Privacy Policy - SmartHop

Last updated: November 06, 2023

Please read this Privacy Policy carefully. It provides important information about your personal information. It also tells you about your rights under applicable privacy laws. BY ACCESSING OR USING OUR SITE AND/OR SMARTHOP SERVICE, OR SUBMITTING INFORMATION IN CONNECTION WITH YOUR USE OF THE SITE AND/OR SMARTHOP SERVICE, YOU ACKNOWLEDGE AND AGREE THAT YOU HAVE READ THIS PRIVACY POLICY.

1. INTRODUCTION

SmartHop, Inc., a Delaware corporation (collectively, “SmartHop”, “we”, “us” or “our”) owns and operates (i) the SmartHop website located at www.smarthop.com (the “Site”), and (ii) the SmartHop proprietary software platform (the “Platform”) that assists in the identification, booking, tracking and management of freight loads (each, a “Load”), and provides related services that enables small trucking company and independent owner-operators to manage end-to-end operations, improve Load selection, and enable low-cost operational services (the “Services”). When we refer the “SmartHop Service” throughout this Privacy Policy, we mean, collectively, the Platform, Services, and any related services provided by SmartHop in connection with the use of any of the foregoing.

This Privacy Policy is intended to help you better understand how we process your personal information, and governs how SmartHop may use, transfer, store and disclose such personal information in connection with your use of the Site and/or SmartHop Service.

“Personal information” or “personal data” means any information about an individual from which that person may be identified. For example, it may include your name, telephone number, email address, or payment information, and in some jurisdictions your IP address. It does not include data from which the identity of an individual has been definitively removed along with any identifiers connected to such individual (also known as anonymous or anonymized data).

SmartHop may collect personal information when you:

Create an account for the SmartHop Service “Account”);
Access and/or visit the Site;
Access and/or use the Platform;
Access and/or use the Services;
Place an order with us for any Services or to book a Load;
Sign up to receive marketing materials;
Drive, ride in or otherwise be in possession of a Customer Vehicle (as defined below) in connection with the transportation of a Load;
Opt-in to receive service-related and/or marketing communications via SMS text message as part of SmartHop’s SMS Messaging Program (the “SMS Program”); or
Directly communicate with us through the Site and/or SmartHop Service.

Please note that certain information collected by us in connection with your use of the SmartHop Service is controlled by the entity or other third party that has entered into the SmartHop Terms of Service Agreement available at https://www.smarthop.co/terms-of-use or other agreement (hereinafter, the “Agreement”) with SmartHop for the access and use of the SmartHop Service (such, entity and/or organization, the “Customer”).

When SmartHop collects or processes such information, it does so as a processor on behalf of the Customer, who is acting as the controller. If you access and/or use the SmartHop Service as an authorized employee, contractor, and/or agent of the Customer (individually and collectively, “Authorized Users”) or if you drive a truck and/or vehicle owned and/or operated by the Customer, or otherwise on behalf of a Customer to transport a Load (such truck or vehicle, hereinafter, the “Customer Vehicle”, and the driver, a “Driver”), the Customer determines its own policies regarding storage, access, modification, deletion, sharing, and retention of such information which may apply to your use of the SmartHop Service if you are an Authorized User, and/or the operation and/or use of the Customer Vehicle and/or transportation of a Load, if you are a Driver. If you are an Authorized User and/or Driver, please check with the Customer about the Customer’s the policies and settings it implements with respect to information you submit in connection with your use of the SmartHop Service or in connection with the use of a Customer Vehicle, as applicable.

