Privacy Policy.

Date of Issue: October 1, 2026

This Privacy Notice for W SPEC Inc. ("WSPEC," "we," "us," or "our") explains how we collect, use, disclose, and otherwise process personal information when you interact with us, including when you visit our website at wspec.org, register for or participate in our competitions, programs, events, or workshops, communicate with us, subscribe to our updates, make a payment or donation, or otherwise engage with our nonprofit activities.

Questions or concerns? Reading this Privacy Notice will help you understand your privacy rights and choices. We are responsible for making decisions about how your personal information is processed. If you do not agree with our policies and practices, please do not use our Services. If you still have any questions or concerns, please contact us at privacy@wspec.org.

Summary of key points

What personal information do we collect? We collect personal information that you provide to us, such as your name, contact information, account information, competition or program registration information, academic or affiliation information, payment-related information, and communications with us. We also collect certain technical information automatically when you use our website, such as IP address, device and browser information, log data, and cookie or analytics information.

Do we collect sensitive personal information? We do not intentionally request sensitive personal information unless it is necessary for a specific program, competition, legal requirement, or other disclosed purpose. Some information, such as account login credentials, payment-related information, precise location information, or certain student-related information, may be treated as sensitive under some privacy laws. Please do not provide sensitive personal information in résumés, submissions, or communications unless we specifically request it.

Do we collect information from third parties? We primarily collect information directly from you. In some cases, we may receive information from team organizers, university partners, competition partners, payment processors, event platforms, service providers, or other participants where necessary to administer our programs and Services.

How do we use your information? We use personal information to provide and administer our website, competitions, programs, events, accounts, communications, payments, safety and security measures, legal compliance, and related nonprofit activities.

When do we share personal information? We may share personal information with service providers, payment processors, competition partners, universities, sponsors, professional advisers, legal authorities, or other parties as described in this Privacy Notice.

What are your rights? Depending on where you live, you may have rights to access, correct, delete, restrict, object to, or receive a copy of your personal information, or to opt out of certain processing activities.

How do you exercise your rights? You may contact us at privacy@wspec.org. We will respond to requests as required by applicable law.

What information do we collect?
How do we process your information?
What legal bases do we rely on to process your personal information?
When and with whom do we share your personal information?
Do we use cookies and other tracking technologies?
How long do we keep your information?
Do we collect information from minors?
What are your privacy rights?
Controls for do-not-track features
Do United States residents have specific privacy rights?
Do other regions have specific privacy rights?
Do we make updates to this notice?
How can you contact us about this notice?
How can you review, update, or delete the data we collect from you?

WHAT INFORMATION DO WE COLLECT?

Personal information you disclose to us

We collect personal information that you voluntarily provide us when you register on the Services, express an interest in obtaining information about us or our products and Services, when you participate in activities on the Services, or otherwise when you contact us.

Personal Information Provided by You. The personal information we collect depends on the context of your interactions with us and the Services, your choices, and the products and features you use. The personal information we collect may include the following:

email addresses
usernames
passwords
mailing addresses
names
phone numbers
Résumés or CVs (which may include employment history, education, and other professional information you choose to provide)
country of residence

Academic Information. Where relevant to your participation in our programs or competitions, we may collect information about your academic background, including your student status, university affiliation, and field of study.

Please do not include sensitive personal information in résumés, CVs, submissions, or other materials unless we specifically request it or it is necessary for the applicable program.

By submitting information through our Services, you confirm that all personal information you provide is truthful, complete, and accurate to the best of your knowledge.

Information automatically collected

We automatically collect certain technical information when you visit our Services. Some of this information may constitute personal data under applicable law.

We automatically collect certain information when you visit, use, or navigate our Services. While some of this information does not directly identify you by name, it may constitute personal data under applicable law when combined with other information we hold.

