Updated and Effective as of: April 26, 2025

Health Communications, Inc. (HCI Books), collects, uses, and shares your information when you interact with our sites or services both online and offline. These services include our mobile and online applications or other products or services of our brands, websites, live events, content or advertisements, and customer service tools.

What We Collect

We collect Personally Identifiable Information (PII) and Non-Personally Identifiable Information (NPII).  We comply with the European Union’s (EU) General Data Protection Regulation 2016/679 (the “GDPR”). The GDPR defines personal data as:

“Any information relating to an identified or identifiable natural person (‘data subject’); an identifiable natural person is one who can be identified, directly or indirectly, in particular by reference to an identifier such as a name, an identification number, location data, an online identifier or to one or more factors specific to the physical, physiological, genetic, mental, economic, cultural or social identity of that natural person.”

Non-Personally Identifiable Information (“NPII”) data is anonymous and can include information such as web pages you’ve viewed, location information associated with your IP address, and your interactions to an ad delivered by us. Our technology partners use different methods to collect this type of data, including cookies and web beacons (pixel tags or clear gifs).

What You Provide

Personal Information you share by interacting with our newsletters, special offers or free content; participating in market research or surveys, sweepstakes or contests; and requesting services or information is used to provide you with the content or service requested, more information, or for other promotional and marketing purposes. You may opt-out of the use of your PII for marketing purposes at any time by following the unsubscribe instructions provided in the e-mail you receive.

When you post or share comments or other content while using our services, we may collect additional information such as your username, screen name, comments, likes, interests, status, and pictures. We may also collect audio or visual content, such as photos, videos, or recordings you choose to post when using our services, or when granting us access to your camera or microphone while using interactive features of our services. 

If you connect with us through a social media platform or navigate to a social media platform from one of our services, the social media platform will collect your information separately from us. We may also collect information you have publicly posted using your social media accounts.

If you refer a friend or relative to sign up for a newsletter or attend one of our events or programs, we may collect information you provide about others. Please make sure you have permission before you provide this information to us, or in the case of a minor, that you have the authority to do so. 

We also collect information that relates to you or can be associated with you, such as passwords, personal preferences and interests, age, gender, and any other information you choose to provide. 

What We Collect Automatically

We may automatically collect or receive certain information associated with you or your devices when you use our services, including third-party platforms. The types of information we may collect automatically include your use of our services, your preferences, and how you interact with our content. It may also include device identifiers such as IP address (including approximate location information), advertising ID, cookie ID, media access control (MAC) address, and other unique identifiers. 

When you participate in a chat feature, we can record, use, and retain your communications and the data you provide in order to assist you during the chat session, provide customer support, to improve our products and services, and for marketing purposes. If you do not consent, please do not continue with chat assistance. 

We may automatically collect this information using device-based tracking technologies such as cookies, pixels, tags, beacons, scripts, and similar technologies.

What We Collect from Third-Parties

We collect information from our business partners and service providers. Our business partners can include companies such as your TV or internet service provider, mobile phone carrier, or other device provider or company who makes our services or content available to you. We also collect information about you from our service providers acting on our behalf. 

The information our business partners provide to us varies depending on the nature of their services and may include IP addresses, device IDs or other unique identifiers, information about your interests, demographic data, purchasing behavior, and your online activity. 

We may collect information about you from other sources, including data licensors and aggregators, marketing companies, advertising partners, programming distributors, social media platforms, and public databases. This information may include demographic data, purchasing behavior, your interests, and your online activity. 

We may derive additional information or draw inferences about you based on the information we have collected from you directly, through your device, or through third parties, such as research agencies and data companies. 

What Do We Do With Your Data?

We may use your personal information to give you access to services and perform our agreements with you. We may also process your personal information to manage our relationship with you. These activities may include the following: 

  • Creating and managing your account, subscriptions, and registrations. 
  • Authenticating your account or verifying your identity. 
  • Providing you with the services that you request, customer support, and account updates. 
  • Completing any transactions you request. 
  • Performing any of our contractual obligations. 

