Privacy Policy - Particle Network docs

Privacy Policy | Particle Network

At Particle Network, we take your privacy seriously. Please read this Privacy Policy to learn how we treat your personal data. By using or accessing our Services in any manner, you acknowledge that you accept the practices and policies outlined below, and you hereby consent that we will collect, use and share your information as described in this Privacy Policy. Any terms we use in this Policy without defining them have the definitions given to them in the Terms of Service.

What this Privacy Policy Covers

This Privacy Policy covers how we treat Personal Data that we gather when you access or use our Services. “Personal Data” means any information that identifies or relates to a particular individual and also includes information referred to as “personally identifiable information” or “personal information” under applicable data privacy laws, rules, or regulations. This Privacy Policy does not cover the practices of companies we don’t own or control or people we don’t manage.

Personal Data

Categories of Personal Data We Collect

This chart details the categories of Personal Data that we collect and have collected over the past 12 months.

Category of Personal Data	Examples of Personal Data We Collect	Categories of Third Parties With Whom We Share this Personal Data:
Profile or Contact Data	Email address, Cell-phone number, Social login Provider ID or login information, Phone number	Service Providers, Analytics Partners
Device/IP Data	IP address, Device identifiers, Type of device, operating system, or web browser used to access the Services	Service Providers, Analytics Partners
Social Network Data	Email, IP address, Device ID, Phone number	Service Providers, Analytics Partners
Geolocation Data	IP-address-based location information	Service Providers, Analytics Partners

Is collected Personal Information secure and confidential?

We endeavor to protect the privacy of your Personal Information we hold in our records, however, we cannot guarantee complete security. Unauthorized entry or use, hardware or software failure, and other factors may compromise the security of user information. If at any time, there is an identified concern for the security of the site or confidentiality of personal information, please contact help@particle.network for a prompt investigation.

Categories of Sources of Personal Data

We collect Personal Data about you from the following categories of sources:

You
- When you provide such information directly to us.
- When you create an account or use our interactive tools and Services.
- When you voluntarily provide information in free-form text boxes through the Services or through responses to surveys or questionnaires.
- When you send us an email or otherwise contact us.
When you use the Services and such information is collected automatically.
- Through Cookies (defined in the “Tracking Tools and Opt-Out” section below).
- If you use the software we make available, we may receive and collect information transmitted from your computing device for the purpose of providing you the relevant Services, such as information regarding when you are logged on, information about the device from which you are logged in, and the network used to connect to the Services (such as IP address).

Our Commercial or Business Purposes for Collecting Personal Data

Providing, Customizing, and Improving the Services

Creating and managing your account or other user profiles.
Providing you with the products, services, or information you request.
Meeting or fulfilling the reason you provided the information to us.
Providing support and assistance for the Services.
Improving the Services, including testing, research, internal analytics, and product development.
Personalizing the Services, website content, and communications based on your preferences.
Evaluating and providing fraud and automated bot protection.
Improving site security and facilitating debugging.
Carrying out other business purposes stated when collecting your Personal Data or as otherwise set forth in applicable data privacy laws, such as the California Consumer Privacy Act (the “CCPA”) or the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (“GDPR”).

Corresponding with You

Responding to correspondence that we receive from you, contacting you when necessary or requested, and sending you information about Particle Network, or the Services.
Sending emails and other communications according to your preferences or that display content that we think will interest you.

Meeting Legal Requirements and Enforcing Legal Terms

Fulfilling our legal obligations under applicable law, regulation, court order, or other legal processes, such as preventing, detecting, and investigating security incidents and potentially illegal or prohibited activities.
Protecting the rights, property, or safety of you, Particle Network, or another party.
Enforcing any agreements with you.
Responding to claims that any posting or other content violates third-party rights.
Resolving disputes.

We will not collect additional categories of Personal Data or use the Personal Data we collected for materially different, unrelated, or incompatible purposes without providing you notice.

We disclose your Personal Data to the categories of service providers and other parties listed in this section. Depending on state laws that may be applicable to you, some of these disclosures may constitute a “sale” of your Personal Data. For more information, please refer to the state-specific sections below.

Service Providers

These parties help us provide the Services or perform business functions on our behalf. They include:

Hosting, technology, and communication providers.
Security and fraud prevention consultants and vendors.
Support and customer service vendors.
Payment processors.
Our payment processing partner Stripe, Inc. (“Stripe”) collects your voluntarily-provided payment card information necessary to process your payment. Please see Stripe’s terms of service and privacy policy for information on its use and storage of your Personal Data.
Analytics Partners. These parties provide analytics on web traffic or usage of the Services. They include:
- Companies that track how users found or were referred to the Services.
- Companies that track how users interact with the Services.
- Companies that help identify user experience issues or service impacts.

