Introduction

Our products, services and websites can be accessed by users across various locations including in jurisdictions which have specific privacy requirements.

This privacy policy and our related Privacy Notices (see below) describe how we collect, use, protect, share and transfer information about you that we collect when you use any of our products and services, our websites, or apps or otherwise interact with us or with our Network (Services). It also includes information about how we handle information on California residents under the CCPA.

“Personal data” in this policy, includes “personal information,” as it is defined under the CCPA.

Personal data is any information about you by which you can be identified or be identifiable (either on its own or when combined with other information). This can include information such as: your name, email address and username; information about your device (e.g., IP address); and information relating to how you use and interact with our sites, apps and services.

We have set out below an overview of how our privacy notices work. Depending on how you interact with us, we will collect and process your personal information as shown below.

This Privacy Notice applies where you interact with us through any of our products and services.

General Privacy Notice

This Privacy Notice is applicable to you, including when you participate in our platform, or when you otherwise interact with us, e.g., when or when you contact our Customer Service, Support or other teams for assistance or inquiries (“Products and Services”).

This site allows individual users to engage in a community to share their knowledge and expertise, and to acquire knowledge and expertise. It is community-moderated, and the content is public and therefore visible for anyone.

Below you will find details about the personal information we collect about you when you use the community feature or our Products and Services and interact with us; how and why we collect it, how we use it, and how we keep it secure.

This Privacy Notice also tells you about your rights, how you can exercise those rights, and how the law protects you.

This site is the Controller responsible for your personal data collected for our operational purposes. In connection with certain Products and Services, this site is the processor for the organizations who provide your data to us or use our Products and Services.

If you have any questions about this Privacy Notice or the way in which we use your personal data, please contact us.

What Information Do We Collect?

This section sets out the categories and details of personal information that we collect across our Products and Services.

We collect and process your personal information in order to offer you our Products and Services.

If you decline to provide us with personal information when we ask you, you may not be able to access all or some of our services, and you may not be able to use certain Products and Services. For example, if you do not provide us with your email address or other information required for account registration, we will not be able to register you for certain account services.

We collect:

• Identity Data: We collect information such as your username, password, email address, IP address (collected at each site visit). This information is also used to identify individual users and to award activities and attribute them to you. Your username and additional content you provide, including your profile picture, question and answer content, and your reputation, are visible publicly. We or our community moderators may delete a question, an answer, a comment, or all of them and after deletion such information is only available to certain community members or employees.
• Technical Data: including internet protocol (IP) address, your login data, traffic data, browser type and version, time zone setting and location, browser plug-in types and versions, operating system, and platform and other communication data which gives us information about how you accessed our website. Other account information and usage information including your IP address and browser data may be used for diagnosis, security, and Product and Service optimization.
• Account registration information: When you register for an account, we collect your name and email address, your username and any additional information you provide. We will generate a unique identification number that we will use to recognize you when you are signed in. We need to collect your personal information for account registration purposes. Although the Network provides for anonymous and pseudonymous participation, in some instances in order to use certain Products or Services, we require account registration. This requires a name associated with your account, and email address at which we can contact you.
• Profile information: When completing a public “profile”, whether it is for use with the Network or our Products and Services, we may require you to share certain personally identifying information in required and optional profile fields. The name associated with your account, which you may review and change in your account settings, as well as reputation points are publicly displayed and connected to your activity on the Network and via certain Products and Services. Moderators, who have elevated access privileges, may access non-public user profile data, as well as content in posts and other public data.
• Analytics information: We use data analytics to ensure site functionality and to optimize our Product and Service offerings to you. In doing so, we record information including, for example, how often you visit the Network, how often you contribute content, Network and Apps performance data, errors and debugging information, and the type of activity you engage in while on the Network or in your use of our Products and Services.
• Marketing and sales information: We collect details of the services you receive and your preferences; information about your device or the software you use, e.g., its IP address, technical specification and uniquely identifying data; cookies and similar technologies we use to recognize you, remember your preferences and tailor the content we provide to you – our cookie policy contains more details about how we use cookies.
• Device and browser information received automatically: When you visit the Network or use our Apps, we automatically receive and record information from your browser or mobile device, such as your Internet Protocol (IP) address or unique device identifier. Cookies and data about which pages you visit on our Network allow us to operate and optimize the Products and Services we provide to you. This information is stored in secure logs and is collected automatically. We may combine this browser information with other information we collect about you. This information is used to keep the Products and Services secure, to analyze and understand how our Products and Services are used, optimize such usage, provide advertising across the Network as well as certain Products and Services to personalize your experience, and to help connect you with potential job opportunities in the case of our recruiting Products and Services.
• Location information: When you use the our Products and Services, we collect location information about you, including your IP address, your location, browser information, and how you came to the Network. This is the case for individuals who have registered for an account, and non-members who engage with the Network by visiting our website(s), but who have not completed an account registration.