The information we collect includes:

Log and Usage Data. Log and usage data is service-related, diagnostic, usage, and performance information our servers automatically collect when you access or use our Services and which we record in log files. Depending on how you interact with us, this log data may include your IP address, device information, browser type, and settings and information about your activity in the Services (such as the date/time stamps associated with your usage, pages and files viewed, searches, and other actions you take such as which features you use), device event information (such as system activity, error reports (sometimes called "crash dumps"), and hardware settings).
IP-Based Location Data. We may derive approximate location information (typically at the city or country level) from your IP address. This information helps us understand where our users are located and maintain service security.
Precise Device Location. With your prior consent, we may collect precise location data using GPS or similar technologies from your device. You may withdraw this consent at any time by disabling location permissions for our application in your device settings. Please note that certain features of our Services may require location access to function properly.
Cookies and Tracking Technologies. We collect information through cookies and similar technologies. Please see Section 5 for full details on our cookie practices and your consent choices.
Behavioral Analytics - Microsoft Clarity. We may use Microsoft Clarity or similar analytics tools to help us understand how visitors interact with our website and improve the usability and performance of our Services. These tools may collect information through cookies and similar technologies, including device and browser information, approximate location derived from IP address, pages visited, clicks, scrolling activity, navigation patterns, and other interaction data.

Where we use session replay or heatmap tools, we take steps designed to limit the collection of personal information, such as masking or disabling recording of form inputs and sensitive pages where appropriate. However, because these tools may capture information about how you interact with our website, you can manage their use through our cookie settings and applicable opt-out mechanisms.

For users in the EEA, UK, and other jurisdictions where consent is required, non-essential analytics cookies and similar technologies are used only after you provide consent through our cookie consent mechanism.

Google API. Our use of information received from Google APIs will adhere to Google API Services User Data Policy, including the Limited Use requirements.

HOW DO WE PROCESS YOUR INFORMATION?

We process your information to provide, improve, and administer our Services, communicate with you, for security and fraud prevention, and to comply with the law. We process personal information for the purposes listed below. We may also process your data for other purposes only with your prior explicit consent.

We process your personal information for a variety of reasons, depending on how you interact with our Services, including:

To create and manage your account. We process your name, email address, username, and account credentials to register your account, authenticate your identity when you log in, and maintain your account settings
To administer competitions and programs. We process your personal and academic information - including your name, email address, student status, university affiliation, and study program - to verify your eligibility for our competitions, process your registration, manage your participation, communicate competition-related updates and results, and administer any awards or prizes. Where competition results or rankings are published publicly, only the information you have consented to share will be disclosed.
To process payments. Where you participate in paid competitions or programs, we process your billing address and payment instrument information to complete your transaction. Payment processing is handled by our third-party payment processor in accordance with PCI-DSS standards. We do not store your full payment card details on our own systems.
To send competition and service communications. We process your contact information to send you information directly related to your competition registration, account activity, eligibility status, and program updates. These communications are necessary for the administration of your participation and cannot be opted out of while your account remains active.
To send newsletters and promotional content. With your prior consent, we process your email address to send you newsletters, announcements about upcoming competitions, and other promotional content about WSPEC's programs and mission. You may withdraw your consent and unsubscribe at any time by clicking the unsubscribe link in any marketing email or by contacting us at privacy@wspec.org. Withdrawing consent will not affect the lawfulness of processing based on consent before its withdrawal, and will not affect your receipt of service-related communications.
To share information with competition sponsors and partner universities. Where you participate in competitions that are supported by sponsor organizations or delivered in partnership with universities, we may share relevant participant information - such as your name, academic information, and competition results - with those partners. We will inform you of the specific sponsors or university partners involved at the time of your competition registration, and where required by applicable law, will seek your consent before sharing. Sponsors and university partners who receive your data are required to handle it in accordance with applicable privacy laws and, where applicable, a data sharing agreement with WSPEC
To retain your information for future competitions. Following the conclusion of a competition, we may retain your profile and participation history to facilitate your registration for future WSPEC competitions, maintain a record of past participation, and improve the relevance of programs we offer you. You may request deletion of your data at any time as described in Section 14, subject to any legal retention obligations.
To analyze user behavior and improve our Services. We use Microsoft Clarity, a behavioral analytics tool provided by Microsoft Corporation, to understand how visitors interact with our website. This includes session recordings, heatmap analysis, and behavioral signals such as click patterns and navigation behavior. Sensitive form fields are masked and not captured. This processing helps us identify usability issues and improve the design and performance of our Services. For EU and UK users, this processing occurs only with your prior consent. For US users, you may opt out as described in Sections 5 and 10.
For security and fraud prevention. We process technical information including IP addresses, log data, and usage patterns to monitor for suspicious activity, detect and prevent unauthorized access, investigate potential fraud or abuse, and maintain the integrity and security of our Services and user accounts.
To comply with legal obligations. We may process and retain your information where necessary to comply with applicable laws and regulations, respond to lawful requests from regulatory or law enforcement authorities, enforce our terms of service, or establish, exercise, or defend legal claims.
To protect vital interests. In exceptional circumstances, we may process your information where necessary to protect your vital interests or those of another person, such as in situations involving an immediate threat to safety.

