Terms of Use & Privacy Policy
Hello! Welcome to the Tao Institute Online’s Terms of Use and Privacy Policy page. Please read this page carefully before completing your purchase of courses or membership to our site. By completing your purchase of membership or courses, you signify that you consent to these terms. Thank you!
Terms of Use
Acknowledgment and Acceptance of Terms of Use.
Welcome to Tao Institute Online (from here on out referred to as the “Site”). The Site, which is operated by Tao Institute (from here on out referred to as the “Company”), the online programs (from here on out referred to as the “Programs”) and the services (from here on out referred to as the “Services”) offered on this Site are provided to you only on the terms and conditions described in these Terms of Use. If you engage in the use of this site, access any of the programs or utilize any of the online services, you are agreeing to being bound by all of the terms and conditions outlined on this page. You are giving your consent in the same manner as if you had signed a written agreement. You must read all of these terms closely and review them in detail when joining the site and using its services.
If you do not find that you agree to any of the terms outlined here then please do not use this site or any of the programs included within the site. Tao Institute reserves the right to adjust these terms and conditions at any point in time without giving notice to the site and program users. Adjusted terms and conditions will be maintained on this site at this location and so it is the responsibility of the site users to review these conditions regularly to make sure that they are up to date with any changes that have been made.
The term “you” or “user” refers to all individuals and entities accessing this Site for any reason; a “Member” is someone who has registered with the Site in order to receive Services.
Parts of this website may use cookies. By using this website and agreeing to these terms and conditions, you consent to the Site’s use of cookies in accordance with the terms of the Site’s privacy policy as stated below.
Use of Website and Course Materials
Tao Institute owns the intellectual property rights for the website, including the material on the website and in the courses, whether online or in-person. All of Tao Institute’s intellectual property rights are expressly reserved except as specifically provided herein.
You may use this site, and its services and programs, for your own personal educational use only. It may not be used for commercial purposes and no part of the site may be shared with others.
You may not:
◦ republish or redistribute any material from the website or courses;
◦ sell, rent or sub-license any material from or access to the website or courses;
◦ reproduce, duplicate, copy or otherwise use material on this website for any purpose;
◦ edit or otherwise modify any material on the website.
All materials within this site – such as text, data, graphics, video files, sound files, and other materials that are a part of the site are protected by copyright law and all copyrights are held by Tao Institute and its owners, unless otherwise stated by the Company. No content from the website or courses may be downloaded, shared or sold without our consent.
Access to and Prohibitions Regarding Use of Website
Accounts on the Site are single-user only. It is your personal responsibility to protect and keep secret your personal password that is used to access this Site. You are prohibited from sharing with others your login information or the materials made available to you through your account.
You are prohibited from using the site or its content: (a) for any unlawful purpose; (b) to solicit others to perform or participate in any unlawful acts; (c) to violate any international, federal, state, or local regulations, rules, laws, or local ordinances; (d) to infringe upon or violate our intellectual property rights or the intellectual property rights of others; (e) to harass, abuse, insult, harm, defame, slander, disparage, intimidate, or discriminate based on gender, sexual orientation, religion, ethnicity, race, age, national origin, or disability; (f) to submit false or misleading information; (g) to upload or transmit viruses or any other type of malicious code that will or may be used in any way that will affect the functionality or operation of the website or of any other websites; (h) to collect or track the personal information of others; (i) to spam, phish, pharm, pretext, spider, crawl, or scrape; (j) for any obscene or immoral purpose; or (k) to interfere with or circumvent the security features of the website or other websites.
In the event you breach these terms and conditions in any way, the Site may take action as it deems appropriate, including cancelling your access to the website, blocking your access to the website, blocking computers using your IP address from accessing the website, contacting your internet service provider to request that your access to the website be blocked, and/or bringing court proceedings against you.
Modification of the Terms and Conditions
Tao Institute reserves the right, in its sole discretion, to adjust the terms and conditions at any time. They also reserve the right to change the rules of membership and the program itself. The most current version of the Terms will supersede all previous versions. Tao Institute encourages you to periodically review the Terms to stay informed of our updates. You agree that they shall not be liable to you or any third party for any modification, suspension or discontinuance of any of the services, any documentation, information or other content on the site.
At any time, Tao Institute may, without providing any notice to its users, change, modify or delete the programs and their content. They may also change the cost and the fee structure without providing any prior notice. These changes are valid from the moment that they are posted upon the site. Any member of this site is agreeing to these terms as soon as they sign up.
Termination
Tao Institute reserves the right to terminate or suspend your membership, your access to the site or the use of any of the services without any notice or prior warning. To the maximum extent permitted by law, this agreement is governed by the laws of the State of North Carolina and you hereby consent to the exclusive jurisdiction and venue of courts in North Carolina in all disputes arising out of or relating to the use of the Site. Use of the Site is unauthorized in any jurisdiction that does not give effect to all provisions of these Terms, including, without limitation, this section.
