Privacy Policy

ARCHIVED 2020-03-01, DATE APPROXIMATE · VERSION 20200301_rev01 · COMPARED WITH 20200201_rev01

Full text changes — 20200201_rev01 to 20200301_rev01

COLOUR MARKS THE SEVERITY OF A FLAGGED CLAUSE · + AND − MARK ADDED AND REMOVED

40	40	#### _Information You Provide to Us_
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42	42	It's probably no surprise that we collect information that you provide to us directly. Here are some examples:
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44	44	- Basic account information: We ask for basic information from you in order to set up your account. For example, we require individuals who sign up for a WordPress.com account to provide an email address and password, along with a username or name - and that's it. You may provide us with more information - like your address and other information you want to share - but we don't require that information to create a WordPress.com account.
45	45	- Public profile information: If you have an account with us, we collect the information that you provide for your public profile. For example, if you have a WordPress.com account, your username is part of that public profile, along with any other information you put into your public profile, like a photo or an "About Me" description. Your public profile information is just that - public - so please keep that in mind when deciding what information you would like to include.
46		- Payment and contact information: If you buy something from us or earn revenue through your site, we'll collect information to process those payments and contact you. If you buy something from us - a subscription to a WordPress.com plan, a premium theme, a [custom domain](https://en.support.wordpress.com/domains/domain-registrations-and-privacy/), some Longreads swag - or if you pay fees to a person or business through their WordPress.com site (for example via Recurring Payments or Simple Payments), you'll provide additional personal and payment information like your name, credit card information, and contact information. We also keep a record of the purchases you've made. If you use our eCommerce Services (including [Stores on WordPress.com](https://en.support.wordpress.com/store/) and the [WooCommerce Services extension](https://docs.woocommerce.com/document/woocommerce-services/)), you'll have to create a WordPress.com account or connect an existing account and, for some Services, provide your site URL. You may also provide us with financial details to set up a payments integration, like the email address for your Stripe or PayPal account or your bank account information. If you participate in a revenue sharing opportunity for your site, like [WordAds](https://wordads.co/), you'll provide some additional information - for example, a tax ID or other identifier so we can process payments to you.
	46	- Payment and contact information: If you buy something from us or earn revenue through your site, we'll collect information to process those payments and contact you. If you buy something from us - a subscription to a WordPress.com plan, a premium theme, a [custom domain](https://en.support.wordpress.com/domains/domain-registrations-and-privacy/), some Longreads swag - or if you pay fees to a person or business through their WordPress.com site (for example via Recurring Payments or Simple Payments), you'll provide additional personal and payment information like your name, credit card information, and contact information. We also keep a record of the purchases you've made. If you use our Ecommerce Services (including [Store on WordPress.com,](https://en.support.wordpress.com/store/) the [WooCommerce Services extension](https://docs.woocommerce.com/document/woocommerce-services/), and WooCommerce Payments), you'll have to create a WordPress.com account or connect an existing account and, for some Services, provide your site URL. You may also provide us with financial details to set up a payments integration, like the email address for your Stripe or PayPal account or your bank account information. If you participate in a revenue sharing opportunity for your site, like [WordAds](https://wordads.co/), you'll provide some additional information - for example, a tax ID or other identifier so we can process payments to you.
47	47	- Happy Tools information: If you are a Happy Tools user, you will provide us with information to set up your Happy Tools account and make use of the Service's features. For example, you might enter timezone and location information, company and team information, and contact information.
48	48	- Content information: You might provide us with information about you in draft and published content (a blog post or comment that includes biographic information about you, or any media or files you upload).
49	49	- Credentials: Depending on the Services you use, you may provide us with credentials for your self-hosted website (like SSH, FTP, and SFTP username and password). Jetpack and VaultPress users may provide us with these credentials in order to use our one-click restore feature if there is a problem with their site, or to allow us to troubleshoot problems more quickly.