Legal Obligations

We may share any Personal Data that we collect with third parties in conjunction with any of the activities set forth under “Meeting Legal Requirements and Enforcing Legal Terms” in the “Our Commercial or Business Purposes for Collecting Personal Data” section above.

Business Transfers

All of your Personal Data that we collect may be transferred to a third party if we undergo a merger, acquisition, bankruptcy, or other transaction in which that third party assumes control of our business (in whole or in part). Should one of these events occur, we will make reasonable efforts to notify you before your information becomes subject to different privacy and security policies and practices.

Data that is not Personal Data

We may create aggregated, de-identified, or anonymized data from the Personal Data we collect, including by removing information that makes the data personally identifiable to a particular user. We may use such aggregated, de-identified, or anonymized data and share it with third parties for our lawful business purposes, including to analyze, build and improve the Services and promote our business, provided that we will not share such data in a manner that could identify you.

Tracking Tools and Opt-Out

The Services use cookies and similar technologies such as image loading, browser local storage, cookies, and JavaScript (collectively, “Cookies”) to enable our servers to recognize your web browser, tell us how and when you visit and use our Services, analyze trends, learn about our user base and operate and improve our Services. Cookies are small pieces of data – usually text files – placed on your computer, tablet, phone, or similar device when you use that device to access our Services. We may also supplement the information we collect from you with information received from third parties, including third parties that have placed their own Cookies on your device(s).

We use the following types of Cookies:

Essential Cookies. Essential Cookies are required for providing you with features or services that you have requested. For example, certain Cookies enable you to log into secure areas of our Services. Disabling these Cookies may make certain features and services unavailable.
Functional Cookies. Functional Cookies are used to record your choices and settings regarding our Services, maintain your preferences over time and recognize you when you return to our Services. These Cookies help us to personalize our content for you, greet you by name and remember your preferences (for example, your choice of language or region).
Performance/Analytical Cookies. Performance/Analytical Cookies allow us to understand how visitors use our Services. They do this by collecting information about the number of visitors to the Services, what pages visitors view on our Services and how long visitors are viewing pages on the Services. Performance/Analytical Cookies also help us measure the performance of our advertising campaigns in order to help us improve our campaigns and the Services’ content for those who engage with our advertising.

You can decide whether or not to accept Cookies through your internet browser’s settings. Most browsers have an option for turning off the Cookie feature, which will prevent your browser from accepting new Cookies, as well as (depending on the sophistication of your browser software) allow you to decide on acceptance of each new Cookie in a variety of ways. You can also delete all Cookies that are already on your device. If you do this, however, you may have to manually adjust some preferences every time you visit our website and some of the Services and functionalities may not work.

Data Security and Retention

We seek to protect your Personal Data from unauthorized access, use and disclosure using appropriate physical, technical, organizational and administrative security measures based on the type of Personal Data and how we are processing that data. You should also help protect your data by appropriately selecting and protecting your password and/or other sign-on mechanisms; limiting access to your computer or device and browser; and signing off after you have finished accessing your account. Although we work to protect the security of your account and other data that we hold in our records, please be aware that no method of transmitting data over the internet or storing data is completely secure. We retain Personal Data about you for as long as you have an open account with us or as otherwise necessary to provide you with our Services. In some cases, we retain Personal Data for longer, if doing so is necessary to comply with our legal obligations, resolve disputes, or collect fees owed, or is otherwise permitted or required by applicable law, rule, or regulation. We may further retain information in an anonymous or aggregated form where that information would not identify you personally. Information about data retention and our data retention policy is available.

Personal Data of Children

As noted in the Terms of Use, we do not knowingly collect or solicit Personal Data about children under 18 years of age; if you are a child under the age of 18, please do not attempt to register for or otherwise use the Services or send us any Personal Data. If we learn we have collected Personal Data from a child under 18 years of age, we will delete that information as quickly as possible. If you believe that a child under 18 years of age may have provided Personal Data to us, please contact us at help@particle.network.

Data Deletion Requests

Requesting Data Deletion

If you would like to request the deletion of your personal data from our records, please follow the steps outlined below:

Email us at: help@particle.network with subject starting with: “Data Deletion Requests”;
Provide your Third-Party account and your Particle Account.

Verification of Identity

To ensure the security and accuracy of the data deletion process, we may require additional information or verification of your identity before proceeding with your request. This is to protect your data from unauthorized access or deletion.

We will verify the email address and Third-Party account and your Particle Account;

Data Deletion Timeframe

We will make reasonable efforts to process and fulfill your data deletion request within 30 days from the date of receipt. However, please note that certain legal obligations or technical constraints may prevent immediate or complete deletion of your data.

