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7 Cups Privacy Policy

Effective Date: January 24, 2024

7 Cups (“7 Cups,” “we,” “us” and “our”) provides virtual mental health care services intended to increase access to emotional and social support, and to promote early detection of mental health symptoms. Privacy is extremely important to us, so we have taken several steps to protect your information and put you in control.

This privacy policy (“Privacy Policy”) describes how we collect, use, disclose and store Personal Information you provide to us through the website and mobile application tools that provide the services described above (collectively, the “Services”). Please review this Privacy Policy carefully and in its entirety. If you have questions about this Privacy Policy, you can contact us at privacy@7cups.com.

1. Acceptance of the Privacy Policy

PLEASE REVIEW THIS PRIVACY POLICY CAREFULLY. By accessing, visiting, or using our Services, you acknowledge this Policy, and agree to our Terms of Service (the “Terms”). If you are not comfortable with any part of this Policy or do not agree with the Terms, please immediately discontinue access or use of our Services.

We may provide additional “just-in-time” disclosures or additional information about our Personal Information collection, use and sharing practices. These notices may supplement this Privacy Policy, clarify our privacy practices in the circumstances described, or provide you with additional choices about how we process your personal information.

2. Effective Date and Changes to Privacy Policy

The Effective Date of this Privacy Policy is set forth at the top of this Privacy Policy. We may change this Privacy Policy from time to time at our discretion and when required by law, we will notify you of changes to this Privacy Policy. Material changes will be posted to this page and will be emailed to registered users. Your continued use of the Services after the Effective Date constitutes your acceptance of the amended Privacy Policy. The amended Privacy Policy supersedes all previous versions.

3. Personal Information We Collect

We require certain Personal Information to provide our Services to you. “Personal Information” may include contact information such as your first name, last name, email address, location, phone number, certain demographic information such as age, gender, race ethnicity, primary language spoken, sexual orientation, disabilities, and veteran status, information about your health and medical history that you may input while using or communicating through the Services, and information about how you interact with and use your device. Personal Information that has been anonymized is not Personal Information as it does not allow for a specific individual to be identified.

Listening and Therapy Chat Transcripts. While we generally do not monitor transcripts of chats between users and Listeners and Therapists, we may occasionally review the chat transcripts to conduct quality control, address potential safety issues, and prevent misuse of our platform, if certain suspicious or potentially harmful activity is detected. We may also use aggregated data from chat transcripts to conduct research and development. In reviewing this information, 7 Cups will maintain all applicable confidentiality/HIPAA/privacy standards.

Without providing your Personal Information you may not access Services through 7 Cups, contact or correspond with us, other users, therapists or other health care providers via the Services, or utilize the therapy exercises and programs available on the Services.

  • Account Setup. When you sign up for an account with us, we ask for and collect Personal Information such as your name, a valid email address, phone number, birthdate and address. We need this information to provide you with the Services.

  • Uploaded Images and Content. The content you upload, whether from your own device or from a cloud-based hosting service, including any data, text, graphic, image, audio and audio-visual files, might include personally identifiable information. The content that you upload will be accessible to others. This includes but is not limited to profile pictures, images added to forum posts and GIFs embedded in forum posts.

  • Paid Services. If you purchase paid services, such as therapy or other upgrades, Personal Information such as billing name, address and credit card payment information will be collected to process payment.

  • Listener and Therapist Applicants. If a visitor wishes to apply to be a Listener or Therapist on 7 Cups’ Listening Platform, the visitor will be required to submit Personal Information as requested. Any Personal Information supplied by or on behalf of a visitor for purposes of becoming a Listener or Therapist will be maintained by 7 Cups. Please note that 7 Cups may have additional privacy terms that apply to Listeners or Therapists. Such terms will be made available when an applicant applies to be a Listener or Therapist or otherwise accesses their account.

  • Mental Health Services. We collect your Personal Information when you access mental health services through our Services, when you contact or correspond with us, therapists or other health care providers via the Services or when you utilize the therapy exercises and programs available on the Services.

