy and content of your personal information, and for keeping your personal information current and correct.
11. Users located in countries other than the united states.
We are headquartered in the United States of America and all our servers are located in the United States. For that reason, any personal information you provide to us will be accessed by us or transferred to us in the United States. By providing us with personal information, you consent to the storage or processing of your personal information in the United States and acknowledge that the personal information will be subject to the laws of the United States, including the ability of governments, courts or law enforcement or regulatory agencies of the United States to obtain disclosure of your personal information.
We will protect the privacy and security of personal information according to this Privacy Policy, regardless of where it is processed or stored.
12. ONLINE TRACKING.
Merge does not respond to “do not track” (DNT) signals.
13. Modifications of this Privacy Policy.
We regularly review and revise our Privacy Policy. We make changes to the Privacy Policy available on this page and note that the policy has been updated. If we make material changes to how we treat your personal information, we will notify you by email to the primary email address specified in your account and through a notice on our home page.
14. Severability.
If any term or condition of this Privacy Policy is deemed invalid or unenforceable by a court of law with binding authority, then the remaining terms and conditions shall not be affected, and the court shall reform the invalidated or unenforceable term or condition to the maximum extent permitted under the law and consistent with the intent of this Privacy Policy.
15. Contact Us.
Please direct any questions you may have about this Privacy Policy to info@mergefleet.com, with a subject line of “Privacy Policy.” The foregoing contact information may change from time-to-time by supplementation, amendment, or modification of this Privacy Policy.
16. Mergers, acquisitions, and other business transactions.
Merge may decide to sell, buy, merge or otherwise reorganize its business. If that occurs, you will be notified by email or a prominent notice on our webpage of any ownership change and any change in the use of your personal information. These types of transactions may involve the disclosure of personal information to prospective or actual purchasers, or receiving it from sellers. We seek appropriate protection for personal information in these types of transactions.
17. Modification Date.
This Privacy Policy was last modified on October 11, 2022.