Writing.io Privacy Policy

Terms of Use Effective Date: 8/27/2021
Last Updated: 8/27/2021

Heroic, LLC d/b/a Writing.io (“Writing.io”, “we”, “our”, or “us”) respects and is committed to protecting your privacy. That is why we have adopted this Privacy Policy. This Privacy Policy lets you know how and for what purposes we are collecting, processing, and using your Personal Information (as defined herein).  We pledge that we will take reasonable steps to ensure that your Personal Information will only be used in ways that are in compliance with this Privacy Policy.  

This Privacy Policy is in effect for any web page, mobile application, third party social media site, email list, onsite electronic data collection, generic information, and Personal Information (as defined herein) collected and/or owned by us, including, but not limited to, the Writing.io website located at https://www.writing.io and the Writing.io mobile application (the "App"), no matter the method of collection (e.g. mail, facsimile, sign-up sign-in page, survey, promotion) (collectively, the "Web Properties").

Notwithstanding the foregoing, this Privacy Policy is not applicable to any other web page, mobile application, social media site, generic information, or Personal Information collected and/or owned by any entity other than Writing or one of its parents, affiliates and/or subsidiaries.  

This Privacy Policy also applies to information collected by or for us through a means other than the Web Properties.  If the same information is collected through the Web Properties and through a means other than the Web Properties, the terms of this Privacy Policy shall apply.

Your use of the Web Properties is also governed by the:

Types of Information Collected

Writing.io may collect two types of information when you visit the Web Properties: Personal Information and Usage Information.

Personal Information:  In order to participate in certain features, services and/or programs of the Web Properties, we may require that you provide us with certain specific information, which we may collect including, among other similar types of information (collectively, "Personal Information"): (1) contact information (e.g., name, address, phone number, email address); (2) demographic information (e.g., date of birth); (3) bank account and credit debit card numbers; (4) purchasing information and spending habits; and (5) your physical location.

Usage Information:  We may obtain non-individualized, generic information about you when you visit the Web Properties.  This may include your (i) Internet Protocol (or IP) address, protocol and sequence information; browser language; browser type; domain name system requests; browsing history (including time spent at a domain, time and date of your visit); number of clicks; hypertext transfer protocol headers; application client and server banners; and operating system fingerprinting data (collectively, "Browsing Information"); and (ii) MAC address, device ID, UDID, or similar device-specific code used for advertising & marketing tracking purposes.

How Information is Collected

We may collect Personal Information and Browsing Information about you from the following sources:

  • information we receive from you, or on your behalf, through forms you complete, or if you contact us, for example to raise a query;
  • information we receive from you through the Web Properties, such as when creating an account;
  • information we receive when you download and register for the App;
  • information we receive from your computer or mobile device;
  • information we receive from our partners or service providers;
  • information that you agree to provide, including any information that we import from a third party service provider, for example, banking data required for tax purposes;
  • information regarding your credentials for financial accounts that you choose to associate with your Writing.io account (We do not store this information; instead this data is collected by and passed onto our third party service providers); and
  • information we receive from other sources, as permitted by applicable laws, rules and regulations.

We may sponsor promotions through the Web Properties.  Your participation is entirely voluntary.  You may be asked to provide personally identifiable information including, but not limited to, your name or email address, or to answer questions in order to participate.

Additional Ways that Information is Collected Through the Web Properties

Browser Log Files: Our servers automatically log each visitor to the Web Properties and collect and record certain Browsing Information about each visitor.  The Browsing Information reveals nothing personal about the user and includes only the generic information described in the definition of “Browsing Information.”  We may use this information to examine our traffic in the aggregate, but we do not collect and evaluate this information for individuals.

Cookies: From time to time, we and/or our advertisers or other third parties may send a “cookie” to your computer.  A cookie is a small piece of data that is sent to your Internet browser from a web server and stored on your computer’s hard drive and that can be re-sent to the serving website on subsequent visits.  We, our advertisers and other third parties may use cookies to identify and keep track of, among other things, those areas of the Web Properties and third party websites that you have visited in the past in order to enhance your next visit to the Web Properties.  Our advertisers may also use cookies to ascertain how many times that you have seen an advertisement and obtain similar analytical information.  You can choose whether or not to accept cookies by changing the settings of your Internet browser, but some functionality of the Web Properties may be impaired or not function as intended if you choose not to accept cookies.  See the “Third Party Opt Out” section below.

