Website privacy

Privacy Policy

This Privacy Policy describes Our policies and procedures on the collection, use and disclosure of Your information when You use the Service and tells You about Your privacy rights and how the law protects You.

Last updated: May 8, 2021

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Interpretation and definitions

We use Your Personal data to provide and improve the Service. By using the Service, You agree to the collection and use of information in accordance with this Privacy Policy.

Interpretation

The words of which the initial letter is capitalized have meanings defined under the following conditions. The following definitions shall have the same meaning regardless of whether they appear in singular or in plural.

Definitions

For the purposes of this Privacy Policy:

Account: a unique account created for You to access our Service or parts of our Service.
Business: the Company as the legal entity that collects Consumers’ personal information and determines the purposes and means of the processing of Consumers’ personal information, or on behalf of which such information is collected and that alone, or jointly with others, determines the purposes and means of the processing of consumers’ personal information, that does business in the State of California.
Company: Carolyn Howell, MD, 5058 Dorsey Hall Drive, Ste 103, Ellicott City MD 21042.
Consumer: a natural person who is a California resident. A resident, as defined in the law, includes (1) every individual who is in the USA for other than a temporary or transitory purpose, and (2) every individual who is domiciled in the USA who is outside the USA for a temporary or transitory purpose.
Cookies: small files that are placed on Your computer, mobile device or any other device by a website, containing the details of Your browsing history on that website among its many uses.
Country: refers to: Maryland, United States.
Device: any device that can access the Service such as a computer, a cellphone or a digital tablet.
Do Not Track: (DNT) is a concept that has been promoted by US regulatory authorities, in particular the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC), for the Internet industry to develop and implement a mechanism for allowing internet users to control the tracking of their online activities across websites.
Personal Data: any information that relates to an identified or identifiable individual. For the purposes of the CCPA, Personal Data means any information that identifies, relates to, describes or is capable of being associated with, or could reasonably be linked, directly or indirectly, with You.
Sale: selling, renting, releasing, disclosing, disseminating, making available, transferring, or otherwise communicating orally, in writing, or by electronic or other means, a Consumer’s personal information to another business or a third party for monetary or other valuable consideration.
Service: the Website.
Service Provider: any natural or legal person who processes the data on behalf of the Company. It refers to third-party companies or individuals employed by the Company to facilitate the Service, to provide the Service on behalf of the Company, to perform services related to the Service or to assist the Company in analyzing how the Service is used.
Usage Data: data collected automatically, either generated by the use of the Service or from the Service infrastructure itself (for example, the duration of a page visit).
Website: refers to Carolyn Howell MD | Psychiatry.
You: the individual accessing or using the Service, or the company, or other legal entity on behalf of which such individual is accessing or using the Service, as applicable.

Types of data collected

Personal data

While using Our Service, We may ask You to provide Us with certain personally identifiable information that can be used to contact or identify You. Personally identifiable information may include, but is not limited to:

Usage data

Usage Data is collected automatically when using the Service. Usage Data may include information such as Your Device’s Internet Protocol address (e.g. IP address), browser type, browser version, the pages of our Service that You visit, the time and date of Your visit, the time spent on those pages, unique device identifiers and other diagnostic data.

When You access the Service by or through a mobile device, We may collect certain information automatically, including, but not limited to, the type of mobile device You use, Your mobile device unique ID, the IP address of Your mobile device, Your mobile operating system, the type of mobile Internet browser You use, unique device identifiers and other diagnostic data.

We may also collect information that Your browser sends whenever You visit our Service or when You access the Service by or through a mobile device.

Tracking technologies and cookies

We use Cookies and similar tracking technologies to track the activity on Our Service and store certain information. Tracking technologies used are beacons, tags, and scripts to collect and track information and to improve and analyze Our Service.

Cookies or Browser Cookies. A cookie is a small file placed on Your Device. You can instruct Your browser to refuse all Cookies or to indicate when a Cookie is being sent. However, if You do not accept Cookies, You may not be able to use some parts of our Service.

Flash Cookies. Certain features of our Service may use local stored objects (or Flash Cookies) to collect and store information about Your preferences or Your activity on our Service. Flash Cookies are not managed by the same browser settings as those used for Browser Cookies.

Web Beacons. Certain sections of our Service and our emails may contain small electronic files known as web beacons (also referred to as clear gifs, pixel tags, and single-pixel gifs) that permit the Company, for example, to count users who have visited those pages or opened an email and for other related website statistics.