  • Public Forums, Chats, or Other Features. Depending on how you interact with the Services, you may share your Personal Information with other Users, such as peers and other users who participate in chat, forums or other non-private locations. Anything users post in the public forums, chats, or other features will be accessible to other users and may not be able to be deleted. Accordingly, 7 Cups strongly discourages posting any Personal Information in these places and it is your responsibility not to share Personal Information in such non-private location.

  • Log Data. When you use our Services, we store, process and transmit your information about how you use our Services to engage, educate and suggest behavioral activation strategies to you.

  • Surveys. From time to time we may collect Personal Information from users via surveys. This information is used to improve the content of our web pages, the quality of our Services.

  • Assessments. Periodically, 7 Cups will offer the opportunity to assess your emotional wellness based on questionnaires where you will be asked to provide Personal Information. It is your choice to participate in these assessments; not participating will not prevent you from participating in any other aspect of the Services offered.

  • Requests for Information, News and other Content. You may sign up to receive information, news and other content related to new and existing products and services related to 7 Cups’ Sites, 7 Cups’ Listening Platform and events and other information related to 7 Cups that may be of interest to you. When signing up to receive such information, you will be asked to provide Personal Information, including your name, an email address, address and phone number.

  • Technical Support Requests. If you need technical support related to 7 Cups’ Services, you will need to complete a form for the purposes of defining and clarifying your technical support request. When submitting a technical support request, you will be asked to provide Personal Information, including an email address and a description of the issue. When you contact us, we keep a record of email and chat communications to address and resolve any issues you are facing.

  • Browser Information and Cookies. We use browser information (e.g., IP addresses and browser types), cookies and pixel tags to determine what data or information should be shown on your browser when you are visiting 7 Cups’ Site or using 7 Cups’ Listening Platform. We may also use browser information, cookies and pixel tags: to determine how you arrived at 7 Cups’ Site or Listening Platform, to determine whether you are a return visitor, to help us improve our product and service offerings, for quality assurance and training purposes, to help diagnose problems with our servers, to gather broad demographic information, to administer and optimize our services, and for other lawful purposes. Please refer to the “Cookies” section below for more information.

4. Cookies and Other Tracking Technologies

Cookies are small files, typically of letters and numbers, downloaded onto your computer or mobile device when you visit certain websites.

  • How We Use Cookies. Generally, we use first-party and third-party cookies for the following purposes:

    • to make our Services function properly;

    • to provide a secure browsing experience during your use of our Services;

    • to collect passive information about your use of our Services;

    • to help us improve our Services; and

    • to remember your preferences for your convenience.

  • Types of Cookies on Our Services. We use the following types of cookies on our Services:

    • Strictly Necessary Cookies. These cookies are essential because they enable you to move around and use our Services. For example, strictly necessary cookies allow you to access secure areas on our Services. Without these cookies, some services cannot be provided. These cookies do not gather information about you for marketing purposes. This category of cookies is essential for our Services to work and they cannot be disabled.

    • Functional Cookies. We use functional cookies to remember your choices so we can tailor our Services to provide you with enhanced features and personalized content. For example, these cookies can be used to remember your name or preferences on our Services. We do not use functional cookies to target you with online marketing. While these cookies can be disabled, this may result in less functionality during your use of our Services.

    • Performance or Analytic Cookies. These cookies collect anonymous passive information about how you use our Services, including webpages you visit, and links you click. We use the information collected by such cookies to improve and optimize our Services. We do not use these cookies to target you with online marketing. You can disable these cookies.

    • Third-Party Cookies. These are cookies that are provided by third-party service providers and belong in one of the cookie categories described above. These third-party providers process your Personal Information on our behalf pursuant to our instructions and obligations consistent with this Privacy Policy.

  • How to Manage Cookies. Depending on whether you would like to manage a first-party or third-party cookie, you will need to take the following steps:

    • First-Party Cookies. You can enable, disable or delete our cookies through the browser you are using to access our Services. To do this, follow the instructions provided by your browser (usually located within the “Help”, “Tools” or “Edit” settings). Please note, if you set your browser to disable cookies, you may not be able to access secure areas of our Services, and/or parts of the Services may not work properly for you. You can find more information about how to change your browser cookie settings at https://www.allaboutcookies.org.