Web Beacons:  Some of our web pages and electronic communications may contain images, which may or may not be visible to you, known as Web Beacons (sometimes referred to as ‘clear gifs’). Web Beacons collect only limited information that includes a cookie number; time and date of a page view; and a description of the page on which the Web Beacon resides.  We may also carry Web Beacons placed by third party advertisers.  These Web Beacons do not carry any Personal Information and are only used to track usage of the Web Properties and activities associated with the Web Properties. See the “Third Party Opt Out” section below.

Beacons and Geolocation:   While using certain features of one or more of the Web Properties, we may now or in the future choose to track the physical location of your mobile device or web browser to send you information that is relevant to you.  You will always have control over whether to transmit your physical location, and you can prevent such disclosure by disabling Bluetooth and Wi-Fi, declining the request to share your location, or adjusting your privacy settings in your mobile device operating system (as applicable).  

Unique Identifier:  We may assign you a unique internal identifier to help keep track of your future visits and for other purposes consistent with this Privacy Policy. We use this information to gather aggregate demographic information about our visitors, and we use it to personalize the information you see on the Web Properties and some of the electronic communications you receive from us.  We keep this information for our internal use, and this information is not shared with others.

Third Party Opt Out: We may now or in the future allow third-party companies to serve advertisements and/or collect certain anonymous information when you visit the Web Properties. These companies may use non-personally identifiable information (including, but not limited to, click stream information, browser type, time and date, subject of advertisements clicked or scrolled over) during your visits to the Web Properties in order to provide advertisements about goods and services likely to be of greater interest to you. These companies typically use a cookie or third party Web Beacon to collect this information, as further described above. Through these technologies, the third party may have access to and use such non-personalized information about your online usage activity.  

You can opt out of certain online behavioral services through any one of the ways described below (you do not need to go to each opt-out site, one is sufficient).  After you opt out, you will continue to receive advertisements, but those advertisements will no longer be as relevant to you.

  • You can configure your web browser (Chrome, Firefox, Internet Explorer, Safari, etc.) to delete and/or control the use of cookies. More information can be found in the Help system of your web browser.  It is at your discretion whether you use the opt-out described above or manage cookies via the browser.

Note: If you opt out as described above, you should not delete your cookies.  If you delete your cookies, you will need to opt out again.

Use of Personal Information

The Personal Information that we collect may be used for four main purposes:  

  • to enable the features of the Web Properties, including, but not limited to: (a) operating any promotions in which you may participate; (b) setting up and managing your online or mobile application account, including, but not limited to, our processing your requests for information; and/or (c) providing services to you;
  • to improve the Web Properties by determining which of our features and services are most popular. We may analyze your information and usage information to enable us and our affiliates to provide services to you and develop new features, functionality, and services and otherwise for our internal business purposes;
  • to personalize your experience on the Web Properties; and

You may, at any time, opt out of us sharing your Personal Information for such purposes by contacting us as described below in “Choices With Your Personal Information.”

When Information Is Disclosed

In addition to the other times or occasions on which we might disclose Personal Information about you, we might also disclose Personal Information and/or Browsing Information when required by law or in the good-faith belief that such disclosure is necessary to: (1) comply with legal processes and applicable law; (2) enforce this Privacy Policy; (3) take precautions against liability and to respond to any claim that any material, document, image, graphic, logo, design, audio, video, and any other information provided to, from or on the Web Properties by you violates the rights of third parties; (4) assist government enforcement agencies; or (5) protect our rights, property, or the safety or the rights, property, or personal safety of our visitors and the public.

We use reasonable precautions to keep the information that is disclosed to us secure. We may provide Personal Information and Browsing Information to our subsidiaries, affiliated companies, and other businesses or persons for the purposes of processing such information on our behalf and promoting the goods and services of our trusted business partners, some or all of which may store some or all of your information on servers outside of the United States. We require that these parties agree to process such information in compliance with our Privacy Policy or in a similar, industry-standard manner, and we use reasonable efforts to limit their use of such information and to use appropriate confidentiality and security measures. The use of your information by one of our trusted business partners may be subject to that party’s own privacy policy.  