WHAT LEGAL BASES DO WE RELY ON TO PROCESS YOUR INFORMATION?

We only process your personal information when we believe it is necessary and we have a valid legal reason (i.e., legal basis) to do so under applicable law, like with your consent, to comply with laws, to provide you with services to enter into or fulfill our contractual obligations, to protect your rights, or to fulfill our legitimate business interests.

If you are located in the EU or UK, this section applies to you.

The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and UK GDPR require us to explain the valid legal bases we rely on in order to process your personal information. As such, we may rely on the following legal bases to process your personal information:

Performance of a Contract. We may process your personal information where it is necessary to perform a contract to which you are a party or to take steps at your request prior to entering into a contract. This includes processing your information to register you for competitions, administer your account, and process payments for paid programs.
Legitimate Interests. We may process your personal information where it is necessary for our legitimate interests or the legitimate interests of a third party, provided those interests are not overridden by your rights and interests. Our legitimate interests include maintaining the security of our Services, preventing fraud, improving and developing our Services, and conducting internal analytics. Where we rely on this legal basis, we have considered and balanced the potential impact on your rights before proceeding.
Consent. We may process your information if you have given us permission (i.e., consent) to use your personal information for a specific purpose. You can withdraw your consent at any time. Learn more about withdrawing your consent.
Legal Obligations. We may process your information where we believe it is necessary for compliance with our legal obligations, such as to cooperate with a law enforcement body or regulatory agency, exercise or defend our legal rights, or disclose your information as evidence in litigation in which we are involved.
Vital Interests. We may process your information where we believe it is necessary to protect your vital interests or the vital interests of a third party, such as situations involving potential threats to the safety of any person.

In legal terms, we are generally the "data controller" under European data protection laws of the personal information described in this Privacy Notice, since we determine the means and/or purposes of the data processing we perform. This Privacy Notice does not apply to the personal information we process as a "data processor" on behalf of our customers. In those situations, the customer that we provide services to and with whom we have entered into a data processing agreement is the "data controller" responsible for your personal information, and we merely process your information on their behalf in accordance with your instructions. If you want to know more about our customers' privacy practices, you should read their privacy policies and direct any questions you have to them.

If you are located in Canada, this section applies to you.

We may process your information if you have given us specific permission (i.e., express consent) to use your personal information for a specific purpose, or in situations where your permission can be inferred (i.e., implied consent). You can withdraw your consent at any time.

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

If collection is clearly in the interests of an individual and consent cannot be obtained in a timely way
For investigations and fraud detection and prevention
For business transactions provided certain conditions are met
If it is contained in a witness statement and the collection is necessary to assess, process, or settle an insurance claim
For identifying injured, ill, or deceased persons and communicating with next of kin
If we have reasonable grounds to believe an individual has been, is, or may be victim of financial abuse
If it is reasonable to expect collection and use with consent would compromise the availability or the accuracy of the information and the collection is reasonable for purposes related to investigating a breach of an agreement or a contravention of the laws of Canada or a province
If disclosure is required to comply with a subpoena, warrant, court order, or rules of the court relating to the production of records
If it was produced by an individual in the course of their employment, business, or profession and the collection is consistent with the purposes for which the information was produced
If the collection is solely for journalistic, artistic, or literary purposes
If the information is publicly available and is specified by the regulations
We may disclose de-identified information for approved research or statistics projects, subject to ethics oversight and confidentiality commitments

We may share information in specific situations described in this section and/or with the following third parties.

