Privacy Policy - WaitWhat

Last Updated: August 8, 2023

Section 1 – Introduction:

Waitwhat.com (“Website”) is owned and operated by Wait What Inc. (“Company,” “us” or “we”), which provides podcasts (“Podcasts”), accompanying e-newsletters (“E-Newsletters”), and subscription services that allow paying members access to certain exclusive content, live events, and additional benefits. The purpose of this Privacy Policy is to explain how we collect, use, store, share, and protect the personal information of users (“you” or “your”) of the Website.

When we refer to “personal information” we mean information that identifies, or is reasonably capable of being directly or indirectly linked to, a particular individual or household, such as the individual’s name, postal address, email address, social media profile (such as LinkedIn), and telephone number. Personal information includes “personal information” as defined by the California Consumer Privacy Act of 2018, as amended by the California Privacy Rights Act of 2020, and its implementing regulations (collectively, the “CCPA”) and “personal data” as defined by the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (the “GDPR”). When anonymous information is directly or indirectly associated with personal information, the resulting information is also treated as personal information. Personal information does not include aggregate information that we collect about the use of our Website or Podcasts or about a group or category of users from which individual identities or other personal information has been removed. Nor does it include usage information or device identifiers not connected to personal information.

Our Terms of Use governs your access to and use of our Website and content — including but not limited to the Podcasts and E-Newsletters — the details of which we encourage you to read carefully. Please read this Privacy Policy carefully to understand our policies and practices regarding your information and how we will treat it. This Privacy Policy may change from time to time. Your continued use of the Website after we make changes is deemed to be acceptance of those changes, so please check the Privacy Policy periodically for updates. This Privacy Policy does not cover any information collected by third-parties, such as other websites, content, or applications that may link to or be accessible from or through the Website, E-Newsletters, and Podcasts.

For California residents, please see the additional disclosures in Section 8 – Your California Privacy Choices and Notice at Collection.

Please note that our Podcasts are offered through third-party distribution platforms (such as Apple Podcasts and Spotify) that we do not own or operate. This Privacy Policy does not apply to privacy practices of those third parties. We encourage you to review the privacy policies of any third-party application or website provider before providing any personal information to or through them.

Additionally, we use third-party service providers to (i) maintain our subscriber list and send out the E-Newsletters, (ii) host the Website, and (iii) analyze data; and may provide links to third-party websites. In addition to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy, your interactions with these vendors and third-party websites will be subject to their respective terms of use and privacy policies, which we encourage you to review.

Section 2 – Information We Collect:

Information You Provide to Us Directly

Information collected when you contact us on our Website or sign up to receive emails: You have the option to contact us through the Website by providing your name, email address, and a message. If you do so, we may use the information you provide to us to respond to any inquiries from you, to provide you with information that you request from us, to fulfill any other purpose for which you provide it, to notify you about any change to our Website or any products or services we offer through it, and in any other way we may describe when you provide the information or for any other purpose with your consent. Additionally, you have the option to sign up for our E-Newsletters by providing us with your email address. If you do so, we use the email address you provide to send you information about the Podcasts and other content we think might be of interest to you. Each email contains an unsubscribe link, which you can click on if you wish to unsubscribe from that email list. Please note, it may take up to 30 days for us to process your request to unsubscribe.
Information collected when you communicate with us electronically: When you contact us through the Website, email, our social media accounts, SMS, or other means of communication, we, or our third-party service provider, may collect and store personal information you provide, such as your name, email address, phone number, mailing address, physical address, and the contents of your communication.

Information We Receive from Other Sources

Google Analytics. Our Website uses Google Analytics to allow us to better understand how users interact with our Website and assist us in enhancing the Website, promoting content most relevant to our users, and devising marketing strategies. Google Analytics uses first-party cookies and collects data related to users’ devises/browsers, IP addresses, and interactions with the Website, to measure and report statistics about user interactions with our Website. Additionally, Google Analytics uses IP addresses to provide security. Google Analytics prohibits its customers, such as us, from sharing personally identifiable information, such as a user’s email address, mailing address, phone number, precise location, or full name or username, with Google Analytics. To learn more about Google Analytics’ collection and use of your personal information, click here:

https://support.google.com/analytics/topic/2919631?hl=en&ref_topic=1008008

HubSpot. We use HubSpot, a third-party service, to maintain our subscriber list and send out the E-Newsletters. HubSpot uses cookies or other tracking mechanisms to recognize when recipients open emails or click on certain links. This information might then be used to assist us in enhancing your experience on our Website and promoting content most relevant to our email subscribers and podcast listeners. You can choose whether to accept cookies by changing the settings on your browser. You can also learn more about HubSpot’s use of cookies here.