The content you contribute on the public network is public, in perpetuity, and the site loses direct control over such content when it is published on the open internet. This also means that if you post personal information about yourself, you do so at your own risk, including the risk of abandoning any privacy rights you had in such information. However, we can work with users to remove any personal data that has been posted in error or which a user wishes to remove.

How we collect information from you

• Account information: If you create an account, we require an email address, username and password. Only your username is public. You also have the option to provide other information about yourself, such as your name, bio or any profile picture you have uploaded. We also store your user account preferences and settings.
• Content you submit:We collect the content you submit to the Services. This includes your posts and comments and any communications with moderators and with us.
• Actions you take: We collect information about the actions you take when using the Services. This includes your interactions with content, like voting, saving, hiding, and reporting. It also includes your interactions with other users, such as following. We collect your interactions with communities, like your subscriptions or moderator status.
• Log and usage data: We will log information when you access and use the Services. This may include information about the systems and device(s) you use to access our Services, including IP address, browser type and version, time zone setting, operating system and platform, device type, and device identifiers; Information about your visits to our sites, including the full URL clickstream to, through and from the sites (including date and time); Information about your use of our mobile apps, including the information you view in our mobile apps and the date and time you view it; Information to facilitate your use of our Services (including to provide access to third-party websites and services), such as URL requests, destination IP addresses, or device configuration details; and Pages you view or search for, page response times, download errors, length of visits to certain pages, page interaction information (such as scrolling, clicks, and mouse-overs), your engagement with certain variable/dynamic elements of a page, and methods used to browse away from the page.
• Information collected from cookies and similar technologie: We use cookies, which are small text files that collect and track certain technical information, and similar technologies to help us operate and provide our Services to you. We use this information for various reasons including to improve the quality of our services, improve your experience, understand user activity, and personalize content and advertisements. More information on how we uses cookies and how you can disable them can be found in our cookie policy.
• Location information: We may receive and process information about your location. For example, with your consent, we may collect information about the specific location of your mobile device (for example, by using GPS or Bluetooth).
• Third party services: We collect information through third party services, such as Google Ads and Google Analytics, for the purposes of serving targeted advertisements, personalized content and analytics.
• Links and social media: Our Products and Services may also, from time to time, contain links to and from social media platforms. If you choose to connect with us through a social media platform, we may, through the social media platform connection, collect additional information from you, such as your usernames, profile picture, contact information, contact list, and the profile pictures of your contacts. Similarly, the social media platforms may collect information about your interaction with our Products and Services. We do not have any control of the collection, use and sharing of your information when using any social media platforms. You should read any associated privacy policies before using them.

We may combine the information we collect about you from the various sources described above.

How We Use Your Personal Data

This section explains how we use your information and what we need it for (purposes). We use your personal data only when we have a valid reason and the legal grounds to do so. We determine the legal grounds based on the purposes for which we have collected your personal data. More information is provided below:

Purposes for collecting and using personal information

We use the above categories of personal information for the following purposes:

• To verify your identity and enable you to access your products and services when you contact us or access our services.
• To protect you from fraud and for fraud prevention and detection.
• For statistical analysis (e.g., on the use of our websites).
• To operate and improve our websites and services.
• To notify you of any changes to our websites or our services and products that may affect you.
• To provide you with technical and customer support.
• To ask your opinion or feedback on our services or surveys.
• To communicate with you about other products or services, events, offers, promotions and other information or news that we think may be of interest to you. Whenever we communicate with you in this way, we will give you an opportunity to opt out of receiving future messages.
• To enforce our legal rights or comply with legal requirements.
• To provide improved website and product experience and communications informed by your product subscriptions and/or data collected.
• Our legal grounds for using your personal data

