At Smart Earth Technologies we give a high priority to data security and privacy. It’s important to us that you understand when and how we use your personal data, particularly on behalf of your water utility / service provider (“Water Service Provider”). This policy explains what kind of data we collect, where it comes from and how we may use it.

 

Smart Earth Technologies, LLC. (“SET”, “Company”, “us”, “our”, and “we”) is committed to protecting your privacy. This “Privacy Policy” describes our practices regarding the Personal Data (as defined below) we collect from you or receive about you if we work with your Water Service Provider and you use our website at *.setflow.com (referred to in this Privacy Policy as the “Site”). Our user interfaces at *.setflow.com allow you (and in some cases persons you may designate), if authorized through our Terms of Use located here and our contract with your Water Service Provider, to view and analyze your water usage data, receive personalized water saving recommendations and rebates, and receive optional alerts regarding possible water leaks or unusually high water usage. We also provide user interfaces for your Water Service Provider to view and analyze such data. If authorized by our contract with your Water Service Provider, our Site may facilitate the viewing and/or payment of utility bills online through a third party payment processor. Collectively, with all other services provided through the Site, these services are referred to as the “Services”.

 

1. WE COLLECT INFORMATION ABOUT YOU FROM YOUR WATER SERVICE PROVIDER AND DIRECTLY FROM YOU WHEN YOU USE OUR SERVICES.

 

“Personal Data” means data that allow someone to identify or contact you, including, for example, your name, address, telephone number, e-mail address, as well as any other non-public information about you that are associated with or linked to any of the foregoing data. “Anonymous Data” means data that are not associated with or linked to your Personal Data. Anonymous Data do not permit the identification of individual persons. All Personal Data are kept strictly confidential and are used solely to provide authorized Services to you and/or your Water Service Provider and enhance such Services. We collect Personal and Anonymous Data, as described below.

 

(a) Personal Data We Collect about You from Your Water Service Provider. In connection with providing water use data and other services to you, your Water Service Provider collects information about how much water you are using through their metering systems. In connection with our Services, your Water Service Provider may supply us with your current and historical water use data and certain Personal Data, which may include your first and last names, the address where water use data are collected, mobile telephone or landline telephone number, email address, account number, billing and payment history and current billing information, water audit data, and prior participation in utility programs, to provide our personalized Services and our Site to you and related Services to your Water Service Provider.

 

(b) Personal Data You Provide to Us. When you activate or sign up for an account on our Site (your “Account”), we collect Personal Data from you such as your first and last names, e-mail and mailing addresses, mobile telephone or landline telephone, password, and, optionally, household information such as number of occupants, landscape characteristics, and water- and energy-using fixtures in your house. With your Water Service Provider’s authorization, if you elect to use our Site to facilitate payment of utility bills, a third party payment processor may on our Site or its site also collect from you personal financial information such as credit card, debit card, or bank account numbers and related information. If you use our Site without signing up for an Account, you may elect to provide us with your email address or telephone numbers for use with alerts and notifications that you opt into.

 

(c) Personal Data From Other Sources. We may also receive Personal Data about you from: (i) third parties that provide services for us in connection with the Site or Services, (ii) third parties to whom you have voluntarily provided information, and (iii) other publicly available sources such as County parcel records, Census data and mapping services. We may add this information to the information we have already collected from you, or Your Water Service Provider.

 

(d) Personal Data Collected via Technology. When you visit our Site we collect information about your visit, including your browser type, operating system, Internet Protocol address, domain name, and the date and time of your visit. We may use this information to inform you of software compatibility issues, or this information may be analyzed to improve the design and functionality of our Site. We may also use Cookies and Web Beacons, both as defined below, to enhance Site navigation and functionality. We automatically gather this Personal Data and store it in log files each time you visit our Site or access your Account on our network.

 

We may use third party service providers to help us analyze certain online activities. For example, these service providers may help us measure or analyze the performance of our online services or visitor activity. We may permit these service providers to use Cookies, as defined below, and other technologies to perform these services for us. We do not share any Personal Data about our customers with these third party service providers, and these service providers do not collect such information on our behalf. Such third party service providers are required to comply fully with this Privacy Policy.

 

(i) “Cookies” are small pieces of information that a website sends to your computer’s hard drive while you are viewing a website. We may use both session Cookies (which expire once you close your web browser) and persistent Cookies (which stay on your computer until you delete them) to provide you with a more personal and interactive experience on our Site. Persistent Cookies can be removed by following Internet browser help file directions. We encode our Cookies so that only we can interpret the information stored in them. If you choose to disable Cookies, some areas of our Site may not work properly.