Do Not Track Signals

We do not currently take steps to respond to browsers “Do Not Track” signals as no uniform standard to respond to such signals has been developed at this time.

Section 3 – How We Use Information We Collect or Receive:

We may disclose your personal information, as well as non-personal information, such as aggregate user statistics, demographic information, and usage information, to companies and individuals who perform business functions on our behalf or to other third parties to support the development and functionality of our Website and Podcasts. Such functions may include hosting our Podcasts, Websites, E-Newsletter database, or analyzing data, providing technical assistance, customer service, or marketing assistance, or other support services. All such parties are required to keep your personal information secure and only process it in accordance with our instructions. We may also disclose your personal information if required by law or to enforce or apply our Terms of Use. As we develop our business, we might sell business assets, and in the event of a corporate sale, merger, reorganization, sale of assets, dissolution or other sale or transfer of all or some of the Company’s assets, whether as a going concern or as part of bankruptcy, liquidation, or similar proceeding, your personal information might be part of the transferred assets. We, or our third-party service providers, use the personal information we collect or receive to do the following:

enhance our Website and its content;
provide content, services, products, or information you request;
provide notifications;
recommend podcasts and other content we think would be of interest to you;
communicate with you about content, products, services, promotions, and events we offer;
solicit your feedback;
post testimonials;
respond to your emails, submissions, questions, inquiries, request, and comments;
monitor and analyze views and trends and otherwise measure the appeal and effectiveness of our Website, E-Newsletters, and Podcasts;
verify your account or monitor suspicious or fraudulent activity;
identify, fix, and troubleshoot bugs and service errors;
send you confirmations, updates, security alerts, and support-related messages; and
protect against, identify, investigate, and respond to misuse of our Website or other unlawful behavior.

Section 4 – Retention of Your Personal Information:

We will retain your personal information only for as long as is necessary for the purposes set out in this Privacy Policy, for as long as your account is active, or as needed to comply with our legal obligations under applicable law. We decide how long we need information on a case-by-case basis and depending on the retention laws applicable. The following factors typically affect the retention period:

Necessity for the provision of our content, services, podcasts, or information you request. We keep your information as long as is necessary to provide content, services, or information to you. This includes things like maintaining and improving the performance of the Website, keeping our Website secure, and maintaining appropriate business and financial records. Most of our retention periods are determined on the basis of this general rule.
Consent-based processing of personal data. If we process personal data on the basis of your consent (including consent to the extended storage), we store the data for as long as necessary in order to process it according to your consent or until you withdraw your consent.
Statutory, contractual or other similar obligations. We will retain and use your personal information to the extent necessary to comply with our legal obligations, for example, if we are required to retain your information to comply with applicable tax/revenue laws.

Section 5 – Security:

We strive to maintain adequate technical and organizational security measures to protect your personal information from unauthorized access, disclosure, alteration, or destruction. We are not liable for unauthorized disclosure of information that occurs through no fault of our own. If we learn of a data breach that is likely to result in a high risk to your rights and freedoms, we will immediately notify you of such data breach and inform you of (a) the nature of the data breach, (b) the point of contact regarding the data breach, (c) the likely consequences of the data breach, and (d) the measures being taken to address the breach and mitigate its possible risks.

Section 6 – Accuracy of Your Information:

Although we work to ensure that the information we hold about you is accurate and up-to-date, unless we receive an indication otherwise, we can only assume that the information you provide to us is accurate. If you inform us that any of your information processed through our Website or email marketing is incorrect, or if we learn that any such information is incorrect, we will work to promptly correct, or if appropriate, erase, such information.