We will only use your personal data when the law allows us to. We will use your personal data in the following circumstances:

• Where we have your consent. For example, where you have provided your consent to receive marketing emails from us or where you have given your consent to be contacted by a third party sponsor for an event you have participated in. You can withdraw your consent at any time. In the case of marketing emails, you can withdraw your consent by clicking on the “unsubscribe” link in the email you received.
• Where we need to comply with a legal or regulatory obligation.
• Where it is in our legitimate interests, including our commercial interests or a third party’s legitimate interest in using the personal information. Examples include when we analyze what content has been viewed on our Network and apps, so that we can understand how they are used and improve our content; carrying out marketing analyses to better understand your interests and preferences so that we can make our marketing more relevant to your interests and preferences. This includes when we promote our own products and services.
• Whenever we rely on legitimate interests for processing, we ensure that we consider and balance our interests against the individual’s interests before processing. We do not use your personal data on the basis of legitimate interest for activities where individuals’ interests override our interests.

Cookies and Similar Technologies

When you visit our Network and sites or when you use our apps, we may collect personal data from you automatically using cookies or similar technologies. A cookie is a small file that can be placed on your device that allows us to recognize and remember you. We may place cookies on your device (with your consent, where applicable), as well as partner with third parties, including advertising partners, who may use cookies or other similar technologies to provide you with advertising based on your browsing activities and interests. Please see our cookie policy for additional information on how we use cookies and what third party cookies we permit.

Advertising on our Network

We work with third party advertisers to deliver ads on our Network. This involves tracking, targeting and measuring, using your personal data. We will get consent through our online consent management portal, or via other consent mechanisms before we can use your personal data in this way.

Targeting:

• Advertisers can target their campaigns using topic tags.
• Advertisers can target by geography, which is identified through Google Ad Manager, based on a visitor’s IP address (which is truncated by Google).

Google Ads

We use Google Ads to display personalized ads to users. You can find out more or opt out by visiting Google's help center.

We will only process your data for any online or digital advertising on the basis of your informed consent, which can be withdrawn at any time, or if we have a legitimate interest. Your data can only be used by us and will not be shared with other parties.

Who Do We Share Your Personal Data With?

We do not and will not share your personal data with any other parties.

How Long Do We Retain Your Personal Data?

We will keep your personal data only for as long as is necessary for the purposes set out in this privacy notice and to fulfil our legal obligations. We will not keep more data than we need. While you remain a user of the Public Network or a customer, we will retain your data in order to keep providing services to you.

We are required to keep some basic information about our customers for a longer period in accordance with applicable tax and other laws. In some circumstances, you can ask us to delete your data.

Your choices - how to access and control your personal data

You can make choices about the collection and use of your data in the various ways set out below.

You may change or correct your account settings and choose not to share certain information by creating a pseudonymous account. You may also remove certain optional information that you no longer wish to be publicly displayed, such as your photo.

You can also control your personal data that we have collected and exercise your data protection rights as set out in the section below, or by using the tools described below. Please be aware that in some cases, your ability to access or control your personal data will be limited under applicable law.

When we send promotional emails and texts, we will give you an ‘unsubscribe’ option to opt out of receiving such messages. You can opt out of receiving telephone calls. Occasionally, we may send promotional mail, you can let us know if you do not wish to receive mail by contacting us. You can also opt out in your Profile Settings.

Interest based advertising

We may carry out interest-based advertising through third party services such as Microsoft or Google, as described under Advertising, above. You can opt out of such advertising in the following ways:

You can opt out of advertising from Google or find out more by visiting Google's help center. More information and resources on how you can control your ad choices and how to opt out of interest based advertising can be found on NAI Consumer Opt Out and YourAdChoices.com.

If you want to access or control personal data processed that is not available via the tools, please refer to Your Rights or contact us.

Your Rights

You have a number of rights in relation to your personal data, and you can contact us if you want to exercise any of these.