    • Third-Party Cookies. Modern browsers also allow you to block third-party cookies using the steps described above.

  • Pixel Tags. We also use pixel tags throughout or Services. Pixel Tags are small graphic images that are embedded in a web page or email for purposes of tracking activity on web pages or whether a user has opened or accessed an email. A pixel tag may be set to identify on what browser and computer it was viewed, whether that browser has cookies received from a server associated with the pixel tag, and whether the web page or email with the pixel tag was forwarded or copied.

5. Why We Collect Your Personal Information

We may use Personal Information that we collect about you for various purposes, including:

  • To Provide Our Services. We will use your Personal Information to provide information or perform Services that you request, such as creating and managing user accounts and providing you therapy or consulting services.

  • To Provide You with Service-Related Communications. (b) We will send you administrative or account-related information to keep you updated about your account and the Services. Such communications may include information about Privacy Policy updates, security updates, tips or other relevant transaction-related information. Service-related communications are not promotional in nature. You are not able to unsubscribe from such communications, otherwise you may miss important developments relating to your account or the Services.

  • To Maintain Legal and Regulatory Compliance. (c) Our Services are subject to certain laws and regulations which may require us to process your Personal Information. For example, we process your Personal Information to fulfill our business obligations, ensure compliance with industry regulator’s standard and policies, to manage risk as required under applicable laws and regulations, or to respond to requests by judicial process or governmental agency.

  • To Enforce Compliance with Our Terms, Agreements and Policies. (d) When you access or use our Services, you are bound to our Terms. We may process your Personal Information for compliance purposes, such as carrying out our obligations and enforcing our Terms or other legal rights, including those arising from any contracts entered into between you and us, including for billing and collection.

  • To Detect and Prevent Fraud and Security Risks. We may process your Personal Information to help monitor, prevent and detect fraud and abusive use of our Service, monitor and verify your identity so that unauthorized users do not gain access to your information, enhance system security, and combat spam, malware, malicious activities or other security risks.

  • To Provide Customer Support or Respond to You. We collect any information that you provide to us when you contact us. Without your Personal Information, we cannot respond to you or ensure your continued use and satisfaction of the Services.

  • To Provide Marketing Communication. We may collect your email address that you voluntarily provide to us when you subscribe to our marketing communications. We will occasionally send you information on products, services and promotions. When you no longer wish to receive these marketing messages from us, you can opt out at any time by using the “Unsubscribe” link that appears at the bottom of such messages and following instructions contained within, or emailing us at privacy@7cups.com.

  • To Research and Develop of Our Services. We may process your Personal Information and derive analytical and statistical data to better understand the way you use and interact with our Services. For instance, analyzing where, on which types of devices and how our Site is used, how many visitors we receive, and where they click on the Site may help us improve our existing Services and to build new Services. Please see our Cookies and Other Similar Tracking Technologies section for more information.

  • To Personalize Your Experience. We may process your information to personalize your experience. By personalization, we enable you to interact with our Services more easily across platforms and devices.

  • To Facilitate Corporate Acquisitions, Mergers and Transactions. We may process any information regarding your account and your use of our Services as is necessary in the context of corporate acquisitions, mergers or other corporate transactions.

  • With Your Consent. For any other purpose disclosed to you prior to you providing us your Personal Information or which is reasonably necessary to provide the services or other related services requested, with your permission or upon your direction.

6. Personal Information We Share

We may share and disclose Personal Information as follows:

  • To Service Providers Performing Services on Our Behalf We share Personal Information, with certain third-party service providers that assist us in providing the Services and which are bound by duties of confidentiality. For example, we may use third parties to host the Services, to send out email updates about the Services, administrative services, financial services, quality assurance, data aggregation or remove repetitive information from our user lists.

  • To Therapists. If you elect to consult with a licensed therapist through 7 Cups, we may share your information with your therapist to enable and facilitate care.

  • To Healthcare Providers. If you have been referred to the Services as part of a care plan by your healthcare provider, we may share your Personal Information with your healthcare provider to facilitate care.