 

(ii)“Web beacons” are images embedded in a web page or email for the purpose of measuring and analyzing Site usage and activity. We, or our third party service providers acting on our behalf, may use Web beacons to help us analyze Site usage and improve our Services.

 

2. HOW WE USE PERSONAL DATA, ANONYMOUS DATA AND AGGREGATE DATA

 

(a) In general, Personal Data we collect are used to provide our Services, including to process your water use data or respond to requests that you make, or to aid us in serving you better. SET uses your Personal Data in the following ways: to facilitate the creation of and secure your Account on our network; to identify you as a user in our system; to provide you with our Services, including information about your water use; to communicate with you about our Services and opportunities and tips to lower your water use; to provide improved administration of our Site and Services; to improve the quality of experience when you interact with our Site and Services; to send you a welcome e-mail to verify ownership of the e-mail address provided when your Account was created; to send you administrative e-mail notifications, such as security or support and maintenance advisories; to provide you with hardcopy or electronic newsletters, or surveys; to send upgrades and communications related to our Services; and to provide related Services to your Water Service Provider.

 

You may have the option to designate additional users on our Site. Please give careful consideration to any such person before making this optional choice. Additional users you designate will be able to view on our Site all information and Personal Data which you can view.

 

We at SET do not use or store your personal financial information such as credit card, debit card, or bank account numbers you may provide when authorizing payments with a credit card, debit card, or bank account (ACH transaction). If you elect to use our Site to facilitate viewing or payment of utility bills online via a third party payment processor (either on our Site or by link or re-direction to the site of a third party payment processor authorized by your Water Service Provider), any financial information you enter (as well as other necessary Personal Data we may transmit for your convenience) will be collected by the payment processor and will be subject to the payment processor’s privacy policy, not ours. For any such payment transaction or if a payment processor facilitates your viewing of a utility bill, please refer to the applicable payment processor’s privacy policy.

 

(b) Creation of Anonymous Data. We may create Anonymous Data records from Personal Data by excluding information (such as your name or account number) that make the data personally identifiable to you. We use this Anonymous Data to analyze request and usage patterns so that we may enhance the content of our Services and improve our Site navigation; and we may use Anonymous Data for any other legitimate business purpose not restricted by contract. The disclosure and use of Anonymous Data is governed by our contract with your Water Service Provider.

 

(c) Aggregate Data. We may aggregate data about water usage in various formats such that the data become anonymous and cannot be identified personally with you. For instance, aggregate data could be a summary of total water usage for all residences in a certain geographic area or climate. Aggregate data do not contain personally identifiable information, and we may use aggregate data for any legitimate business purpose not restricted by contract. The disclosure and use of aggregate data is governed by our contract with your Water Service Provider.

 

3. YOUR PERSONAL DATA IS NOT SHARED WITHOUT YOUR PERMISSION

 

(a) Permission. We do not share your Personal Data without your permission. Exceptions to this general rule are below.

 

(b) Storage and Security. Personal Data are stored in the hosting environments of cloud service providers with best practice security certifications we consider appropriate. We provide additional information on security practices in Section 6 below.

 

(c) Affiliates. Although we currently do not have a parent company, subsidiaries, joint ventures, or other companies under a common control (collectively, “Affiliates”), we may in the future. We may share some or all of your Personal Data with these Affiliates, in which case we will require our Affiliates to honor this Privacy Policy. If another company acquires our company or our assets, that company will possess the Personal Data collected by it and us and will assume the rights and obligations regarding your Personal Data as described in this Privacy Policy and our contract with your Water Service Provider.

 

(d) Other Disclosures. If our facilitation of payment of utility bills is authorized by your Water Service Provider and elected by you, for your convenience we may share necessary Personal Data with a third party payment processor. This is for your convenience to help avoid the need to re-enter or duplicate information already provided. In addition, regardless of any choices you make regarding your Personal Data (as described below), SET may disclose Personal Data if it believes in good faith that such disclosure is necessary or appropriate to comply with relevant laws or to respond to subpoenas or warrants served on SET or assist law enforcement authorities, or in any litigation involving SET.

 

4. WE WILL NOT SELL, LEND OR GIVE YOUR PERSONAL DATA TO UNAUTHORIZED THIRD PARTIES OFFERING OTHER PRODUCTS OR SERVICES

 

(a) Third Party Websites. Our provision of a link to any other website or location (or a button with the functionality of a link), is for your convenience and to assist you with the services we and your Water Service Provider deliver. The provision of such web links or buttons does not signify our endorsement of such other website or location or its contents. When you click on such a link or button, you will leave our Site and go to another site. When you leave our Site, another entity may collect Personal Data or Anonymous Data from you. We have no control over, do not review, and cannot be responsible for, these outside websites or their content. Please be aware that the terms of this Privacy Policy do not apply to these outside websites or content, or to any collection of data after you click on links or buttons to such outside websites.