Personal Membership
Your personal membership to the site is not transferable to any other parties. Passwords and rights to the material and programs contained within the site are not transferable to another party. You may not disclose your password or membership information to any other person.
Site Disclaimer and Limitation of Liability
Information on this site is subject to change without the site owners providing any prior notice. The Site does not guarantee, represent, or warrant that your use of our website will be uninterrupted, timely, secure, or error-free. We do not warrant that the results that may be obtained from the use of the website or materials contained herein will be accurate or reliable. You acknowledge that from time to time we may remove the website or the materials contained herein for indefinite periods of time or cancel your access to the website at any time without notice to you.
You expressly agree that your use of, or inability to use, the website is at your sole risk. The website, including any materials or services delivered to you through the website, are provided “as is” and “as available” for your use, without any representation, warranties or conditions of any kind, either express or implied, including all implied warranties or conditions of merchantability, merchantable quality, fitness for a particular purpose, durability, title, and non-infringement.
No part of this site, nor any of the materials on this site are to be recognized as medical advice or as an alternative to any existing medication or any mainstream medical advice. All users of this site and its programs should seek the advice of a qualified medical practitioner prior to engaging with any of the work on this site.
Tao Institutes does not represent the use of the contents in terms of their correctness, accuracy, reliability or otherwise. Tao Institute and its owners shall not be responsible or liable for any indirect, incidental, contingent, consequential or special damages for harm to business or loss of profits. Tao Institute and its owners shall not be responsible or liable for any damage to or access to transmission facilities by third parties. They shall not be held accountable for alteration, theft, loss or destruction of your network, applications, data, files, programs, procedures, or personal information through accident, fraud or any other method.
Tao Institute and its owners shall not be responsible or liable for any damage that you may suffer arising from either your personal use or your inability to use the services, programs or facilities offered within this site.
Your use of the website expressly indicates your agreement that the exclusions and limitations of liability set out in these terms and conditions or elsewhere in the website are reasonable.
Links to Third Party Sites/Third Party Services
Tao Institute Online may contain links to other websites ("Linked Sites"). The Linked Sites are not under the control of Tao Institute and Tao Institute is not responsible for the contents of any Linked Site, including without limitation any link contained in a Linked Site, or any changes or updates to a Linked Site. Tao Institute is providing these links to you only as a convenience, and the inclusion of any link does not imply endorsement by Tao Institute of the site or any association with its operators.
Certain services made available via Tao Institute Online are delivered by third party sites and organizations. By using any product, service or functionality originating from the Tao Institute Online domain, you hereby acknowledge and consent that Tao Institute may share such information and data with any third party with whom Tao Institute has a contractual relationship to provide the requested product, service or functionality on behalf of Tao Institute Online users and customers
Purchase of Services
Prices for the Site’s services offered through the website, including workshops, classes, and other educational events, are in U.S. tender and subject to change without notice. The Site reserves the right at any time to modify or remove the website, including any part thereof, without notice at any time. We shall not be liable to you or to any third-party for any modification, price change, suspension, or discontinuance of the website.
We reserve the right to refuse any request for enrollment you submit to us. We may, at our sole discretion, limit or cancel workshops, classes, or other services purchased per person, per household, or per order. These restrictions may include requests placed by or under the same user account, the same credit card, and/or orders that use the same billing and/or shipping address. In the event that we make a change to or cancel an enrollment, we may attempt to notify you by contacting the e-mail and/or billing address/phone number provided at the time the order was made. We reserve the right to limit or prohibit orders that, in our sole judgment, appear to be placed with the intent to commercially exploit the information provided through our website and services.
You agree to provide current, complete and accurate purchase and account information for all purchases made at our Site. You agree to promptly update your account and other information, including your email address and credit card numbers and expiration dates, so that we can complete your transactions and contact you as needed. Your credit card information is always encrypted during transfer over networks. Your submission of personal information through the Site is governed by our Privacy Policy (see below).
In the event you provide fraudulent information through your enrollment process, including fraudulent payment information, we reserve the right to bring court proceedings against you for any damages we may suffer.
User Created Content
If, at the request of the Site or otherwise, you send certain specific submissions (for example, responses to blog, public or private forums, or message or bulletin board posts, questions submitted in Q&A) or creative ideas, suggestions, proposals, plans, or other materials, whether online, by email, by postal mail, or otherwise (collectively, “comments”), you agree that we may, at any time, without restriction, edit, copy, publish, distribute, translate and otherwise use in any medium any comments that you forward to us.
We are and shall be under no obligation (1) to maintain any comments in confidence; (2) to pay compensation for any comments; or (3) to respond to any comments.
You understand that your comments (not including credit card information), may be transferred unencrypted and involve transmissions over various networks and changes to conform and adapt to technical requirements of connecting networks or devices.
