Privacy Policy

1. Who we are

The Notary Giant Professional Service Corporation operates this website and provides mobile, in-person, and (when available) electronic notarial services in New York, along with related convenience services such as loan-signing coordination and apostille assistance. Our contact details are in section 17.

Our Terms of Use describe the services themselves. This policy describes information practices.

2. What this policy covers

This policy covers personal information we collect:

• Through this website, phone, text, email, or booking messages.
• In person or electronically when we perform a notarial act or related service.
• From a third party you authorized (for example, a title company, lender, attorney, or family member who books for you).

It does not cover other websites we link to, or a hospital, building, or technology vendor’s independent practices. Those parties have their own policies.

We describe our actual practices. This website does not currently use advertising networks, does not currently run a customer-account system, and does not currently host public user posts. If that changes, we will update this policy before the new practice begins.

3. Information we collect

Website and booking

Depending on how you contact us, we may collect:

• Identifiers and contact data: name, phone number, email address, appointment address, and similar details you provide.
• Appointment details: date, time, location, document type, number of signers, and special-access notes (for example, hospital unit).
• Payment data: if you pay by card, the processor collects card number and related security data. We receive confirmation, the last digits, and the amount. We do not store full card numbers on this website. If you pay by Zelle or cash, we may receive the name and account identifier your bank shows.
• Communications: the content of calls, voicemails, texts, and emails you send us.
• Technical log data: IP address, browser type, pages viewed, dates and times, and referring URL, which the server may record to operate and secure the site.

Notarial and related services

New York law requires us to record notarial acts. We may collect:

• Name and address of each person for whom an act is performed.
• Date, approximate time, type of act, and number of acts.
• Type of identification credential presented (and, when the law requires it, related verification details). We view government ID to confirm identity. We do not copy or store ID numbers unless a specific engagement or legal duty requires it.
• Signature, notarial certificate, and seal information.
• For electronic notarization: audio-video recording of the session, identity-proofing and credential-analysis results from the technology provider, and identification of the communication technology used.
• Loan-package or apostille-assistance files you or your closing professional send us, which may include financial, real-estate, or other sensitive information needed to complete that job.

New York “private information”

New York’s SHIELD Act defines “private information” to include personal information combined with data such as a Social Security number, driver’s license or non-driver ID number, certain financial account numbers, biometric information used to identify a person, or an email or username plus a password. We do not request Social Security numbers or full financial account numbers for ordinary notarization. Those elements may appear in documents others send us (especially loan packages). We treat any such data as confidential and as private information under the SHIELD Act.

4. How we use information

We use personal information to:

• Schedule, confirm, travel to, and complete appointments.
• Verify identity and perform notarial acts as New York law requires.
• Keep the notarial journal and electronic recordings the law requires.
• Process payments and prevent fraud.
• Communicate with you, and with professionals you involved (title, lender, attorney, courier).
• Operate, secure, and improve this website.
• Comply with law, respond to the Department of State or other lawful requests, and protect our legal rights.

We do not use notarial journal entries, ID images, or electronic session recordings for advertising.

5. How we share information

We share personal information only as needed for the purpose you would reasonably expect, or as the law requires:

• Service providers. Hosting, email, texting, payment processing, courier, and electronic-notarization technology vendors that process data for us. New York’s SHIELD Act requires us to select providers capable of maintaining appropriate safeguards and to require those safeguards by contract.
• Transaction parties you involved. Title companies, lenders, attorneys, courts, county clerks, the New York Department of State (for apostilles), and couriers, when needed to finish the job you requested.
• Legal and safety. The Secretary of State and others entitled to notarial records under 19 NYCRR § 182.9; courts; law enforcement; and regulators, when required or when we reasonably believe disclosure is necessary to prevent fraud or serious harm.
• Business transfer. If we merge, sell, or reorganize, information may transfer to the successor, who must continue to protect it under this policy or provide notice of changes.

We do not share personal information with advertising networks.

6. We do not sell personal information

We do not sell, rent, or lease personal information. We do not sell, lease, trade, or otherwise profit from biometric identifier information. New York City Administrative Code § 22-1202 prohibits profiting from biometric identifier information; we do not do so.

We also do not share personal information for cross-context behavioral advertising.

7. How long we keep information

We keep information only as long as needed for the purposes above, and as long as New York law requires:

• Notarial journal entries and related compliance records: at least ten years (19 NYCRR § 182.9).
• Electronic notarial audio-video recordings: at least ten years (Executive Law § 135-c and 19 NYCRR Part 182).
• Appointment, payment, and correspondence records: generally up to seven years, or longer if a dispute, audit, or legal hold requires it.
• Website server logs: a short period unless needed to investigate security or abuse.

When information is no longer needed and is not legally required to be kept, we dispose of it so it cannot reasonably be read or reconstructed, as the SHIELD Act requires.

8. Security (New York SHIELD Act)

If we own or license computerized data that includes private information of a New York resident, we must develop, implement, and maintain reasonable administrative, technical, and physical safeguards for that information, including disposal (General Business Law § 899-bb). As a small professional practice, our program is scaled to our size, our activities, and the sensitivity of the information we handle. In practice that includes:

• Limiting access to appointment and notarial records.
• Using reputable providers for hosting, payment, and electronic notarization.
• Avoiding unnecessary copies of identification and full account numbers.
• Securing paper journals and electronic records against unauthorized access.
• Disposing of private information when it is no longer needed.

