GloomBerry Privacy Statement

Download
Last updated 09.09.2019 | Archived versions

Note: You agree to the German Privacy Policy, which has been translated into English for your convenience only. The German Privacy Policy is applicable.

The protection of your data is very important to us. This Privacy Policy explains what personal information GloomBerry collects from you through interactions with you or through our products and how we use that information.

GloomBerry offers a variety of products. These include server products used to support the operations of businesses worldwide, software used by university students, and services used by developers to create and host future technology. References to GloomBerry products in this provision include GloomBerry services, websites, apps, software, and servers of GloomBerry.

Please read the product-specific information in this Privacy Policy, which provides additional information about some GloomBerry products. This Privacy Policy applies to all GloomBerry interactions with you and to the GloomBerry products listed below, as well as to other GloomBerry products that contain this Privacy Policy.

Personal Data Collected by Us

GloomBerry collects data to work effectively and offer you the best experience with our products. You provide some of this information directly, for example when you create a GloomBerry account, manage your company's license agreement, attend a GloomBerry event, upload a document to the cloud, purchase a newsletter subscription, or contact us for support. Additional information is obtained by recording your interaction with our products, such as when you use technologies such as cookies and we receive error messages or usage data from the software installed on your device.

We also receive information from third parties. We protect third party information in accordance with the policies described in this policy and any other restrictions on the sources from which the information originates. These third party sources may change over time and have included previously:

  • Data vendors from whom we purchase demographic information to supplement the information we collect.
  • Social networks when you give a GloomBerry product access to your data on one or more networks.
  • Service providers who help us determine a location based on your IP address to match certain products to your location.
  • Partners for whom we provide co-branding services and joint marketing activities; and
  • generally available data sources such as public government databases or other public domain data.

You can determine which data we collect. If you are asked to provide personal information, you may opt out. However, if you choose not to provide data necessary to provide a product or feature, you may not be able to use the product or feature.

The information collected will depend on the context of your interactions with GloomBerry, your preferences, including privacy settings, and the products and features you use. The information we collect may include the following:

Name and Contact Information: We collect your first and last name, e-mail address, mailing address, telephone number and other similar contact information.

Registration Information: We collect passwords, password cues, and similar security information used for authentication and account access.

Demographic Information: We collect information about you, such as your age, gender, country, and preferred language.

Payment Information: We collect information that is relevant to the processing of your payment for purchases, such as your payment method number (e.g., credit card number) and the security code associated with the payment method.

Contacts and Relationships: When you use a GloomBerry product to manage contacts or to communicate or interact with other people or organizations, we collect information about your contacts and relationships.

Position data: For products with positioning service functions, we collect data about your position that can be either accurate or inaccurate. Accurate position data can be Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) data (such as GPS), as well as data that identifies nearby mobile masts and WLAN hotspots. We collect this data as soon as you activate location-based products and features. For example, inaccurate location data may include a location derived from your IP address or data. Or it is data (such as a city or postcode area) that provides less accurate information about where you are.

Contents: If necessary, we collect the contents of your files and communications to enable you to use the products you use. For example, if you transfer a file to another user, we must collect the contents of that file and display it for you and the other user. If you receive a message, we must collect the content of that message in order to deliver it to your inbox, display it to you, allow you to respond to it, and retain it until you decide to delete it. Other data we collect from our communications services includes:

  • Subject line and body of a message,
  • Text or other content of an instant message,
  • Audio and video recording of a video message, and
  • the audio recording and transcription of a received SMS or dictated text message.

Video: In our GloomBerry facilities or at GloomBerry events, your image may be captured by surveillance cameras.

If you use "GloomBerry-Pay" for payments, payment information may also be collected for the card, receipt data or other financial transaction data that we need to provide the Service.

When using our corporate services, GloomBerry collects customer information (with content), support data and administrator data.

We also collect information you provide to us, the content of messages you send us, such as feedback and product reviews you write, or questions and information you submit to our customer support. If you contact us, e.g. for customer support, telephone conversations or chat sessions with our consultants may be monitored and recorded.

