Privacy policy

Last updated: June 25, 2020

At a Glance

• You own your data, but if you share your content others get to use it
• We don't track you via third-parties, or across the internet.
• We don't give/sell your data to third-parties unless you tell us to.
• Also, normal website stuff

The privacy of your data — and it is your data, not ours! — is a big deal to us. In this policy, we lay out: what data we collect and why; how your data is handled; and your rights to your data. We promise we never sell your private data: never have, never will.

What we collect and why

We collect multiple kinds of data:

• Account information Details like your email address and information about and from third-party accounts like Google, Twitter, Facebook and the like. This is considered private data and we would never, ever sell it.
• Profile information This data is so other users can identify you, it is considered shared content because you are sharing it with the world.
• Creative Content Content that you create, like messages, are yours, but are considered shared content because you are letting others see and share it implicitly. Other users, including us, can typically re-share it, or modify it without attribution.
• Analytics Data about your usage of the site, or that can be tied to you from third-party trackers like google analytics. We collect a bare-minimum of data here, and do not sell this data. This is unusual, but we think it's important for privacy. If you care about this, please drop us a line by emailing us, so that we know we're doing the right thing.

Geolocation data

We log all access to all accounts by full IP address so that we can always verify no unauthorized access has happened. We keep this login data for as long as your product account is active.

We also log full IP addresses used to sign up a product account. We keep this record forever because they are used to mitigate spammy signups.

Web analytics data are also tied temporarily to IP addresses to assist with troubleshooting cases.

Cookies and Do Not Track

We do use persistent first-party cookies to store certain preferences, make it easier for you to use our applications, and support some in-house analytics. A cookie is a piece of text stored by your browser to help it remember your login information, site preferences, and more. You can adjust cookie retention settings in your own browser. To learn more about cookies, including how to view which cookies have been set and how to manage and delete them, please visit: www.allaboutcookies.org.

At this time, our sites and applications do not respond to Do Not Track beacons sent by browser plugins.

We also use third-party cookies through Google Firebase, which describes its privacy and security here. We do not use the Analytics features.

Voluntary correspondence

When you write PollPact with a question or to ask for help, we keep that correspondence, including the email address, so that we have a history of past correspondences to reference if you reach out in the future.

We also store any information you volunteer like surveys. Sometimes when we do customer interviews, we may ask for your permission to record the conversation for future reference or use. We only do so if you give your express consent.

Information we do not collect

We don’t collect any characteristics of protected classifications including age, race, religion, sexual orientation, or physical and mental abilities or disabilities. You may provide this data voluntarily through profiles or other user interactions, but we do not track them specifically. We collect gender identity or gender expression by asking for a pronoun preference, but this is voluntary for profile purposes, and we do not use or process it in anyway.

We also do not collect any biometric data. You are given the option to add a picture to your user profile, which could be a real picture of you or a picture of something else that represents you best. We do not extract any information from profile pictures: they are for your use alone.

When we access or share your information

Our default practice is to not access your information. The only times we’ll ever access or share your info are:

• To provide products or services you've requested. We do use some third-party services to run our applications and only to the extent necessary process some or all of your personal information via these third parties. No human looks at your data for these purposes.
• To help you troubleshoot or squash a software bug, with your permission. If at any point we need to access your account to help you with a Support case, we will ask for your consent before proceeding.
• To investigate, prevent, or take action regarding abusive or restricted uses. Accessing a customer’s account when investigating potential abuse is a measure of last resort. We have an obligation to protect the privacy and safety of both our customers and the people reporting issues to us. We do our best to balance those responsibilities throughout the process. If we discover you are using our products for illegal purpose, we will report the incident to the appropriate authorities.
• When required under applicable law. If the appropriate law enforcement authorities have the necessary warrant, criminal subpoena, or court order requiring we share data, we have to comply. Otherwise, we flat-out reject requests from local and federal law enforcement when they seek data. And unless we’re legally prevented from it, we’ll always inform you when such requests are made.