We also may process your personal information for legitimate business purposes, or where the law requires or permits us to do so. We will ask for your consent beforehand if we need it to process your personal information. We may “de-identify” or “pseudonymize’ your personal data so as to make it non-personal, either by combining it with data about other individuals and/or by hashing the data or otherwise removing characteristics that make the data personally identifiable to you. We will treat de-identified or pseudonymized data as non-personal to the fullest extent allowed by applicable law. We maintain and use de-identified data without attempting to re-identify it, except where permitted by applicable law, such as to determine whether our de-identification processes satisfy legal requirements.

If we combine non-personal data with personal data, then we will treat the combined data as personal data under this Privacy Policy. We may share non-personal data with third parties for any purpose in our discretion and as permitted by law, including for advertising, research and marketing purposes. 

We may use your personal information to comply with our legal obligations and responding to government and judicial requests. We also may process your personal information when the law otherwise permits. 

We may share the categories of personal information we obtain about you with the categories of third parties. We may share your personal information with our service providers and with our business partners (including providing advertising based on your interests). We may also share your information with sponsors and other partners for events, giveaways, sweepstakes, and promotions. 

We may share your personal information as part of a corporate transaction, to comply with our legal obligations, and to protect ourselves. 

We may share your information with companies and individuals that provide us with certain services or who perform services on our behalf. These providers include professional advisors, business support services, customer support providers, web hosting providers, information technology providers, payment processors, event service providers, direct mail and email distribution service providers, partners supporting our contests, sweepstakes, giveaways and promotions, and analytics and market research services. These service providers are only permitted to use your personal information to help us offer our services to you and not for any other purpose. 

We may share your information with a potential purchaser and their legal and financial advisors and others, as appropriate, as part of any actual or contemplated reorganization, restructuring, merger or sale, or other transfer of assets involving our brands or as part of a joint venture or other strategic partnership. 

We will provide your information to other third parties when you ask us to do so, such as when you participate in an interactive service that a third party operates, or otherwise with your consent. 

Access, Correction and Deletion. Our services may contain webpages or applications through which you can correct or update some of the personal data you have provided (such as via an online account) or through which you may be able to unsubscribe or modify the email newsletters or similar communications we send to you. If you have an online account, you are responsible for maintaining and updating, as applicable, your account registration data with current, accurate, and complete information. 

You may also exercise the privacy choices listed below by contacting us at HCI Books

  • Access your personal information: You may confirm whether we are processing your personal information and request access to such information. 
  • Delete your personal information: You may request that we delete your personal information. 
  • Correct the personal information we hold about you: You may request that we correct personal information that we have on file about you that you believe is inaccurate. 

Opting-Out

To stop receiving our promotional messages, follow the instructions in any marketing message you get from us. In some cases, such as if you have a registered account, you can also change your preferences in your account. Even if you opt out of getting marketing messages, we may still send you important non-marketing messages about your account, the services you requested, or any purchases you make. 

When you use any of our services that send push notifications or offers to your mobile device, you can change your preferences through the settings on your mobile device and/or in the applicable mobile service. 

A General Audience Site

The services are general audience and do not target users younger than the age of 16. We do not knowingly collect personal data online from children younger than the age of 16. If you are a parent or guardian and think we have data about your child, please contact us at HCI Books. 

Data Retention

We will retain your personal information for the time period reasonably necessary to achieve the purposes described in this privacy policy, or any other notice provided at the time of collection unless a longer retention period is required or permitted by applicable law, taking into account applicable statutes of limitation and our records retention requirements and policies. 

Cookies & Tracking Methods

We may automatically receive certain information about you and your device using browser- or device-based tracking technologies described below. These technologies allow us to ensure our services are functioning correctly, improve our services, provide and measure advertisements, and provide personalized content to you. 

You can manage how these tracking technologies are used by adjusting your device or browser settings and, in some countries, by selecting your preferences in a consent management solution. In some cases, you can opt out of tracking by our analytics providers by visiting their opt-out pages directly. 

The purposes for which we and our partners use cookies and similar technologies generally fall into the following categories: 

  • Strictly Necessary: Examples include carrying out or facilitating the transmission of communications over a network, and technologies that are strictly necessary to provide an online service (e.g., our website or a service on our website). 
  • Functional: Examples include helping ensure our services function correctly, remembering your settings and preferences (such as your language preferences), helping to identify and prevent security risks, or helping us understand and improve our services. 
  • Performance: Examples include collecting information about how you interact with our services and personalizing content for you. 
  • Targeting: Examples include making advertising more relevant and meaningful to you. These may also include “social cookies,” which enable you to share content with your friends on social media platforms, such as Facebook or X. 

