Website Privacy Policy

1. Overview

This Privacy Policy explains what information THE EMPIRE COMPANY LLC ("Empire," "we," "us") collects through therealempirecompany.com (the "Site"), how we use it, and the choices available to you. It applies to the Site only, not to any third-party site you reach through a link on the Site.

2. Information We Collect

a. Information you give us

Browsing the Site does not require you to submit any information. If you contact us — by phone, by email, through Instagram, or through the "Make a Payment" button — we receive whatever you choose to share: for example, your name, phone number, email address, and the content of your message.

b. Information collected automatically

The Site is a static website hosted on Cloudflare’s infrastructure. Like virtually all websites, our hosting provider automatically logs standard technical information for every visit, including your IP address, browser and device type, the page requested, the referring page, and the date and time of the request. We use these logs only for security, performance, and troubleshooting of the Site itself.

c. Google Fonts

The Site loads two typefaces (Jost and Inter) from Google Fonts. Loading a webpage causes your browser to request those font files directly from Google’s servers, which may log your IP address as part of that request under Google’s own privacy practices. We do not control this collection; it is a standard function of using a hosted font library.

d. Cookies and analytics

The website uses Cloudflare Web Analytics to measure website traffic and page-performance information. Cloudflare states that this service does not use cookies, local storage, or cross-site tracking and does not collect or use visitors’ personal data. The Site does not otherwise use cookies, advertising pixels, or any other tracking technology. See our Cookie Policy for more detail and for how this will be handled if that changes.

3. Payments

The "Make a Payment" button on our Contact page links out to PayPal’s own checkout page. We do not receive, process, or store your complete card or bank account credentials — that transaction is handled entirely by PayPal under PayPal’s own privacy policy and terms. PayPal may provide Empire with basic transaction information confirming the payment, such as the payer’s name, email address, payment amount, and payment-confirmation details; Empire uses that information only to identify and record the payment.

4. How We Use Information

• To respond to your inquiry and discuss the services you asked about.
• To deliver, bill, and support services you engage Empire for.
• To keep business, accounting, and legal records.
• To maintain and secure the Site.
• To comply with applicable law.

5. Sharing of Information

We do not sell personal information, and we do not share it with third parties for their own marketing purposes. We share information only with service providers who help us operate — for example, our hosting provider (Cloudflare), our payment processor (PayPal), and our email provider (Microsoft 365) — strictly so they can perform that function for us, and when required by law, subpoena, or to protect Empire’s rights or safety.

6. Data Retention

We keep records of inquiries and client communications for as long as reasonably necessary for the business, tax, and legal purposes described above, and then delete or anonymize them.

7. Your Choices

You can ask us at any time what information we hold about your inquiry, and ask us to correct or delete it, by contacting us using the information below. We will honor reasonable requests to the extent consistent with our legal and recordkeeping obligations.

Do Not Track

Some browsers send a "Do Not Track" signal. Because the Site does not track visitors across other websites, we do not currently respond differently to that signal.

8. California Privacy Rights

California’s Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA), as amended, generally applies to businesses that meet at least one of these thresholds: (a) more than $26.625 million in annual gross revenue; (b) buying, selling, or sharing the personal information of 100,000 or more California consumers or households in a year; or (c) deriving 50% or more of annual revenue from selling or sharing California consumers’ personal information. Empire does not currently meet any of these thresholds, so the CCPA’s consumer-rights regime (including a "Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information" link) does not currently apply to Empire, and this policy does not include it. We will update this policy if that changes. Separately, under California’s Online Privacy Protection Act (CalOPPA), we post this policy because the Site may collect personal information from California residents who contact us.

9. Children’s Privacy

The Site is intended for business audiences and is not directed to children under 13. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children.

10. Security

We take reasonable measures to protect information we hold, but no method of transmission or storage is completely secure, and we cannot guarantee absolute security.

11. Changes to This Policy

We may update this policy from time to time. The effective date at the top will reflect the most recent version, and material changes will be noted on this page.

12. Contact Us

Questions about this policy or your information: Inka Mushaba, Authorized Representative — inka@therealempirecompany.com — 310-743-2841 — Culver City / Mid-City, Los Angeles, CA.