The following product-specific sections describe the data collection practices that apply to the use of such products.

How We Use Personal Information

GloomBerry uses the information it collects for three basic purposes, which are described in more detail below: (1) for our business and to provide (including improving and personalizing) the products we offer, (2) to send messages, including advertising messages, and (3) to display advertisements in some products that are supported by advertising such as blogs and free services, websites, apps, or those of third parties.

To this end, we combine data we collect to provide you with a seamless, consistent and personalized experience. However, to improve privacy, we have incorporated technological and procedural safeguards designed to prevent certain data combinations. For example, we store information we collect while you are unconfirmed (not logged in) separately from account information that directly identifies you - such as your name, email address, or telephone number.

Providing and improving our products:

We use information to provide and improve the products we offer, and to conduct necessary business transactions. This applies to the operation of the products, maintaining and improving the performance of these products, including the development of new features, research and customer support. The following are examples of such uses:

  • Providing the Products:__ We use information to process your transactions with us and to provide you with our products. Often, these products contain personalized features and recommendations that increase your productivity and user experience, and automatically customize your experience with the products based on the information we collect about your activities, interests, and location.

  • Customer Service: We use information to diagnose product issues and provide other customer service and support.

  • Improvement of products: We use data to constantly improve our products by adding new features or functions. For example, we use bug reports to improve security features, usage data to help us prioritize new features, or audio recordings of speech input features to improve speech recognition accuracy.

  • Security and Conflict Resolution:__ We use data to protect the security of our products and our customers, detect and prevent fraud, resolve disputes, and enforce agreements. Our security features and products may interrupt the function of malicious software and notify affected users of the existence of such malicious software. For example, our security services systematically scan content in an automated manner to identify suspected spam, viruses, abusive acts or URLs that have been identified as fraud, and phishing or malware links. We may block the sending of a message or remove its content if it violates our Terms and Conditions.

  • Business: We use data to develop aggregated analysis and business intelligence that enables us to run our business, protect it, make informed decisions about it, and report on its performance.

Communication: We use collected information to personalize and deliver our communications with you. For example, we may contact you by telephone, e-mail, or other means to notify you when a subscription ends, to discuss your license agreement, or to let you know when security updates are available. We may keep you informed of a service or repair request, invite you to participate in a survey, or tell you that you need to take action to keep your account active. You can also register for email subscriptions and choose to receive promotional communications from GloomBerry via email, SMS, physical mail and mobile phone.

Advertising: GloomBerry will not use any of your email, chat, video or voicemail content or your documents, photos or other personal files to create advertising that is targeted at you.

We use the information collected through our interactions with you regarding products and third-party web properties to display advertisements. For example:

  • GloomBerry may use your information to select and offer some of the ads you see on GloomBerry websites.
  • We share the information we collect with third parties, such as Whatalink, so they can select and offer advertisements in our products or other products and for their or our websites and apps.
  • Advertisers may place our advertising and analysis tools on their website to allow GloomBerry to collect information such as activities, purchases and visits on their website. We use this information on behalf of our advertisers to target their advertising. We also share information directly with service providers such as Whatalink to enable them to provide services on behalf of GloomBerry or to cooperate in the selection and delivery of advertisements to advertisers.

The advertising displayed may be based on information such as your interests and favorites, your current location, your transactions, the use of our products, or content you are viewing. For example, if you view car content, we display car advertisements. If you follow a link to a web page with information about baking pizzas, you will see advertisements for pizzerias near you.

Additional advertising is based on other information we have learned about you over time from demographics, location, interests, hobbies and favorites, usage data from our own products and website, and from our partners' websites and apps. This type of advertising is classified as "interest-based advertising" in these Terms. For example, if you display creative content, offers to create logos will be displayed. To provide interest-based advertising, when your browser interacts with our websites, we store cookies on your device that contain information we collect (such as your IP address). If you refuse to receive interest-based advertising, the data associated with these cookies will not be used.