We may need to share your personal information in situations described below

We do not sell your personal information. Different categories of recipients receive different types of data depending on their role and relationship with WSPEC.

A. Service Providers (Data Processors)

We may share personal information with service providers, vendors, and contractors that help us operate our website, administer programs, process payments, send communications, provide analytics, host data, maintain security, and support our nonprofit activities. We require these providers to protect personal information and use it only as permitted by our agreements with them and applicable law.

Analytics Providers. We may share website usage, device, browser, cookie, and interaction information with analytics providers such as Google Analytics and Microsoft Clarity. These providers help us understand website usage, troubleshoot issues, and improve our Services. Depending on the provider, configuration, and applicable law, these providers may process personal information as our service provider/processor or as an independent controller for certain purposes. You can manage analytics cookies through our cookie settings where available.

Mapping Services. If our Services include mapping or location features, we may use mapping providers such as Google Maps Platform. These providers may receive location-related information necessary to deliver the mapping feature, and their own terms and privacy notices may apply to their independent processing.

Email Communications. We use Monday.com to send competition-related communications and, with your consent, marketing newsletters. Your name and email address are stored on this platform to facilitate these communications. Monday.com processes this data on our behalf as a data processor. Data shared: Name, email address, communication engagement data

Payment Processing. We may use third-party payment processors, such as Zeffy, to process competition fees, event fees, donations, or other transactions. When you make a payment, your payment information is provided to the payment processor and processed in accordance with its terms and privacy notice. We do not store full payment card numbers on our own systems. Payment processors may use payment information for payment processing, fraud prevention, compliance, dispute resolution, and related purposes.

B. Competition Partners (Independent Data Controllers)

Some competitions, programs, workshops, or events may be sponsored, hosted, judged, supported, or administered with universities, sponsors, judges, mentors, event organizers, or other partners. We may share limited participant information with these parties where necessary to administer the applicable program, verify eligibility, coordinate participation, evaluate submissions, provide awards or prizes, publish results, or fulfill the purposes disclosed at registration.

We will identify material sponsors, university partners, or program partners in the relevant registration materials where appropriate. We do not share participant contact information with sponsors for their independent marketing, recruiting, or unrelated purposes unless we disclose this and obtain any consent required by applicable law. Partners that receive personal information for their own purposes are responsible for their own privacy practices.

C. Legal and Organizational Disclosures

Legal Requirements and Law Enforcement. We may disclose your personal information where required to do so by law or in response to valid legal process, including subpoenas, court orders, or requests from law enforcement or regulatory authorities. Where permitted by law, we will attempt to notify you before disclosing your information in response to such requests.

Protection of Rights and Safety. We may disclose your information where we believe it is necessary to protect the rights, property, or safety of WSPEC, our participants, or others - for example, to prevent fraud, enforce our terms of service, or address security threats.

Organizational Transfers. In the event of a merger, dissolution, or transfer of WSPEC's programs or assets to another non-profit organization, your personal information may be transferred as part of that transition. We will notify you of any such transfer and ensure the receiving organization is bound by privacy obligations at least as protective as those described in this Privacy Notice.

Affiliated Organizations. We may share your information with organizations affiliated with WSPEC

DO WE USE COOKIES AND OTHER TRACKING TECHNOLOGIES?

When you visit our website, we and our third-party partners may place cookies and similar technologies (such as web beacons and pixels) on your device. These help us keep our Services secure, remember your settings, and better understand how our platform is used so we can continue to improve it.

Types of Cookies We Use

Essential Cookies. These are necessary for our website to work. They enable core functions like logging in, maintaining your session, and navigating our platform securely. These cookies cannot be turned off.

Functional Cookies. These remember your preferences — such as language settings — to give you a smoother experience. You can disable these, though some features may not work as intended.

Analytics Cookies. We use analytics tools to understand how visitors use our Services so we can improve them. These include:

Google Analytics (Google LLC) — tracks usage patterns such as pages visited and time spent on our platform. We use IP anonymization. You can opt out via Google's opt-out tool at tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout.
Microsoft Clarity (Microsoft Corporation) — records how users interact with our pages, including session replays and heatmaps. Sensitive fields such as passwords and payment details are masked and never recorded. You can learn more at microsoft.com/privacy.