Cookies can be “Persistent” or “Session” Cookies. Persistent Cookies remain on Your personal computer or mobile device when You go offline, while Session Cookies are deleted as soon as You close Your web browser. We use both Session and Persistent Cookies for the purposes set out below:

Cookie	Purpose
Necessary / Essential Session · Administered by Us	These Cookies are essential to provide You with services available through the Website and to enable You to use some of its features. They help to authenticate users and prevent fraudulent use of user accounts. Without these Cookies, the services that You have asked for cannot be provided, and We only use these Cookies to provide You with those services.
Cookies Policy / Notice Acceptance Persistent · Administered by Us	These Cookies identify if users have accepted the use of cookies on the Website.
Functionality Persistent · Administered by Us	These Cookies allow us to remember choices You make when You use the Website, such as remembering your login details or language preference. The purpose of these Cookies is to provide You with a more personal experience and to avoid You having to re-enter your preferences every time You use the Website.

Use of your personal data

The Company may use Personal Data for the following purposes:

To provide and maintain our Service, including to monitor the usage of our Service.
To manage Your Account: to manage Your registration as a user of the Service.
For the performance of a contract: the development, compliance and undertaking of the purchase contract for the products, items or services You have purchased or of any other contract with Us through the Service.
To contact You: by email, telephone calls, SMS, or other equivalent forms of electronic communication regarding updates or informative communications related to the functionalities, products or contracted services, including security updates, when necessary or reasonable for their implementation.
To provide You with news, special offers and general information about other goods, services and events which we offer that are similar to those that you have already purchased or enquired about unless You have opted not to receive such information.
To manage Your requests: To attend and manage Your requests to Us.
For business transfers: We may use Your information to evaluate or conduct a merger, divestiture, restructuring, reorganization, dissolution, or other sale or transfer of some or all of Our assets.
For other purposes: such as data analysis, identifying usage trends, determining the effectiveness of our promotional campaigns and to evaluate and improve our Service, products, services, marketing and your experience.

Sharing your personal information

We may share Your personal information in the following situations:

With Service Providers: to monitor and analyze the use of our Service, and to contact You.
For business transfers: 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.
With Affiliates: in which case we will require those affiliates to honor this Privacy Policy.
With business partners: to offer You certain products, services or promotions.
With other users: when You share personal information or otherwise interact in the public areas with other users.
With Your consent: for any other purpose with Your consent.

Retention, transfer and disclosure

Retention of your personal data

The Company will retain Your Personal Data only for as long as is necessary for the purposes set out in this Privacy Policy. We will retain and use Your Personal Data to the extent necessary to comply with our legal obligations, resolve disputes, and enforce our legal agreements and policies.

The Company will also retain Usage Data for internal analysis purposes. Usage Data is generally retained for a shorter period of time, except when this data is used to strengthen the security or to improve the functionality of Our Service, or We are legally obligated to retain this data for longer time periods.

Transfer of your personal data

Your information, including Personal Data, is processed at the Company’s operating offices and in any other places where the parties involved in the processing are located. It means that this information may be transferred to — and maintained on — computers located outside of Your state, province, country or other governmental jurisdiction where the data protection laws may differ than those from Your jurisdiction.

Your consent to this Privacy Policy followed by Your submission of such information represents Your agreement to that transfer.

The Company will take all steps reasonably necessary to ensure that Your data is treated securely and in accordance with this Privacy Policy and no transfer of Your Personal Data will take place to an organization or a country unless there are adequate controls in place including the security of Your data and other personal information.

Disclosure of your personal data

Business transactions. If the Company is involved in a merger, acquisition or asset sale, Your Personal Data may be transferred. We will provide notice before Your Personal Data is transferred and becomes subject to a different Privacy Policy.

Law enforcement. Under certain circumstances, the Company may be required to disclose Your Personal Data if required to do so by law or in response to valid requests by public authorities (e.g. a court or a government agency).

Other legal requirements. The Company may disclose Your Personal Data in the good faith belief that such action is necessary to:

Comply with a legal obligation
Protect and defend the rights or property of the Company
Prevent or investigate possible wrongdoing in connection with the Service
Protect the personal safety of Users of the Service or the public
Protect against legal liability

Security of your personal data

The security of Your Personal Data is important to Us, but remember that no method of transmission over the Internet, or method of electronic storage is 100% secure. While We strive to use commercially acceptable means to protect Your Personal Data, We cannot guarantee its absolute security.

