Privacy Policy of Research Institute of Texas LLC Effective Date: 8/12/2024 INFORMATION WE COLLECT Personal Information "Personal Information" is information that identifies you as an individual or relates to an identifiable individual. We may collect Personal Information from you via the Services when you choose to share it with us, including the following categories: information you provide directly, such as your name, email address, phone number, and postal address. Usage Data We also collect information about how you use our website and services, including IP addresses, browser types, pages viewed, and other usage statistics. HOW WE USE YOUR INFORMATION We use your personal information for the following purposes: - To provide and manage our services, including transactions and consultations. - To communicate with you about your inquiries, services, and offers. - To send marketing communications and updates, with your consent where required by law. - To analyze and improve our website and services. - To comply with legal obligations and protect our rights. SHARING YOUR INFORMATION We do not sell or rent your personal information to third parties. We may share your information with: - Service Providers: We may share your information with third-party service providers who assist us in operating our business, such as website hosting and email services. - Legal Requirements: We may disclose your information if required by law or to protect our legal rights, enforce our agreements, or respond to requests from public authorities. CHOICES AND ACCESS Opting Out of Marketing Communications We give you choices regarding our use of your personal information for marketing purposes. You may opt-out from receiving marketing-related emails from us. If you no longer want to receive marketing-related emails from us on a going-forward basis, you may opt-out via the opt-out link in the message itself. If you would like to opt-out of receiving marketing-related emails from one of our Market Centers or their agents, please contact the applicable Market Center or their agents directly. How You Can Access, Change, or Delete Your Personal Information Consumer privacy laws or regulations in certain jurisdictions may provide their residents with additional rights regarding our use of personal information. The following section applies solely to individuals who reside in specific jurisdictions that provide consumers with additional privacy rights, including California, Colorado, Connecticut, Oregon, Texas, Utah, Virginia, and the European Union. - Right to Access Specific Information and Data Portability Right: You have the right to request that we disclose certain information to you about our collection and use of personal information over the past twelve (12) months. Once we receive and confirm your verifiable consumer request, we will disclose to you: - The categories of personal information we collected about you, - The categories of sources for the personal information we collected about you, - Our business or commercial purpose for collecting or selling that personal information, - The categories of third parties with whom we share that personal information, - The specific pieces of personal information we collected about you (also called a data portability request), and - If we disclosed personal information for a business purpose, the business purpose for which personal information was disclosed, and the personal information categories that each category of recipient obtained. - Right to Correct Information: You have the right to request we update personal information about you that is incorrect in our systems. - Right to Delete: You have the right to request that we delete any personal information about you that we collected from you and retained, subject to certain exceptions. Once we receive and confirm your verifiable consumer request, we will delete (and direct our service providers to delete) the personal information from our records, unless an exception applies. - Right to Opt-out of the Sale of Personal Information or Sharing of Personal Information for Cross-Contextual Behavioral Advertising: To opt-out of personal information sales or sharing, send an email to us. Please clearly state in the subject line or the body of the email that you are requesting that we do not sell or share your personal information. - Right to Limit Sensitive Personal Information Use: You have the right to limit the use of sensitive personal information regarding you. We will not discriminate against you for exercising any of your rights. How to Exercise These Rights To submit a request to exercise these rights, you may use one of the following methods: - Complete and submit a DSAR webform by email - Phone For all requests, please clearly state that the request is related to “Your Privacy Rights,” indicate which type of request you are making, and provide your name, residential address (street address, city, state, and zip code), and an email address or phone number where we may contact you. We are not responsible for notices that are not labeled or sent properly or that do not include complete information as outlined in this paragraph. To appeal a decision regarding a consumer rights request, please submit your appeal using one of the methods above. Your appeal should include an explanation of the reason you disagree with our decision. Within 45 days of receipt of an appeal, we will inform you in writing of any action taken or not taken in response to the appeal, including a written explanation of the reasons for the decisions. Only you, or a person that you authorize to act on your behalf, may make a verifiable consumer request related to personal information about you. You may also make a verifiable consumer request on behalf of your minor child. If an authorized agent is submitting a request on your behalf, we will need to either verify the identity of your authorized agent or confirm that you have provided the authorized agent with permission to submit a request on your behalf. You may only make such a request for access or data portability twice within a 12-month period. The 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, and describe your request with sufficient detail that allows us to properly understand, evaluate, and respond to it. 