For visitors in the EU and UK, these tools are only activated after you give your consent. All other visitors can opt out at any time through our cookie settings.

Your Choices

Cookie Settings. You can review and update your cookie preferences at any time by clicking Cookie Settings in the footer of our website.

Browser Controls. You can also manage cookies directly through your browser settings. Most browsers let you block or delete cookies. Note that blocking certain cookies may affect how our Services work.

US Residents. If you are a US resident and our use of analytics cookies constitutes a "sale" or "sharing" of your personal data under applicable state law, you have the right to opt out. See Section 10 for details. We also honor Global Privacy Control (GPC) signals where required by law.

HOW LONG DO WE KEEP YOUR INFORMATION?

We keep personal information for as long as reasonably necessary for the purposes described in this Privacy Notice, unless a longer retention period is required or permitted by law. Retention periods vary depending on the type of information, the purpose of processing, legal requirements, and operational needs.

Account information: retained while your account is active and for a reasonable period after closure as needed for security, legal, backup, or administrative purposes.
Competition and program records: retained for as long as necessary to administer the relevant competition or program, maintain historical participation and results records, resolve disputes, support future participation, and comply with legal obligations.
Published results and public event materials: may remain publicly available as part of historical competition, event, or program records unless removal is required by law or we determine removal is appropriate.
Payment and donation records: retained as required for tax, accounting, audit, fraud prevention, and legal compliance purposes.
Communications: retained for as long as necessary to respond to inquiries, maintain records, and support legal or administrative needs.
Analytics and technical data: retained for limited periods based on the applicable tool settings and our operational needs.
Marketing information: retained until you unsubscribe, withdraw consent, or request deletion, subject to our need to maintain suppression lists and comply with legal obligations.

When personal information is no longer needed, we will delete, anonymize, or securely retain it only as required or permitted by law.

DO WE COLLECT INFORMATION FROM MINORS?

Some WSPEC competitions, programs, workshops, or events may be open to students or other participants who are under 18. Where minors are permitted to participate, we may collect personal information necessary to administer the applicable program, such as name, contact information, parent or guardian contact information, school or university affiliation, team information, eligibility information, submissions, photographs, videos, results, and communications.

We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13 without verifiable parent or legal guardian consent where required by law. If a program is open to participants under 13, we will provide any required parental notices and obtain any required consent before collecting, using, or disclosing the child's personal information.

For participants under 18, we may require consent from a parent or legal guardian for registration, participation, waivers, media releases, publication of results, or other activities. Parents or legal guardians may contact us at privacy@wspec.org to request access to, correction of, or deletion of a minor participant's personal information, subject to applicable law and legitimate program, safety, legal, or recordkeeping needs.

We do not knowingly sell personal information of minors. We do not share minors' personal information with sponsors for their independent marketing or recruiting purposes without appropriate notice and consent.

WHAT ARE YOUR PRIVACY RIGHTS?

Depending on your state of residence in the US or in some regions, such as the European Economic Area (EEA), United Kingdom (UK), Switzerland, and Canada, you have rights that allow you greater access to and control over your personal information. You may review, change, or terminate your account at any time, depending on your country, province, or state of residence.

In some regions (like the EEA, UK, Switzerland, and Canada), you have certain rights under applicable data protection laws. These may include the right (i) to request access and obtain a copy of your personal information, (ii) to request rectification or erasure; (iii) to restrict the processing of your personal information; (iv) if applicable, to data portability; and (v) not to be subject to automated decision-making. If a decision that produces legal or similarly significant effects is made solely by automated means, we will inform you, explain the main factors, and offer a simple way to request human review. In certain circumstances, you may also have the right to object to the processing of your personal information. You can make such a request by contacting us by using the contact details provided in the section "HOW CAN YOU CONTACT US ABOUT THIS NOTICE?" below.

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

If you are located in the EEA or UK and you believe we are unlawfully processing your personal information, you also have the right to complain to your Member State data protection authority or UK data protection authority.