CCPA — categories of personal information collected

This privacy notice section for California residents supplements the information contained in Our Privacy Policy and it applies solely to all visitors, users, and others who reside in the State of California.

We collect information that identifies, relates to, describes, references, is capable of being associated with, or could reasonably be linked, directly or indirectly, with a particular Consumer or Device. The following is a list of categories of personal information which we may collect or may have been collected from California residents within the last twelve (12) months. Three of the eleven categories are collected by this website; the other eight are not.

Category		Status
A	Identifiers	Collected
B	Personal information categories listed in the California Customer Records statute (Cal. Civ. Code § 1798.80(e))	Collected
C	Protected classification characteristics under California or federal law	Not collected
D	Commercial information	Not collected
E	Biometric information	Not collected
F	Internet or other similar network activity	Collected
G	Geolocation data	Not collected
H	Sensory data	Not collected
I	Professional or employment-related information	Not collected
J	Non-public education information	Not collected
K	Inferences drawn from other personal information	Not collected

Please note that the categories and examples provided in the list above are those defined in the CCPA. This does not mean that all examples of that category of personal information were in fact collected by Us, but reflects our good faith belief to the best of our knowledge that some of that information from the applicable category may be and may have been collected. For example, certain categories of personal information would only be collected if You provided such personal information directly to Us.

Under CCPA, personal information does not include

Publicly available information from government records
Deidentified or aggregated consumer information
Health or medical information covered by HIPAA and the California Confidentiality of Medical Information Act (CMIA) or clinical trial data
Personal Information covered by certain sector-specific privacy laws, including the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FRCA), the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act (GLBA) or California Financial Information Privacy Act (FIPA), and the Driver’s Privacy Protection Act of 1994

Sources, business purposes and sharing

Sources of personal information

Directly from You. For example, from the forms You complete on our Service, preferences You express or provide through our Service.
Indirectly from You. For example, from observing Your activity on our Service.
Automatically from You. For example, through cookies We or our Service Providers set on Your Device as You navigate through our Service.
From Service Providers. For example, or other third-party vendors that We use to provide the Service to You.

Use of personal information for business or commercial purposes

To operate our Service and provide You with our Service.
To provide You with support and to respond to Your inquiries, including to investigate and address Your concerns and monitor and improve our Service.
To fulfill or meet the reason You provided the information.
To respond to law enforcement requests and as required by applicable law, court order, or governmental regulations.
As described to You when collecting Your personal information or as otherwise set forth in the CCPA.
For internal administrative and auditing purposes.
To detect security incidents and protect against malicious, deceptive, fraudulent or illegal activity.

Disclosure, sale and sharing

We may use or disclose, and may have used or disclosed in the last twelve (12) months, the following categories of personal information for business or commercial purposes: Category A (Identifiers), Category B (California Customer Records statute) and Category F (Internet or other similar network activity). The same three categories may have been sold in that period.

When We disclose personal information for a business purpose or a commercial purpose, We enter a contract that describes the purpose and requires the recipient to both keep that personal information confidential and not use it for any purpose except performing the contract.

We may share Your personal information with Service Providers, Our affiliates, Our business partners, and third party vendors to whom You or Your agents authorize Us to disclose Your personal information in connection with products or services We provide to You.

Sale of personal information of minors under 16 years of age

We do not knowingly collect personal information from minors under the age of 16 through our Service, although certain third party websites that we link to may do so. These third-party websites have their own terms of use and privacy policies and we encourage parents and legal guardians to monitor their children’s Internet usage and instruct their children to never provide information on other websites without their permission.

We do not sell the personal information of Consumers We actually know are less than 16 years of age, unless We receive affirmative authorization (the “right to opt-in”) from either the Consumer who is between 13 and 16 years of age, or the parent or guardian of a Consumer less than 13 years of age. Consumers who opt-in to the sale of personal information may opt-out of future sales at any time.

If You have reason to believe that a child under the age of 13 (or 16) has provided Us with personal information, please contact Us with sufficient detail to enable Us to delete that information.

Your rights under the CCPA

The CCPA provides California residents with specific rights regarding their personal information. If You are a resident of California, You have the following rights:

The right to notice

You have the right to be notified which categories of Personal Data are being collected and the purposes for which the Personal Data is being used.

The right to request

Under CCPA, You have the right to request that We disclose information to You about Our collection, use, sale, disclosure for business purposes and share of personal information.

The right to say no to the sale of Personal Data (opt-out)

You have the right to direct Us to not sell Your personal information. To submit an opt-out request please contact Us.