Section 7 – Your Privacy Rights:

State privacy laws, such as the CCPA, the Colorado Privacy Act, the Connecticut Act Concerning Personal Data Privacy and Online Monitoring, the Utah Consumer Privacy Act, and the Virginia Consumer Data Protection Act, provide residents of those states with some or all of the rights listed below. However, these rights are not absolute and may be subject to certain exceptions. Therefore, we may decline your request in certain cases as permitted by law. Please note that the rights specified in Sections 8 and 9 of this Privacy Policy may be limited to residents of those states/territories and may not be available to all users.

Right to Know. You can request the following information about how we have collected and used your personal information: The categories of personal information that we have collected; the categories of sources from which we collected personal information; our business or commercial purpose for collecting and/or selling personal information; the categories of third parties with which we share personal information; the categories of personal information that we “sold” (as defined in the State Privacy Laws, as applicable) or disclosed for a business purpose; and the categories of third parties to whom the personal information was sold or disclosed for a business purpose.
Access. You can request a copy of the personal information that we have collected about you.
Correction. You can ask us to correct any inaccurate personal information that we have collected about you.
Deletion. You can ask us to delete the personal information that we have collected about you.
Portability. You can ask to obtain copies of your personal information in a format that is portable, readily usable, to the extent technically feasible, and transmissible to another entity without hindrance.
Opt out of certain processing for targeted advertising purposes. You can opt out of certain processing of personal information for targeted or interest-based advertising purposes, including sharing personal information for cross-contextual behavioral advertising.
Opt out of other “sales” of personal data. You have the right to opt out of the sale of your personal information. “Sale” is defined broadly under California, Virginia and Connecticut privacy laws to include the transfer of personal information to third parties in exchange for anything of value.

Section 8 – Your California Privacy Rights and Notice at Collection:

This portion of the Privacy Policy is provided under California law, including the California Consumer Privacy Act of 2018, as amended by the California Privacy Rights Act of 2020, and its implementing regulations (collectively, the “CCPA”), and supplements this Privacy Policy by providing certain disclosures to California residents and explaining the privacy rights of California residents.

Categories of Personal Information Collected and Disclosed:

In the preceding 12 months, we have collected the following categories of personal information and have shared them with the following categories of third parties.

Identifier, such as, real name, alias, postal address, unique personal identifier, online identifier, Internet Protocol (IP) address, email address, account name, or other similar identifiers.
1. Parties with whom we disclose this category of personal information:
  1. Service providers that perform services on our behalf
  2. Advertisers and marketing-related service providers (IP address and online identifier only)
  3. Operating systems and platforms

Other individual records such as phone number, billing address, or credit or debit card information. This category includes personal information protected under pre-existing California law (Cal. Civ. Code 1798.80(e)), and overlaps with other categories listed here.
1. Parties with whom we disclose this category of personal information:
  1. Service providers that perform services on our behalf
  2. Advertisers and marketing-related service providers (IP address and online identifier only)
  3. Operating systems and platforms
Demographics, such as your age or gender. This category includes data that may qualify as protected classifications under other California or federal laws.
1. Parties with whom we disclose this category of personal information:
  1. Service providers that perform services on our behalf
  2. Advertisers and marketing-related service providers (IP address and online identifier only)
  3. Operating systems and platforms

Commercial information, including user engagement with the Website, the Podcasts, and other content.
1. Parties with whom we disclose this category of personal information:
  1. Service providers that perform services on our behalf
  2. Advertisers and marketing-related service providers
  3. Operating systems and platforms
  4. Data analytics providers
  5. Internet cookie information recipients, like Google
  6. Sponsors

Internet activity and network activity, including user interactions with the Website, the podcasts, or content and what led you to the Website.
1. Parties with whom we disclose this category of personal information:
  1. Service providers that perform services on our behalf
  2. Advertisers and marketing-related service providers
  3. Operating systems and platforms
  4. Data analytics providers
  5. Internet cookie information recipients, like Google
  6. Sponsors