Communication of Data Deletion

Once your data has been successfully deleted from our systems, we will notify you through help@particle.network. Please note that residual copies of your data may remain in our backup systems for a limited period, as permitted by law or necessary for legitimate business purposes.

California Resident Rights

If you are a California resident, you have the rights set forth in this section. Please see the “Exercising Your Rights” section below for instructions regarding how to exercise these rights. Please note that we may process the Personal Data of our customers’ end users or employees in connection with our provision of certain services to our customers. If we are processing your Personal Data as a service provider, you should contact the entity that collected your Personal Data in the first instance to address your rights with respect to such data. If there are any conflicts between this section and any other provision of this Privacy Policy and you are a California resident, the portion that is more protective of Personal Data shall control to the extent of such conflict. If you have any questions about this section or whether any of the following rights apply to you, please contact us at help@particle.network.

Access

You have the right to request certain information about our collection and use of your Personal Data over the past 12 months. In response, we will provide you with the following information:

The categories of Personal Data that we have collected about you.
The categories of sources from which that Personal Data was collected.
The business or commercial purpose for collecting or selling your Personal Data.
The categories of third parties with whom we have shared your Personal Data.
The specific pieces of Personal Data that we have collected about you.

If we have disclosed your Personal Data to any third parties for a business purpose over the past 12 months, we will identify the categories of Personal Data shared with each category of the third-party recipient. If we have sold your Personal Data over the past 12 months, we will identify the categories of Personal Data sold to each category of the third-party recipient.

Deletion

You have the right to request that we delete the Personal Data that we have collected about you. Under the CCPA, this right is subject to certain exceptions: for example, we may need to retain your Personal Data to provide you with the Services or complete a transaction or other action you have requested. If your deletion request is subject to one of these exceptions, we may deny your deletion request.

Exercising Your Rights

To exercise the rights described above, you or your Authorized Agent (defined below) must send us a request that (1) provides sufficient information to allow us to verify that you are the person about whom we have collected Personal Data, and (2) describes your request in sufficient detail to allow us to understand, evaluate and respond to it. Each request that meets both of these criteria will be considered a “Valid Request.” We may not respond to requests that do not meet these criteria. We will only use Personal Data provided in a Valid Request to verify your identity and complete your request. You do not need an account to submit a Valid Request. Typically, accounts associated with an email address will require verification of the email address, as well as a description of the requested user rights or regulations invoked. Particle Network also values those who are not covered by specific regulations and offers to extend a goodwill effort towards requests originating from other jurisdictions. We will work to respond to your Valid Request within 30 days of receipt. We will not charge you a fee for making a Valid Request unless your Valid Request(s) is excessive, repetitive, or manifestly unfounded. If we determine that your Valid Request warrants a fee, we will notify you of the fee and explain that decision before completing your request. You may submit a Valid Request using the following methods:

Email us at: help@particle.network

You may also authorize an agent (an “Authorized Agent”) to exercise your rights on your behalf. To do this, you must provide your Authorized Agent with written permission to exercise your rights on your behalf, and we may request a copy of this written permission from your Authorized Agent when they make a request on your behalf.

Personal Data Sales Opt-Out and Opt-In

We will not sell your Personal Data and have not done so over the last 12 months. To our knowledge, we do not sell the Personal Data of minors under 18 years of age.

We will not discriminate against you for exercising your rights under the CCPA. We will not deny you our goods or services, charge you different prices or rates, or provide you a lower quality of goods and services if you exercise your rights under the CCPA. However, we may offer different tiers of our Services as allowed by applicable data privacy laws (including the CCPA) with varying prices, rates, or levels of quality of the goods or services you receive related to the value of Personal Data that we receive from you.

Other State Law Privacy Rights

California Resident Rights

Under California Civil Code Sections 1798.83-1798.84, California residents are entitled to contact us to prevent disclosure of Personal Data to third parties for such third parties’ direct marketing purposes. In order to submit such a request, please contact us at help@particle.network. Please note, however, that we do not disclose Personal Data to third parties for such third parties’ direct marketing purposes.

Nevada Resident Rights

If you are a resident of Nevada, you have the right to opt-out of the sale of certain Personal Data to third parties who intend to license or sell that Personal Data. You can exercise this right by contacting us at help@particle.network with the subject line “Nevada Do Not Sell Request” and providing us with your name and the email address associated with your account. Please note, however, that we do not sell Personal Data.