If you are located in Switzerland, you may contact the Federal Data Protection and Information Commissioner.

Withdrawing your consent: If we are relying on your consent to process your personal information, which may 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 at any time by contacting us by using the contact details provided in the section "HOW CAN YOU CONTACT US ABOUT THIS NOTICE?" below or updating your preferences.

However, please note that this will not affect the lawfulness of the processing before its withdrawal nor, when applicable law allows, will it affect the processing of your personal information conducted in reliance 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 on the unsubscribe link in the emails that we send, or by contacting us using the details provided in the section "HOW CAN YOU CONTACT US ABOUT THIS NOTICE?" below. You will then be removed from the marketing lists. However, we may still communicate with you — for example, to send you service-related messages that are necessary for the administration and use of your account, to respond to service requests, or for other non-marketing purposes.

Account Information

If you would at any time like to review or change the information in your account or terminate your account, you can:

Upon your request to terminate your account, we will deactivate or delete your account and information from our active databases. However, we may retain some information in our files to prevent fraud, troubleshoot problems, assist with any investigations, enforce our legal terms and/or comply with applicable legal requirements.

Cookies and similar technologies: Most Web browsers are set to accept cookies by default. If you prefer, you can usually choose to set your browser to remove cookies and to reject cookies. If you choose to remove cookies or reject cookies, this could affect certain features or services of our Services.

If you have questions or comments about your privacy rights, you may email us at privacy@wspec.org.

CONTROLS FOR DO-NOT-TRACK FEATURES

Most web browsers and some mobile operating systems and mobile applications include a Do-Not-Track ("DNT") feature or setting you can activate to signal your privacy preference not to have data about your online browsing activities monitored and collected. At this stage, no uniform technology standard for recognizing and implementing DNT signals has been finalized. As such, we do not currently 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 adopted that we must follow in the future, we will inform you about that practice in a revised version of this Privacy Notice.

California law requires us to let you know how we respond to web browser DNT signals. Because there currently is not an industry or legal standard for recognizing or honoring DNT signals, we do not respond to them at this time.

U.S. STATE PRIVACY RIGHTS

Depending on where you live, you may have certain rights regarding your personal information under applicable U.S. state privacy laws. These rights may include the right to request access to, correction of, or deletion of personal information; the right to receive a copy of certain personal information; and the right to opt out of certain processing activities, such as targeted advertising, sale, or sharing of personal information, where applicable.

We do not sell personal information for money. However, some uses of cookies, analytics tools, or similar technologies may be considered a "sale," "sharing," or targeted advertising under certain state privacy laws. Where required, we provide applicable opt-out rights, including through our cookie settings and legally recognized opt-out preference signals.

To exercise privacy rights available to you under applicable law, contact us at privacy@wspec.org. We may need to verify your request before responding. If we deny your request, you may have the right to appeal our decision by contacting us at the same email address.

Your Rights

You have rights under certain US state data protection laws. However, these rights are not absolute, and in certain cases, we may decline your request as permitted by law. These rights include:

Right to know whether or not we are processing your personal data
Right to access your personal data
Right to correct inaccuracies in your personal data
Right to request the deletion of your personal data
Right to obtain a copy of the personal data you previously shared with us
Right to non-discrimination for exercising your rights
Right to opt out of the processing of your personal data if it is used for targeted advertising (or sharing as defined under California's privacy law), the sale of personal data, or profiling in furtherance of decisions that produce legal or similarly significant effects ("profiling")

Depending upon the state where you live, you may also have the following rights:

Right to access the categories of personal data being processed (as permitted by applicable law, including the privacy law in Minnesota)
Right to obtain a list of the categories of third parties to which we have disclosed personal data (as permitted by applicable law, including the privacy law in California, Delaware, and Maryland)
Right to obtain a list of specific third parties to which we have disclosed personal data (as permitted by applicable law, including the privacy law in Minnesota and Oregon)
Right to review, understand, question, and correct how personal data has been profiled (as permitted by applicable law, including the privacy law in Minnesota)
Right to limit use and disclosure of sensitive personal data (as permitted by applicable law, including the privacy law in California)
Right to opt out of the collection of sensitive data and personal data collected through the operation of a voice or facial recognition feature (as permitted by applicable law, including the privacy law in Florida)

How to Exercise Your Rights

To exercise these rights, you can contact us by visiting http://www.wspec.org/contact, or by referring to the contact details at the bottom of this document.