Geolocation data provided through location enabled services such as WiFi and GPS.
1. Parties with whom we disclose this category of personal information:
  1. Service providers that perform services on our behalf
  2. Advertisers and marketing-related service providers
  3. Operating systems and platforms

Inferences, including information about user interests, preferences, and favorites.
1. Parties with whom we disclose this category of personal information:
  1. Service providers that perform services on our behalf
  2. Advertisers and marketing-related service providers
  3. Operating systems and platforms
  4. Data analytics providers
  5. Internet cookie information recipients, like Google
  6. Sponsors

Professional or employment-related information, if voluntarily provided by users (under their user profile).
1. Parties with whom we disclose this category of personal information:
  1. Service providers that perform services on our behalf
  2. Advertisers and marketing-related service providers
  3. Operating systems and platforms

Additional Information, that you choose to share with us through our Website or on social media platforms.
1. Parties with whom we disclose this category of personal information:
  1. Service providers that perform services on our behalf
  2. With other users – when you share your personal information or otherwise interact in public areas, such as third-party social media platforms, with other users, such information may be viewed by all users and might be shared by other users.

Categories of Sources of Personal Information:

We collect personal information from the following categories of sources:

Directly from you
From cookies and similar technologies
From third-party sites or apps, content distribution channels, and platforms
From third-party service providers, data suppliers, and business partners
From social media platforms and similar services
From internet service providers
From operating systems and platforms

See Section 2 – INFORMATION WE COLLECT for more information on the sources of personal information we collect.

See Section 3 – How We Use the Information We Collect or Receive above for the business or commercial purposes for which we collect or share personal information.

Sale of Personal Information:

In the preceding 12 months, we have not sold our users’ personal information. However, the term “sale” is defined broadly under the CCPA. As explained above, we do share with our service providers personal information that is necessary for such service provider to perform a business purpose. To the extent our use or disclosure of personal information is interpreted to constitute a “sale” under the CCPA, California residents are entitled to opt-out of the “sale” of their personal information at any time and can do so by contacting us (contact information below).

To our knowledge, we do not sell the personal information of individuals under 16 years old.

Notice of California Residents’ Rights:

If you are a resident of California, you have the following rights under the CCPA with respect to your personal information:

The right to request the deletion of your personal information collected or maintained by us, subject to certain exceptions.
We may deny your deletion request if retaining the information is necessary for us or our service provider to: complete the transaction for which the personal information is collected, fulfill the terms of a written warranty or product recall conducted in accordance with federal law, provide a good or service that you requested, take actions reasonably anticipated within the context of our ongoing business relationship with you, or otherwise perform our contract with you; help to ensure security and integrity to the extent the use of your personal information is reasonably necessary and proportionate for those purposes; debug products to identify and repair errors that impair existing intended functionality; exercise free speech or ensure the right of another user to exercise his or her free speech, or exercise another right provided for by law; comply with the California Electronic Communications Privacy Act; engage in public or peer-reviewed scientific, historical, or statistical research that conforms or adheres to all other applicable ethics and privacy laws, when the Company’s deletion of the information is likely to render impossible or seriously impair the ability to complete such research, if you have provided informed consent; enable solely internal uses that are reasonably aligned with your expectations based on your relationship with us and compatible with the context in which you provided the information; or comply with a legal obligation.
The right to opt-out of the sale of your personal information to third parties. We do not sell the personal information of users of our Website or listeners of our Podcasts. However, the term “sale” is defined broadly under the CCPA. We do share with our service providers personal information that is necessary for such service provider to perform a business purpose. This Privacy Policy describes the limited circumstances in which we share your personal information with third parties. To the extent our use or disclosure of personal information is interpreted to constitute a “sale” under the CCPA, California residents are entitled to opt-out of the “sale” of their personal information at any time and can do so by contacting us as provided below. If, in the future, we do sell users’ personal information to a third party, we will provide users with the opt-out and opt-in rights required under the CCPA.
The right to request that we provide you with information regarding the processing of your personal information over the preceding 12 months, including (1) the categories of personal information we have collected about you; (2) specific pieces of personal information we have collected about you; (3) the categories of sources from which it was collected; (4) the business or commercial purpose for collecting or disclosing personal information; and (5) the categories of third parties with whom your personal information is shared.
The right to limit the processing of sensitive information we have collected about you. Certain pieces of personal information that we have about you may be considered “sensitive” under the CCPA. You may request that we only use or provide this personal information to others for certain purposes, subject to exceptions.
The right to request that we correct inaccurate personal information.
The right not to receive discriminatory treatment by us for the exercise of privacy rights conferred under the CCPA. Unless permitted by the CCPA, we will not deny you goods or services, charge you different prices or rates for goods or services, including through granting discounts or benefits, or imposing penalties, provide you a different level or quality of goods or services, or suggest that you receive a different price or rate for goods or services or a different level or quality of goods or services, based on your exercise of your rights under the CCPA. If we do choose to offer you financial incentives permitted under the CCPA that result in different price rates, or quality levels, such CCPA-permitted financial incentives will reasonably relate to your personal information’s value and contain written terms that describe the program’s material aspects. Participation in any financial incentive program requires your consent, which you may revoke at any time.