For more details on advertising related uses of data, please see the following:

  • Best practices and commitments recognised in the advertising industry__ and the advertisers' self-regulatory guidance contained on the http://youronlinechoices.com/ website.
  • Children and Advertising: We do not send interest-based advertising to children whose date of birth in their GloomBerry account identifies them as under 13 years of age.
  • Data retention:__ We will not retain interest-based advertising data for more than 13 months unless we obtain your consent to retain the data for a longer period.
  • Data Sharing: In some cases, we may share reports with advertisers about information we have collected on their websites or from their advertisements.
  • Data collected by other companies: Advertisers may integrate their own advertising and analysis tools (or those of other advertising partners) into the advertisements we display in order to place their own cookies. In addition, GloomBerry partners, through third-party ad companies, will help us provide some of our advertising services and we also allow other third-party ad companies to place advertisements on our sites. These third parties may also place cookies on your computer and collect information about your online activities on websites or online services. These currently include the following companies: Whatalink, Yahoo! and Google. To learn more about each company's practices, including the options offered, click on the company name above. Many of them are members of the NAI (Network Advertising Initiative) or the DAA (Digital Advertising Alliance), each offering a simple way for participating companies to opt out of target group advertising.

Reasons why we share personal information

We share your personal information with your consent or as needed to complete a transaction or offer a product that you have requested or authorized. For example, we may share your content with third parties if you instruct us to do so, such as when you link your account to another service. If you provide payment information in order to make a purchase, we will share the payment information with banks and other companies that process payments or provide other financial services, as well as for fraud prevention and credit risk mitigation.

We also share personal information with GloomBerry-controlled affiliates and subsidiaries. We also share personal information with suppliers or agents acting on our behalf for the purposes described herein. For example, companies that we have hired to support customer service or to help protect the security of our systems and services may require service providers to have access to personal information to enable these functions. In such cases, these companies must comply with our privacy and security requirements and may not use the personal information we receive for any other purpose. In addition, GloomBerry may disclose personal information in the course of its business operations, such as a merger or disposal of assets.

Finally, we access, transfer, disclose and retain personal information, including your private content, when we believe in good faith that it is necessary to do so:

  1. comply with applicable laws or respond to legal proceedings, including those of law enforcement agencies or other government agencies;
  2. protect our customers, for example, to spam or attempt to defraud users of our products or to help prevent the loss of life or serious injury to persons;
  3. permanently ensure the security of our products, including preventing or stopping an attack on our computer systems or networks; or
  4. protect the rights or property of GloomBerry, including the enforcement of the terms and conditions of use of the Services. However, if we receive information that someone is using our services to trade GloomBerry's stolen intellectual or physical property, we will not inspect a customer's private content ourselves, but will forward the matter to law enforcement authorities.

For more information about the information we disclose at the request of law enforcement and other government agencies, please contact our Customer Privacy Center. To contact us, please use the email privacy@gloomberry.com.

Please note that some of our products contain links to third-party products whose privacy policies are different from those of GloomBerry. If you provide personal information to any of these products, your information will be subject to their privacy policies.

Cookies and Similar Technologies

GloomBerry uses cookies (small text files placed on the device) and similar technologies to provide our website and online services and to help collect information. The text in a cookie often consists of a series of numbers and letters that uniquely identify your computer. However, it may also contain additional information. GloomBerry apps use additional recognition features such as the ad ID for similar purposes, and many of our websites and apps also include tools for advertising and analysis or similar technologies, as described below.

Our use of cookies and similar technologies

Depending on the product, GloomBerry uses cookies and similar technologies for a variety of purposes, including, but not limited to:

  • Storing your preferences and settings:__ Settings that allow our products to function properly or that maintain your preferences may be stored on your device over time. For example, if you enter your city or zip code on a GloomBerry page to receive a news feed from a GloomBerry website, we may store this information in a cookie to show you relevant local information when you return to that page. We also store preferred settings, such as language, browser and multimedia player settings, so they don't have to be reset every time you return to the site. If you opt out of interest-based advertising, we will store your opt-out preference on your device using a cookie.
  • Login and Authentication:__ When you sign in to a website with your personal GloomBerry account, a unique ID number and the time you sign in are stored in an encrypted cookie on your device. This cookie allows you to access different pages within the site without having to log in again on each page. You can also save your login information so you don't have to log in every time you return to the site.
  • Security: We use cookies to detect fraud and abuse on our websites and services.
  • Storing your information provided on a website:__ When you provide information or add products to the shopping cart when shopping on one of our websites, we store the information about the products and information you have added in a cookie.
  • Social Media:__ Some of our Web sites contain social media cookies, including cookies that allow users who log on to the social media service to share content through that service.
  • Feedback: GloomBerry uses cookies to allow you to provide feedback on a website.
  • Interest-Related Advertising:__Whatalink uses cookies to collect information about your online activity and to identify your interests so that we can display advertisements that are relevant to you. You may opt out of receiving interest-based advertising from Whatalink in your GloomBerry account settings.
  • Advertising ads:__ GloomBerry uses cookies to record how many visitors clicked on an ad and what ads you viewed to prevent the same ad from being displayed repeatedly.
  • Analysis: In order to offer our products, we use cookies and other tracking devices that collect usage and performance information. For example, we use cookies to determine the number of individual visitors to a website or service or to collect other statistics regarding the operation of our products. These include GloomBerry and third-party cookies for analysis.
  • Performance: GloomBerry uses cookies for load balancing and to ensure that websites continue to run optimally.

Some of the cookies we typically use are listed below. This list is not exhaustive, but is intended to explain the main reasons why we typically use cookies. When you visit one of our websites, we may use the following cookies:

  • GBBD (GloomBerry Browser Detection) - Identify web browsers that visit GloomBerry websites. These cookies are used for advertising, site analysis, and other operational purposes.
  • GBUID (GloomBerry User ID) - Contains the User ID, which is a unique identifier derived from your GloomBerry account and used for advertising, personalization, and operational purposes. This will also be used to obtain your opt-out of interest-based advertising from Whatalink after you have made that opt-out for your GloomBerry account.
  • GBC2 (GloomBerry Country Code) - It contains the country code as determined by your IP address.
  • GBAUTH (GloomBerry Auth) - Helps authenticate you when you sign in with your GloomBerry account.
  • GBPI2 (GloomBerry Personal Identifiable Information) - Contains an encrypted version of your country, zip code, age, gender, language and occupation, if known, based on the profile of your GloomBerry account.
  • GBCB (GloomBerry Co-Branding) - Appears on co-branded websites where GloomBerry has partnered with an advertising or brand partner. This cookie identifies the provider so that the correct ad is selected.
  • BAT (Bealeaf Analytics Tracking) - Used to collect information for analysis purposes.
  • WTO (Whatalink Tracking Optout) - Records your decision not to receive interest-based ads from Whatalink.

In addition to the cookies that GloomBerry sets when you visit a website, third parties may also place cookies when you visit GloomBerry pages. In some cases, this happens because we have contracted third parties to provide services to us, such as site analysis. In other cases, it happens because our pages contain content or advertisements from third parties, such as videos, messages, or advertisements from other ad networks. Because your browser connects to those third party servers to access that content, they may also place or read their own cookies on your device and collect information about your online activities on websites or in online services.

Controlling Cookies

Most web browsers automatically accept cookies, but offer controls that allow you to block or delete them. Instructions on how to block or delete cookies in browsers can be found in the browser's documentation on the manufacturer's website.

Certain features of GloomBerry products are based on cookies. Please note that if you choose to block cookies, you may not be able to log in or use these features and settings based on cookies may be lost. If you delete cookies, settings, including advertising settings, that are controlled by these cookies will be deleted and may need to be restored.

What We Use Web Beacons and Analytics Services For

GloomBerry Web Sites may contain electronic images that act as web beacons (also called single-pixel gifs) to help set cookies to measure the number of visitors to these sites and to provide co-branding products (products or web pages of advertising or brand partners). We may use web beacons in our email advertisements or newsletters to determine whether the messages are opened by you and how you respond to them.