  • For Legal Purposes. We will disclose your Personal Information as we deem necessary to respond to a subpoena, regulation, binding order of a data protection agency, legal process, governmental request or other legal or regulatory process. We may also share your Personal Information as required to pursue available remedies or limit damages we may sustain.

  • For Welfare Assurance. We may disclose your Personal Information directly to law enforcement or local authorities in the event that it has been reasonably determined that your safety or the safety of others may be at risk.

  • For Business Transfer. In the event of a merger, reorganization, consolidation, restructuring, bankruptcy, sale of substantially all interests or assets, or other similar transaction, we may transfer you Personal Information to the subsequent owner or operator of the Services.

  • With Your Consent. We may share your Personal Information for any other purpose disclosed to you prior to you providing us your Personal Information or which is reasonably necessary to provide the services or other related services requested, with your permission or upon your direction.

  • Anonymized Data Sharing. We may de-identify your Personal Information, in compliance with applicable law and aggregate such de-identified data with the de-identified data of other users. Such anonymized, aggregated data is no longer considered Personal Information. We may then share such anonymized aggregated data with the sponsors of programs that facilitate your access to the Services, such as government health agencies, researchers or healthcare providers. At 7 Cups, we believe that global mental health is a collaborative effort. The sharing of anonymized data plays a key role in helping both 7 Cups users and people worldwide to understand and better their mental health while maintaining a high level of privacy and anonymity to individuals.

7. Security of Your Personal Information

We employ reasonable security measures designed to protect the security of information submitted through the Services. However, the security of information transmitted through the Internet can never be guaranteed. To protect you and your Personal Information we may suspend your use of the Services, without notice, pending an investigation, if any breach of security is suspected.

  • Your Responsibilities. Users of the Services are responsible for maintaining the security of any password, user ID or other form of authentication involved in obtaining access to password protected or secure areas of any of the Services.

  • Unauthorized Access. Access to and use of password protected and/or secure areas of the Services are restricted to authorized users only. Unauthorized access to such areas or information is prohibited.

  • Encryption and Firewalls. All information, including but not limited to chat transcripts and Personal Information is encrypted during transmission. We use standard Secure Socket Layer (SSL) encryption that encodes information for such transmissions. All information received is maintained on secure servers in encrypted format. Access to stored information is protected by multi-layered security controls including firewalls, encryption, role-based access controls, and passwords.

8. Retention Period

Generally, we will retain your Personal Information for as long as your account or profile is active, or for the length of time needed to fulfill the purposes outlined in this Privacy Policy unless a longer retention period is required or permitted by law. Private messages are stored for up to one year. Group messages (in chatrooms, groupchat) are stored for up to 30 days. Posts in community forums (including subcommunities) are maintained on community forums at the discretion of Community admins. 7 Cups will store your user account and associated Personal Information if your account is active. After a period of inactivity greater than 1 calendar year, 7 Cups may, at its discretion, purge Personal Information related to inactive accounts.

9. Links to Other Sites

The Services may contain links and widgets related to third-party websites and services (“Third Party Services”) with which we have no affiliation. A link to any Third Party Services does not mean that we endorse it or the quality or accuracy of information presented on it. If you decide to visit any Third Party Services, you are subject to its privacy policy and practices and not this Privacy Policy. We encourage you to carefully review the legal and privacy notices of all other digital services that you visit. Users are prohibited from requesting offsite contact with other users. If a user is detected initating offsite contact, 7 Cups reserves the right to immediately terminate that account.

10. Nondiscrimination

7 Cups does not and shall not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion (creed), gender, gender expression, age, national origin (ancestry), disability, marital status, sexual orientation, or military status, in any of its activities or operations.

11. Childrens Data

Our Services are not directed to children under age 13, and we do not knowingly collect or process Personal Information from children under the age of 13.

Children between the ages of 13-17 years old may only participate in our Services with parental consent. If a parent or guardian becomes aware that their child has provided us with Personal Information without their consent, they should contact us at privacy@7cups.com. If we become aware that a child under 13 (or between the ages of 13-17 years old without parental consent) has provided us with Personal Information, we will take steps to delete such information from our files. Separately, a child under 13 may request deletion of information they posted on our Site or Services, which may be accomplished through anonymization.