2. CHANGES TO THIS PRIVACY POLICY

SmartHop reserves the right to revise this Privacy Policy at any time for any reason. If we make revisions to this Privacy Policy, we will post the revised Privacy Policy prominently on the Site, with the “last updated” date revised accordingly. If we make material changes with respect to the personal information collected by the Site and/or SmartHop Service, we will post a notice on the Site that the Privacy Policy has been updated and will send an email to the email address we have on file for you (if any). It is your responsibility to regularly visit and review the Privacy Policy. If you do not agree to any updates or modifications to the Privacy Policy, simply do not use or access the Site and/or SmartHop Service (or any part thereof). Your continued use of the Site and/or SmartHop Service after we have posted the updated Privacy Policy, or, in the event of material changes, ten (10) days following the date we posted the notice of such changes on the Site and/or via email, as applicable, signifies to us that you acknowledge and agree to be bound by the revised Privacy Policy.

3. INFORMATION WE COLLECT

3.1 . INFORMATION COLLECTED DIRECTLY

When you visit the Site and/or use the SmartHop Service, and depending on the purpose of your visit or use, you may provide us with personal information if you:

Register and create an Account for the SmartHop Service;
Access and/or visit the Site;
Access and/or use the Platform;
Access and/or use the Services;
Place and order with us for any Services or to book a Load;
Sign up to receive marketing materials;
Opt-in to the SMS Program; or
Directly communicate with us through the Site and/or SmartHop Service.

In connection with the above-mentioned activities, SmartHop may collect the following information:

Your identity, including your first name, last name;
Your email address;
Your username and password and/or other login credentials;
Your contact details, including your postal address and phone number;
Contact information for the Customer, such as business address and phone number;
Information about your transactions with SmartHop- this only includes partial payment or credit card information or bank account information, which is processed and stored exclusively by our third-party payment processor;
Information regarding the Customer Vehicles and the operation of the Customer Vehicles, including, without limitation, in connection with the transportation of a Load, which may include, the license plate number, make and model;
Information regarding the Driver operating and/or driving the Customer Vehicle, including, the Driver’s name, drives license, and phone number;
Business ownership information, including profit sharing and ownership interests, your FEIN or social security number;
Your payment history and claims information and/or
Other information you may provide by filling out forms or by contacting us (such as your feedback or other communications with us).

Please be advised that we may ask you to update your information from time to time in order to keep it accurate. Additionally, if you provide personal information to us about someone else, you must ensure that you are entitled to disclose that information to us and that, without us taking any further steps required by data protection laws, we may collect, use and disclose such information for the purposes described in this Privacy Policy. For example, you should ensure the individual concerned is aware of the terms detailed in this Privacy Policy.

In certain circumstances, for example, if you only browse the Site and do not provide us any information directly, or if you are a Driver, and do not otherwise access or use the SmartHop Service, we may not necessarily collect information from you directly, but may collect information indirectly as described in the Sections titled “Information Collected Indirectly” and “Information Collected from Third Parties” below.

3.2. INFORMATION COLLECTED INDIRECTLY

Usage Information

When you use or interact with the Site and/or SmartHop Service we, or our authorized third-party service providers, automatically collect information about how you use them (collectively, “Usage Information”).Usage Information that we collect consists of information about your interactions with the Site and/or SmartHop Service, including information about the device used by you to interact with and/or access the Site and/or SmartHop Service, including, without limitation, IP address, access dates and times, information about your approximate location (as determined through your IP address), mobile device information, device event information, crash data, and log data when you access and use the Site and/or SmartHop Service.

This information allows SmartHop to understand how you’ve used the Site and/or SmartHop Service (which may include administrative and support communications with us or whether you have clicked on third-party links), and other actions you have taken in connection with your use of the Site and/or SmartHop Service. We use this information for our internal purposes, specifically to operate, maintain, secure and improve the Site and/or SmartHop Service. We may also use this information to provide you with notifications, recommendations, and information about specific features of the Site and/or SmartHop Service and/or additional products, services, or features we believe may be of interest to you.

