Privacy Policy

This privacy statement for Top Notch Journal (‘the Company,’ ‘we,’ ‘us,’ or ‘our’) outlines the manner in which we may gather, retain, utilize, and/or disseminate (‘process’) your personal information while you access our services (‘Services’), such as when you:

• Browse our website at www.Topnotchjouurnal.com, or any affiliated site featuring a link to this privacy statement
• Interact with us through additional channels, encompassing sales, marketing, or events

Do you have any questions or issues? Reviewing this privacy statement will aid you in comprehending your privacy rights and options. If you disagree with our guidelines and procedures, kindly refrain from using our Services. If you continue to have questions or concerns, feel free to reach out to us at admin@topnotchjournnal.com.

Do you have any inquiries or worries? Perusing this privacy statement will provide valuable insight into your privacy entitlements and preferences. If you find our policies and practices objectionable, we kindly request that you abstain from using our Services. Should you continue to have questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to get in touch with us at admin@topnotchjournnal.com.

SUMMARY OF ESSENTIAL DETAILS

What type of personal data do we handle ? As you visit, engage with, or browse our Services, we may process personal data based on your interactions with Top Notch Journal and the Services, the decisions you make, and the products and features you utilize.

Do we handle any sensitive personal data ? We refrain from processing sensitive personal data.

Do we obtain any information from third-party sources ? We do not acquire any data from third parties.

How is your information handled ? We process your data to deliver, enhance, and manage our Services, communicate with you, ensure security and prevent fraud, and comply with legal requirements. We may also handle your data for additional purposes if you provide consent. We only process your data when we have a legitimate legal basis.

Under which circumstances and with which entities do we share personal data? We may disclose information in particular situations and with specific third parties.

How do we safeguard your information ? We employ organizational and technical measures and protocols to secure your personal data. However, no internet-based electronic transmission or information storage technology can be guaranteed to be entirely secure; therefore, we cannot assure or warrant that hackers, cybercriminals, or other unauthorized individuals will not defeat our security and unlawfully gather, access, steal, or alter your information.

What rights do you have ? Depending on your geographic location, the relevant privacy laws may grant you specific rights concerning your personal data.

How can you exercise your rights ? The most straightforward method to exercise your rights is by contacting us. We will evaluate and act upon any request in compliance with applicable data protection laws.

1) Personal information disclosed by you

We collect personal data that you willingly offer when expressing interest in learning about us or our products and Services, participating in activities on the Services, or otherwise reaching out to us.

Personal Information Supplied by You. The personal data we gather is contingent upon the context of your interactions with us and the Services, the choices you make, and the products and features you utilize. The personal information we collect may encompass:

• Email addresses
• Names

Sensitive Information. We refrain from processing sensitive information.

All personal information you submit must be accurate, complete, and truthful, and you are required to inform us of any modifications to such personal information.

Information collected automatically

When you explore, interact with, or browse through our Services, we collect relevant data automatically. This data does not reveal your exact identity, such as your name or contact information, but it includes device and usage details like your IP address, browser type, device characteristics, operating system, language preferences, referral URLs, device name, country, location, information about your usage patterns and timing when utilizing our Services, and other technical information. The primary purpose of gathering this information is to ensure the security and smooth functioning of our Services. Additionally, we utilize it for internal analytics and reporting..

Like numerous businesses, we also collect data through cookies and similar technologies.

The information we gather consists of:

Log and Usage Data. When you access or utilize our Services, our servers automatically gather log and usage data, which includes service-related, diagnostic, usage, and performance information. This data is recorded in log files. Depending on your interaction with us, this log data may feature your IP address, device details, browser type, settings, and information regarding your activity in the Services (such as date/time stamps associated with your usage, viewed pages and files, searches, and other actions you take, including the features you utilize), as well as device event data (such as system activity, error reports, commonly referred to as ‘crash dumps,’ and hardware settings).
Device Data: We gather information about the computer, phone, tablet, or other devices you utilize to access the Services. The data collected may vary depending on the device you are using. It encompasses various details such as your IP address (or proxy server), unique identification numbers of your device and applications, geographical location, browser type, hardware model, Internet service provider, mobile carrier, operating system, and configuration information of your system.

2) HOW DO WE HANDLE YOUR INFORMATION ?