Your rights include:

• Access: The right to be provided with a copy of your personal data also known as a "data subject access request"
• Rectification: The right to require us to correct any mistakes in your personal data
• Erasure: The right to require us to delete your personal data—in certain situations
• Restriction of processing: The right to require us to restrict processing of your personal data in certain circumstances, e.g., if you contest the accuracy of the data
• Data portability: The right to receive the personal data you provided to us, in a structured, commonly used and machine-readable format and/or transmit that data to a third party—in certain situations
• To object: The right to object: at any time to your personal data being processed for direct marketing (including profiling); in certain other situations to our continued processing of your personal data, e.g., processing carried out for the purpose of our legitimate interests. If you would like to exercise any of these rights, please submit a data request.

We may need to request specific information from you to help us confirm your identity before we can deal with your request. We will respond to your request within one month. If your request is complicated, it may take us longer. We will let you know if we need longer than one month to respond.

You also have the right to take your concerns at any time to the UK or EU Supervisory Authority, depending on your location.

Where we process your information (locations)

We will process your information in the United States.

Please be aware that the privacy laws and standards in certain countries outside the United Kingdom (UK) and the European Economic Area (EEA), including the rights of authorities to access your personal information, may differ from those that apply in the country in which you reside. We will transfer personal information only to countries to which we are permitted by law to transfer personal information and we will continue to ensure that your personal information is appropriately safeguarded. More information on this is provided within the policy.

Our ongoing commitment to data security

Security is important to us and we know it is important to you. We follow generally accepted standards to protect your personal information when processing, transferring, and storing your personal information including Transport Layer Security (“TLS”).

We have appropriate security measures to prevent personal data from being accidentally lost, or used or accessed unlawfully. We limit access to your personal data to those who have a genuine business need to access it and only as necessary to perform our legitimate business interests. We also have procedures in place to deal with any suspected data security breach. We will notify you and any applicable regulator of a suspected data security breach where we are legally required to do so.

We also encourage you to protect yourself against unauthorized access to your personal information by choosing a password carefully and in accordance with industry best standards. Do not share your password with anyone you do not trust, and make sure your computer accesses our site via a secure network and that you do not leave your personal information vulnerable to hackers and other bad actors by leaving your computer unattended or by failing to logout of your account when you have ended your session activity.

How we may contact you

• Service communications: From time to time, we may send you service emails, for example, how to use certain features of products you have bought or renewal reminders (if applicable).
• Marketing and product communications and newsletters: From time to time, we may communicate with you about commercial and other Product and Services offerings and to let you know how you can continue to share, learn, and build your knowledge within the community. You can opt-out of such messages at any time by changing your permissions in your Profile Settings. In some cases, e.g., third party offers, we will only send these if you have given us permission.
• Direct marketing opt out: You may opt-out of receiving email marketing materials by using the unsubscribe link in these communications or by changing your Email Settings.

Additional Information for California Consumers

Under the California Consumer Privacy Act (“CCPA”), we are required to notify California consumers about our collection, use, and disclosure of their personal information (whether collected through this website or offline).

We do not sell (as the term is defined in the CCPA) the personal information we collect (and will not sell it without providing a right to opt out). Please note that we do use third-party cookies for our advertising purposes, as described in our cookie policy.

In the last 12 months, we collected the following categories of personal information from California consumers:

• Identifiers, like your username, email address, IP address, and cookie information.
• Internet or other electronic network activity information, such as information about your activity on our Services and limited information about your activity on the services of advertisers who use our advertising technology.
• Geolocation information based on your IP address, or more specific location information if you authorize your device to provide it to us.
• Text and media submitted to us.

California consumers have additional rights under the CCPA (subject to certain limitations), including the right to request access to or deletion of your personal information, and information about our data practices, as well as the right not to be discriminated against for exercising your privacy rights.

These rights can be exercised by contacting us.

We will verify your request using the information associated with your account, including email address. Government identification may be required. Consumers can also designate an authorized agent to exercise these rights on their behalf.

Children

This platform is not intended for children. We do not knowingly offer this or any other Product or Service to anyone under the age of 16.

Amendments

We may amend or update this policy from time to time and will notify you of any material changes to this policy. Previous versions of this privacy policy are available upon request.

Updated on January 2, 2024