50	50	- Communications with us (hi there!): You may also provide us with information when you respond to surveys, communicate with our Happiness Engineers about a support question, post a question in our public forums, or sign up for a newsletter like the one we send through Longreads. When you communicate with us via form, email, phone, WordPress.com comment, or otherwise, we store a copy of our communications (including any call recordings as permitted by applicable law).
51	51	- Job applicant information: If you apply for a job with us - awesome! You may provide us with information like your name, contact information, resume or CV, and work authorization verification as part of the application process.
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60	60	- Stored information: We may access information stored on your mobile device via our mobile apps. We access this stored information through your device operating system's permissions. For example, if you give us permission to access the photographs on your mobile device's camera roll, our Services may access the photos stored on your device when you upload a really amazing photograph of the sunrise to your website.
61	61	- Interactions with other users' sites: We collect some information about your interactions with other users' sites while you are logged in to your account with us, such as your "Likes" and the fact that you commented on a particular post, so that we can, for example, [recommend posts](https://en.support.wordpress.com/algorithms-search-and-recommendations/) we think may interest you. As another example, we collect information about the comments IntenseDebate users make while logged in and use that information to, for example, tally up statistics about your comments (check them out in your dashboard!) and display information about your comments in your IntenseDebate public profile.
62	62	- Information from cookies & other technologies: A cookie is a string of information that a website stores on a visitor's computer, and that the visitor's browser provides to the website each time the visitor returns. Pixel tags (also called web beacons) are small blocks of code placed on websites and emails. Automattic uses cookies and other technologies like pixel tags to help us identify and track visitors, usage, and access preferences for our Services, as well as track and understand email campaign effectiveness and to deliver targeted ads. For more information about our use of cookies and other technologies for tracking, including how you can control the use of cookies, please see our [Cookie Policy](http://www.automattic.com/cookies).
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64	64	#### _Information We Collect from Other Sources_
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66		We may also get information about you from other sources. For example, if you create or log in to your WordPress.com account through another service (like Google) or if you connect your website or account to a social media service (like Twitter) through our [Publicize feature](https://en.support.wordpress.com/publicize/), we'll receive information from that service (e.g., your username, basic profile information, friends list) via the authorization procedures for that service. The information we receive depends on which services you authorize and what options are available.
	66	We may also get information about you from other sources. For example, if you create or log in to your WordPress.com account through another service (like Google) or if you connect your website or account to a social media service (like Twitter) through our [Publicize feature](https://en.support.wordpress.com/publicize/), we'll receive information from that service (e.g., your username, basic profile information, friends list) via the authorization procedures for that service. As another example, if you use WooCommerce Payments, we'll receive information relating to your Stripe account, such as your email address and phone number. The information we receive depends on which services you use or authorize and what options are available.
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68	68	Third-party services may also give us information, like mailing addresses for individuals who are not yet our users (but we hope will be!). We use this information for marketing purposes like postcards and other mailers advertising our Services.
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70	70	### How and Why We Use Information
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72	72	#### _Purposes for Using Information_
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102	102	#### _How We Share Information_
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104	104	We share information about you in limited circumstances, and with appropriate safeguards on your privacy. These are spelled out below, as well as in the section called [Ads and Analytics Services Provided by Others](https://automattic.wordpress.com/privacy/):
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106	106	- Subsidiaries and independent contractors: We may disclose information about you to our subsidiaries and independent contractors who need the information to help us provide our Services or process the information on our behalf. We require our subsidiaries and independent contractors to follow this Privacy Policy for any personal information that we share with them.
107		- Third-party vendors: We may share information about you with third-party vendors who need the information in order to provide their services to us, or to provide their services to you or your site. This includes vendors that help us provide our Services to you (like payment providers that process your credit and debit card information, payment providers you use for your own eCommerce operations, fraud prevention services that allow us to analyze fraudulent payment transactions, cloud storage services, postal and email delivery services that help us stay in touch with you, customer chat and email support services that help us communicate with you, registrars, registries, data escrow services that allow us to provide domain registration services, and your hosting provider if your site is not hosted by Automattic); those that assist us with our marketing efforts (e.g., by providing tools for identifying a specific marketing target group or improving our marketing campaigns, and by placing ads to market our services); those that help us understand and enhance our Services (like analytics providers); those that make tools to help us run our operations (like programs that help us with task management, scheduling, word processing, email and other communications, and collaboration among our teams); other third-party tools that help us manage operations; and companies that make products available on our websites (like the extensions on WooCommerce.com), who may need information about you in order to, for example, provide technical or other support services to you. We require vendors to agree to privacy commitments in order to share information with them. Other vendors are listed in our more specific policies (e.g., our [Cookie Policy](https://automattic.com/cookies/)).
