Privacy Policy

Updated: Aug 1, 2024

This Privacy Policy describes the personal data handling policies of The Dust Test, LLC (the “Company” or “we” or “us”), including the following:

What personal data we collect, including from the Company’s online and mobile applications, products, services and our websites, including www.thedusttest.com (collectively, the “Services”);
Health Information
Artificial Intelligence
How we use the data;
Mobile Messaging
With whom we may share the personal data;
Legal basis for processing the data;
Storage and security of your data;
Your Privacy Rights, Choices and Disclosures;
Users outside the United States;
Links to other sites;
Privacy Policy updates; and
Questions and Contact Information.

1. Personal Data We Collect or Process

Data Automatically Collect via the Use of Tracking Technologies

The Services capture some information about you automatically utilizing background local storage and session storage technologies such as cookies and web beacons (also referred to as clear gifs, pixel tags, and single-pixel gifs) (collectively, “Cookies”). Cookies are small files or other pieces of data which are downloaded or stored on your computer or other device, that can be tied to information about your use of the Services (including certain third-party services and features offered as part of our website). Examples of information of this type are your IP address, the browser you are using, the operating system you are using, the pages on the website that you visit and details of your transaction activity, such as the amount, date and time for each transaction. When we use Cookies, we may use “session” Cookies that last until you close your browser or “persistent” Cookies that last until you or your browser delete them. You may change your browser setting to decline the use of Cookies. For more information about cookies, including how to see what cookies have been set on your device and how to manage and delete them, visit www.allaboutcookies.org.

If you submit an inquiry through our online applications and provide your name and email or similar information, that personal information will not be tied back to you for interest-based advertising purposes across websites and on-line applications. However, third parties may use Cookies on users and participants of our Services to serve interest-based advertisements to such users when they visit other websites and mobile applications. The collection of information through Cookies by such third parties will be governed by such third parties’ own privacy policies and principles, which we do not control.

We operate social media pages on third party networks and have social media icons on our website. When you visit or link to our social media pages, data is processed both by us and the applicable social media provider. Social media providers are unaffiliated with us, and we are not responsible for the content or privacy practices of social media providers. Social media providers have their own terms of use and privacy policies, and we encourage you to review those policies whenever you visit their websites or interact with their platforms.

Information Voluntarily Provided

We also collect information that you provide to us voluntarily. The Company collects the information that you provide to us when you sign up to receive newsletters, advisories, announcements and invitations and contact us by email, phone or chat. The Company may record its interactions with such individuals and use third party service providers to record and store transcripts of conversations and chats. We may now or in the future utilize a “bot” in our chat feature.

If you order a dust test from us, we request information from you including contact data of the purchaser of the dust test (e.g., name, billing address, residential address, email address and telephone numbers) and payment card data.

Upon receipt of the dust test, we request additional information from the recipient which enables registration of their dust kit. The dust kit has a QR Code that, upon scanning, takes the user to a registration page. We will request additional information including the following:

Contact information about the user. This information is required so that we know where to send the dust test results.
In order to make the results of the dust test more meaningful to you, you may choose to provide information about the individuals living in the home, including gender, age range and an array of health-related questions that may be related to, or exacerbated by, the presence of dust, molds and other household contaminants and pathogens in the home.
Please note that when you purchase the dust kit, you are also providing to us information about your home and living spaces.

We do not knowingly collect information from users of our website under the age of 18 and/or their internet usage, and such persons are not authorized to use the Services. If we obtain actual knowledge that a user is under 18, we will take steps to remove that user's personal information from our databases. By using the Services, you represent that you are at least 18 years old. You also represent, by accessing or using the Services, that you are of legal age to enter into legal agreements.

If you provide information to us about occupants of the home other than yourself, including any children under the age of 18, you represent and warrant that you have the authority and consent to provide that information to us.

2. Health Information

In order to make the results of the dust test more meaningful to you, you may choose to provide health information about the individuals living in the home that may be related to, or exacerbated by, the presence of dust, molds and other household contaminants and pathogens in the home.

When you set up an account with the Company, you are creating a direct customer relationship with us that enables you to access and/or utilize the various functions of the Service as a user. As part of that relationship, you provide information to the Company, including but not limited to, your name, email address, shipping address, mobile phone number and certain transactional information, that we do not consider to be “protected health information” or “medical information”.