We manage your personal data for various purposes, depending on your interactions with our Services, including:

• To provide customized advertising. We may process your data to create and display personalized content and ads tailored to your interests, location, and more.
• To safeguard our Services. We may process your data as part of our efforts to maintain the safety and security of our Services, including fraud monitoring and prevention.
• To identify usage patterns. We may process information about your usage of our Services to gain a better understanding of how they are utilized, enabling us to enhance them.
• To evaluate the effectiveness of our marketing and promotional efforts. We may process your data to better comprehend how to deliver marketing and promotional campaigns that are most relevant to you.
• To preserve or protect an individual’s vital interests. We may process your information when necessary to safeguard or defend an individual’s vital interests, such as preventing harm.

3) WHICH LEGAL GROUNDS DO WE DEPEND ON TO HANDLE YOUR INFORMATION ?

If you reside in the EU or UK, this section is applicable to you.

The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and UK GDPR necessitate that we clarify the valid legal grounds we rely upon to process your personal data. Consequently, we may depend on the following legal bases to manage your personal information:

• Consent. We may process your data if you have granted us permission (i.e., consent) to employ your personal information for a specific objective. You can revoke your consent at any time. Click here to learn more.
• Legitimate Interests. We may process your data when we deem it reasonably essential to accomplish our legitimate business objectives, and those interests do not outweigh your interests and fundamental rights and freedoms. For instance, we may process your personal information for some of the purposes described in order to:
  • Develop and display personalized and relevant advertising content for our users
  • Analyze how our Services are used so we can enhance them to engage and retain users
  • Support our marketing activities
  • Diagnose issues and/or prevent fraudulent activities
• Legal Obligations. We may process your data when we believe it is necessary for compliance with our legal obligations, such as cooperating with law enforcement agencies or regulatory bodies, exercising or defending our legal rights, or disclosing your information as evidence in litigation in which we are involved.
• Vital Interests. We may process your data when we believe it is essential to safeguard your vital interests or the vital interests of a third party, such as situations involving potential threats to the safety of any individual.

If you reside in Canada, this section is applicable to you.

We may process your information if you have granted us explicit permission (i.e., express consent) to use your personal information for a particular purpose or in circumstances where your permission can be inferred (i.e., implied consent). You can revoke your consent at any time.

In some exceptional instances, we may be legally allowed under applicable law to process your information without your consent, including, for example:

• If collecting the information is clearly in the interests of an individual, and consent cannot be obtained in a timely manner
• For investigations, fraud detection, and prevention
• For business transactions, provided certain conditions are met
• If the information is contained in a witness statement and collection is necessary for assessing, processing, or settling an insurance claim
• For identifying injured, ill, or deceased persons and communicating with their next of kin
• If we have reasonable grounds to believe an individual has been, is, or may be a victim of financial abuse
• If it is reasonable to assume that collecting and using the information with consent would compromise its availability or accuracy, and the collection is reasonable for purposes related to investigating a breach of an agreement or a contravention of Canadian or provincial laws
• If disclosure is required to comply with a subpoena, warrant, court order, or court-related rules pertaining to the production of records
• If the information was produced by an individual during their employment, business, or profession, and the collection is consistent with the purposes for which the information was generated
• If the collection is exclusively for journalistic, artistic, or literary purposes
• If the information is publicly available and specified by the regulations

4) WHEN AND WITH WHOM DO WE SHARE YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION ?

Vendors, Consultants, and Other Third-Party Service Providers. We may share your data with third-party vendors, service providers, contractors, or agents (‘third parties’) who carry out services for us or on our behalf and require access to such information to perform their work. We maintain contracts with our third parties designed to help safeguard your personal information. This means they cannot take any action with your personal information unless we have instructed them to do so. They are also prohibited from sharing your personal information with any organization other than ours. They commit to protecting the data they hold on our behalf and retaining it for the period we dictate. The third parties we may share personal information with include:

• Advertising, Direct Marketing, and Lead Generation Google AdSense
• Cloud Computing Services Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Google Cloud Platform
• Content Optimization Google Site Search and YouTube video embed
• Functionality and Infrastructure Optimization Amazon Web Services and Google App Engine
• Retargeting Platforms Google Ads Remarketing and Google Analytics Remarketing
• Social Media Sharing and Advertising Facebook advertising, Twitter advertising, and Instagram advertising
• User Commenting and Forums Disqus
• Web and Mobile Analytics Google Analytics and Google Ads
• Website Testing TestFlight

We may also need to share your personal information under the following circumstances:

• Business Transfers: We may share or transfer your information in connection with, or during negotiations of, any merger, sale of company assets, financing, or acquisition of all or a portion of our business to another company.
• Affiliates: We may share your information with our affiliates, in which case we will require those affiliates to abide by this privacy notice. Affiliates include our parent company and any subsidiaries, joint venture partners, or other companies that we control or that are under common control with us.
• Business Partners: We may share your information with our business partners to provide you with specific products, services, or promotions.