	107	- Third-party vendors: We may share information about you with third-party vendors who need the information in order to provide their services to us, or to provide their services to you or your site. This includes vendors that help us provide our Services to you (like Stripe, which powers WooCommerce Payments, payment providers that process your credit and debit card information, payment providers you use for your own ecommerce operations, fraud prevention services that allow us to analyze fraudulent payment transactions, cloud storage services, postal and email delivery services that help us stay in touch with you, customer chat and email support services that help us communicate with you, registrars, registries, data escrow services that allow us to provide domain registration services, and your hosting provider if your site is not hosted by Automattic); those that assist us with our marketing efforts (e.g., by providing tools for identifying a specific marketing target group or improving our marketing campaigns, and by placing ads to market our services); those that help us understand and enhance our Services (like analytics providers); those that make tools to help us run our operations (like programs that help us with task management, scheduling, word processing, email and other communications, and collaboration among our teams); other third-party tools that help us manage operations; and companies that make products available on our websites (like the extensions on WooCommerce.com), who may need information about you in order to, for example, provide technical or other support services to you. We require vendors to agree to privacy commitments in order to share information with them. Other vendors are listed in our more specific policies (e.g., our [Cookie Policy](https://automattic.com/cookies/)).
108	108	- Legal and regulatory requirements: We may disclose information about you in response to a subpoena, court order, or other governmental request. For more information on how we respond to requests for information about WordPress.com users, please see our [Legal Guidelines](https://en.support.wordpress.com/report-blogs/legal-guidelines/). Additionally, if you have a domain registered with WordPress.com, we may share your information to comply with the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers' (ICANN) regulations, rules, or policies. For example, your information relating to your domain registration may be available in the WHOIS database, or we may be required to share your information with ICANN-approved Dispute Resolution Service Providers. Please see our [Domain Registrations and Privacy support document](https://en.support.wordpress.com/domains/domain-registrations-and-privacy/) for more details.
109	109	- To protect rights, property, and others: We may disclose information about you when we believe in good faith that disclosure is reasonably necessary to protect the property or rights of Automattic, third parties, or the public at large. For example, if we have a good faith belief that there is an imminent danger of death or serious physical injury, we [may disclose information related to the emergency without delay](https://en.support.wordpress.com/report-blogs/legal-guidelines/).
110	110	- Business transfers: In connection with any merger, sale of company assets, or acquisition of all or a portion of our business by another company, or in the unlikely event that Automattic goes out of business or enters bankruptcy, user information would likely be one of the assets that is transferred or acquired by a third party. If any of these events were to happen, this Privacy Policy would continue to apply to your information and the party receiving your information may continue to use your information, but only consistent with this Privacy Policy.
111	111	- With your consent: We may share and disclose information with your consent or at your direction. For example, we may share your information with third parties when you authorize us to do so, like when you connected your site to a social media service through our Publicize feature.
112	112	- Aggregated or de-identified information: We may share information that has been aggregated or de-identified, so that it can no longer reasonably be used to identify you. For instance, we may publish aggregate statistics about the use of our Services, or share a hashed version of your email address to facilitate customized ad campaigns on other platforms.
113	113	- Site owners: If you have a WordPress.com account and interact with another site using our Services, your information may be shared with the administrators of the site. For example, if you leave a comment on a site created on WordPress.com or running Jetpack, your IP address and the email address associated with your WordPress.com account may be shared with the administrator(s) of the site where you left the comment. Or if you make a payment (like via [Recurring Payments](https://en.support.wordpress.com/recurring-payments/)) to a site, your public display name, user name, and email address may be shared with the administrator(s) of the site.