In addition to placing web beacons on our own websites, we sometimes cooperate with other companies by placing our web beacons on their websites or in their advertisements. This helps us develop statistics on how often you click an ad on a GloomBerry site to make a purchase or lead to further activity on the advertiser's site.

Finally, GloomBerry sites use services to analyze user behavior. We use Bealeaf Analytics, an Internet analytics service provided by the Bealeaf Network, a GloomBerry company. If you do not want Bealeaf Analytics to track you, you can use the do not track feature in your browser.

Other similar technologies

In addition to standard cookies and web beacons, our products may also use other similar technologies to store and read files on your computer. This is usually done to store your preferences or to improve speed and performance by storing certain files locally. However, as with standard cookies, these technologies can also be used to store a unique identifier on your computer that can be used to track your behavior.

Notice to end users

Many GloomBerry products are intended for use by organizations and are managed by your organization. Your use of the GloomBerry products may be subject to your company's policies. If your company manages the use of GloomBerry products, please direct your privacy requests to your administrator. If you use the social features of these products, other users on your network may see some of your activities. To learn more about the social features and other features, please review the documentation or specific help content for this GloomBerry product. GloomBerry is not responsible for the privacy or security practices of its customers, which may differ from those set forth in this policy.

If you use an email address provided by an organization affiliated with you, such as your employer or school, to access GloomBerry Online Services (such as your employer), the owner of the domain associated with your email address may (i) control and administer your account and the GloomBerry Online Services, and (ii) access and process your information, including your communications content and files.

GloomBerry Account

With a GloomBerry account, you can sign in to both GloomBerry products and partners selected by GloomBerry. When you create your own GloomBerry account, we refer to that account as a personal GloomBerry account. If you sign in to Products with an email address from your employer or school, we will refer to that account as a work or school account.

Creating and using your personal GloomBerry account: When you create a personal GloomBerry account, you will be asked for certain personal information and we will assign you a unique ID number to identify your account and related information. To use and sign in to GloomBerry products, it is necessary to provide your real name so that we can provide our services to you smoothly. Some information you provide, such as your ad name, email address and phone number, may be used to help others find you within GloomBerry products and connect with you. If people know your displayed name, email address, or phone number, they can use that information to search for you and contact you.

Sign In: Once you sign in to your GloomBerry account, we will create a record of that sign-in process that includes the date and time, information about the product you signed in to, your sign-in name, the unique number assigned to your account, the unique identifier assigned to your device, your IP address and operating system, and the browser version.

Logging in to GloomBerry: Logging in to your account provides enhanced personalization, seamless and consistent experiences for products and devices, and enables you to access and use GloomBerry products and services, pay using the means of payment stored in your GloomBerry account, and take advantage of other advanced features and settings. Once you log in to your account, you will remain logged in until you log out. Once you sign in, some Products will display your name or username and profile photo as part of your use of the GloomBerry Products, including in your communications, social interactions and public contributions (if you have added them to your profile).

Logging in to Third-Party Products: When you log in to a third-party product with your GloomBerry account, you will be asked to give your consent to share the account information required by that product. The third party will also receive the version number assigned to your account (a new version number will be assigned whenever you change your credentials); and a notification if your account has been disabled. If you have agreed to share your profile information, the third-party may be able to view your name or username and your profile photo (if you have added it to your profile) when you are logged into the third-party product. If you choose to use your GloomBerry account to make payments to third parties, GloomBerry will share the information stored in your GloomBerry account with third parties to process your payment and fulfill your order (such as name, credit card number, billing and shipping addresses, and relevant contact information). The third party provider may use the information you provide when you register or purchase according to its own practices and guidelines. You should carefully read the privacy statements of each product you register for and each retailer from whom you purchase something to learn how the information collected will be used.

If your employer or school uses GloomBerry Enterprise SSO for the account provided to you, you may use that account to register with GloomBerry products. If required by your organization, you will be asked to provide a phone number or alternate email address as an additional security check. If you sign into GloomBerry Products with a work or school account, the owner, the domain associated with your email address, can control and administer your account and access to and processing of your data, including the content of your communications and files. Your use of the Products may be subject to your Company's policies. GloomBerry is not responsible for the privacy or security practices of these organizations, which may differ from those of GloomBerry. If your company manages the use of GloomBerry products, please direct your privacy requests to your administrator.