Although most browsers and devices accept cookies by default, their settings usually allow you to clear and decline cookies. Web browsers often store your preferences in a cookie. Blocking cookies may prevent the services from operating as expected and may also prevent storing your preferences and choices. Please note that when you use these tools, you need to renew your choices each time you clear your cookies, use a new browser or device, or visit a different HCI Books service. 

Interest-based advertising 

We, our service providers, business partners, and other third parties may use interest-based advertising. This means that we may collect information about you on our services and on third-party services to help serve advertising relevant to your interests across your devices, browsers, and on and off our services.

These options will vary by device and we do not control the policies or practices of third parties providing these devices. 

You can opt out of interest-based advertising with some of the third-party partners we use. Please note that if you opt out of interest-based advertising, some information will still be collected for other purposes, such as research, analytics, and internal operations. You will also continue to receive contextual advertisements, but they may be less relevant to your interests. 

On many mobile devices, you can manage interest-based advertising through your device’s settings. These options can include resetting your device’s advertising ID or selecting “Limit Ad Tracking” (for iOS devices) or “Opt out of Ads Personalization” (for Android devices) in your device settings. 

Connected devices (such as tablets, connected TVs, set top boxes, and gaming consoles) may also use an advertising ID or other methods to identify you or serve you interest-based advertising. In some cases, you can disable tracking by selecting options like “limit ad tracking” or disabling options like “interest-based advertising” in your connected device’s settings.

Please note that your choice to opt out is device- or browser-specific and you will need to manage your preferences for each device or browser you use. You may also need to make this choice separately on different HCI Books services.

Your Information is Protected

We have adopted commercially reasonable technical, administrative, and physical security measures designed to protect your personal information from loss, misuse, unauthorized access, and alteration. 

Changes to this Policy

We may update this privacy policy based on new technologies, industry practices, regulatory requirements, or for other purposes. We will let you know if these changes are material and, where required by applicable law, we will obtain your consent. When updating you about any material changes, we may email you at the last email address you provided, post a notice on our websites or applications, or by any other means permitted by applicable law. 

Contact Us

Email: HCI Books
Health Communications Privacy Request 
1240 Winnowing Way Ste 102
Mt. Pleasant, SC 29466
(561) 453-0696

JURISDICTION SPECIFIC RIGHTS

A. United States 

 If you are a California, Connecticut, Colorado, Delaware, Iowa, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Oregon, Texas, Utah, or Virginia resident, you may have certain rights regarding your personal information, as described below. Not all the rights will be available to you and we may not have to comply with your request depending on where you live. Certain terms used in this section have the meaning given to them under applicable US state privacy laws. You or your authorized agent (when applicable) may submit a request to exercise any of the below rights, where provided to you by applicable law, by contacting us at HCI Books. 

  • Access/Data Portability. You have the right to confirm whether we are processing your personal Information and to access your personal information. Where required by law, this includes to obtain a copy of the personal data we hold about you, and to the extent feasible and permitted by applicable law, in a readily usable format to allow data portability. For Oregon residents or where otherwise provided by applicable law, this includes a list of third parties with whom we have shared personal information. For Delaware residents, and where otherwise provided by applicable law, you have the right to request a list of the categories of third parties with whom we have specifically shared your personal data.  
  • Opt-out. You have the right to opt out of the processing of your personal information for purposes of targeted advertising, and the sale or sharing (for cross-context behavioral advertising purposes) of your personal information.
    • To opt out of the sale or sharing of your personal information, or our processing of your personal information for purposes of targeted advertising, click on the Cookie Preferences link in the footer of the relevant websites or in the settings menu of the relevant mobile or online applications. 
    • Note that your choice to opt out is device- or browser-specific and you will need to manage your preferences for each device or browser you use. You may also need to make this choice separately on different HCI Books services. 
  • Deletion. You have the right to request that we delete personal information we hold about you. 
  • Correction. You have the right to request correction of your inaccurate personal information. 
  • Automated decision making/Profiling. We may use algorithms that automatically select content or advertising that may be of interest to you and that may create a “profile” about your interests. We do not use these algorithms to make decisions that may have a legal or similarly significant effect on you and accordingly we do not provide this right. 
  • Non-discrimination. We will not discriminate against you based on your exercise of any of the rights described here. 
  • Sensitive Personal Information. We do not collect or process sensitive personal information for purposes of inferring characteristics about individuals.
  • Appeal. If you have any unresolved privacy concerns that we have not addressed satisfactorily after contacting us, you may have the right to appeal our decision, depending on the state in which you reside. You can submit your appeal by responding directly in your request or by opening a new request and indicating that you are appealing our response to your previous request. Please provide your full name and basis for your appeal.  