5) WHAT IS OUR POSITION ON THIRD-PARTY WEBSITES?

Our Services may contain links to third-party websites, online services, or mobile applications, as well as advertisements from third parties that may link to other websites, services, or applications. We do not endorse or guarantee the safety of these third parties, and we will not be held accountable for any loss or damage resulting from the use of such third-party websites, services, or applications. The presence of a link to a third-party website, service, or application does not imply our endorsement. We cannot ensure the security and privacy of the data you provide to any third parties. This privacy notice does not cover any data collected by third parties. We are not responsible for the content or privacy and security practices and policies of any third parties, including other websites, services, or applications that may be linked to or from our Services. We recommend that you review the policies of such third parties and contact them directly if you have any questions.

6) DO WE UTILIZE COOKIES AND OTHER TRACKING TECHNOLOGIES ?

We may employ cookies and similar tracking technologies (such as web beacons and pixels) to access or store information. Detailed information regarding how we use these technologies and how you can reject specific cookies can be found in our Cookie Notice.

7) IS YOUR INFORMATION TRANSFERRED GLOBALLY ?

Our servers are situated in United States. If you access our Services from outside the United States, please note that your information might be transferred to, stored, and processed by us in our facilities, as well as by those third parties with whom we share your personal information in the United States, and other nations.

For residents of the European Economic Area (EEA) or the United Kingdom (UK), these countries may not have data protection laws or similar regulations as comprehensive as those in your own country. Nevertheless, we will implement all necessary measures to safeguard your personal information in line with this privacy notice and applicable laws.

European Commission’s Standard Contractual Clauses:

We have adopted measures to secure your personal information, which include utilizing the European Commission’s Standard Contractual Clauses for transferring personal information between our group companies and between us and our third-party providers. These clauses mandate all recipients to protect all personal information originating from the EEA or UK in compliance with European data protection laws and regulations. Our Standard Contractual Clauses can be made available upon request. We have also implemented similar appropriate safeguards with our third-party service providers and partners, and further details can be provided upon request.

8) HOW LONG IS YOUR INFORMATION RETAINED ?

We retain your personal information only for the duration necessary to fulfill the purposes outlined in this privacy notice, unless a longer retention period is mandated or allowed by law (such as for tax, accounting, or other legal requirements).

When there is no ongoing legitimate business need for processing your personal information, we will either delete or anonymize the information, or if that is not feasible (e.g., because your personal information has been stored in backup archives), we will securely store your personal information and isolate it from any further processing until deletion is achievable.

9) HOW DO WE ENSURE YOUR INFORMATION’S SAFETY ?

We have put in place appropriate and reasonable technical and organizational security measures to protect the personal information we process. However, no electronic transmission over the internet or information storage technology can be guaranteed to be completely secure, so we cannot assure or guarantee that hackers, cybercriminals, or other unauthorized third parties will not be able to defeat our security and improperly collect, access, steal, or alter your information. While we will do our utmost to protect your personal information, the transmission of personal information to and from our Services is at your own risk. You should access the Services only within a secure environment.

10) DO WE GATHER INFORMATION FROM MINORS ?

We do not intentionally collect data from or market to children under the age of 18. By using the Services, you confirm that you are at least 18 years old, or that you are a parent or guardian of a minor and consent to the minor dependent’s use of the Services. If we discover that personal information from users under 18 years of age has been collected, we will deactivate the account and take reasonable steps to promptly delete such data from our records. If you become aware of any data we may have collected from children under the age of 18, please contact us at admin@topnotchjournal.com.

11) WHAT ARE YOUR PRIVACY RIGHTS ?

