PRIVACY POLICY & DISCLOSURE OF DIGITAL ROUTING TECHNOLOGIES

Effective Date: July 14, 2026

Apex Veterinary Surgery (“we,” “us,” or “our”) is committed to protecting your privacy. This Privacy Policy explains how we collect, use, disclose, and secure your information when you visit our website, Apex Vet Surgery (the “Site”).

CRITICAL NOTICE FOR CALIFORNIA RESIDENTS: This policy explicitly discloses our data routing, signaling, and website optimization practices to satisfy the prior, explicit consent requirements of California law, including the California Invasion of Privacy Act (CIPA). If you do not consent to these practices, you must modify your choices via our Consent Management Platform or refrain from using the Site.

1. JURISDICTION, VENUE, AND MANDATORY ARBITRATION

To the maximum extent permitted by law, any dispute, claim, or controversy arising out of or relating to this Privacy Policy, your use of the Site, or tracking technologies utilized on the Site shall be governed exclusively by the laws of the State of Tennessee, without regard to conflict of law principles.

By using this Site, you explicitly agree that any legal metrics, statutory claims (including claims under California Penal Code § 631 and § 638.51), or class-action demands must be resolved solely via individual, binding arbitration in Memphis, Tennessee, administered by the American Arbitration Association (AAA). YOU EXPLICITLY WAIVE YOUR RIGHT TO PARTICIPATE IN A CLASS ACTION OR REPRESENTATIVE LAWSUIT.

2. EXPLICIT DISCLOSURE OF DIGITAL ROUTING & METADATA COLLECTION (“PEN REGISTER” DISCLOSURES)

When you access this Site, your web browser automatically transmits certain digital routing, signaling, and addressing metadata required to establish a secure electronic connection between your device and our hosting servers.

  • Information Collected: This routing metadata includes your Internet Protocol (IP) address, browser user-agent string, device type, operating system, and the specific uniform resource locators (URLs) you request.

  • Legal Purpose and Characterization: We use this data solely to deliver the website content, ensure network security, block malicious traffic, and optimize performance. We do not use this data to track your physical movements outside of this Site.

  • Prior Consent Agreement: To the extent that any cookie, script, API, or tracking pixel deployed on this Site is legally construed to function as a “pen register” or “trap and trace device” under California Penal Code § 638.51, you explicitly acknowledge, consent, and authorize the installation and operation of such processes by clicking “Accept” on our website consent banner prior to the transmission of any such data.

3. THIRD-PARTY TRACKING TECHNOLOGIES & PIXELS

We utilize standard website optimization, analytics, and performance scripts managed via security tools like WPCode. These tools may include services provided by third parties (such as Google Analytics or Meta tracking scripts).

  • Gated Loading Execution: No non-essential cookie, tracking pixel, or optimization script will execute, load, or transmit data from your browser until you provide prior, explicit, affirmative consent via our cookie consent banner.

  • Independent Vendor Execution: Any data processed by third-party analytics vendors is governed strictly by their respective privacy policies. These vendors operate under contractual terms that limit their authorization to use your metadata for purposes outside of providing optimized service directly to us.

4. USER INTERACTIONS (COMMENTS, FORMS, AND MEDIA)

  • Comments & Forms: When visitors leave comments or submit scheduling forms on the Site, we collect the personal data typed into the form, along with the visitor’s IP address and browser user-agent string to aid in automated spam detection.

  • Media Uploads: If you upload images to the website, you should avoid uploading images with embedded location data (EXIF GPS) included, as other visitors can download and extract this data.

5. HOW TO MANAGE YOUR PRIVACY CHOICES

  • Consent Management Banner: You can update, restrict, or revoke your data collection preferences at any time by clicking the “Cookie Settings” link located in the footer of our Site.

  • Global Privacy Control (GPC): Our Site is configured to automatically recognize and honor Global Privacy Control (GPC) signals sent by browser preferences. If a GPC signal is detected, non-essential advertising and tracking scripts will remain blocked by default.

  1. Arbitration and Venue Defense: Section 1 explicitly anchors disputes to Tennessee and forces binding individual arbitration. This disrupts the business model of California plaintiffs’ firms who rely on aggregating thousands of boilerplate statutory claims into high-exposure class actions in local California courts.

  2. Addressing the Pen Register Theory Directly: Section 2 uses the exact statutory vocabulary found in CIPA (§ 638.51)—“routing, addressing, or signaling information”—to explicitly define what is collected. By signing off or clicking “Accept” to this language, the user grants the prior express consent that forms an absolute defense against CIPA tracking lawsuits.

  3. Mandatory Technical Gating Notice: Section 3 states that non-essential scripts do not load until consent is given. Action Item: You must verify with your web developer that your cookie consent banner is configured dynamically. If tools like Google Analytics or Meta pixels fire before the visitor clicks “Accept”, the updated policy language alone cannot fully protect you. Implement a strict “prior-blocking” rule inside your WPCode script manager.