This Privacy Policy (“Policy”) describes how Cogito Solutions, Inc., its directors, officers, stockholders, employees, representatives and/or its professional partners (collectively “we”, “us” or “our”) collect, use, process and disclose your Personal Data through the use of DESXPERT Application (“Application”), as well as other services, operated by Cogito Solutions, Inc. (collectively, “Services”).
This Policy applies to our clients, professional partners (“partner/s”) and contractors (collectively “you”, “your” or “yours”).
“Personal Data” is any information, whether recorded in a material form or not, from which the identity of an individual is apparent or can be reasonably and directly ascertained by the entity holding the information, or when put together with other information would directly and certainly identify an individual. This includes but is not limited to your name, nationality, telephone number, bank and credit card details, personal interests, email address, your image, signature, electronic signature, government-issued identification numbers, biometric data, race, date of birth, marital status, religion, health information, employment information and financial information.
I. Collection of Personal Data
We collect Personal Data about you in the ways listed below.
You provide your Personal Data to us.
We collect your Personal Data when you voluntarily provide it to us. For example, you may provide your Personal Data to us when you:
• complete a user profile or registration forms (such as your name, contact information and other identification information where needed);
• interact with our social media pages (such as your social media account ID, profile photo and any other publicly available data);
• verify your identity through various means (such as social media logins, electronic mail host servers, submission of selfie images or independently verified payment card information);
• fill up demographic information in surveys (such as your age, gender, and other information you may volunteer such as your marital status, occupation and income information);
In certain circumstances, you may need to provide your Personal Data in order to comply with legal requirements or contractual obligations, or where it is necessary to conclude a contract. Failure to provide such Personal Data, under such circumstance, may constitute failure to comply with legal requirements or contractual obligations, or inability to conclude a contract with you, as the case may be.
When our services are used
Personal Data may be collected through the normal operation of our Website, Mobile Apps and other Services. Some examples are:
• transaction information (such as payment method);
• information about how you interacted with our Website or Services (such as features used and content viewed);
• personal data you enter in messages when you use our in-website or in-app communication features; and,
• personal data or confidential information that may be captured through your interaction with us, our agents, our partners via the in-app or in-website audio and/or video recording functionality (such as your image or voice or both, and its related metadata).
From other sources
When we collect Personal Data, including but not limited to your name, contact information and other identification information where needed from other sources, we make sure that that data is transferred to us in accordance with applicable laws. Such sources include:
• our partners
• publicly available sources of data;
• governmental sources of data;
• when our users add you as an emergency contact.
When you provide Personal Data of other individuals to us
In some situations, you may provide Personal Data of other individuals (such as your spouse, family members or friends) to us. For example, you may add them as your emergency contact. If you provide us with their Personal Data, you represent and warrant that you have obtained their consent for their Personal Data to be collected, used and disclosed as set out in this Policy.
Sensitive Personal Information
Some of the Personal Data that we collect is sensitive in nature. This includes 1. an individual’s race, ethnic origin, marital status, age, color, and religious, philosophical or political affiliations;
2. an individual’s health, education, genetic or sexual life of a person, or to any proceeding for any offense committed or alleged to have been committed by such individual, the disposal of such proceedings, or the sentence of any court in such proceedings;
3. Issued by government agencies peculiar to an individual which includes, but is not limited to, Tax Identification Number, Social Security Numbers, previous or current health records, licenses or its denials, suspension or revocation, and tax returns; and
4. Specifically established by an executive order or an act of Congress to be kept classified. We collect this information only with your consent and/or in strict compliance with applicable laws.
In the event that such Sensitive Personal Information of a minor is disclosed through the Application, the parent or legal guardian must hereby consent to the processing of the minor’s information and accept and agree to be bound by this Policy and take responsibility for his or her actions.
II. Use of Personal Data
This Application may process your Personal Data for the following purposes (“Purposes”):
Providing services and features
Your Personal Data will be used to provide, personalize, maintain and improve our Website, Application and Services. This includes using your Personal Data to:
• engage you to provide the Services;
• to provide you, as clients, competent professional partners to give pertinent information relative to your needs;
• create, administer and update your account;
• conduct due diligence checks;
• verify your identity;
• verify your age (where necessary);
• validate your transaction and process payments;
• make your experience more seamless, such as automatically filling in your registration information (such as your name, email address, address or phone number) to access our Services;
• perform internal operations necessary to provide our Services, including troubleshooting software bugs and operational problems, conducting data analysis, testing and research, monitoring and analyzing usage and activity trends;
• enhance the security or integrity of the Services and any facilities or equipment used to make the Services available;
• fulfil the services to you as a data processor, where you have provided consent to the data controller (i.e. the organization for whom we are providing services on behalf of) for such services to be rendered.
Safety and security
We use your data to ensure the safety, security, availability and ease of use of our Services and all users. This includes:
• verifying your identity when you log in to our Website and/or Mobile Application;
• using device, location, profile, usage and other Personal Data to prevent, detect and combat fraud or unsafe activities; and
• monitoring compliance with our terms, conditions and policies.
Client support
We use Personal Data to resolve client support issues. For example, we may:
• respond to questions, comments and feedback; and,
• inform you about steps taken to resolve client support issues.
Legal purposes
We may use your Personal Data when we are required to do so by any local or foreign legal, regulatory, governmental or other authority in order to comply with legal and regulatory mandates.
For example, we may use your Personal Data to:
• comply with court orders or other legal, governmental or regulatory requirements;
• enforce our Terms of Service or other agreements; and,
• protect your rights or property in the event of a claim or dispute.