Notice of Financial Incentive. Under California regulations, certain programs we offer that provide benefits to consumers may be considered financial incentive programs. We may collect personal information from you in connection with these programs, such as contact information (e.g., name, email address) and certain commercial information, for a number of reasons, including to administer the program, to provide the benefits to you, to better serve you, and to fulfil your requests associated with the program. 

When you sign-up for an email list or other discounts and special offers, you may be opting-in to a financial incentive. If applicable, please see the terms of the program you are joining for additional information. Participation in our programs is voluntary and you may withdraw from a financial incentive at any time by opting out from our emails. To the extent that we provide a program that may be considered a financial incentive because the program is directly or reasonably related to the collection, deletion or sale or retention of consumer personal information, the value of the personal information is related to the estimated cost of providing the relevant financial incentive(s) for which the information was collected.  

Do Not Track. Some browsers incorporate a ‘Do Not Track’ (DNT) feature that, when turned on, signals to websites and online services that you do not wish to be tracked. Because there is not yet an accepted standard for how to respond to browser DNT signals, we do not currently respond to them.  

“Shine the Light” and “Eraser” Laws. Residents of the State of California may request a list of all third parties to whom we have disclosed certain information during the preceding year for those third parties’ direct marketing purposes. 

If you are a California resident under the age of 18 and a registered user of a service where this policy is posted, you may request removal of content or information you have publicly posted. Please be aware that such a request does not ensure complete removal from the internet of the content or information you posted, and there may be circumstances in which the law does not require or allow removal. For all requests under the “Shine the Light” or “Eraser” Law, please contact HCI Books.

B. Additional Jurisdictions 

We also offer rights to our consumers who reside in Australia, Canada, India and the United Kingdom. These rights include: 

  • Right of Access/Right to Be Informed: The right to confirm whether/how we process your personal information, as well as a right to request access to, and a copy of, the information we hold about you, including details as to how we process your personal information. 
  • Right to Object/Restrict processing: The right to object to or restrict our processing of your personal information. 
  • Right to Erasure: The right to request the erasure or deletion of your personal information. 
  • Right to Rectification: The right to correct, amend, or update your personal information. 
  • Right to Data Portability: The right to request that we transfer (port) your personal information to another company or third party. 
  • Right to Withdraw Consent: The right to withdraw your consent to processing your personal information. 

We may process your personal information using automated decision-making technologies or algorithms, such as when we automatically select advertising or content that may be of interest to you. These technologies are not used to make automated decisions that have legal or similarly significant effect on you. 

If you would like to submit a request to exercise any of the rights that are available to you, ask a question, or contact us, please contact HCI Books. 

VERIFICATION PROCEDURES

Before responding to a request, we may need to ask for additional information and may send you an email to verify your identity and confirm that you submitted the request. We may also need additional information to verify that your authorized agent or representative has the authority to make a request on your behalf. We will respond to your request within the time period required under the law. We will use the information you provide for verification only for the purpose of verification. We may have a reason under the law why we do not have to respond to your request or respond to it in a more limited way than you anticipated. If we do, we will explain that to you in our response. 

Please note that while we will carefully assess every request we receive, your rights may differ depending on where you live and may be limited by local law. 

If you have any unresolved privacy concerns that we have not addressed satisfactorily after contacting us, you may have the right to appeal our decision or contact your local data protection authority to lodge a complaint, depending on the country in which you reside.