Under certain US state data protection laws, you can designate an authorized agent to make a request on your behalf. We may deny a request from an authorized agent that does not submit proof that they have been validly authorized to act on your behalf in accordance with applicable laws.

Request Verification

Upon receiving your request, we will need to verify your identity to determine you are the same person about whom we have the information in our system. We will only use personal information provided in your request to verify your identity or authority to make the request. However, if we cannot verify your identity from the information already maintained by us, we may request that you provide additional information for the purposes of verifying your identity and for security or fraud-prevention purposes.

If you submit the request through an authorized agent, we may need to collect additional information to verify your identity before processing your request and the agent will need to provide a written and signed permission from you to submit such request on your behalf.

Appeals

Under certain US state data protection laws, if we decline to take action regarding your request, you may appeal our decision by emailing us at privacy@wspec.org. We will inform you in writing of any action taken or not taken in response to the appeal, including a written explanation of the reasons for the decisions. If your appeal is denied, you may submit a complaint to your state attorney general.

California "Shine The Light" Law

California Civil Code Section 1798.83, also known as the "Shine The Light" law, permits our users who are California residents to request and obtain from us, once a year and free of charge, information about 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 which we shared personal information in the immediately preceding calendar year. If you are a California resident and would like to make such a request, please submit your request in writing to us by using the contact details provided in the section "HOW CAN YOU CONTACT US ABOUT THIS NOTICE?"

DO OTHER REGIONS HAVE SPECIFIC PRIVACY RIGHTS?

In Short: You may have additional rights based on the country you reside in.

Australia and New Zealand

We collect and process your personal information under the obligations and conditions set by Australia's Privacy Act 1988 and New Zealand's Privacy Act 2020 (Privacy Act).

This Privacy Notice satisfies the notice requirements defined in both Privacy Acts, in particular: what personal information we collect from you, from which sources, for which purposes, and other recipients of your personal information.

If you do not wish to provide the personal information necessary to fulfill their applicable purpose, it may affect our ability to provide our services, in particular:

offer you the products or services that you want
respond to or help with your requests
manage your account with us
confirm your identity and protect your account

At any time, you have the right to request access to or correction of your personal information. You can make such a request by contacting us by using the contact details provided in the section "HOW CAN YOU REVIEW, UPDATE, OR DELETE THE DATA WE COLLECT FROM YOU?"

If you believe we are unlawfully processing your personal information, you have the right to submit a complaint about a breach of the Australian Privacy Principles to the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner and a breach of New Zealand's Privacy Principles to the Office of New Zealand Privacy Commissioner.

Republic of South Africa

If you are unsatisfied with the manner in which we address any complaint with regard to our processing of personal information, you can contact the office of the regulator, the details of which are:

The Information Regulator (South Africa)

General enquiries: enquiries@inforegulator.org.za

Complaints (complete POPIA/PAIA form 5): PAIAComplaints@inforegulator.org.za & POPIAComplaints@inforegulator.org.za

DO WE MAKE UPDATES TO THIS NOTICE?

In Short: Yes, we will update this notice as necessary to stay compliant with relevant laws.

We may update this Privacy Notice from time to time. The updated version will be indicated by an updated "Revised" date at the top of this Privacy Notice. 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 be informed of how we are protecting your information.

HOW CAN YOU CONTACT US ABOUT THIS NOTICE?

If you have questions or comments about this notice, you may email us at privacy@wspec.org or contact us by post at:

WSPEC

2362 Nostrand Ave #4

Brooklyn, NY 11210

United States

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

Based on the applicable laws of your country or state of residence in the US, you may have the right to request access to the personal information we collect from you, details about how we have processed it, correct inaccuracies, or delete your personal information. You may also have the right to withdraw your consent to our processing of your personal information. These rights may be limited in some circumstances by applicable law. To request to review, update, or delete your personal information, please contact us at privacy@wspec.org.