The right to delete Personal Data

You have the right to request the deletion of Your Personal Data, subject to certain exceptions. Once We receive and confirm Your request, We will delete (and direct Our Service Providers to delete) Your personal information from our records, unless an exception applies. We may deny Your deletion request if retaining the information is necessary for Us or Our Service Providers to:

Complete the transaction for which We collected the personal information, provide a good or service that You requested, or otherwise perform our contract with You.
Detect security incidents, protect against malicious, deceptive, fraudulent, or illegal activity, or prosecute those responsible for such activities.
Debug products to identify and repair errors that impair existing intended functionality.
Exercise free speech, ensure the right of another consumer to exercise their free speech rights, or exercise another right provided for by law.
Comply with the California Electronic Communications Privacy Act (Cal. Penal Code § 1546 et. seq.).
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.
Enable solely internal uses that are reasonably aligned with consumer expectations based on Your relationship with Us.
Comply with a legal obligation.
Make other internal and lawful uses of that information that are compatible with the context in which You provided it.

The right not to be discriminated against

You have the right not to be discriminated against for exercising any of Your consumer’s rights, including by:

Denying goods or services to You
Charging different prices or rates for goods or services, including the use of discounts or other benefits or imposing penalties
Providing a different level or quality of goods or services to You
Suggesting that You will receive a different price or rate for goods or services or a different level or quality of goods or services

Exercising your CCPA data protection rights

In order to exercise any of Your rights under the CCPA, and if You are a California resident, You can contact Us by visiting the contact page on our website. Only You, or a person registered with the California Secretary of State that You authorize to act on Your behalf, may make a verifiable request related to Your personal information.

We will disclose and deliver the required information free of charge within 45 days of receiving Your verifiable request. The time period to provide the required information may be extended once by an additional 45 days when reasonably necessary and with prior notice. Any disclosures We provide will only cover the 12-month period preceding the verifiable request’s receipt.

Do not sell my personal information. You have the right to opt-out of the sale of Your personal information. Once We receive and confirm a verifiable consumer request from You, we will stop selling Your personal information. To exercise Your right to opt-out, please contact Us.

Other California rights

“Do Not Track” policy as required by CalOPPA

Our Service does not respond to Do Not Track signals. However, some third party websites do keep track of Your browsing activities. If You are visiting such websites, You can set Your preferences in Your web browser to inform websites that You do not want to be tracked. You can enable or disable DNT by visiting the preferences or settings page of Your web browser.

Your California privacy rights (Shine the Light law)

Under California Civil Code Section 1798 (California’s Shine the Light law), California residents with an established business relationship with us can request information once a year about sharing their Personal Data with third parties for the third parties’ direct marketing purposes.

If you would like to request more information under the California Shine the Light law, and if You are a California resident, You can contact Us using the contact information provided below.

California privacy rights for minor users (Section 22581)

California Business and Professions Code section 22581 allow California residents under the age of 18 who are registered users of online sites, services or applications to request and obtain removal of content or information they have publicly posted.

To request removal of such data, and if You are a California resident, You can contact Us using the contact information provided below, and include the email address associated with Your account.

Be aware that Your request does not guarantee complete or comprehensive removal of content or information posted online and that the law may not permit or require removal in certain circumstances.

General

Children’s privacy

Our Service does not address anyone under the age of 13. We do not knowingly collect personally identifiable information from anyone under the age of 13. If You are a parent or guardian and You are aware that Your child has provided Us with Personal Data, please contact Us. If We become aware that We have collected Personal Data from anyone under the age of 13 without verification of parental consent, We take steps to remove that information from Our servers.

Links to other websites

Our Service may contain links to other websites that are not operated by Us. If You click on a third party link, You will be directed to that third party’s site. We strongly advise You to review the Privacy Policy of every site You visit. We have no control over and assume no responsibility for the content, privacy policies or practices of any third party sites or services.

Changes to this privacy policy

We may update Our Privacy Policy from time to time. We will notify You of any changes by posting the new Privacy Policy on this page. We will let You know via email and/or a prominent notice on Our Service, prior to the change becoming effective and update the “Last updated” date at the top of this Privacy Policy.

You are advised to review this Privacy Policy periodically for any changes. Changes to this Privacy Policy are effective when they are posted on this page.

Contact us

If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy, visit the contact page, or call 443-396-3726. The office is at 5058 Dorsey Hall Drive, Suite 103, Ellicott City, MD 21042.