Privacy Policy for the Beacon Dispatch Platform

Note: This is the privacy policy for our Beacon Dispatch Platform (https://www.trekmedics.org/beacon/). To read the privacy policy for our public website, please visit: https://www.trekmedics.org/privacy-policy/

Last Updated: October 6, 2020

At Trek Medics, we want to connect people who need urgent assistance with first responders who can provide it and bring communities together to improve public health and safety services. In this Privacy Policy, we tell you what information we receive via the Beacon Platform, and how we use it to coordinate local resources and continue to improve our services.

SCOPE OF THIS PRIVACY POLICY

Trek Medics International (“Trek Medics,” “we,” “our,” and/or “us”) values the privacy of individuals who use our Beacon Dispatching Platform and Beacon Mobile App (collectively, “Beacon Platform”).  This Privacy Policy explains how we collect, use, and share information via the Beacon Platform.  We collect this information from Trek Medics users (“Users”), which include first responders (“Responders”), Responders with dispatching and/or supervisory duties (“Dispatchers/Supervisors”), and Emergency Response Agencies that manage Responders (“Agencies”).

Beyond the Privacy Policy, your use of the Beacon Platform is also subject to our Terms of Service (https://www.trekmedics.org/beacon/terms).

Please note:  This Privacy Policy relates only to the Beacon Platform. To read our website privacy policy, please visit: https://www.trekmedics.org/privacy-policy/

PERSONAL INFORMATION WE COLLECT

A. Information You Provide To Us

  • Registration Information. When you sign up for a Beacon Platform account, you give us your name, email address, and phone number.
  • User Profile Information. When you join your Agency’s Beacon Platform account, you provide certain user profile information, such as your transportation mode, zone/region (e.g., “Dupont Circle, Washington DC”), and your capacities or skills (e.g., “Doctor”).
  • Communications. If you contact us directly, we may receive additional information about you. For example, when you contact our Customer Support Team, we will receive your name, email address, phone number, the contents of a message or attachments that you may send to us, and other information you choose to provide.

B. Information We Collect When You Use The Beacon Platform

  • Location Information. Trek Medics is all about coordinating local emergency resources. To do this, we need to know where the Responders are when an emergency incident occurs. When you are marked “on-duty” in a GPS-enabled mobile device, we collect the physical location of your device by, for example, using satellite, cell phone tower or WiFi signals. We also collect this information every time a new alert is sent to you, when you confirm you are en route, when you confirm your arrival on-scene, when you request or reject additional assistance, when you confirm your transport status and/or when you arrive at your transport destination. We may also collect the physical location of your device when a Dispatcher/Supervisor specifically requests it.
    • If you are marked as “off-duty” we do not collect your location.
    • Your location information is necessary for activities such as receiving alerts, confirming arrival on-scene, determining additional resources, and choosing transport destinations. In addition, Responders’ location information and distance travelled is necessary for calculating arrival times and resource allocation. If you give us permission through your device settings or the Beacon Mobile App, we may collect your location while the Beacon Mobile App is running in the foreground or the background.
    • While you can prevent your mobile device from sharing location information at any time through your device’s operating system settings, Responder location is core to the Beacon Platform, and in particular to the Beacon Mobile App, and without it we are limited in how we can provide our services to you.
  • Call and Text Information. We work with third party service providers to facilitate phone calls and text messages between and among Responders and the Beacon Platform when Responders have been connected to provide assistance. We receive information about these communications including the date and time of the call or SMS message, the parties’ phone numbers, and the content of any SMS and/or chat messages.

HOW WE USE PERSONAL INFORMATION

We use the Personal Information we collect from Users to:

  • Provide, operate, improve, expand, and promote the Beacon Platform;
  • Ensure compliance with our Terms of Service, and sending administrative information to you, such as changes to our terms, conditions, and policies;
  • Develop new products and services;
  • Analyze how the Trek Medics community uses the Beacon Platform and identify usage trends, so we can improve our services;
  • Communicate with you directly, respond to your inquiries and provide customer support;
  • Personalize the Beacon Platform experience for Users;
  • Send you marketing communications with information about the Beacon Platform or our other activities; and
  • For security monitoring purposes and to find and prevent fraud, as well as to protect the safety of Users and the public.

Additionally, we use the Personal Information we collect from Agencies to:

  • Communicate with Agencies who have started the agency application process regarding the status of their application;
  • Determine an Agency’s eligibility to utilize the Beacon Platform; and
  • Notify Agencies about demand, pricing and service updates.

HOW WE SHARE PERSONAL INFORMATION

A. Sharing Between Users

Responders that have been matched for an emergency response are able to see basic information about the incident, such as the incident location and the nature of the incident.  Dispatchers/Supervisors see a Responder’s vehicle information and most recently-updated location as the Responder approaches the incident location (assuming the Responder has previously granted permission for the Beacon Platform to access the Responder’s location data).  We also provide User location to other Responders assigned to the same incident.

B. Other Sharing

We may disclose Personal information:

  • To our third party service providers to facilitate the services they provide to us, including, for example, website hosting, data analysis, payment processing, information technology and related infrastructure provision, customer service, email delivery, and other services;
  • To comply with applicable law and regulations;
  • To comply with a subpoena, court order, and/or other legal instrument, legal proceeding or relevant request by public and government authorities or law enforcement;
  • To enforce our terms and conditions;
  • To protect our rights, privacy, safety or property, and/or that of you or others;
  • In connection with any reorganization, merger, sale, or joint venture, transfer, assignment, or other disposition of our assets (including in connection with any bankruptcy or similar proceedings);
  • If you signed up for a promotion with another User’s referral or promotion code, to your referrer to let them know about your redemption of or qualification for the promotion; and
  • To our insurance partners to help determine and provide relevant coverage.