In some regions (such as the EEA, UK, and Canada), you have specific rights under applicable data protection laws. These rights may include the right (i) to request access to and obtain a copy of your personal information, (ii) to request rectification or erasure, (iii) to restrict the processing of your personal information, and (iv) if applicable, to data portability. Under certain circumstances, you might also have the right to object to the processing of your personal information.

We will consider and act upon any request in line with applicable data protection laws.

If you are located in the EEA or UK and believe we are processing your personal information unlawfully, you also have the right to complain to your local data protection supervisory authority. You can find their contact details here: https://ec.europa.eu/justice/data-protection/bodies/authorities/index_en.htm.

For those located in Switzerland, the contact details for the data protection authorities are available here: https://www.edoeb.admin.ch/edoeb/en/home.html.

Withdrawing your consent: If we rely on your consent to process your personal information, which can be express and/or implied consent depending on the applicable law, you have the right to withdraw your consent at any time. You can withdraw your consent by contacting us.

Please note, however, that withdrawing your consent will not affect the legality of the processing prior to its withdrawal nor, when applicable law permits, will it affect the processing of your personal information based on lawful processing grounds other than consent.

Opting out of marketing and promotional communications: You can unsubscribe from our marketing and promotional communications at any time by clicking the unsubscribe link in the emails we send. You will then be removed from our marketing lists. Nonetheless, we may still communicate with you—for example, to send service-related messages necessary for the administration and use of your account, to respond to service requests, or for other non-marketing purposes.

Cookies and similar technologies: Most web browsers accept cookies by default. If you prefer, you can typically set your browser to remove cookies and reject cookies. Choosing to remove or reject cookies may affect certain features or services of our Services. To opt out of interest-based advertising by advertisers on our Services, visit http://www.aboutads.info/choices/.

If you have any questions or comments about your privacy rights, please email us at admin@topnotchjournal.com.

12) CONTROLS FOR DO-NOT-TRACK FEATURES

Most web browsers, as well as some mobile operating systems and mobile applications, include a Do-Not-Track (‘DNT’) feature or setting that you can activate to indicate your privacy preference not to have your online browsing activities monitored and collected. Currently, no uniform technology standard for recognizing and implementing DNT signals has been finalized. As a result, we do not presently respond to DNT browser signals or any other mechanism that automatically communicates your choice not to be tracked online. If a standard for online tracking is established that we must follow in the future, we will inform you about that practice in an updated version of this privacy notice.

13) DO CALIFORNIA RESIDENTS HAVE SPECIFIC PRIVACY RIGHTS ?

California Civil Code Section 1798.83, also known as the ‘Shine The Light’ law, allows our users who are California residents to request and obtain from us, once a year and free of charge, information about the categories of personal information (if any) we disclosed to third parties for direct marketing purposes and the names and addresses of all third parties with whom we shared personal information in the immediately preceding calendar year. If you are a California resident and wish to make such a request, please submit your request in writing to us using the contact information provided below.

If you are under 18 years of age, reside in California, and have a registered account with the Services, you have the right to request the removal of unwanted data that you publicly post on the Services. To request the removal of such data, please contact us using the contact information provided below, and include the email address associated with your account and a statement that you reside in California. We will ensure the data is not publicly displayed on the Services, but be aware that the data may not be entirely or comprehensively removed from all our systems (e.g., backups, etc.).

CCPA Privacy Notice

The California Code of Regulations defines a ‘resident’ as:

(1) every individual who is in the State of California for purposes other than temporary or transitory and

(2) every individual who is domiciled in the State of California but is outside the State of California for a temporary or transitory purpose.

All other individuals are defined as ‘non-residents.’

If this definition of ‘resident’ applies to you, we must adhere to certain rights and obligations regarding your personal information.

What categories of personal information do we collect?

In the past twelve (12) months, we have collected the following categories of personal information:

We may also collect other personal information outside of these categories in instances where you interact with us in person, online, or by phone or mail, such as:

• Receiving assistance through our customer support channels;
• Participating in customer surveys or contests; and
• Facilitating the delivery of our Services and responding to your inquiries.

How do we use and share your personal information?

Top Notch Journal collects and shares your personal information through:

• Targeting cookies/Marketing cookies
• Social media cookies
• Beacons/Pixels/Tags

More information about our data collection and sharing practices can be found in this privacy notice.