Cookies and Similar Technologies

We or authorized third parties collect certain information, including, without limitation, Usage Information, by automated means using cookies, web beacons, and server logs for analytic purposes. SmartHop tracks users use of the Site and/or SmartHop Service, but does not track users across third party websites. A cookie is a small text file that is stored on a user’s computer for record-keeping purposes. When you visit or access the Site and/or SmartHop Service, we may by means of cookies, beacons, tags, scripts, and/or similar technologies automatically collect technical information about the devices and software you use to access the Site and/or SmartHop Service, such as the type of Internet browser or mobile device you use, the website or source that linked or referred you to the Site and/or SmartHop Service, your IP address or device ID (or other persistent identifier that uniquely identifies your computer or mobile device on the Internet), the operating system of your computer or mobile device, and other similar technical information. Typically, all technical, analytics, and usage information is gathered by SmartHop in anonymous form and does not identify you personally.

We use both session ID cookies and persistent cookies. These technologies (or a combination of them) are used to help us:

Compile statistics and analytics about your use of and interaction with the Site and/or SmartHop Service, including details about how and where our Site and/or SmartHop Service are accessed, how often you visit or use the Site and/or SmartHop Service, the date and time of your visits, your actions on the Site and/or SmartHop Service, and other similar traffic, usage, and trend data, which allow us to better understand the functionality of our mobile software on your device and gain insights about how mobile software is used in order to improve your experience;
Gather important functionality, testing, and performance data about our Site and/or SmartHop Service, including performance data related to the Site and/or SmartHop Service, such as networking activity, CPU load, and resource usage, among other relevant data;
Moderate user behavior on the Site and/or SmartHop Service, such as protecting against fraud and other inappropriate activities;
Gather demographic information about our user base; and
Perform other similar functions.

Targeting/Advertising Cookies

We may use third party advertising partners (e.g., Facebook Pixel or Google AdWords) who use targeting/advertising cookies to deliver advertisements that are more relevant to you and your interests. They are also used to limit the number of times you see an advertisement as well as help measure the effectiveness of the advertising campaigns. They are usually placed by advertising networks with the website operator’s permission. They remember that you have visited a website and this information is shared with other organizations such as advertisers. We use the third party service providers listed below that use these cookies to:

Keep track of how many visitors click on the advertisement;
Keep track of how many orders are placed by way of the advertisement;
Advertise SmartHop and our products and services across the Internet; and
Tailor our marketing to better suit your needs and only display ads that are relevant to you.

Please refer to the privacy policies linked below of the third party advertising services currently utilized through the Site and/or SmartHop Service:

Google AdWords: https://policies.google.com/privacy?hl=en
Facebook Pixel: https://www.facebook.com/policies/cookies/

You may manage your cookie preferences as further explained in Your Choices.

3.3. INFORMATION COLLECTED FROM THIRD PARTIES

In some instances, we process personal information from third parties, which consists of:

Data from our partners, such as transactional data from providers of payment services;
Data and information from third party products and services, including, without limitation data products, services and integrations, that SmartHop has integrated into the Platform or makes available for use in connection with the SmartHop Service, for example, certain location data from certain data products and services provided by Project44 (collectively, “Third Party Integrations”);
Data from Customers who authorize you to access and use the SmartHop Service as an Authorized User;
Data and information regarding Drivers submitted by Customers and/or Authorized Users; and
Data from freight brokers, shippers, or other third parties that you request we provide information to, or as otherwise necessary to carry out the services ordered and/or Loads booked by or on behalf of the Customer.

This information may also include:

Information from other sources such as financial records, employment history, medical records or other third-party data; and
Information from other reporting agencies, state and federal government agencies, such as state motor vehicle departments and credit reporting agencies.
We treat all information about you, whether received from you or from a third-party, in accordance with this Privacy Policy and the Agreement.

3.4. AGGREGATED DATA

In connection with your access and use of the Site and/or SmartHop Service, we process “Aggregated Data”, such as statistical or demographic data. Aggregated Data may be derived from personal data, but is not considered personal data under the law if it does not directly or indirectly reveal your identity. For example, we may aggregate usage data to calculate the percentage of users accessing a specific feature of the Site and/or SmartHop Service. However, if we combine or connect Aggregated Data with your personal data so that it can directly or indirectly identify you, we treat the combined data as personal data, which will be processed in accordance with this Privacy Policy.