However, in using certain components of the Services, you may also provide certain health or medical information that may be protected under applicable laws. The Company is not a “covered entity” under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996, Public Law 104-191, and its related regulations and amendments from time to time (collectively, “HIPAA”). It is important to note that HIPAA does not necessarily apply to an entity or person simply because there is health information involved, and HIPAA does not apply to your transactions or communications with the Company. Any medical or health information that you provide that is subject to specific protections under applicable state laws (collectively, “Personal Health Information” or “PHI”), will be used and disclosed only in accordance with such applicable laws. However, any information that does not constitute PHI under applicable laws may be used or disclosed in any manner permitted under this Privacy Policy.

Personal information, including PHI, does not include information that has been de-identified or anonymized in accordance with applicable laws.

By accessing or using any part of the Services, you are agreeing that HIPAA does not apply to the Company, and that any information that you submit to the Company will only be subject to our Privacy Policy and any applicable state laws that govern the privacy and security of such information.

3. Artificial Intelligence

We utilize artificial intelligence to help us provide better dust test results and to better understand connections between certain health conditions and the presence of dust, molds and other household contaminants and pathogens in the home. In order to continue to improve the dust test results and provide better information about the correlation between health conditions and the presence of such household contaminants and pathogens and molds, we utilize the data that you provide to us and the results from your dust tests to train and improve the algorithms that we use.

We may now or in the future provide customer support via chat or email that utilizes artificial intelligence and natural language processing to understand customer questions and automate responses to them, simulating human conversation.

4. How We Use the Data

We use the personal data we collect to respond to your inquiries, complete transactions you initiate, provide the services you request, fulfill orders, perform our contractual obligations, perform analysis of the dust kits, provide updates and other important information related to your activity on and with the Services, inform you of new services or changes in Services, inform you of products and services that may interest you, administer the Services, to train and improve algorithms, and for other legitimate business purposes. You will have the opportunity to opt out of any electronic marketing communications you may receive from us.

The Company’s goals include improving the environment not just in your home, but also on a larger scale. By submitting to us results from our testing kits, you consent to the Company’s use of the data on an anonymized and de-identified basis for legitimate business purposes, including for analysis, scholarship, monetization, research and development.

Among the uses of Cookies are the following:

Cookies are used to help you navigate our on-line applications, including setting a cookie to remember your login details.
Cookies help us better understand the effectiveness of our website structure and operation (for example, by tracking the way in which you respond to, select, and interact with the Services provided through our online applications).
Cookies collect information about how you use our website, including using or participating in the Services, which highlights areas we can improve, including navigation.
Cookies permit the Company to count users who have visited website pages or opened an email and for other related traffic statistics (for example, recording the popularity of certain content, verifying system and server integrity, and determining the effectiveness of marketing campaigns).

5. Mobile Messaging

The Company offers mobile messaging, where, if you opt-in, you agree to this Privacy Policy and to receive text messages from us. Participation in mobile messaging is optional and not a condition of purchase. The messages we send to you may include marketing messages and service-related communications, just as confirmations and reminders of appointments. Messaging frequency may vary. You must have a wireless device of your own, capable of two-way messaging, be using a participating wireless carrier, and be a wireless service subscriber with text messaging service. Not all cellular phone providers carry the necessary service to participate. Check your phone capabilities for specific text messaging instructions.

Regardless of the opt-in method you utilized to participate in mobile messaging, you agree that these Terms apply to your participation in mobile messaging. By participating in mobile messaging, you agree to receive autodialed or prerecorded marketing mobile messages at the phone number associated with your opt-in. While you consent to receive messages sent using an autodialer, the foregoing shall not be interpreted to suggest or imply that any or all of our mobile messages are sent using an automatic telephone dialing system (“ATDS” or “autodialer”). Message and data rates may apply. Please consult your mobile service carrier’s pricing plan to determine the charges for browsing data and sending and receiving mobile messages. Under no circumstances will we be responsible for any messaging or wireless charges incurred by you or by a person that has access to your wireless device or telephone number.

SMS/MMS MOBILE MESSAGING OPT-OUT: If you do not wish to continue to receive mobile messages, please reply STOP to any mobile message from us in order to opt out. You may receive an additional mobile message confirming your decision to opt out.