205	205	Automattic's Services are worldwide. Different Automattic companies are the controller (or co-controller) of personal information, which means that they are the company responsible for processing that information, based on the particular service and the location of the individual using our Services.
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207	207	Depending on the Services you use, more than one company may be the controller of your personal data. Generally, the "controller" is the Automattic company that entered into the contract with you under the Terms of Service for the product or service you use. In addition, Automattic Inc., our US-based company, is the controller for some of the processing activities across all of our Services worldwide.
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209	209	The chart below explains the controllers for processing your personal information. We use the term "Designated Countries" to refer to Australia, Canada, Japan, Mexico, New Zealand, and all countries located in the European continent.
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211		<table><tbody><tr><td>If you reside outside of the Designated Countries (for services other than those offered at WooCommerce.com):</td><td><strong>Automattic Inc.</strong><br>60 29th Street #343<br>San Francisco, CA 94110</td></tr><tr><td>If you reside in the Designated Countries (for services other than those offered at WooCommerce.com):</td><td><strong>Aut O'Mattic A8C Ireland Ltd.</strong><br>Business Centre, No.1 Lower Mayor Street<br>International Financial Services Centre<br>Dublin 1, Ireland<p><strong>Automattic Inc.</strong> is also the controller for some of the processing activities related to Services provided by Aut O'Mattic A8C Ireland Ltd.</p></td></tr><tr><td>If you are using our Services offered at WooCommerce.com:</td><td><strong>Bubblestorm Management (Pty) Ltd (WooCommerce.com)</strong><br>Unit A206, The Old Biscuit Mill (TOBM)<br>373 - 375 Albert Road, Woodstock<br>Cape Town, South Africa<p><strong>Automattic Inc.</strong> is also the controller for some of the processing activities related to Services provided by Bubblestorm Management (Pty) Ltd (WooCommerce.com).</p></td></tr></tbody></table>
	211	<table><tbody><tr><td>If you reside outside of the Designated Countries (for services other than those offered at WooCommerce.com):</td><td><strong>Automattic Inc.</strong><br>60 29th Street #343<br>San Francisco, CA 94110</td></tr><tr><td>If you reside in the Designated Countries (for services other than those offered at WooCommerce.com):</td><td><strong>Aut O'Mattic A8C Ireland Ltd.</strong><br>Business Centre, No.1 Lower Mayor Street<br>International Financial Services Centre<br>Dublin 1, Ireland<strong>Automattic Inc.</strong> is also the controller for some of the processing activities related to Services provided by Aut O'Mattic A8C Ireland Ltd.</td></tr><tr><td>If you are using our Services offered at WooCommerce.com:</td><td><strong>Bubblestorm Management (Pty) Ltd (WooCommerce.com)</strong><br>Unit A206, The Old Biscuit Mill (TOBM)<br>373 - 375 Albert Road, Woodstock<br>Cape Town, South Africa<br><strong>Automattic Inc.</strong> is also the controller for some of the processing activities related to Services provided by Bubblestorm Management (Pty) Ltd (WooCommerce.com).</td></tr></tbody></table>
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213	213	### How to Reach Us
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215	215	If you have a question about this Privacy Policy, or you would like to contact us about any of the rights mentioned in the [Your Rights section](https://automattic.wordpress.com/privacy/) above, please contact us through our [web form](https://wordpress.com/help/contact) or via [email](mailto:privacypolicyupdates@automattic.com). These are the fastest ways to get a response to your inquiry, but you can also contact us by telephone at 1-877-273-3049.
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217	217	### Other Things You Should Know (Keep Reading!)
228	228	#### _Ads and Analytics Services Provided by Others_
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230	230	Ads appearing on any of our Services may be delivered by advertising networks. Other parties may also provide analytics services via our Services. These ad networks and analytics providers may set tracking technologies (like cookies) to collect information about your use of our Services and across other websites and online services. These technologies allow these third parties to recognize your device to compile information about you or others who use your device. This information allows us and other companies to, among other things, analyze and track usage, determine the popularity of certain content, and deliver ads that may be more targeted to your interests. Please note this Privacy Policy only covers the collection of information by Automattic and does not cover the collection of information by any third-party advertisers or analytics providers.