4. USING YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION

Depending on the services requested by you and how you use the Site and/or SmartHop Service, we use your personal information in the following instances:

To perform and provide the Site and/or SmartHop Service to you;
Deliver direct marketing communications to you regarding our products and services that we may think are of interest to you;
Respond to your queries and requests, or otherwise communicate directly with you;
Detect any fraudulent or illegal activity against you and/or SmartHop;
Perform system maintenance and upgrades, and enable new features;
To comply with a legal or regulatory obligation (for example, keeping records of our sales for tax compliance).

5.SHARING YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION

Aside from disclosing your information to those of our personnel who are authorized to process the information in order to provide the Site and/or SmartHop Service and who are committed to confidentiality, we disclose your personal information only to the third parties as described below.

5.1. THIRD PARTY SERVICE PROVIDERS

We share personal information with third parties that provide services to help us provide the Site and/or SmartHop Service and operate our business. Depending on how you use the Site and/or SmartHop Service, the following categories of third parties collect data on our behalf or receive personal information:

Hosting services providers;
Analytics providers;
Advertising and marketing partners;
Payment service providers;
Customer support providers;
Providers of business operations and communication tools;
Other third-party service providers that help us provide features and functions for the Site and/or SmartHop Service; and
Professional service providers, such as auditors, lawyers, consultants, accountants and insurers.

For a list of all third-party service providers we use, please contact us. We require all third parties to respect the security of your personal data and to treat it in accordance with the law.

5.2. TO THE CUSTOMER

We will share and disclose personal information of Authorized Users and Drivers in accordance with the Customer’s instructions, including any applicable terms in the Agreement, and in compliance with applicable law and legal process. If you are an Authorized User and/or Driver, please consult with the Customer to learn more about how your information may be used, shared and/or disclosed by us and the Customer.

5.3. THIRD PARTY INTEGRATIONS

When you access and use the SmartHop Service certain data and information may be exchanged between us and the provider of the applicable Third Party Integration. Note that Third Party Integrations with whom you choose to share your information with are not our service providers. The applicable providers of Third Party Integrations may use your personal information differently than we do and we do not control their use of your information.

5.4. TO THIRD PARTIES TO CARRY OUT THE SERVICES

We may share your information with third parties as necessary to carry out the services ordered or requested, and/or Loads booked, by or on behalf of the Customer. For example, if you book a Load, we will share your information with such freight broker and/or the shipper. Such third parties are not our service providers and they may use your personal information differently than we do, and we do not control their use of your information. Please make your choice to share your information carefully and, if applicable, review the privacy policies of all other third parties you decide to share your information with, if applicable. SmartHop will not be able to contain or retrieve personal information once it has been shared or disclosed, and SmartHop will have no responsibility or liability for any consequences that may result because you have released or shared personal information with others.

5.5. BUSINESS TRANSFERS

If SmartHop enters into a merger, acquisition or sale of all or a portion of its assets or business, your personal information may be one of the transferred assets. Should such a sale or transfer occur, SmartHop will require the buyer to treat your personal information in a manner that is consistent with this Privacy Policy.

5.6. AFFILIATES AND SUBSIDIARIES

Personal information that we collect about you through the Site and/or SmartHop Service may be shared with the employees, contractors, and agents of SmartHop and our affiliated and subsidiary entities (“Affiliates”) who are involved in providing or improving the Site and/or SmartHop Service that we offer to you. We obligate the employees, contractors and agents of SmartHop and our Affiliates to ensure the security and confidentiality of your personal information and to act on that personal information only in a manner consistent with this Privacy Policy.