OTHER INFORMATION

Other Information” is any information that does not reveal your specific identity or does not directly relate to an identifiable individual.  We collect Other Information through the Bacon Platform, such as:

  • Device Information. We receive information from Users’ devices, including IP address, web browser type, mobile operating system version, phone carrier and manufacturer, application installations, device identifiers, and push notification tokens.  We use this information to ensure that the Beacon Platform functions properly.
  • Usage Information. To help us understand how you use the Beacon Platform and to help us improve it, we automatically receive information about your interactions with the Beacon Platform, like the pages or other content you view, your actions within the Beacon Mobile App, and the dates and times of your visits.
  • Demographics. We collect demographic information and other information provided by you that does not reveal your specific identity, as well as information that has been aggregated in a manner such that it no longer reveals your specific identity.
  • Pixel tags. Pixel tags (also known as web beacons and clear GIFs) may be used to, among other things, track the actions of users of the Beacon Platform (including email recipients) and compile statistics about usage of the Services and response rates.
  • Analytics. We use a third party analytics service (Firebase Crashlytics), which uses cookies and similar technologies to collect and analyze information about use of the Beacon Platform and report on activities and trends.
  • Cookies. Cookies are pieces of information stored directly on the device that you are using.  Cookies allow us to collect information such as browser type, time spent on the Beacon Platform, pages visited, and other traffic data.  We and our service providers use the information for security purposes, to facilitate navigation, to display information more effectively, and to personalize your experience.  We also gather statistical information about use of the Beacon Platform in order to continually improve its design and functionality, understand how it is used, and assist us with resolving questions regarding the Beacon Platform. We do not currently respond to browser do-not-track signals. If you do not want information collected through the use of cookies, most browsers allow you to automatically decline cookies or be given the choice of declining or accepting a particular cookie (or cookies) from a particular website.  You may also wish to refer to https://www.allaboutcookies.org/manage-cookies/index.html. If, however, you do not accept cookies, you may experience some inconvenience in your use of the Beacon Platform.

We may use and disclose Other Information for any purpose, except where we are required to do otherwise under applicable law.  If we are required to treat Other Information as Personal Information under applicable law, we may use and disclose it for the purposes for which we use and disclose Personal Information as detailed in this Privacy Policy.  In some instances, we may combine Other Information with Personal Information.  If we do, we will treat the combined information as Personal Information as long as it is combined.

YOUR CHOICES

  • Email Communications. If you no longer want to receive marketing related emails from us on a going-forward basis, you may opt out by clicking on the “unsubscribe” link in the email. We will try to comply with your request as soon as reasonably practicable.  Please note that if you opt out of receiving marketing related emails from us, we may still send you important administrative messages, from which you cannot opt out.
  • Updating Your Information. If you have created a User Profile on the Beacon Platform, you can log into your Beacon Platform account and update your profile information.
  • Content Removal. If you are a resident of California, under the age of 18, and a registered user of the Beacon Platform, you may ask us to remove content or information that you have posted to the Beacon Platform by sending us an email at [email protected].  Please note that your request does not ensure complete or comprehensive removal of the content or information, as, for example, some of your content may have been reposted by another user.

DATA SECURITY

We seek to use reasonable organizational, technical and administrative measures to protect Personal Information within our organization.  Unfortunately, no data transmission or storage system can be guaranteed to be 100% secure.  If you have reason to believe that your interaction with us is no longer secure, please immediately notify us in accordance with the “Contact Us” section below.

THIRD-PARTY SERVICES

This Privacy Policy does not address, and we are not responsible for, the privacy, information, or other practices of any third parties, including any third party operating any website or service to which the Beacon Platform links.  The inclusion of a link on the Services does not imply our endorsement of the linked site or service.  In addition, we are not responsible for the information collection, use, disclosure, or security policies or practices of other organizations, such as Apple, Google, Microsoft, RIM, or any other app developer, app provider, operating system provider, wireless service provider, or device manufacturer, including with respect to any Personal Information you disclose to other organizations through or in connection with the Beacon Platform.

USE OF THE BEACON PLATFORM BY MINORS

The Beacon Platform is not directed to individuals under the age of eighteen (18, and we do not knowingly collect Personal Information from individuals under 18.

THIRD-PARTY PAYMENT SERVICES

We may use a third party payment service to process payments made through the Beacon Platform. If you wish to make a payment through the Beacon Platform, your Personal Information will be collected by such third party and not by us, and will be subject to the third party’s privacy policy, rather than this Privacy Policy.  We have no control over, and are not responsible for, this third party’s collection, use, and disclosure of your Personal Information.

JURISDICTION

The Beacon Platform is controlled and operated by us from the United States, and it is not intended to subject us to the laws or jurisdiction of any state, country or territory other than that of the United States.

CHANGES TO OUR PRIVACY POLICY

The “Last Updated” legend at the top of this Privacy Policy indicates when this Privacy Policy was last revised.  Any changes will become effective when we post the revised Privacy Policy on the Beacon Platform.

CONTACT US

Feel free to contact us at any time with any questions or comments about this Privacy Policy, your personal information, our use and sharing practices, or your choices by contacting our  or emailing us at [email protected].

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