No method of transmission or storage is perfectly secure. We cannot guarantee absolute security.

9. Security-incident notice

If there is a breach of the security of the system involving private information of a New York resident, New York law requires notice to affected residents in the most expedient time possible and without unreasonable delay, and in any event within thirty days after discovery, subject to law-enforcement delay (General Business Law § 899-aa). Notice will include the contact information the statute requires, a description of the categories of information involved, and resources on identity theft. Larger incidents must also be reported to the New York Attorney General, the Department of State, and the Division of State Police as the statute provides.

10. Your choices and requests

New York does not currently give a general statutory right to demand deletion of all personal information held by a private notary practice. You may still ask us to:

• Correct contact or booking information that is wrong.
• Stop marketing messages (we do not currently run a marketing list beyond appointment-related messages).
• Provide a copy of appointment correspondence we have about you, except where disclosure would violate another person’s privacy or a legal restriction.

We cannot delete notarial journal entries or required electronic recordings while the ten-year retention duty applies, and we cannot alter a completed notarial record to make it untrue. If another privacy law gives you additional rights that apply to us, we will honor those rights.

Send requests to ojbien-aime@thenotarygiant.com. We may need to verify your identity before responding. We will not discriminate against you for asking.

11. Children and teens

This website and our ordinary booking process are intended for adults. We do not knowingly collect personal information online from children under 13, and we do not direct the site to minors.

New York’s Child Data Protection Act (General Business Law §§ 899-ee and following) restricts processing of personal data of “covered users” under 18. We do not have actual knowledge that website visitors are under 18. We do not sell minors’ personal data. We do not use minors’ data for advertising.

If a parent or guardian lawfully books a notarial act involving a minor, we process only what is strictly necessary to perform the act and to comply with notary recordkeeping law. If we learn we collected a minor’s website data in error, we will delete it unless a law requires us to keep it. Parents or guardians may contact us at ojbien-aime@thenotarygiant.com.

12. Cookies and similar technologies

This website currently uses only cookies or similar technologies that are strictly necessary to operate and secure the pages (for example, to load the site). We do not currently use advertising cookies, social pixels, or analytics packages that profile visitors.

You can block cookies in your browser. Blocking strictly necessary cookies may affect basic functions. If we later add optional analytics or advertising technologies, we will update this policy first and, where required, offer a choice. We will honor a legally recognized opt-out preference signal for non-essential selling or sharing if we ever engage in that activity. We do not currently sell or share data in that way.

13. Calls, texts, and email

If you call, text, or email us, or give us your number or address to book an appointment, we will use that channel to confirm, coordinate, and follow up on the appointment. Federal law (including the Telephone Consumer Protection Act and CAN-SPAM Act) and New York law apply to marketing messages. We do not currently send advertising texts. If that changes, we will obtain any consent the law requires and honor opt-out requests. Appointment-related messages are not marketing.

Our published number is (646) 423-6350. New York’s Do Not Call rules do not stop us from returning a call you placed or confirming a job you requested.

14. Biometric and identity-proofing data

In-person notarization uses visual inspection of identification. That is not a biometric identification system, and we do not enroll fingerprints or face templates for in-person work.

Electronic notarization uses audio-video communication and may use credential analysis and identity proofing. Those tools can involve a facial image, a scan of an identification card, and liveness or biometric comparison performed by the technology provider. The session is recorded. We use that information only to complete and document the notarial act, to meet New York recordkeeping rules, and to defend the validity of the act. We do not sell it.

New York City’s biometric law is aimed at certain commercial establishments that collect biometric identifier information of customers. We do not operate a retail storefront that scans customers for entry. If we ever collect biometric identifier information in a setting that law covers, we will give the notice that law requires.

15. Other privacy laws

We are a New York notary practice. We are not a HIPAA covered entity by reason of notarizing a health-related paper, and this policy is not a HIPAA Notice of Privacy Practices. We are not a bank. If a different privacy statute (for example, a state consumer privacy law) applies to a particular data set, we will comply with that statute. We do not currently operate a business that meets typical “large business” thresholds in those laws, and we do not create extra rights in this policy that those laws do not actually give.

16. Changes

We may update this policy to reflect legal or operational changes. We will change the effective date at the top of this page. For a material change, we will post the update at least 30 days before it takes effect when reasonably possible, and we will email you if we have your address in connection with an upcoming or recent appointment. If we add a new practice that this policy does not already describe — such as advertising cookies — we will not start that practice until the updated policy is posted.

17. Contact and complaints

Privacy questions, correction requests, and incident notices:

The Notary Giant Professional Service Corporation
Doing business as The Notary Giant™
New York, New York, United States
Phone: (646) 423-6350
Email: ojbien-aime@thenotarygiant.com

You may also contact the New York State Attorney General or, for identity-theft resources after a breach, the Federal Trade Commission at IdentityTheft.gov. Notary-record and commission issues may be raised with the New York Department of State. Using a government agency does not require you to give up any private legal right.