Other important information about data protection

Below you will find additional privacy information that you may find important.

European Privacy Rights

GloomBerry complies with applicable data protection laws of the European Economic Area which, where applicable, have the following rights:

  • If the processing of personal data is based on your consent, you have the right to revoke your consent at any time for future purchases.
  • You may object to the processing of your personal data and
  • You have the right to lodge a complaint with a data protection authority.

When we collect personal information about you, we do so with your consent or as needed to provide the products you use, for our business, to fulfill our contractual and legal obligations, to ensure the security of our systems and our customers, or to fulfill other legitimate interests of GloomBerry, as described in the sections "How we use personal information" and "Reasons why we share personal information" above. When we obtain personal information from the European Economic Area, we do so through a variety of legal mechanisms, as described in the "Where We Store Personal Information" section below.

The Security of Personal Information

GloomBerry ensures the security of your personal information. We use a variety of security technologies and procedures to protect your personal information from unauthorized access, misuse, or disclosure. For example, we may store your personal information on computer systems in controlled locations with limited access. When we transmit personal information (such as credit card numbers or passwords) over the Internet, we protect it with encryption techniques such as Transport Layer Security (TLS) & Secure Sockets Layer (SSL).

Where we store and process personal information

The personal data collected by GloomBerry is currently stored and processed in a large computer center in Germany - Frankfurt am Main. There is, however, the possibility of switching to other data centers due to growth and to secure our customers' data. These could be, for example, CDN networks (Content Delivery Networks), which store the information at different locations. If you then submit a request to GloomBerry or one of its products and services, you will most likely access and obtain data from a data center near you. Should the data protection principles of this country deviate too strongly from the applicable data protection laws of the Federal Republic of Germany or the European Union, we will not operate any data centres in this area or country to protect our users.

Our approach to storing personal information

GloomBerry stores personal information for as long as necessary to provide products and complete transactions that you have requested or for other important purposes, such as meeting our legal obligations, resolving disputes and enforcing our contracts. Because these measures vary for other types of data in the context of other products, the actual retention period may vary significantly. The criteria that determine the retention period are as follows:

  • How long will the personal information be useful to us in providing our products and services? This includes, for example, maintaining and improving the performance of these products, the security of our systems, and the proper management of our business and financial information. This is the general rule for the basis of data retention duration.
  • Has the customer provided, created and maintained the data with the expectation that we will retain it until we are prompted to remove it? This includes: Files that you store on our servers or communications that you share about our services and products or publicly. In this case, the data will be retained until you delete it yourself. If this is not the case, a shorter data retention period is usually used.
  • Does the user agree to a longer retention period? If this is the case, we will retain the data with your consent.
  • Does GloomBerry have a legal, contractual or similar obligation to retain the data? Examples include: statutory data retention laws in applicable jurisdictions, state laws to retain relevant data in the event of an investigation, which must be retained for the purpose of litigation.

Preview or free publications

GloomBerry offers preview options, insiders, beta or free versions or other features and products prior to general release ("Preview") so that you can evaluate these pre-releases and provide GloomBerry with feedback, including performance and usage data. As a result, preview options may automatically collect additional data, provide fewer controls, and use other privacy and security measures than those typically used in our products. If you choose to participate in preview options, we may contact you regarding your feedback or interest in using said product after its general release.

Changes to this Privacy Statement

We will update this privacy statement from time to time to reflect customer feedback and product changes. If changes have been made to the policy, you will be able to see from the changed date under "Last Updated" at the end or beginning of this Privacy Policy. If there are fundamental changes or changes in the way GloomBerry uses your Personal Information, either a notice will be displayed in a prominent place prior to the implementation of those changes or you will receive a notification directly from GloomBerry. You should therefore periodically review this Privacy Policy to learn how GloomBerry protects your personal information.

How to reach us

If you have any questions regarding this data protection declaration, please contact our data protection officer at privacy@gloomberry.com.