6. With Whom We Share Personal Data

The Company may share data among its parent companies and affiliates.

We may share your personal data to third parties who perform services on our behalf, including without limitation our technology providers, payment processor, laboratories, shipping companies, and professional advisors.

The Company may record its interactions with our users (including via phone, chat, videoconference or other media) and use third party service providers to record and store transcripts of conversations and chats. We may also utilize a “bot” in our chat feature.

We may disclose information if we have a good faith belief that disclosure is necessary by law or the legal process, to protect and defend our or others’ interests or property, or to enforce agreements you enter into with us.

We may share your data with a third party in the event of any reorganization, merger, sale, joint venture, assignment, transfer, liquidation or other disposition of all or any portion of our business, assets or stock with such third party.

We may provide third parties some personal information such as your name and email address so that they may contact you about products or promotions you may be interested in.

We may share aggregated and de-identified information with third parties (within or outside your country of residence) for any legitimate business purposes, including analytical, monetization, research and development, and scholarship.

If you opt-in to mobile messaging, we will use information you provide to transmit your mobile messages and respond to you, if necessary. This includes sharing information with platform providers, phone companies, and other third-party service providers who assist us in the delivery of mobile messages. As with all information collected by the Company, we reserve the right at all times, to the extent permitted by law, to disclose any information as necessary to satisfy any law, regulation or governmental request, to avoid liability, or to protect our rights or property.

The Company may obtain your written consent from time to time in electronic form by using online agreements or other acknowledgements on the Services, including for any other contemplated uses of your personal data not addressed in this Privacy Policy. Please read all online agreements carefully before accepting them.

7. Grounds for Using Your Personal Data

We rely on the following legal grounds to process your personal information:

Consent. Some uses of your personal data as described in this Privacy Policy are subject to your consent, such as marketing email communications. To withdraw your consent, please contact us at [email protected]. You may also refrain from providing, or withdraw, your consent for Cookies via your browser and mobile settings.

Performance of a contract. We may need to collect and use your personal information to enter into a contract with you and to perform Services that you request.

Legitimate Interests. We may use your personal information for our legitimate interests to provide our Services and to improve our Services and the content contained thereon. We may use technical information as described in this Privacy Policy and use personal information for our marketing purposes consistent with our legitimate interests and any choices that we offer or consents that may be required under applicable law.

Compliance with Legal Obligations. We may use your personal information as necessary to comply with our legal obligations.

8. Storage and Protection of Your Personal Data

We retain the personal data we collect for so long as reasonably necessary to fulfill the purposes for which the data was collected and to perform our contractual and legal obligations. We will retain personal data required to comply with privacy requests, to manage active accounts, as required by law, in order to resolve disputes, or to enforce our agreements. We will retain the personal data we process on behalf of our users as directed by them. We may also retain copies of your personal data for disaster recovery purposes, to prevent fraud or future abuse, or for our legitimate business purposes. Notwithstanding the generality of the foregoing, we store email addresses and phone numbers until the user requests to be unsubscribed or removes themselves through any self-service tools offered to the user.

We do not store payment card information; rather we utilize payment processors and store only an electronic receipt that sets forth confirming payment details, such as purchase date, the expiration date of the payment card and the payment ID, but not complete payment card information.

We take reasonable administrative, physical and technical precautions to protect your personal data and communications between us. This includes, when required or as we deem appropriate and feasible under the circumstances, encryption and written commitments from third parties that may have access to your data that they will protect the data with safeguards that are substantially equivalent to those used by us.

No Internet or e-mail transmission is ever fully secure or error free, however. We therefore cannot guarantee absolute security of your data, and we are not responsible for processes and networks that we do not control. Users assume the risk of security breaches and the consequences resulting from them. Please be careful in deciding what information you send to us via email or over the Internet.

9. Your Rights, Choices and Disclosures

(a) General. This section is subject to specific disclosures on privacy rights set forth below. We are committed to facilitating the exercise of your rights granted by the laws of your jurisdiction, which may include the right to request the correction, modification or deletion of your personal information and the right to opt out of the sale of your personal information (as applicable). We will do our best to honor your requests subject to any legal and contractual obligations. If you would like to make a request, cancel your account or request we delete or no longer use your account information to provide you Services, contact us at [email protected].

