This Privacy Policy explains how Blacktop (the “Service”, “we”, “us”) collects, uses, shares and protects information. The Service includes the website at https://blacktoplane.com, the dispatch console (Blacktop Lane) and the mobile application for drivers (Blacktop Driver). The Service is operated by MDAT INC, 3535 30th Ave, Kenosha, WI 53144.
Blacktop is business software for motor carriers (“Customers”). Access is by invitation only. A Customer decides who in its company uses the Service and which drivers and vehicles are added to it.
1. Information we collect
Account information
- Dispatchers and staff: name, work email address, role (Admin, Dispatcher, HR, Accounting) and sign-in data.
- Drivers: name and mobile phone number, used to send one-time sign-in codes by SMS.
Customer business data
- Load postings received from load boards by email (for example origin, destination, dates, miles, weight, vehicle type, broker company and contact).
- Bids, load assignments, stops, rates, notes, status history and load documents (such as BOL and POD).
- Onboarding records for owner-operators, drivers and vehicles that a Customer enters or that applicants submit through the Customer’s application form, including documents such as licenses, insurance and registrations, and payment details needed to pay owner-operators.
- Accounting records for delivered loads: factoring, reconciliation and payments.
Location data
Vehicle location comes either from the Customer’s ELD provider, using an API key the Customer supplies, or from the Blacktop Driver app. The app shares the device location with the Customer only while the driver is signed in and set to Available or on a load. When the driver sets Off Duty, the app stops sending location.
Technical data
Basic logs needed to run and secure the Service, such as IP address, browser type, timestamps and error reports. We do not use advertising trackers.
2. Google user data
A dispatcher may connect a Gmail account to the Service. The connection is optional and can be removed at any time. When connected, the Service requests these Google permissions:
- Send email on your behalf (
gmail.send): to send the dispatcher’s bid to a broker, from the dispatcher’s own address, as a reply in the broker’s email thread about that load. A bid is sent only when the dispatcher presses Place Bid. - Read email (
gmail.readonly): to find the broker’s original load email so the bid replies in the same thread, to detect broker replies to bids the dispatcher sent through the Service, and to show that thread next to the bid.
How we use and protect this data:
- We access only messages related to load postings and bids sent through the Service. We do not keep a copy of the mailbox or of message bodies: we store message and thread identifiers and the time a broker replied. When a user opens a bid’s thread, it is read from Gmail at that moment and shown only to users of the same company.
- OAuth tokens are kept on our servers in storage that only the server can read, encrypted at rest, and are never sent to the browser.
- We do not use Google user data for advertising, we do not sell it, and we do not use it to develop, improve or train generalized or non-personalized AI or machine-learning models.
- Our staff do not read Google user data, except with the user’s explicit consent for a specific message, when needed for security purposes such as investigating abuse, to comply with applicable law, or when the data is aggregated and anonymized for internal operations.
- We do not transfer Google user data to third parties, except as necessary to provide the Service (for example, our hosting and database providers listed below), to comply with applicable law, or as part of a merger or acquisition with notice to users.
Blacktop’s use and transfer of information received from Google APIs to any other app will adhere to the Google API Services User Data Policy, including the Limited Use requirements.
You can remove the Service’s access at any time at myaccount.google.com/permissions, and ask us at support@blacktoplane.com to delete the stored tokens. Bid records already created remain part of the Customer’s business data.
3. How we use information
- To provide the Service: show loads, send bids, run trips, track vehicles, onboard drivers and keep accounting.
- To sign users in, including one-time SMS codes for drivers.
- To send service notifications to users of the Service.
- To keep the Service secure, prevent abuse, fix errors and support Customers.
- To comply with law and enforce our Terms of Service.
We do not sell personal information and we do not use it for third-party advertising.
4. SMS messages
Drivers receive one-time sign-in codes by SMS when they request them in the app. Message frequency depends on how often the driver signs in. Message and data rates may apply. Reply STOP to opt out or HELP for help. Mobile numbers and SMS consent are not shared with third parties or affiliates for marketing purposes.
5. How we share information
- Within the Customer. Information in a Customer’s account is visible to that Customer’s users according to their roles. Each Customer’s data is isolated from other Customers.
- Service providers that host or deliver the Service for us, under contract and only for that purpose: Supabase (database, authentication, file storage), Vercel (web hosting), Cloudflare (DNS and email routing), Twilio (SMS), Google (Gmail, at the user’s request) and the Customer’s chosen ELD provider.
- Brokers receive the bids a dispatcher chooses to send. That is the purpose of the bid.
- Legal reasons, if required by law or to protect the rights, property or safety of users, the public or us.
- Business transfer, in a merger, acquisition or sale of assets, with notice to Customers.
6. Data retention
We keep Customer data while the Customer’s account is active. Load postings that never received a bid or an assignment may be deleted after a period of time. When a Customer closes its account, we delete or anonymize its data within 90 days, except records we must keep by law. Backups are overwritten on their regular schedule.
7. Security
Data is encrypted in transit (HTTPS) and at rest. Each Customer’s data is separated with database row-level security. Access is by invitation, with roles. No system is perfectly secure; if we learn of a breach affecting your information, we will notify affected Customers as required by law.
8. Your choices and rights
Users can review and update their information in the Service or through their company’s administrator. Because the Customer controls its company’s data, we may forward your request to the Customer. You can also contact us at support@blacktoplane.com to access, correct or delete your personal information. Depending on where you live (for example California), you may have additional rights under local law; we will not discriminate against you for exercising them.
9. Children
The Service is for businesses and is not directed to anyone under 18. We do not knowingly collect their data.
10. United States
The Service is operated in the United States and data is stored and processed in the United States.
11. Changes
We may update this policy. We will post the new version here with a new date, and notify Customers of material changes before they take effect.
12. Contact
Questions or requests: support@blacktoplane.com. Operator: MDAT INC, 3535 30th Ave, Kenosha, WI 53144.