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. Making a verifiable consumer request does not require you to create an account with us. We will only use personal information provided in a verifiable consumer request to verify the requestor’s identity or authority to make the request. We endeavor to respond to a verifiable consumer request within 45 days of its receipt. If we require more time (up to 90 days), we will inform you of the reason and extension period in writing. We will deliver our written response electronically. Any disclosures we provide will only cover the 12-month period preceding the receipt of the verifiable consumer request. The response we provide will also explain the reasons we cannot comply with a request, if applicable. For data portability requests, we will select a format to provide the personal information that is readily usable and should allow you to transmit the information from one entity to another entity without hindrance. We do not charge a fee to process or respond to your verifiable consumer request unless it is excessive, repetitive, or manifestly unfounded. If we determine that the request warrants a fee, we will tell you why we made that decision and provide you with a cost estimate before completing your request. Requests submitted via this process will be processed solely to the extent your personal information is in possession of Research Institute of Texas LLC or one of our third-party service providers. If you provided your personal information to one of our Market Centers or their agents, you must submit a similar request directly to them. PHONE CALLS AND TEXT MESSAGES If you are a United States resident using the Services, you represent and warrant that: - You are at least 18 years old, - You live in the United States, - You are the account holder for the telephone numbers you provide, or you have authorization from the account holder(s) to provide consent, and - The telephone numbers you provide are accurate, and you will let us know if you release them to a third-party. Do Not Call Policy This notice is our Do Not Call Policy under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act. Unless applicable law allows or you provide consent, we do not solicit via telephone numbers listed on the National Do Not Call Registry or a state Do Not Call list. Call Monitoring and Recording If you communicate with us by telephone, we may monitor or record the call in accordance with applicable law. Express Written Consent By sharing your telephone number with us, you agree that we may contact you at the telephone number and email address you provided, even if your number is on a federal, state, or internal Do Not Call list, and may send marketing calls and texts to you using an automated system for selection or dialing of numbers or pre-recorded or artificial voice messages that relate to real estate products or services. Your consent is not required to purchase products or services. You may unsubscribe at any time. Changes to Consent and Opting Out You may revoke your consent to receive calls and text messages from us at any time by emailing us by email. To opt out of receiving text messages from us, please follow the opt-out instructions in a text message sent by us. Please allow up to 30 days for us to process such changes or opt-out requests. It is possible that a Market Center and/or their agents may have your phone number, and that you may continue to receive calls and texts from them despite submitting an opt-out request to us. To the extent you wish to opt out of receiving calls or text messages from a Market Center and/or their agents, you must contact them directly. We are not responsible for unwanted communications from Market Centers and/or their agents. RETENTION PERIOD We retain personal information for as long as needed or permitted in light of the purposes described in this Privacy Policy and to comply with legal obligations. This means that we retain personal information for as long as necessary to fulfill the purposes for which it was collected or as required by applicable laws. SECURITY We take reasonable measures to protect your personal information from unauthorized access, disclosure, alteration, and destruction. However, no method of transmission over the internet or electronic storage is 100% secure. Therefore, while we strive to protect your personal information, we cannot guarantee its absolute security. THIRD-PARTY LINKS Our website and services may contain links to third-party websites or services. We are not responsible for the privacy practices or content of these third parties. We encourage you to review the privacy policies of any third-party websites you visit. INTERNATIONAL USERS If you are accessing our services from outside the United States, please be aware that your information may be transferred to, stored, and processed in the United States or other countries. By using our services, you consent to such transfers and processing in accordance with this Privacy Policy. CHANGES TO THIS PRIVACY POLICY We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. The "Effective Date" at the top of this policy indicates when the latest version was posted. Your continued use of our services after any changes to this Privacy Policy constitutes acceptance of the revised policy. CONTACT US If you have any questions or concerns about this Privacy Policy or our data practices, please contact us at: Research Institute of Texas LLC Email: basil@connect.hku.hk Office: (281) 393-8339 We will address your inquiries and take appropriate steps to resolve any issues you may have.