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232	232	#### _Third-Party Software and Services_
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234		If you'd like to use third-party plugins, embeds, WooCommerce extensions that enable services provided by third parties, or other third-party software or services, please keep in mind that interacting with them may mean providing information about yourself (or your site visitors) to those third parties. For example, some third-party services may request or require access to your (yours, your visitors', or customers') data via a pixel or cookie. Please note that if you use the third-party service or grant access, your data will be handled in accordance with the third party's privacy policy and practices. We don't own or control these third parties, and they have their own rules about information collection, use, and sharing, which you should review before using the software or services.
	234	If you'd like to use third-party plugins or embeds, WooCommerce Payments (powered by Stripe), WooCommerce extensions that enable services provided by third parties, or other third-party software or services, please keep in mind that interacting with them may mean providing information about yourself (or your site visitors) to those third parties. For example, some third-party services may request or require access to your (yours, your visitors', or customers') data via a pixel or cookie. Please note that if you use the third-party service or grant access, your data will be handled in accordance with the third party's privacy policy and practices. We don't own or control these third parties, and they have their own rules about information collection, use, and sharing, which you should review before using the software or services.
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236	236	#### _Visitors to Our Users' Websites_
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238	238	We also process information about visitors to our users' websites, on behalf of our users and in accordance with our user agreements. Please note that our processing of that information on behalf of our users for their websites isn't covered by this Privacy Policy. We encourage our users to post a privacy policy that accurately describes their practices on data collection, use, and sharing of personal information. If you'd like, you can also read more about the data we collect on behalf of our users in our [Privacy Notice](https://automattic.com/privacy-notice).
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240	240	Users control the content posted on their sites, so any disputes regarding content on a user's site should be made directly to the site owner, through their "contact us" page, at an email address they provide, or by leaving a comment on the site.
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242	242	### Privacy Policy Changes
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244	244	Although most changes are likely to be minor, Automattic may change its Privacy Policy from time to time. Automattic encourages visitors to frequently check this page for any changes to its Privacy Policy. If we make changes, we will notify you by revising the change log below, and, in some cases, we may provide additional notice (like adding a statement to our homepage or the [WordPress.com Blog,](https://en.blog.wordpress.com/) or sending you a notification through email or your dashboard). Your further use of the Services after a change to our Privacy Policy will be subject to the updated policy
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	246	### Other Information and Resources
	247
	248	[Jetpack Privacy Center](https://jetpack.com/support/privacy/)
	249
	250	[WooCommerce and the GDPR](https://woocommerce.com/gdpr/)
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246	252	### Translation
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248	254	Our Privacy Policy was originally written in English (US). We may translate it into other languages. For example:
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250	256	French: [https://automattic.com/fr/privacy](https://automattic.com/fr/privacy)
251	257	Spanish: [https://automattic.com/es/privacy](https://automattic.com/es/privacy)
254	260	In the event of a conflict between a translated version of our Privacy Policy and the English version, the English version will control.
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256	262	That's it! Thanks for reading.
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258	264	### Change log
259	265
	266	- February 21, 2020: Updated for WooCommerce Payments and added a new section: "Other Information and Resources."
260	267	- _December 31, 2019_: Updated for California Consumer Privacy Act and miscellaneous clarification throughout.
261	268	- _October 2, 2019:_ A few miscellaneous changes, such as new sections about translations of this Privacy Policy and how to opt out of our internal analytics program.
262	269	- _May 31, 2019:_ Included information for the Recurring Payments feature.
263	270	- _April 1, 2019:_ Included information for Happy Tools.
264	271	- _March 13, 2019:_ Added clarifications and additional details to existing sections, for example about ICANN policies and what we may store when you communicate with us.
265	272	- _February 1, 2019:_ Included information for Longreads and additional information regarding Longreads accounts.