See Section 4– RETENTION OF YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION regarding our retention practices.

Section 9 – UK and EU Residents’ Rights:

If you are located in the European Economic Area or the United Kingdom, you have the rights outlined below with respect to your personal information. When we use the term “processing” or “processor” this refers to the collection, recording, organization, structuring, storage, adaptation, alteration, retrieval, use, transmission, dissemination, combination, erasure, or destruction of information.

Right to Information Regarding the Processing of Your Personal Information: You have the right to obtain the following information:

confirmation of whether and where we are processing your personal information;
information about the purpose of the processing of your personal information;
information about the categories of personal information being processed;
information about the existence of, and an explanation of the logic involved in, any automated processing of your personal information that has a significant effect on you;
information about the categories of recipients with whom your personal information may be shared; and
information about the period for which your personal information will be stored or the criteria used to determine that period.

This Privacy Policy is intended to provide much of the information listed above.

Right to Access to Your Personal Information: You may request a copy of your personal information that we, or our third-party processors, collect and maintain, unless providing a copy adversely affects the rights and freedoms of others. Similarly, you have the right to, when technically feasible, have your personal information transferred to another entity to determine the purpose and means of processing your personal information. You have the right to request the identity of recipients of your personal information unless either: (a) it is impossible to provide the information about specific recipients, or (b) we demonstrate the request is manifestly unfounded or excessive.

Right to Have Errors Corrected: You have the right to rectification of inaccurate personal information. If you notify us that any of your personal information is inaccurate or incomplete, we have the responsibility to, either directly or through our third-party processors, ensure that such personal information is erased or corrected.

Right to Have Personal Information Erased: You have the right to have your personal information erased when (i) the personal information is no longer needed for its original purpose; (ii) the personal information is being processed based solely on your consent and you withdraw your consent, and no new lawful purpose exists; (iii) you object to processing that is either (a) necessary for us to perform a task in the public interest or in the exercise of official authority vested in us, (b) necessary to pursue the Company’s or a third party’s legitimate interests, and (c) no other compelling legitimate grounds to process the personal information apply; (iv) you object to processing for direct marketing purposes; (v) your personal information is being processed unlawfully; (vi) an EU or member state law requires erasure to comply with a legal obligation applicable to the Company; or (vii) we collected the personal information in the context of offering online services to children.

Right to Restrict Processing of Your Personal Information: You have the right to restrict the processing of your personal information when (a) the information contests the accuracy of the personal information, (b) the processing is unlawful, (c) we no longer need to process the personal information but you need the personal information for the establishment, exercise, or defense of legal claims, or (d) the processing relies on the public interest or the Company’s or a third party’s legitimate interests as the lawful processing grounds. If you exercise this right, we will notify you prior to lifting the processing restriction.

Right to Object to Processing of Your Personal Information: You have the right to object to our processing of your personal information if the basis for that processing is (a) public interest; or (b) our own or a third party’s legitimate interests in doing so. Additionally, you have the right to object to the processing of your personal information for the purpose of direct marketing, or scientific, historical, or statistical purposes.