We may, but have no obligation to, monitor, edit, or remove comments that we determine in our sole discretion are unlawful, offensive, threatening, libelous, defamatory, pornographic, obscene or otherwise objectionable or violates any party’s intellectual property or these terms and conditions.
You agree that your comments will not violate any right of any third-party, including copyright, trademark, privacy, publicity, or other personal or proprietary right. You further agree that your comments will not contain libelous or otherwise unlawful, abusive, or obscene material or contain any computer virus or other malware that could in any way affect the operation of the website or any other website. You may not use a false e-mail address, pretend to be someone other than yourself, or otherwise mislead us or third-parties as to the origin of any comments. You are solely responsible for any comments you make and their accuracy. We take no responsibility and assume no liability for any comments posted by you or any third-party.
Communication
When you register with this Site, you expressly consent to receive any notices, announcements, agreements, disclosures, reports, documents, communications concerning new products or services, or other records or correspondence from the Company. You consent to receive notices electronically by way of transmitting the notice to you by email.
Payment
Courses are offered on this Site via single purchase or subscription options. You authorize us to charge you for use of the site, its programs and services, at the posted prices and frequency of renewal, from joining the site until you cancel your membership.
Delivery
Access to the online courses and membership area will be given immediately after payment has been received.
Children Under Thirteen
Tao Institute does not knowingly collect, either online or offline, personal information from persons under the age of thirteen. If you are under 18, you may use Tao Institute Online only with permission of a parent or guardian. By visiting this website, you warrant and represent that you are at least 18 years of age.
Cancellation
You have the right to cancel site membership at any time, and you may do so through your account settings. This agreement survives cancellation of your membership.
Refunds
Refunds are not given for any unused portion of a course purchase, live broadcast, or online membership. If you have an issue or extraordinary circumstances, please contact us and we will consider each request on an individual basis. In circumstances that refunds are to be given, these shall be carried out within 30 days.
Third Party Accounts
You will be able to connect your Tao Institute account to third party accounts. By connecting your Tao Institute account to your third party account, you acknowledge and agree that you are consenting to the continuous release of information about you to others (in accordance with your privacy settings on those third party sites). If you do not want information about you to be shared in this manner, do not use this feature.
International Users
The Service is controlled, operated and administered by Tao Institute from our offices within the USA. If you access the Service from a location outside the USA, you are responsible for compliance with all local laws. You agree that you will not use the Tao Institute Content accessed through Tao Institute Online in any country or in any manner prohibited by any applicable laws, restrictions or regulations.
Contact Information
Tao Institute
9 W. Walnut St, Suite 3A
Asheville, NC 28801
828-316-1501
Access Restriction/Complete Agreement
You agree that no joint venture, partnership, employment, or agency relationship exists between you and Tao Institute as a result of this agreement or use of the Site. Tao Institute's performance of this agreement is subject to existing laws and legal process, and nothing contained in this agreement is in derogation of Tao Institute's right to comply with governmental, court and law enforcement requests or requirements relating to your use of the Site or information provided to or gathered by Tao Institute with respect to such use. If any part of this agreement is determined to be invalid or unenforceable pursuant to applicable law including, but not limited to, the warranty disclaimers and liability limitations set forth above, then the invalid or unenforceable provision will be deemed superseded by a valid, enforceable provision that most closely matches the intent of the original provision and the remainder of the agreement shall continue in effect.
Unless otherwise specified herein, this agreement constitutes the entire agreement between the user and Tao Institute with respect to the Site and it supersedes all prior or contemporaneous communications and proposals, whether electronic, oral or written, between the user and Tao Institute with respect to the Site. A printed version of this agreement and of any notice given in electronic form shall be admissible in judicial or administrative proceedings based upon or relating to this agreement to the same extent and subject to the same conditions as other business documents and records originally generated and maintained in printed form. It is the express wish to the parties that this agreement and all related documents be written in English.
Indemnification
You agree to indemnify, defend and hold harmless Tao Institute, its officers, directors, employees, agents and third parties, for any losses, costs, liabilities and expenses (including reasonable attorney's fees) relating to or arising out of your use of or inability to use the Site or services, any user postings made by you, your violation of any terms of this Agreement or your violation of any rights of a third party, or your violation of any applicable laws, rules or regulations. Tao Institute reserves the right, at its own cost, to assume the exclusive defense and control of any matter otherwise subject to indemnification by you, in which event you will fully cooperate with Tao Institute in asserting any available defenses.
Arbitration in Court
Any dispute or controversy in contract, pre-existing, present or future, arising out of dispute with this agreement will be referred to and determined in arbitration to the exclusion of the courts. You are waiving any right to participate or initiate any class action proceeding against us. Should you believe this to be wrong, and you have a claim or dispute, then you must let us know in writing and we shall respond to this claim prior to any proceedings taking place.
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.