 

(b) Disclosure to Third Party Companies. We will not share your Personal Data with third party companies for marketing purposes. If you share your Personal Data with a third party company, the privacy policy of that third party company will apply to the use and disclosure of your Personal Data. Anonymous Data sharing with third party companies will be governed by our contract with your Water Service Provider.

 

(c) Disclosure to Third Party Service Providers. We may share your Personal Data with third party service providers for the sole purpose of providing our Services to you or your Water Service Provider. Such third party services providers may, among other things, host our software and your data via the internet, provide technical support, conduct quality assurance testing, facilitate creation of accounts, or help translate our site into other languages. These third party service providers are required not to use your Personal Data other than to provide the services requested by SET. All third party service providers are required to honor this Privacy Policy. You expressly consent to the sharing of your Personal Data with our contractors and other service providers for the sole purpose of providing our Services to you or your Water Service Provider.

 

(d) Disclosure to Your Water Service Provider. We may share your Personal Data with your Water Service Provider to, among other things (i) improve understanding of customer water usage patterns, (ii) to plan water efficiency strategies, (iii) to help you and their other customers conserve water, and (iv) facilitate presentment and payment of your utility bills and balances. The privacy policies of your Water Service Provider will apply to its use and disclosure of your Personal Data.

 

5. YOU MAY OPT OUT OF RECEIVING EMAILS AND OTHER COMMUNICATIONS AND CAN UPDATE YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION AT ANY TIME

 

(a) Choices. We offer you choices regarding the collection, use, and sharing of your Personal Data. When you receive newsletters or promotional communications from us, you may indicate a preference to stop receiving further communications from us and you will have the opportunity to “opt-out” by following the unsubscribe instructions provided in the e-mail you receive or by changing your preferences in the “My Account” section of the Portal. Should you decide to opt-out of receiving future mailings, we may share your e-mail address with third parties to ensure that you do not receive further communications from third parties. Despite your indicated e-mail preferences, we may send you notices of any updates to our Terms of Use or Privacy Policy and may communicate with you via e-mail regarding your Account and Services we provide you.

 

(b) Changes to Personal Data. You may change any of your Personal Data in your Account by editing your profile within your Account. You may request deletion of your Personal Data by us, but please note that we may be required to keep this information and not delete it in accordance with Section 3, applicable law, or our contractual obligations to third parties (or to keep this information for a certain time, in which case we will comply with your deletion request only after we have fulfilled such requirements). When we delete any information, portions of your data may remain on a backup server or media. SET keeps these backups to ensure our continued ability to provide the Services to you in the event of malfunction or damage to our primary production servers. We also reserve the right to use or disclose any aggregate data or Anonymous Data derived from or incorporating your Personal Data indefinitely if permitted by our contract with your Water Service Provider.

 

6. WE DO OUR BEST TO KEEP YOUR DATA SECURE

 

SET is committed to protecting the security of your Personal Data. We use a variety of industry-standard security technologies and procedures to help protect your Personal Data from unauthorized access, use, or disclosure. Under our information security policy we focus on tight access control to Personal Data, encryption of Personal Data in transfers, partnering with best-in-class cloud vendors for physical and environmental security, automation for change-management accuracy, human resources security to ensure all necessary controls on employees, and other security measures. We also require you to enter a password to access your Account information. Please do not disclose your Account password to unauthorized people. You are responsible for maintaining the confidentiality of your password. Despite these measures, you should know that SET cannot fully eliminate security risks associated with Personal Data and security breaches are possible.

 

IF ANY OF THIS DOESN’T MAKE SENSE, OR YOU’D LIKE TO ASK A QUESTION, PLEASE GET IN TOUCH. SET welcomes your comments or questions regarding this Privacy Policy. Please e-mail us at info@setflow.com or write to us at the following address:

 

Smart Earth Technologies, LLC.
Attn: Customer Service
1959 Kellogg Avenue
Carlsbad, CA 92008

 

CHANGES TO THIS PRIVACY POLICY. This Privacy Policy is subject to occasional revision in accordance with our posted Terms of Use. Continued use of our Site or Services, following notice of such changes in accordance with the Terms of Use shall indicate your acknowledgement of such changes and agreement to be bound by the terms and conditions of such changes.

 

This Privacy Policy was last revised on December 1, 2019.