Privacy Policy
Tao Institute is committed to protecting the privacy of the users of our website. This privacy policy (the “Policy”) explains who we are, how we collect, share and use personal information about you, and how you can exercise your privacy rights. This Privacy Policy applies to all personal information that we collect.
By using this Site and any affiliated websites, messages boards, blogs, or other public or private forums (collectively, “affiliated forums”), you consent to the terms of this Privacy Policy.
Who We Are
Tao Institute and Tao Institute Online are owned and managed by Frank J. Paolillo and Mela Carreira, who are currently the only members of the staff.
What Information We Collect & How We Collect it
In order to use the services associated with the website, certain information is necessary for correspondence and registration.
When you register as a website user and/or student of the Site, the Site may collect certain personally identifiable information from you. This information may include your name, email address, mailing address, telephone number, age, gender, and other information volunteered by you, such as information provided through responses, registration, reviews, emails, postings, messages, and other electronic submissions sent by you to the Site or any affiliated forums. You should not provide the Site with any personally identifiable information (or submit any personally identifiable information to the Site or any affiliated forums) unless you would like that information to be used by the Site in accordance with this Policy. The Site may also automatically collect information from you when you access the website, including but not limited to your Internet Protocol (“IP”) Address. We do not collect any personal information about you unless you voluntarily provide it to us. However, you may be required to provide certain personal information to us when you elect to use certain products or services available on the Site.
If you register for courses or membership on our website, we may use information such as your name & email address to contact you regarding courses for which you are registered or necessary correspondence regarding your personal account. All names and email addresses of members are automatically added to our mailing list where new courses, offerings and other changes are announced. You can opt out of this communication at any time.
Basic information such as your name & email address will also be made known to us when you contact us via our online contact form. Unless this correspondence leads to course sign up through our website or in person, we do not input or store your contact details.
What We Do With Your Information
Tao Institute collects and uses your personal information to operate its website(s) and deliver the services you have requested
Tao Institute may use your information to notify you about recent or upcoming classes, seminars, courses, or other events; to contact you for marketing purposes, such as to offer information about products and services provided by and/or at the Site that may interest you; and to improve the website and our affiliated forums.
Tao Institute does not share your personal information with any third parties, including individuals, businesses, or government entities, without your consent. Access to information is strictly limited to Tao Institute staff and is not shared with outside parties.
Tracking User Behavior
Tao Institute may keep track of the websites and pages our users visit within Tao Institute, in order to determine what Tao Institute services are the most popular. This data is used to deliver customized content and advertising within Tao Institute to customers whose behavior indicates that they are interested in a particular subject area.
Other Websites and Their Privacy Policies
Third-party websites may be accessible through our website and/or affiliated forums. These third-party websites have their own privacy and data collection policies and practices. The Site is not responsible for any actions or privacy policies of such third parties. You should check the applicable privacy policies of those third parties when providing personally identifiable information through linked websites.
Automatically Collected Information
Information about your computer hardware and software may be automatically collected by Tao Institute. This information can include: your IP address, browser type, domain names, access times and referring website addresses. This information is used for the operation of the service, to maintain quality of the service, and to provide general statistics regarding use of the Tao Institute website.
Security of your Personal Information
Tao Institute secures your personal information from unauthorized access, use, or disclosure. Tao Institute uses the following methods for this purpose:
- SSL Protocol
When personal information (such as a credit card number) is transmitted to other websites, it is protected through the use of encryption, such as the Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) protocol.
We strive to take appropriate security measures to protect against unauthorized access to or alteration of your personal information. Unfortunately, no data transmission over the Internet or any wireless network can be guaranteed to be 100% secure. As a result, while we strive to protect your personal information, you acknowledge that: (a) there are security and privacy limitations inherent to the Internet which are beyond our control; and (b) security, integrity, and privacy of any and all information and data exchanged between you and us through this Site cannot be guaranteed.
Use of Cookies
The Tao Institute website may use "cookies" to help you personalize your online experience. A cookie is a text file that is placed on your hard disk by a web page server. Cookies cannot be used to run programs or deliver viruses to your computer. Cookies are uniquely assigned to you, and can only be read by a web server in the domain that issued the cookie to you.
One of the primary purposes of cookies is to provide a convenience feature to save you time. The purpose of a cookie is to tell the Web server that you have returned to a specific page. For example, if you personalize Tao Institute pages, or register with Tao Institute site or services, a cookie helps Tao Institute to recall your specific information on subsequent visits. This simplifies the process of recording your personal information, such as billing addresses, shipping addresses, and so on. When you return to the same Tao Institute website, the information you previously provided can be retrieved, so you can easily use the Tao Institute features that you customized.
You have the ability to accept or decline cookies. Most Web browsers automatically accept cookies, but you can usually modify your browser setting to decline cookies if you prefer. If you choose to decline cookies, you may not be able to fully experience the interactive features of the Tao Institute services or websites you visit.
Right to Deletion
Subject to certain exceptions set out below, on receipt of a verifiable request from you, we will:
• Delete your personal information from our records; and
• Direct any service providers to delete your personal information from their records.
Please note that we may not be able to comply with requests to delete your personal information if it is necessary to:
• Complete the transaction for which the personal information was collected, fulfill the terms of a written warranty or product recall conducted in accordance with federal law, provide a good or service requested by you, or reasonably anticipated within the context of our ongoing business relationship with you, or otherwise perform a contract between you and us;
• Detect security incidents, protect against malicious, deceptive, fraudulent, or illegal activity; or prosecute those responsible for that activity;
• Debug to identify and repair errors that impair existing intended functionality;
• Exercise free speech, ensure the right of another consumer to exercise his or her right of free speech, or exercise another right provided for by law;
• Comply with the California Electronic Communications Privacy Act;
• 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 our deletion of the information is likely to render impossible or seriously impair the achievement of such research, provided we have obtained your informed consent;
• Enable solely internal uses that are reasonably aligned with your expectations based on your relationship with us;
• Comply with an existing legal obligation; or
• Otherwise use your personal information, internally, in a lawful manner that is compatible with the context in which you provided the information.
E-mail Communications
From time to time, Tao Institute may contact you via email for the purpose of providing announcements, promotional offers, alerts, confirmations, surveys, and/or other general communication. In order to improve our Services, we may receive a notification when you open an email from Tao Institute or click on a link therein.
If you would like to stop receiving marketing or promotional communications via email from Tao Institute, you may opt out of such communications by clicking on the unsubscribe button or asking to be removed from the email list..
How can you exercise your privacy rights?
It is your right to request to see and obtain a copy of all the information that we hold on you at any period of time and to receive this information within a reasonable time period. It is also your right to ask us to remove or correct any of this information from our electronic and physical records, however if some of this information relates to courses you have already attended we are required to keep sufficient records for tax purposes.
If you have any questions or concerns about our use of your personal information, then please contact us using the words “Privacy Policy” in the subject.
If you choose to provide us with personal information, this data will only be used in accordance with the above (privacy policy). Any non-identifiable data that is collected, such as through cookies, will only be used to help us to improve our website and services provided.
Amendments might be made to this privacy policy and our cookie policy from time to time, please check back regularly to ensure you are up to date with our policies. By using our website and/or providing consent, via email, you are agreeing for us, Tao Institute, to use your information as described above. Your continued use of the website and/or affiliated forums, constitutes your acceptance of any changes to the Privacy Policy.