European Union Data Subject Rights

EU Residents

If you are a resident of the European Union (“EU”), United Kingdom, Lichtenstein, Norway, or Iceland, you may have additional rights under the EU General Data Protection Regulation (the “GDPR”) with respect to your Personal Data, as outlined below. For this section, we use the terms “Personal Data” and “processing” as they are defined in the GDPR, but “Personal Data” generally means information that can be used to individually identify a person, and “processing” generally covers actions that can be performed in connection with data such as collection, use, storage, and disclosure. Particle Network will be the controller of your Personal Data processed in connection with the Services. If there are any conflicts between this section and any other provision of this Privacy Policy, the policy or portion that is more protective of Personal Data shall control to the extent of such conflict. If you have any questions about this section or whether any of the following applies to you, please contact us at help@particle.network. Note that we may also process the Personal Data of our customers’ end users or employees in connection with our provision of certain services to customers, in which case we are the processor of Personal Data. If we are the processor of your Personal Data (i.e., not the controller), please contact the controller party in the first instance to address your rights with respect to such data.

Personal Data We Collect

The “Categories of Personal Data We Collect” section above details the Personal Data that we collect from you.

Personal Data Use and Processing Grounds

The “Our Commercial or Business Purposes for Collecting Personal Data” section above explains how we use your Personal Data. We will only process your Personal Data if we have a lawful basis for doing so. Lawful bases for processing include consent, contractual necessity, and our “legitimate interests” or the legitimate interest of others, as further described below.

Contractual Necessity: We process the following categories of Personal Data as a matter of “contractual necessity”, meaning that we need to process the data to perform under our Terms of Use with you, which enables us to provide you with the Services. When we process data due to contractual necessity, failure to provide such Personal Data will result in your inability to use some or all portions of the Services that require such data.

Profile or Contact Data
Device/IP Data
Social Network Data
Geolocation Data

Legitimate Interest: We process the following categories of Personal Data when we believe it furthers the legitimate interest of us or third parties:

Profile or Contact Data
Device/IP Data
Geolocation Data
We may also de-identify or anonymize Personal Data to further our legitimate interests.

Examples of these legitimate interests include (as described in more detail above):

Providing, customizing, and improving the Services.
Marketing the Services.
Corresponding with you.
Meeting legal requirements and enforcing legal terms.
Completing corporate transactions.

Consent: In some cases, we process Personal Data based on the consent you expressly grant to us at the time we collect such data. When we process Personal Data based on your consent, it will be expressly indicated to you at the point and time of collection.

Other Processing Grounds: From time to time, we may also need to process Personal Data to comply with a legal obligation if it is necessary to protect the vital interests of you or other data subjects, or if it is necessary for a task carried out in the public interest.

The “How We Share Your Personal Data” section above details how we share your Personal Data with third parties.

EU Data Subject Rights

You have certain rights with respect to your Personal Data, including those set forth below. For more information about these rights, or to submit a request, please email us at help@particle.network. Please note that in some circumstances, we may not be able to fully comply with your request, such as if it is frivolous or extremely impractical, if it jeopardizes the rights of others, or if it is not required by law, but in those circumstances, we will still respond to notify you of such a decision. In some cases, we may also need you to provide us with additional information, which may include Personal Data, if necessary to verify your identity and the nature of your request.

Access: You can request more information about the Personal Data we hold about you and request a copy of such Personal Data. Users of Particle Network’s dashboard can also access certain of your Personal Data by logging on to your account.
Rectification: If you believe that any Personal Data we are holding about you is incorrect or incomplete, you can request that we correct or supplement such data. Users of Particle Network’s dashboard can also correct some of this information (for example, email address) directly by logging on to your account.
Erasure: You can request that we erase some or all of your Personal Data from our systems.
Withdrawal of Consent: If we are processing your Personal Data based on your consent (as indicated at the time of collection of such data), you have the right to withdraw your consent at any time. Please note, however, that if you exercise this right, you may have to then provide express consent on a case-by-case basis for the use or disclosure of certain of your Personal Data, if such use or disclosure is necessary to enable you to utilize some or all of our Services.
Portability: You can ask for a copy of your Personal Data in a machine-readable format. You can also request that we transmit the data to another controller where technically feasible.
Objection: You can contact us to let us know that you object to the further use or disclosure of your Personal Data for certain purposes, such as for direct marketing purposes.
Restriction of Processing: You can ask us to restrict further processing of your Personal Data.
Right to File Complaint: You have the right to lodge a complaint about Particle Network’s practices with respect to your Personal Data with the supervisory authority of your country or EU Member State.

Changes to this Privacy Policy

We’re constantly trying to improve our Services, so we may need to change this Privacy Policy from time to time, but we will alert you to any such changes by placing a notice on the Particle Network website, by sending you an email, and/or by some other means. Please note that if you’ve opted not to receive legal notice emails from us (or you haven’t provided us with your email address), those legal notices will still govern your use of the Services, and you are still responsible for reading and understanding them. If you use the Services after any changes to the Privacy Policy have been posted, that means you agree to all of the changes. Use of information we collect is subject to the Privacy Policy in effect at the time such information is collected.

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