You can contact us by email at admin@topnotchjournal.com, or by referring to the contact details at the bottom of this document.

If you are using an authorized agent to exercise your right to opt out, we may deny the request if the authorized agent does not provide proof of valid authorization to act on your behalf.

Will your information be shared with anyone else?

We may disclose your personal information to our service providers in accordance with a written contract between us and each service provider. Each service provider is a for-profit entity that processes the information on our behalf.

We may use your personal information for our own business purposes, such as conducting internal research for technological development and demonstration. This is not considered ‘selling’ your personal information.

Top Notch Journal has not sold any personal information to third parties for a business or commercial purpose in the preceding twelve (12) months.

Top Notch Journal has disclosed the following categories of personal information to third parties for a business or commercial purpose in the preceding twelve (12) months:

• Category F. Internet or other electronic network activity information, such as browsing history, search history, online behavior, interest data, and interactions with our and other websites, applications, systems, and advertisements.
• Category K. Inferences drawn from any of the personal information listed above to create a profile or summary about, for example, an individual’s preferences and characteristics.

Your rights with respect to your personal data

RIGHT TO DELETION

You can request the deletion of your personal information. If you ask us to delete your personal information, we will honor your request and delete your personal information, subject to certain exceptions provided by law, such as (but not limited to) the exercise of another consumer’s right to free speech, our compliance requirements resulting from a legal obligation, or any processing that may be required to protect against illegal activities.

RIGHT TO BE INFORMED

Depending on the circumstances, you have the right to know:

• whether we collect and use your personal information;
• the categories of personal information that we collect;
• the purposes for which the collected personal information is used;
• whether we sell your personal information to third parties;
• the categories of personal information that we sold or disclosed for a business purpose;
• the categories of third parties to whom the personal information was sold or disclosed for a business purpose; and
• the business or commercial purpose for collecting or selling personal information.

In accordance with applicable law, we are not obligated to provide or delete consumer information that is de-identified in response to a consumer request, or to re-identify individual data to verify a consumer request.

RIGHT TO NON-DISCRIMINATION FOR THE EXERCISE OF A CONSUMER’S PRIVACY RIGHTS

We will not discriminate against you if you exercise your privacy rights.

VERIFICATION PROCESS

Upon receiving your request, we will need to verify your identity to ensure you are the person whose information we have in our system. This verification process may require us to ask for information to match with the information you have previously provided. For example, depending on the type of request you submit, we might ask you to provide specific details so that we can match them with the information we have on file, or we may contact you through a communication method (e.g., phone or email) you have previously provided. We may also use other verification methods as circumstances dictate.

We will only use the personal information provided in your request to verify your identity or your authority to make the request. Whenever possible, we will avoid asking for additional information for verification purposes. However, if we cannot verify your identity using the information we already have, we may request additional details for verification and security or fraud-prevention purposes. We will delete any additionally provided information as soon as we complete the verification process.

Other privacy rights

• You may object to the processing of your personal information.
• You may request the correction of your personal data if it is incorrect or no longer relevant, or ask to restrict its processing.
• You can designate an authorized agent to make a request under the CCPA on your behalf. We may deny a request from an authorized agent who does not provide proof of valid authorization to act on your behalf in accordance with the CCPA.
• You may request to opt out of future selling of your personal information to third parties. Upon receiving an opt-out request, we will act on the request as soon as feasibly possible, but no later than fifteen (15) days from the date of request submission.

To exercise these rights, you can contact us by email at admin@topnotchjournal.com. If you have a complaint about how we handle your data, we would like to hear from you.

14) DO WE MAKE UPDATES TO THIS NOTICE ?

We may update this privacy notice from time to time. The updated version will be indicated by an updated “Revised” date and will be effective as soon as it is accessible. If we make material changes to this privacy notice, we may notify you either by prominently posting a notice of such changes or by directly sending you a notification. We encourage you to review this privacy notice frequently to stay informed about how we protect your information.

15) HOW CAN YOU CONTACT US ABOUT THIS NOTICE ?

If you have questions or comments about this notice, you may email us at admin@topnotchjournal.com.

16) HOW CAN YOU REVIEW, UPDATE, OR DELETE THE DATA WE COLLECT FROM YOU ?

Depending on the applicable laws in your country, you may have the right to request access to the personal information we collect from you, change that information, or delete it. Contact our PR team for further information.