12. Therapists as Mandated Reporters

Therapists are mandated reporters. Because of their profession, they have a legal obligation to report to authorities any signs of child abuse or vulnerable adult abuse. However, members cannot be forced to give any Personal Information. Adults who are in therapy provide Personal Information which will only be disclosed to the therapist if they or someone else is in imminent danger.

13. International Transfer

As a global entity, 7 Cups may store, transfer, and otherwise process your Personal

Information in countries outside of the country of your residence, including the United

States and possibly other countries. Such countries may have data protection laws that are less protective than the laws of the jurisdiction in which you reside. If you do not want your information transferred to, processed, or maintained outside of the country or jurisdiction where you are located, you should immediately stop accessing or using the Services.

If you are in the European Economic Area, United Kingdom, or Switzerland, please refer to the section below entitled Notice to Individuals in the European Economic Area, United Kingdom, and Switzerland.

14. Notice to Individuals in the European Economic Area, the United Kingdom and Switzerland

This section only applies to individual using our Service that are located in the European Economic Area, United Kingdom and/or Switzerland (collectively, the “Designated Countries”) at the time of data collection.

We may ask you to identify which country you are located in when you use or access some of the Services, or we may rely on your IP address to identify which country you are located in. When we rely on your IP address, we cannot apply the terms of this section to any individuals that masks or otherwise hides their location information from us so as not to appear located in the Designated Countries.

Our Relationship to You. 7 Cups is a data controller with regard to any Personal Information collected from Users of its Service. A “data controller” is an entity that determines the purposes for which and the manner in which any Personal Information is processed. Any third parties that handle your Personal Information in accordance with our instructions are our service providers and are “data processors.”

Legal Bases for Processing Personal Information. We describe our purposes for processing throughout this Privacy Policy. Below is a list of the purposes described in our policy with the corresponding legal bases for processing. Generally, the legal basis on which we rely on to process your Personal Information include: necessity to carry out our obligations arising from any contracts we entered with you or to take steps at your request prior to entering into a contract with you; your consent to the processing; satisfaction of our legal obligations; necessity to protect your vital interests; necessity to process in the public interest; or for our legitimate interests as described in those sections.

Based on our legal obligations. Article 6(1) lit.(c) GDPR:

  • Section 5(c) To Maintain Legal and Regulatory Compliance.
  • Section 5(e) To Detect and Prevent Fraud and Security Risks.
  • Section 6(d) For Legal Purposes.
  • Section 6(d) For Welfare Assurance.

Based on our contract with you or to take steps at your request prior to entering a contract. Article 6(1) lit.(b) GDPR:

  • Section 5(a) To Provide Our Services.
  • Section 5(b) To Provide You with Service-Related Communications.
  • Section 5(d) To Enforce Compliance with Our Terms, Agreements and Policies.
  • Section 5(f) To Provide Customer Support or Respond to You.
  • Section 6(a) To Service Providers Performing Services on Our Behalf.
  • Section 6(b) To Therapists.
  • Section 6(c) To Healthcare Providers.

Based on our legitimate interest to operate our business and not overridden by your data protection interests or fundamental rights and freedom. Article 6(1) lit.(f) GDPR:

  • Section 5(h) To Research and Develop Our Services.
  • Section 5(i) To Personalize Your Experience.
  • Section 5(j) To Facilitate Corporate Acquisitions, Mergers and Transactions.
  • Section 6(f) For Business Transfers.

Based on your consent. Article 6(1) lit.(a) GDPR:

  • Section 5(g) To Provide Marketing Communication.
  • Section 5(k) With Your Consent.
  • Section 6(g) With Your Consent.

Marketing. We will only contact individuals located in the Designated Countries by electronic means (including email or SMS) based on our legitimate interests, as permitted by applicable law, or the individual’s consent. When we rely on legitimate interest, we will only send you information about our Services that are similar to those which were the subject of a previous sale or negotiations of a sale to you. You can object to direct marketing at any time and free of charge.