We may share Browsing Information with third parties to demonstrate the usage patterns for advertisements, content, functionality, promotions, and/or services on the Web Properties and or on third party websites.

We reserve the right to transfer your Personal Information, as well as any information about or from you, in connection with the merger, sale or other disposition of all or part of our business and/or assets.  We cannot make any representations regarding the use or transfer of your Personal Information or other information that we may have in the event of our bankruptcy, reorganization, insolvency, receivership, or an assignment for the benefit of creditors, and you expressly agree and consent to the use and/or transfer of your Personal Information or other information in connection with a sale or transfer of some or all of our assets in any of the above described proceedings. Furthermore, we cannot and will not be responsible for any breach of security by any third parties or for any actions of any third parties that receive any of the information that is disclosed to us.  

We may also disclose your Personal Information with your permission.

Account, Password and Security

For certain features available through the Web Properties, we may require the use of encryption technologies provided for your protection and/or account.  We use reasonable precautions to protect the privacy of your password and account information.  

You, however, are ultimately responsible for protecting your password and account information from disclosure to third parties, and you are not permitted to circumvent the use of required encryption technologies. You agree to: (1) immediately notify us of any unauthorized use of your password and/or any other breach of security; and (2) ensure that you log out from your account at the end of each session. While we may provide certain encryption technologies and use other reasonable precautions to protect your confidential information and provide suitable security, we do not and cannot guarantee or warrant that any information transmitted through the Internet is secure, or that such transmissions are free from delay, interruption, interception, or error.  

Information From Children

We do not collect Personal Information from any person that we know to be under the age of thirteen (13).  Specifically, the Web Properties are not intended or designed to attract children under the age of thirteen (13). You affirm that you are more than eighteen (18) years of age, or an emancipated minor, or possess legal parental or guardian consent, and are fully able and competent to enter into the terms, conditions, obligations, affirmations, representations, and warranties set forth in this Privacy Policy, and to abide by and comply with this Privacy Policy. In any case, you affirm that you are over the age of thirteen (13), as THE WEB PROPERTIES ARE NOT INTENDED FOR CHILDREN UNDER THIRTEEN (13) WHO ARE UNACCOMPANIED BY THEIR PARENT(S) OR LEGAL GUARDIAN(S).

Parents and legal guardians should be aware that this Privacy Policy will govern our use of Personal Information, but also that information that is voluntarily given by children – or others – in email exchanges, bulletin boards or the like, may be used by other parties to generate unsolicited communications. We encourage all parents to instruct their children in the safe and responsible use of their Personal Information while using the Internet.

Privacy Outside the Web Properties

The Web Properties may now or in the future contain links to other websites, including, but not limited to, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, and contain advertisements of third parties. We are not and cannot be responsible for the privacy practices or the content of any of those websites. Other than under agreements with certain reputable organizations and companies, and except for third party service providers (as described in this Privacy Policy), we do not share any of the Personal Information that you provide to us with any of the websites to which the Web Properties links, although we may share aggregate, non-personally identifiable information with those other third parties. Please check with those websites in order to determine their privacy policies and your rights under them.

Writing.io uses third party service providers to gather your data from financial institutions. By using our Web Properties and any of our services, you grant our third party service provider the right, power, and authority to act on your behalf to access and transmit your personal and financial information from the relevant financial institution for purposes of providing services to you, according to the terms of our third party service provider’s privacy policy.  

Writing.io also uses the services of Stripe, Inc., a third party service provider, to process transactions, including payment transactions, as part of your use of the Web Properties. By using our Web Properties you grant us all necessary rights and consents under applicable laws to disclose to our third party service providers – or allow such third party service providers to collect, use, retain, and disclose – any Personal Information for purposes of providing services to you, including data that we may collect directly from our customers using cookies or other similar means.

European Union Users

If you are visiting us from the European Union, please note that we may collect, transfer, and continue to use your Personal Information outside the European Union for any of the purposes described in this Privacy Policy.  By using the Web Properties and providing us with your Personal Information, you consent to our collection, transfer, and continued use of your Personal Information in accordance with this Privacy Policy.