5.7. LEGAL DISCLOSURES

If we are required to disclose personal information by law, such as pursuant to a subpoena, warrant or other judicial or administrative order, our policy is to respond to requests that are properly issued by law enforcement within the United States. Under such circumstances, unless prohibited by applicable law, we will attempt to provide you, or the Customer if you are an Authorized User and/or Driver of such Customer, with prior notice that a request for your information has been made in order to give you an opportunity to object to the disclosure. We will attempt to provide this notice by email, if you have given us an email address. However, government requests may include a court-granted non-disclosure order, which prohibits us from giving notice to the affected individual. In cases where we receive a non-disclosure order, we notify the user when it has expired or once we are authorized to do so.

Note that if we receive information that provides us with a good faith belief that there is an exigent emergency involving the danger of death or serious physical injury to a person, we may provide information to law enforcement trying to prevent or mitigate the danger (if we have it), to be determined on a case-by-case basis.If you are an Authorized User and/or Driver, please consult with the Customer to learn more about how Customer responds to requests for information pursuant to legal orders.

6. DIRECT MARKETING COMMUNICATIONS

If you have not otherwise opted out, or if you have opted in to receive direct marketing emails from us, or have opted-in to receive marketing messages as part of the SMS Program, we may use your personal information to send you marketing information about the SmartHop Service and other products and services we may believe are of interest to you. This is what we call direct marketing. We carry out direct marketing by email and, if you have opted-in to the SMS Program, via text message. We obtain consent to send you such communications where required under applicable local laws.

If you no longer wish to receive marketing communications, you have the right at any time to opt out as further explained in Your Choices.

7. YOUR CHOICES

UPDATING AND CORRECTING PERSONAL INFORMATION

If you would like to correct or update certain personal information (such as your contact information) please contact us at hello@smarthop.co and we will use reasonably efforts to correct and/or update such information. If you are an Authorized User and/or Driver, you must contact the Customer to request corrections or updates to personal information of yours we may process on behalf of the Customer.

DIRECT MARKETING & SMS PROGRAM

You may manage your receipt of marketing and non-transactional communications sent via email by clicking on the “unsubscribe” link located on the bottom of any of our marketing e-mails. We will use commercially reasonable efforts to process such requests in a timely manner.

If you have opted-in to the SMS Program, you may opt-out of receiving either marketing messages and/or service-related communications as set forth in, and in accordance with, the SMS Terms and Conditions available at https://www.smarthop.com/sms-terms.

You cannot opt out of receiving transactional e-mails related to the SmartHop Service (e.g., requests for support).

COOKIES & TARGETED ADVERTISING

With respect to your choices regarding cookie and other tracking technologies, most web and mobile device browsers automatically accept cookies; however, you may manage your cookie preferences, by altering the cookie settings in your browser settings at any time.

While tracking is widespread over the internet, there are things you can do to minimize these activities, as explained here:

You may download the Google Analytics opt-out browser add-on here.
You may turn on the Do Not Track (“DNT”) setting in your browser, which will enable your browser to send a special signal to websites, analytics companies, plug in providers, and other web services you encounter while browsing to stop tracking your activity. To turn on your DNT signal, please visit https://allaboutdnt.com/#adjust-settings. Please note that not all companies will respond to or honor DNT signals.

You can also learn more about cookies by visiting www.allaboutcookies.org which includes additional useful information on cookies and how to block cookies using different types of browsers. Please note, however, that by blocking or deleting cookies used on the Site and/or SmartHop Service, you may not be able to take full advantage of the Site and/or SmartHop Service. In addition, please note that even if you opt out of targeting/advertising cookies using the mechanisms above, advertisements may still be visible to you when using the Site and/or SmartHop Service.

SmartHop does not process or respond to web browsers’ “do not track” signals or other similar transmissions that indicate a request to disable online tracking of users who use our Site and/or SmartHop Service.

8. DATA RETENTION AND SECURITY

DATA RETENTION

Your personal information is processed for the period necessary to fulfill the purposes for which it is collected, to comply with legal and regulatory obligations and for the duration of any period necessary to establish, exercise or defend any legal rights.