Transfer of Your Personal Information. We transfer your Personal Information subject to appropriate safeguards as permitted under the relevant data protection laws. The transfer of your Personal Information out of the Designated Countries is necessary for the performance of a contract between us, or for important reasons of public interest. We may also rely on legal transfer mechanisms such as Standard Contractual Clauses or we work with U.S. based third parties that are certified under the EU-U.S. and Swiss-U.S. Privacy Shield Framework.

Your Privacy Rights. We take reasonable steps to ensure that your Personal Information is accurate, complete, and up to date. You are able to assert certain rights identified below with respect to your personal information. Please note, your rights in relation to your personal information are not absolute. Depending upon the applicable law, access to your rights under the applicable law may be denied: (a) where denial of access is required or authorized by law; (b) when granting access would have a negative impact on other’s privacy; (c) to protect our rights and properties; or (4) where the request is frivolous or burdensome.

  • Right to Know/Access. You may have the right to obtain a copy, or a list of categories of the personal information that we hold about you, as well as other supplementary information, such as the purposes of processing, and the entities to whom we disclose your personal information.

  • Right to Correct/Rectification. You may have the right to correct any of your personal information in our records and systems. You may request us to rectify, correct or update any of your personal information held by us that is inaccurate.

  • Right to Delete/Erasure. Under certain circumstances, you may have the right to request that we delete the personal information that we hold about you. This right is not absolute, and we may refuse your right to delete if it is reasonably necessary for us to provide a service requested by you; to perform a contract between us; to maintain functionality and ensure security of our systems; to enable solely expected internal uses of your personal information; to exercise a right provided by law; to comply with a legal obligation, or if there are compelling legitimate grounds for keeping your personal information.

  • Right to Portability. Under certain circumstances, you may have the right to receive personal information we hold about you in a structured, commonly used, and machine-readable format so that you can provide that personal information to another entity.

  • Right to Object to Automated Decision-Making. You may have the right not to be subject to a decision that is based solely on automated processing (where a decision is taken about you using an electronic system without human involvement) which significantly impacts your rights. No decision will be made by us about you solely on the basis of automated decision making which has a significant impact on you.

  • Right Not to Provide Consent or to Withdraw Consent. We may seek to rely on your consent in order to process certain personal information. Where we do so, you have the right not to provide your consent or to withdraw your consent at any time. This does not affect the lawfulness of the processing based on consent before its withdrawal.

  • Right to Restriction. You may have the right to request that we restrict our processing of your personal information in certain circumstance. For instance, this right is available if you contest the accuracy of the personal information, or you objected to our processing.

  • Right to Object to Processing. You may have the right to object to our processing of your personal information at any time and as permitted by applicable law if we process your personal information on the legal bases of: consent, or legitimate interests. However, we may continue to process your personal information if it is necessary for the defense of legal claims, or for any other exceptions permitted by applicable law.

If you would like to exercise your rights under applicable law, please contact us at privacy@7cups.com. To protect your privacy, we may seek to verify your identity when we receive an individual privacy rights request from you to ensure the security of your Personal Information. Depending on your request, we will ask for information such as your name, an e-mail address, or a phone number you have used with us to verify your request.

15. Your California Privacy Rights

Residents of the State of California who provide certain types of Personal Information in obtaining products or services for personal, family or household use are entitled to request and obtain from us once a calendar year information about certain types of Personal Information we shared, if any, with other businesses for their own direct marketing uses. It is our policy that we do not share your Personal Information with other businesses for marketing uses. Nevertheless, to make such a request, please send an email message to privacy@7cups.com with “Request for California Privacy Information” on the subject line and in the body of your message.

16. Do Not Track

The Services do not support Do Not Track with respect to the Services at this time. Do Not Track is a privacy preference that you can set in your web browser to indicate that you do not want certain information about your webpage visits collected across websites when you have not interacted with that service on the page. For all the details, including how to turn on Do Not Track, visit https://allaboutdnt.com.

17. Notices

Please send all questions, comments and notices regarding this Privacy Policy to the 7 Cups Privacy Officer at privacy@7cups.com or toll-free 844-755-8757.