If PollPact is acquired by or merged with another company we’ll notify you well before any info about you is transferred and becomes subject to a different privacy policy.

Location of Site and Data

Our products and other web properties are operated in the United States. If you are located in the European Union or elsewhere outside of the United States, please be aware that any information you provide to us will be transferred to the United States. By using our Site, participating in any of our services and/or providing us with your information, you consent to this transfer.

Your Rights With Respect to Your Information

At PollPact, we apply the same data rights to all customers, regardless of their location. Currently some of the most privacy-forward regulations in place are the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (“GDPR”) and California Consumer Privacy Act (“CCPA”) in the US. PollPact recognizes all of the rights granted in these regulations, except as limited by applicable law. These rights include:

• Right to Know. You have the right to know what personal information is collected, used, shared or sold. We outline both the categories and specific bits of data we collect, as well as how they are used, in this privacy policy.
• Right of Access. This includes your right to access the personal information we gather about you, and your right to obtain information about the sharing, storage, security and processing of that information.
• Right to Correction. You have the right to request correction of your personal information.
• Right to Erasure / “To be Forgotten”. This is your right to request, subject to certain limitations under applicable law, that your personal information be erased from our possession and, by extension, all of our service providers. Fulfillment of some data deletion requests may prevent you from using PollPact services because our applications may then no longer work. In such cases, a data deletion request may result in closing your account.
• Right to Complain. You have the right to make a complaint regarding our handling of your personal information with the appropriate supervisory authority. To identify your specific authority or find out more about this right, EU individuals should go to https://edpb.europa.eu/about-edpb/board/members_en.
• Right to Restrict Processing. This is your right to request restriction of how and why your personal information is used or processed, including opting out of sale of personal information. (Again: we never have and never will sell your personal data).
• Right to Object. You have the right, in certain situations, to object to how or why your personal information is processed.
• Right to Portability. You have the right to receive the personal information we have about you and the right to transmit it to another party.
• Right to not be subject to Automated Decision-Making. You have the right to object and prevent any decision that could have a legal, or similarly significant, effect on you from being made solely based on automated processes. This right is limited, however, if the decision is necessary for performance of any contract between you and us, is allowed by applicable law, or is based on your explicit consent.
• Right to Non-Discrimination. This right stems from the CCPA. We do not and will not charge you a different amount to use our products, offer you different discounts, or give you a lower level of customer service because you have exercised your data privacy rights. However, the exercise of certain rights (such as the right “to be forgotten”) may, by virtue of your exercising those rights, prevent you from using our Services.

Many of these rights can be exercised by signing in and directly updating your account information.

If you have questions about exercising these rights or need assistance, please contact us at hello@pollpact.com. For requests to delete personal information or know what personal information has been collected, we will first verify your identity using a combination of at least two pieces of information already collected including your user email address. If an authorized agent is corresponding on your behalf, we will first need written consent with a signature from the account holder before proceeding.

If you are in the EU, you can identify your specific authority to file a complaint or find out more about GDPR, at https://edpb.europa.eu/about-edpb/board/members_en.

How we secure your data

All data is encrypted via SSL/TLS when transmitted from our servers to your browser.

Most data are not encrypted while they live in our database (since it needs to be ready to send to you when you need it), but we go to great lengths to secure your data at rest.

When you delete data in your product accounts

In many of our applications, we give you the option to delete data. Anything you delete, while they are active will be kept in an inaccessible deleted state for up to 60 days. We also have some backups of our application databases, which are kept for up to another 30 days. In total, when you delete things in our applications, they are purged within 90 days from all of our systems and logs.

We also delete your data after an account is canceled. In such a case, all non-shared user data is still deleted from the application database after 60 days, and then removed from backups after a total of 90 days.

Changes & questions

We may update this policy as needed to comply with relevant regulations and reflect any new practices. You can view a this document at all times at this url.

Have any questions, comments, or concerns about this privacy policy, your data, or your rights with respect to your information? Please get in touch by emailing us at hello@pollpact.com and we’ll be happy to answer them!