Please see our Data Protection Policy for more information on how we manage your data.

Information Security

We take reasonable efforts to ensure that information collected through the Web Properties is not lost, misused or altered inappropriately by administering security measures. However, all information accessible and/or transferred over the Internet can potentially be accessed by unauthorized parties; therefore, we cannot guarantee the security of your data transmitted to the Web Properties.

Choices With Your Personal Information

Whether you submit any Personal Information to us is entirely up to you. You are under no obligation to provide Personal Information. However, this information is essential for the provision and quality of some of the services we offer to you, so we cannot provide you with certain services if you choose to withhold requested information.

You may choose to prevent us from disclosing or using your Personal Information under certain circumstances (“opt out”). You may opt out of any disclosure or use of your Personal Information for purposes that are incompatible with the purpose(s) for which it was originally collected or for which you subsequently gave authorization by notifying us by one of the methods at the end of this Privacy Policy, or by following the procedures set forth in an electronic communication from us, if applicable. Furthermore, even where your Personal Information is to be disclosed and used in accordance with the stated purposes in this Privacy Policy, you may elect to opt out of such disclosure to and use by a third party that is not acting as our agent. There are some uses from which you cannot opt out, such as to provide services that you have requested from us.

To the extent applicable, you may opt out of online behavioral advertising by following the instructions set forth above under the above section “Additional Ways that Information is Collected Through the Web Properties,” subsection “Third Party Opt Out.”

When you download the App, you may be able to manage how your mobile device shares certain information with us by adjusting your mobile device’s privacy or security settings. In particular, you may elect whether to share location information with our mobile application to access the mobile application’s location based services.

Access and Correction

Please contact us in the manner specified at the end of this Privacy Policy to access your Personal Information in our possession and correct inaccuracies of that information in our records. We ask individuals to identify themselves and the information requested to be accessed and amended before processing such requests, and we may decline to process requests in limited circumstances, as permitted by applicable privacy legislation.

Your California Privacy Rights

Under California’s “Shine the Light” law, California residents who provide certain personally identifiable information in connection with obtaining products or services for personal, family, or household use are entitled to request and obtain from us (once a calendar year) information about the customer information we shared (if any) with other businesses for their own direct marketing uses. If applicable, this information would include the categories of customer information and the names and addresses of those businesses with which we shared customer information for the immediately prior calendar year (e.g.,requests made in 2018 will receive information regarding 2017 sharing activities, if any).

To obtain this information, please send an email message to privacy@writing.io with “Request for California Privacy Information” in the subject line and in the body of your message. We will provide the requested information to you at your email address in response.

Please be aware that not all information sharing is covered by the “Shine the Light” requirements, and only information on covered sharing will be included in our response.

"Do Not Track" Requests

Because we may collect your Personal Information from time to time, California’s Online Privacy Protection Act requires us to disclose how we respond to “do not track” requests and other similar mechanisms. Currently, our policy is that we do not recognize “do not track” requests from Internet browsers and similar devices.

Your Consent To This Privacy Policy

By using the Web Properties, you consent to the collection and use of your information (including Personal Information) by us as specified above or as we otherwise see fit, in compliance with this Privacy Policy, unless you inform us otherwise by means of the procedure identified below.  If we decide to change this Privacy Policy or some part of it, we will make an effort to post those changes on this web page and on our App so that you will always be able to understand what information we collect, how we use that information and under what circumstances we may disclose that information to others.  Your use of the Web Properties, including, but not limited to, the App, following such publication of any amendment of this Privacy Policy will signify your assent to and acceptance of its revised terms for all previously collected information and information collected from you in the future.  We may use comments, information or feedback that you may submit in any manner that we may choose without notice or compensation to you.

If you have additional questions or comments of any kind, or if you see anything on the Web Properties that you think is inappropriate or incorrect, please let us know by email or by sending your comments or requests to: support@writing.io

Your use of the Web Properties is also governed by the:

For all inquiries regarding our Terms of Use , Privacy Policy , or Data Protection Policy please email privacy@writing.io.