In order to determine the most appropriate retention periods for your personal information, we consider the amount, nature and sensitivity of your information, the reasons for which we collect and process your personal data, and applicable legal requirements.

In some instances, we may choose to anonymize your personal data instead of deleting it, for statistical use, for instance. When we choose to anonymize, we make sure that there is no way that the personal data can be linked back to you or any specific user.

If you are an Authorized User and/or Driver, contact the Customer if you wish to request the removal of personal information under their control.

DATA SECURITY

We have put in place reasonable and appropriate security measures designed to prevent your personal information from being accidentally lost, used or accessed in an unauthorized way, altered or disclosed. For example, we use encryption, secure socket layer, firewalls, and password protection. In addition, we limit access to personal information to those employees, agents, contractors and the third parties who have a business need-to-know.

We also have procedures in place to deal with any suspected data security breach. However, no method of transmission over the Internet, or method of electronic storage, is 100% secure, and while we take reasonable steps to provide secure services, by using the Site and/or SmartHop Service, you understand and assume the risks associated with your activities on the internet.

9. PAYMENT PROCESSING

We do not directly collect your payment information and we do not store your payment information. We use third-party, PCI-compliant, payment processors, which collect payment information on our behalf in order to complete transactions. Our administrators are only able to view limited transaction information via our payment processors’ portals.

10. SENSITIVE DATA

SmartHop does not require you to provide any sensitive data about your race or ethnicity, religious or philosophical beliefs, sex life, sexual orientation, political opinions, trade union membership, information about your health and genetic, and biometric data to use the Site and/or SmartHop Service.

11. CHILDREN’S PRIVACY

Use of the Site and/or SmartHop Service are not intended for individuals under the age of 18. Without limiting the foregoing, SmartHop does not target the Site and/or SmartHop Service to persons under the age of 16 and does not knowingly collect personal data from minors. Therefore, we ask you not to provide us with personal information of persons under the age of 16. If we learn that personal information of persons under 16 years of age has been collected on or through the Site and/or SmartHop Service, then we may deactivate the account or otherwise terminate access to the Site and/or SmartHop Service and/or make the content inaccessible. If you believe we might have information from or about a child under 16, please contact us at the address listed below.

12. CALIFORNIA PRIVACY RIGHTS: SHINE THE LIGHT LAW

California residents who have provided us with personal information have the right (under California Civil Code§ 1798.83) to request and obtain from us, once each year, the details of any personal information we shared with a third party for that third party’s direct marketing purposes during the prior calendar year. The details would include the categories of personal information and the names and addresses of the third party with which it was shared.

To request information about this sharing, you may submit a request with “Your California Privacy Rights” in the subject line, along with your first and last name, and complete mailing address (including street address, city, state, and zip code) by either: sending an email message or writing to us at the email and/or mailing address specified in the Contact Us Section

13. EXTERNAL WEBSITES

SmartHop’s website may contain links to other websites that are not controlled by SmartHop (“External Websites”). By clicking on links to External Websites, the operators of the External Websites may collect your personal information. We are not responsible for the content or privacy practices employed by the operators of any External Websites, and your use of External Websites is subject to their respective terms of use and privacy policies.

14. NOTICE TO USERS OUTSIDE THE UNITED STATES

SmartHop and its servers used to provide the Site and SmartHop Service are operated in the United States. If you are located outside of the United States, please be aware that your information, including your personal data, may be transferred to, processed, maintained, and used on computers, servers, and systems located outside of your state, province, country, or other governmental jurisdiction where the privacy laws may not be as protective as those in your jurisdiction. If you are located outside the United States and choose to use the Site and/or SmartHop Service, you hereby irrevocably and unconditionally consent to such transfer, processing, and use in the United States and elsewhere.

15. CONTACT US

Should you have any questions, concerns or a complaint about this Privacy Policy, please contact SmartHop via email at hello@smarthop.co or by writing to us at the following address:

SmartHop, Inc. Privacy Policy