We value your privacy
and are committed to protecting it.

The following Privacy Policy details the information we receive about you and explains how it is used.

PRIVACY

The following describes the collection and usage of information when using the Circle mobile application for iPhone and Android, as well as this “Site” (www.discovercircle.com) and any other websites, applications, or related services we operate (collectively referred to as our “Services”). By using our Services, you consent to the following Privacy Policy.

As used in this policy, the terms “Circle,” “us,” “we,” “our,” and “ourselves” refer to Hawthorne Labs, Inc. (“the Company” that created Circle). The terms “you,” “your,” and “yourself” refer to users of our Services.

  1. Information We Receive
    1. Personal Information
      1. Voluntarily Provided Information
        1. We collect information from you when you voluntarily provide it to us, including when you add information to your user profile, upload photos, join networks, update your location, or contact us with inquiries. By providing us with this information, you consent to our use of it in accordance with this Privacy Policy. Additionally, you agree that it may be transferred to the offices and servers of Circle (Hawthorne Labs, Inc.) and any authorized third parties (i.e., Facebook).
      2. Registration (Facebook Third Party Login)
        1. We require that you sign in with your Facebook account. By doing so, you are allowing us to pass your log-in information (e-mail address, password) and send and receive other information (such as your Facebook friends list) to and from Facebook. We will only use this information in accordance with our Privacy Policy, but please be aware that Facebook’s usage of your information is governed by their own privacy policies, and that we cannot be held responsible for its practices and/or actions. We may also post that you have joined Circle to your Facebook activity feed. We also import some of your data to help you quickly set up a profile. This includes things like your name, your relationship status, and your birthday. We also create some networks for you based on networks you belong to on Facebook. This data may be viewable by other Circle users, whether or not those users are your friends on Facebook.
      3. Location
        1. Circle is a location-based social network, built to help you interact with the people around you. Unless you choose to turn off our location services, we regularly collect your location information by using the GPS capabilities of your mobile phone. By using our Services, you consent to our collection, storage, and analysis of your location data.
        2. Users near you may be able to see your approximate location, any mutual friends you share with that user, and any other information you’ve decided to keep public, including profile information and the networks to which you belong. Users viewing this information may use it or transmit it to other individuals or parties without our knowledge. Your location information, therefore, may be subject to misuse by others. Please be aware that you share your location, and any other data you choose to make public, at your own risk.
      4. Device Information
        1. We collect information regarding your mobile device’s operating system and the unique device identifier number associated with your mobile phone in order to provide support to users experiencing technical issues and to ensure that we can remove any users who violate our Terms of Service from our Services. For the same reasons, we may collect information regarding the IP addresses of users of our Services, and may use “cookies” to provide additional functionality to our web Services.
      5. Children’s Information
        1. Our Services are not for children under the age of 13. We do not knowingly collect personally identifiable information from children under the age of 13. If you are under 13 years of age, please do not use our Services and please do not submit any personal information through our Services. We encourage parents and legal guardians to please monitor their children’s Internet usage and to help enforce our Privacy Policy by instructing children under the age of 13 never to use our Services. If you have reason to believe that a child under the age of 13 has provided personal information to Circle through our Services, please contact us immediately, and we will make every attempt to delete that information from our databases.
    2. Aggregate Information
      1. We take individual user data and aggregate it to perform certain analysis of our Services. This might include things like counting the number of users of our Services or analyzing trends in downloads, invites, or messaging, for instance. We also sometimes aggregate individual data to perform demographic analysis of our users. This might include determining the average age of our user population or the distribution of gender in our user base.
  2. How Information May Be Used
    1. How Information May Be Used by Circle (Hawthorne Labs, Inc.)
      1. Personal Information
        1. We use Personal Information in order to provide the best Services possible. This includes providing the core functionality of Circle (connecting you to people nearby by displaying your profile to them), responding to your inquiries, providing technical support, improving your user experience, communicating with you, and for any other purpose for which you have provided information.
        2. There are circumstances that may lead us to share your personal information to a third party without further notice to you. These circumstances include corporate sales, mergers, reorganizations, dissolutions or similar events; cooperation with service providers we work with in order to provide our Services (e.g., e-mail services); enforcement of our Privacy Policy or Terms of Service; cooperation with law enforcement or other authorities if required to do so by law or when we believe in good faith that such disclosures or actions are required by law (e.g., to comply with a court order or subpoena); protection of our rights or property or that of third parties; protection against legal liability; protection of your safety and security, or that of other users of our Services; and protection of the safety and security of the general public.
      2. Aggregate Information
        1. We may share non-identifiable aggregate data and statistics with affiliates, agents, business partners, and third parties. This aggregated data does not identify you personally.
  3. Applicability
    1. Our Services may contain links to other websites not operated or controlled by Hawthorne Labs, Inc. The policies and procedures described herein do not apply to these third party websites. Links from our Services do not imply that we endorse or have reviewed these third party sites. Contact those sites directly for information on their privacy policies.
  4. How Your Privacy is Protected
    1. Circle takes reasonable steps to protect your personal information from loss, misuse, abuse, and unauthorized access or disclosure. However, no Internet, email, mobile or other electronic transmission is ever fully secure or error free, so you should take special care in deciding what information you send to us. You, the user, are responsible for maintaining the secrecy of your login information to help prevent others from accessing your personally identifiable information.
    2. Please remember that you share your location, and any other data you choose to make public, at your own risk. Users near you may be able to see your approximate location, your profile photograph, any mutual friends you share with that user, and any other information you’ve decided to keep public, including profile information and the networks to which you belong. Users with this information may misuse it or transmit it to other parties without our knowledge. Be aware that your location and any other information you choose to make public, therefore, may be subject to misuse and abuse by others. You can control what information is public, and to whom it is visible, by changing your privacy settings.