Right to Data Portability: You have the right to data portability concerning your personal information which includes the right to (a) receive a copy of the personal information from us in a commonly used and machine-readable format and store it for further personal use on a private device, (b) transmit the personal information to another controller, (c) have its personal information transmitted directly from us to another controller where technically possible.

Right to Lodge a Complaint with a Supervising Authority: You have the right to lodge a complaint concerning the processing of your personal information with your country’s independent public authority designated to act as its data protection “supervising authority” under the GDPR.

Responses to your requests to us regarding your personal information will be provided free of charge (including copies of materials), except that we may charge a reasonable fee for any repetitive requests, manifestly unfounded or excessive requests, or further copies. Similarly, we may refuse to act upon requests that are manifestly unfounded or excessive.

Lawful Basis for Processing Personal Information:

We process personal information, whether directly or through third-party processors, as needed for the performance of a contract or in order to take steps prior to entering into a contract. We also process personal information, whether directly or through third-party processors, as needed for purposes of our legitimate interests, except where such interests are overridden by the interests or fundamental rights and freedoms of our Website visitors, podcast listeners, or email subscribers. Our legitimate interests include enhancing podcast episodes and other media content, informing you of podcast episodes and other media content that might be of interest to you, responding to communications initiated by you, and protecting the security of our Website and your personal information. In some instances, we might request your consent to process personal information for a particular purpose and in such instances the lawful basis for such processing is your consent.

Section 10 – Exercising Your Privacy Rights:

To request information regarding our processing of your personal information or exercise any of the rights listed above that are applicable to you, you must submit a verifiable consumer request to us via email to [email protected] or mail addressed to us at the address below:

Wait What Inc.

Attention: Lori Hoffman, President and Chief Content Officer

393 Canal Street, Suite 116

New York, NY 10013

Only you, or, in the case of California residents, a person registered with the California Secretary of State that you authorize to act on your behalf, may make a verifiable consumer request related to your personal information. You may also make a verifiable consumer request on behalf of your minor child. You may only make a verifiable consumer request twice within a twelve-month period.

We cannot respond to your request or provide you with personal information if we cannot verify your identity or authority to make the request and confirm the personal information relates to you. Thus, your verifiable consumer request must:

Provide sufficient information that allows us to reasonably verify you are the person about whom we collected personal information or an authorized representative of such person.
Describe your request in sufficient detail that allows us to properly understand, evaluate, and respond to your request.

We will acknowledge receipt of your request in a timely manner, which for California residents will be within 10 business days after receipt, and advise you on how long we expect it will take to respond if we are able to verify your identity. We will work to process your request within 45 days pursuant to the CCPA. If we need additional time in order to process your request, we will provide you with an explanation for the delay. If we are unable to honor your request, we will advise you of this fact and provide the reason why.

We do not charge a fee to process or respond to your verifiable consumer request unless it is excessive, or manifestly unfounded. If we determine that your request warrants a fee, we will inform you of the reason for this decision and provide a cost estimate before completing your request.

Section 11– Notice to Non-U.S. Residents:

Our Website and servers are operated in the United States. If you are located outside of the United States, please be aware that your personal information 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 Website, you hereby irrevocably and unconditionally consent to such transfer, processing, and use in the United States.

Section 12 – Children:

Our Website and the content thereon are not intended for use by children and, as such, are not directed to children. Moreover, we will not knowingly allow anyone under the age of 16 to provide us with personal information. Individuals under the age of 13, and in some instances 16, cannot lawfully consent to collection of their personal information. If you are under the age of 16, please do not provide us with any personal information (such as your name, email address, or phone number). If you become aware that your child (under the age of 16) has provided us with personal information, please contact us immediately. Parents have rights under the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (“COPPA”) to control what information is collected from their young children online and we respect those rights.

Section 13 – How to Contact Us:

If we have reasonable doubts about the authenticity of any request to us, we may request additional information necessary to confirm your identity.

Section 14 – Updates and Changes to Our Privacy Policy:

We may modify this Privacy Policy from time to time. We encourage you to periodically review our Privacy Policy for the latest information on our privacy practices. If we have your email address, we might notify you of any changes to our Privacy Policy when they occur.