The Houston Sports Awards respects your privacy and is dedicated to protecting the privacy of those persons (“You”) participating in events organized by the Sports Authority Foundation and the Harris County – Houston Sports Authority and using the Houston Sports Awards website and associated services (“Services”). This Privacy Policy is to help you understand what Personal Information (as defined below) and non-personal information we collect and how we use it.

This Privacy Policy applies to processing Personal and non-personal information in connection with the Services, and you should read it in its entirety before using our Services. If You do not agree to the terms of this Privacy Policy, you may not use our Services.

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“Personal Information” refers to information that allows you to be directly or indirectly identified as a person. We may also collect “non-personal information,” meaning it can’t be used to determine anyone precisely.  Non-personal information may also result from removing the personally identifiable parts from Personal Information. We collect and use both types of data and combinations of both types.

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Processing Personal Information

Houston Sports Awards will only collect such personal information relevant to the purposes described in this privacy policy.

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Houston Sports Awards will process Your Personal Information to provide the Services, including organizing the events and facilitating participant networking using the Houston Sports Awards website and the associated services.

Houston Sports Awards will process Your Personal Information to provide customer service and other services at your request, send You information, including confirmations, invoices, and other communications, and communicate with You about promotions and other news about benefits offered by Houston Sports Awards.

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Houston Sports Awards commits to adhering to the applicable laws and regulations pertaining to the processing of Personal Information and to processing Personal Information in compliance with good processing practices. All Houston Sports Awards personnel processing personal information must keep such information confidential.

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Legal basis for the processing

The applicable legal basis for the processing of Personal Information depends on the circumstances relating to the relevant processing activities, as further described below:

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• If the processing of Personal Information is necessary for one or more specific purposes, GDPR art. 6(1)(a) is the legal basis for processing operations.

• Performance of a contract. If the processing of Personal Information is necessary for the performance of a contract, such as providing certain services to which the data subject is a party, GDPR art. 6(1)(b) is the legal basis for processing operations. The same applies to such processing operations necessary for carrying out pre-contractual measures, for example, in inquiries concerning our products or services.

• Legal obligation. If the processing of personal information is necessary to comply with a legal obligation, such as fulfilling tax obligations, GDPR art. 6(1)(c) is the legal basis for processing operations.

• Vital interests. If the processing of Personal Information is necessary for protecting the essential interests of a natural person, such as if a visitor were injured on our premises and his information would have to be passed on to medical personnel, GDPR art. 6(1)(d) is the legal basis for processing operations.

• Legitimate interests. If the processing of Personal Information is necessary for processing operations that are not covered by any of the above mentioned legal grounds but are deemed permissible for the legitimate interests pursued by Us, such as marketing and GDPR art, 6(1)(f) serves as the legal basis for processing operations.

 

Information We Collect and Sources of Information

We collect several categories of information:

• Information You give to us,

• Technically gathered information when You use our Services,

• Information about our service from publicly available sources and third parties.

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We collect information that You give us, for example, when You use our Services. This information may include your name and email. You are also allowed to subscribe to our newsletter on our website.

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Houston Sports Awards also collects non-personal information on your activities in the Services, such as your Internet Protocol address and time of your requests or actions on the website and referring website addresses, hardware type, operating system version, browser type, and language.

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Houston Sports Awards retains the Personal Information collected under this Privacy Policy for the period necessary to fulfill the purposes outlined in this Privacy Policy unless a more extended retention period is required or permitted by law. The criteria used to determine the period of storage of Personal Information depends on the applicable legal basis for the processing of Personal Information: e.g., where the processing of Personal Information is necessary for the performance of a contract, Houston Sports Awards retains the Personal Information as long as it is required for the fulfillment of the contract or the initiation of a contract; or, where the processing of Personal Information is essential for complying with a legal obligation, Houston Sports Awards retains the Personal Information for the respective statutory retention period; or, where the processing of Personal Information is permissible for the legitimate interests pursued by Us, such as marketing, Houston Sports Awards retains the Personal Information as long as it is permitted by law.

If the collected Personal Information is no longer needed for purposes specified in this Privacy Policy, Houston Sports Awards will delete Personal Information within a reasonable timeframe or render it anonymous, meaning “non-personal information.”

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We also use other third-party data analytics service providers to improve the Services. Houston Sports Awards may use tools from third-party service providers, such as Google Analytics, a web analytics service provided by Google, Inc. (“Google”).

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Google Analytics uses “cookies,” text files placed on your computer, to help the website analyze how users use the site. The information generated by the cookie about your use of the website (including your IP address) will be transmitted to and stored by Google on servers in the United States. Google will use this information to evaluate your use of the website, compile reports on website activity for website operators, and provide other services relating to website activity and internet usage. Google may also transfer this information to third parties where required by law or where such third parties process the information on Google’s behalf. Google will not associate your IP address with any other data held by Google. You may refuse the use of cookies by selecting the appropriate settings on your browser; however, please note that if you do this, you may not be able to use the full functionality of this website. By using this website, you consent to Google processing data about you in the manner and for the purposes set out above.

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The Google Analytics tracking code implemented on this website supports Display Advertising. Google Analytics for Display Advertising is used on this website as Remarketing. Third-party vendors, including Google, will show Houston Sports Awards ads on sites across the internet. Management Events and third-party vendors, including Google, use first-party cookies (such as the Google Analytics cookie) and third-party cookies (such as the DoubleClick cookie) to inform, optimize, and serve ads based on your past visits to this website. You can opt out of Google Analytics for Display Advertising and customize Google Display ads using the Ads Preferences Manager.

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The following Google AdWords features are used on this website:

• Remarketing

• Interest Categories

• Similar Audiences

• Other types of interest-based advertising

 

We use these features of Google Adwords to target past visitors across the internet or visitors with specific interest profiles based on their internet usage. We don’t collect personally identifiable information (PII) through cookies, remarketing lists, or other anonymous identifiers. At any time, you may decline the collection and storage of your data in the future.

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Information collected by advertising networks, such as Facebook Audience Network, shall be used by this Privacy Policy and the third party's privacy policy providing applicable technology. If You want to be sure that no targeted advertisements will be displayed to You, please do not use or access the Services. In addition, please note that if You “opt-out” of targeted advertising, You will still receive advertising that is not personalized to You.

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Cookies and Tracking Technologies

A cookie is a string of information or a small text file that a website stores on a visitor’s device and the visitor’s browser or operating system provides to “remember” things about your visit. Houston Sports Awards uses cookies to help it identify and track visitors, their usage of the Services, and their access preferences, improving quality, tailoring recommendations, and developing the Services. The cookies will not enable Houston Sports Awards to access and review information stored on Your computer. In addition to cookies, Houston Sports Awards may use other existing or later-developed tracking technologies.

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Houston Sports Awards works with third parties who use cookies and other tracking technologies to track the effectiveness of the advertisements that may be placed in the Services. They are used for analyzing advertisement view counts. They might also allow the advertiser to tailor advertising to you when you visit other websites and set, change, alter, or modify settings or configurations on your device.

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If you do not wish to have cookies placed on your computers, you should set the devices to refuse cookies or tracking before using the services, with the drawback that certain features of such services may not function properly.

Please note that some parts of the Services may be country-specific and only work correctly if Houston Sports Awards can tell where you are accessing the Services.

 

Changes to the Privacy Policy

Houston Sports Awards reserves the right to change this Privacy Policy from time to time and at Houston Sports Awards' sole discretion. All changes hereto will be made available on our website: houstonsportsawards.org/privacy-policy/. We will inform you of the changes in the applications or by email, if available, in case of any significant changes affecting your rights.