You may opt out of receiving electronic marketing communications from us by clicking on the “unsubscribe” link on the communication or contacting us at [email protected]. Some non-marketing communications may not be subject to a general opt-out, such as communications about transactions, disclosures to comply with legal requirements, software updates and other support-related information.

Subject to local law, you may have additional rights under the laws of your jurisdiction regarding your personal data, such as the right to complain to your local data protection authority.

You may be able to disable Cookies through your browser settings, but if you delete or disable Cookies, you may experience interruptions or limited functionality in certain areas of the Services.

(b) Your European Privacy Rights and Choices. While we do not specifically market the Services outside the United States, we will provide accommodations for the exercise of the rights of individuals located in the European Union, the United Kingdom or another jurisdiction that has adopted laws substantially similar to the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), which provides for the following privacy rights:

Transparency and the right to information. Through this policy we explain how we use and share your information. However, if you have questions or need additional information you can contact us any time.
Right of access, correction, restriction of processing, erasure. You may contact us to request information about the personal data we have collected from you and to request the correction, modification or deletion of such personal information, which requests we will do our best to honor subject to any legal and contractual obligations. To make a request or to ask us a question about our data practices, please contact us via email at [email protected].
Right to withdraw your consent at any time. When we process your personal data based on your consent, you have the right to withdraw it at any time.
Right to object at any time. You have the right to object at any time to receiving marketing or promotional materials from us by either following the opt-out instructions in commercial emails or by contacting us, as well as the right to object to any processing of your personal data based on your specific situation. In the latter case, we will assess your request and provide a reply in a timely manner, according to our legal and contractual obligations. Some non-marketing communications are not subject to a general opt-out, such as communications about transactions and disclosures to comply with legal requirements.
Right to data portability. You have the right to data portability of your own personal data by contacting us.
Right not to be subject to an automated decision, including profiling. We do not make automated decisions using your personal data that may negatively impact you.
Right to lodge a complaint with a supervisory authority. If you consider that the processing of your personal data infringes your privacy rights according to GDPR, you have the right to lodge a complaint with a supervisory authority, in the member state of your habitual residence, place of work, or place of the alleged infringement.

California “Shine the Light” Information-Sharing Disclosure: California residents may request a list of all third parties with respect to which we have disclosed any information about you for direct marketing purposes and the categories of information disclosed. If you are a California resident and want such a list, please send us a written request by email to [email protected] with “California Shine The Light Rights” in the subject line.

California Do Not Track Disclosure: We do not respond to Do Not Track browser settings at this time utilizing a plugin.

California Consumer Privacy Act. The Company is not a “business” subject to the California Consumer Privacy Act.

10. Users Outside the United States

The Services are controlled and operated from the United States. If you are an individual from the European Union, United Kingdom, Canada, a country that has adopted laws substantially similar to GDPR, or any other jurisdiction with laws or regulations governing personal data collection, use, and disclosure that differ from United States laws, please be advised that we may store and process the information we collect in the United States. By visiting or using our Services, you are consenting to the transfer of your information from your jurisdiction to the United States.

11. Links to Other Sites

Our Services may contain links to other websites for your convenience or information. These websites may be operated by companies unaffiliated with the Company, and we are not responsible for the content or privacy practices of those websites. Linked websites may have their own terms of use and privacy policies, and we encourage you to review those policies whenever you visit the websites.

12. Privacy Policy Changes

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time and without prior notice to you to reflect changes in our information practices, and any such amendments shall apply to information already collected and to be collected. Your continued use of the Services after any changes to our Privacy Policy indicates your agreement with the terms of the revised Privacy Policy. Please review this Privacy Policy periodically and especially before you provide personal data to us. If we make material changes to this Privacy Policy, we will notify you here, by email or by means of a notice on our home page. The date of the last update of the Privacy Policy is indicated at the top of this Privacy Policy.

13. Questions and Contact Information

Please contact us if you have any questions about our Privacy Policy. You may contact us by sending correspondence to The Dust Test LLC, 1712 Ginesi Dr. Suite 1, Freehold, NJ 07728, or by emailing us at [email protected]