III. Disclosure of Personal Data
We work with third-party partners who help us provide and improve our services. We only share personal data on a need-to-know basis and subject to a Data Sharing Agreement. We also impose strict restrictions on how our partners can use and disclose the data we provide. We may disclose your personal information only insofar as necessary for the purposes set out in this policy.
We may likewise disclose your personal information:
1. To the extent that we are required to do so by law;
2. In connection with any ongoing or prospective legal proceedings;
3. In order to establish, exercise or defend our legal rights;
IV. Retention of Personal Data
We store data until it is no longer necessary, subject to the Retention period under the Data Privacy Act, to provide our services, or until you request your account to be deleted - whichever comes first. This is a case-by-case determination that depends on things like the nature of the data, why it is collected and processed, and relevant legal or operational retention needs. For example, when you search for something on our Website or Mobile Application, you can access and delete that query from within your search history at any time, but the log of that search is deleted after the period allowed by law and data privacy regulations. If you submit a copy of your government-issued ID for account verification purposes, we keep a copy that is necessary to verify your identity and profession.
We provide you with the ability to access, rectify, port and erase your data.
If you wish to withdraw your consent to our use of your personal information or if you have any comments, suggestions, or complaints, you may contact us through our contact details set out in Section X (How to Contact Us) below.
V. International Transfers of Personal Data
Your Personal Data may be transferred from country, state and city (“Home Country”) in which you are present while using our Services to another country, state and city (“Alternate Country”).
When we transfer your Personal Data from your Home Country to the Alternate Country, we will comply with our legal and regulatory obligations in relation to your Personal Data, including having a lawful basis for transferring Personal Data and putting appropriate safeguards in place to ensure an adequate level of protection for the Personal Data. We will also ensure that the recipient in Alternate Country is obliged to protect your Personal Data at a standard of protection comparable to the protection under applicable laws.
Our lawful basis will be either consent (i.e. we may ask for your consent to transfer your Personal Data from your Home Country to the Alternate Country at the time you provide your Personal Data) or one of the safeguards permissible by laws.
VI. Cookies
The Website and/or Mobile Application may use cookies (“Cookies”) in connection with its use. Cookies may have unique identifiers, and reside, among other places, on your computer or mobile device, in emails we send to you, and on our web pages. Cookies may transmit Personal Data about you and your use of the Service, such as your browser type, search preferences, IP address, data relating to advertisements that have been displayed to you or that you have clicked on, and the date and time of your use. Cookies may be persistent or stored only during an individual session. Application may use Cookies on the Website to collect the same type of Personal Data for the Purposes stated.
If you do not wish for your Personal Data to be collected via Cookies on the Websites, you may deactivate cookies by adjusting your internet browser settings to disable, block or deactivate cookies, by deleting your browsing history and clearing the cache from your internet browser. You may also limit our sharing of some of this Personal Data through your App and mobile device settings.
VII. Protection of Personal Data
We will take reasonable physical, organizational and technical measures to ensure that your Personal Data is protected. This includes measures to prevent Personal Data from getting lost, or used or accessed in an unauthorized way. We limit access to your Personal Data to our employees and authorized Third parties on a need-to-know basis. Those processing your Personal Data will only do so in an authorized manner and are required to treat your information with confidentiality.
VIII. Your Rights with Respect to your Personal Data
In accordance with applicable laws and regulations, you may be entitled to:
• ask us about the processing of your Personal Data, including to be provided with a copy of your Personal Data;
• request the correction and/or (in some cases) deletion of your Personal Data;
• in some cases, request the restriction of the processing of your Personal Data, or object to that processing;
• withdraw your consent to the processing of your Personal Data (where we are processing your Personal Data based on your consent);
• request receipt or transmission to another organization, in a machine-readable form, of the Personal Data that you have provided to us where we are using your Personal Data based on consent or performance of a contract; and,
• complain to the relevant data privacy authority if your data privacy rights are violated, or if you have suffered as a result of unlawful processing of your Personal Data.
Where you are given the option to share your Personal Data with us, you can always choose not to do so. If we have requested your consent to processing and you later choose to withdraw it, we will respect that choice in accordance with our legal obligations.
However, choosing not to share your Personal Data with us or withdrawing your consent to our use of it could mean that we are unable to perform the actions necessary to achieve the purposes of processing described in Section II (Use of Personal Data) or that you are unable to make use of the Services. After you have chosen to withdraw your consent, we may be able to continue to process your Personal Data to the extent required or otherwise permitted by applicable laws and regulations.
If you wish to make a request to exercise your rights, you can contact us through our contact details set out in Section X (How to Contact Us) below.
We will screen and verify all requests beforehand. In order to verify your authority to make the request, we may require you to provide supporting information or documentation to corroborate the request.
Once verified, we will give effect to your request within the timelines prescribed by applicable laws.
IX. Amendments and Updates
We shall have the right to modify, update or amend the terms of this Policy at any time by placing the updated Policy on the Websites. By continuing to use the Websites or Services, or continuing to communicate or engage with us following the modifications, updates or amendments to this Policy, you signify your acceptance of such modifications, updates or amendments.
X. How to Contact Us
If you have any queries about this Policy or would like to exercise your rights set out in this Policy, please contact our Data Protection Officer at:
Cogito Solutions, Inc. Data Protection Officer:
Tel.: (+63) 2 8556 9548
E-mail: dpo@desxpert.com