Guides and FAQs/General Info/Terms and Policies

Privacy policy

Jason
posted this on March 02, 2009 12:05 am

April 18, 2013

Scribd values the privacy of the users, subscribers, publishers, members, and others who visit and use the Scribd Platform (collectively or individually, “You” or “Users”).

By using the Scribd Platform, you expressly consent to the information handling practices described in this notice.

This Privacy Notice is incorporated into and is subject to the Scribd Platform Terms of Use. Your use of the Scribd Platform and any personal information you provide through the Scribd Platform are subject at all time to this Privacy Notice and the Terms of Use. Terms for “Scribd” and the “Scribd Platform” apply to any site or mobile application owned and operated by Scribd, Inc, including Scribd.com, Float.com, and the Float mobile application.

  1. The Information Scribd Collects
  2. The Way Scribd Uses Information
  3. When Scribd Discloses Information
  4. Your Choices
  5. Third-Party Advertisers
  6. Data Security
  7. Children’s Privacy
  8. International Visitors
  9. In the Event of Merger or Sale
  10. Changes and Updates to this Privacy Notice
  11. Scribd Contact Information

1. The Information Scribd Collects

  • User-provided Information: You may provide to Scribd what is generally called “personally identifiable” information (such as your name, email address, postal mailing address, home/mobile telephone number) if you log in to the Scribd Platform, or otherwise use the features and functionality of the Scribd Platform.  You may also provide other information to Scribd, including your age, location, and gender, through use of its functionality and features, such as by creating a user profile.
  • “Cookies” Information: When you access the Scribd Platform, we or one of our advertising partners, may send one or more cookies – small text files that contain a string of alphanumeric characters – to your computer. Scribd may use both session cookies and persistent cookies. A session cookie disappears after you close your browser. A persistent cookie remains after you close your browser and may be used by your browser on subsequent visits to the Scribd Platform. One type of persistent cookie that may be installed on your computer when you use Scribd is called a “Flash cookie” or an “LSO.” Persistent cookies can be removed. Please review your web browser's “Help” file to learn the proper way to modify your cookie settings. For more information on how to manage Flash cookies, you can go here. For more information about cookies and how they are used, you can go here.
  • “Automatically Collected” Information: When you access the Scribd Platform or open one of our HTML emails, we may automatically record certain information from your system by using different types of tracking technology. This “automatically collected” information may include Internet Protocol address (“IP Address”), a unique device or user ID, version of software installed, system type, the referring search query used to locate content and pages on the Scribd Platform, the content and pages that you access on the Scribd Platform, the dates and times that you visit the Scribd Platform, and information from your Facebook account that you make publicly available, which is provided to us by Facebook via the Facebook APIs.

2. The Way Scribd Uses Information

  • Scribd uses the information that you provide or that we collect to operate, maintain, enhance, and provide all of the features and services found on the Scribd Platform as well as to track user-generated content and Users to the extent necessary to comply as a service provider with the Digital Millennium Copyright Act.
  • Scribd may also use the information that you provide or that we collect to serve you with advertisements.
  • We will use your email address, without further consent, for administrative communications such as notifying you of major Scribd Platform updates, for customer service purposes, to address copyright infringement or defamation issues, or to contact you regarding any content that you have posted to or downloaded from the Scribd Platform.
  • Scribd uses all of the information that we collect to understand the usage trends and preferences of our Users, to improve the way the Scribd Platform works and looks, and to create new features and functionality.
  • Scribd may use “Automatically Collected” information and “Cookies” information to: (a) automatically update the Scribd application on your system; (b) remember your information so that you will not have to re-enter it during your visit or the next time you access the Scribd Platform; (c) monitor aggregate site usage metrics such as total number of visitors and pages accessed; (d) provide such metrics to Users as they pertain to such User’s uploaded content; and (e) track your entries, submissions, and status in any promotions or other activities.

3. When Scribd Discloses Information

  • Scribd does not share your personally identifiable information with other organizations for their marketing or promotional uses without your prior express consent, except that if you have provided us with an email address, Scribd may provide a hashed version of it to its advertising partners, RapLeaf, Bizo, and LiveRamp, to enable better targeted advertising where RapLeaf, Bizo, and LiveRamp already possesses your email address.  If RapLeaf, Bizo, or LiveRamp do not already have your email address in their records, they cannot use the hashed version that we provide.  For more information on RapLeaf’s privacy practices, and to opt out, please visit https://www.rapleaf.com/privacy.  For more information on Bizo's privacy practices, and to opt out, please visit http://www.bizo.com/businessProfessionals/index. For more information on LiveRamp's privacy practices, and to opt out, please visit http://liveramp.com/data-privacy-policy/.
  • Scribd may disclose aggregated or other types of non-personally identifiable information to third parties for various purposes, including marketing or promotional uses. For example, Scribd may disclose non-personally identifiable information to interested third parties to assist them in understanding the usage, viewing, and demographic patterns on the the Scribd Platform.
  • Please be aware that any personally identifiable information that you voluntarily choose to display on the Scribd Platform – such as when you publish attribution credits for documents or profile information – becomes publicly available and may be collected and used by others without restriction.
  • We may disclose User information to affiliated companies or other businesses or persons to: provide web site hosting, maintenance, and security services; fulfill orders; conduct data analysis and create reports; offer certain functionality; and assist Scribd in improving the Scribd Platform and creating new services features. We require that these parties process such information in compliance with this Privacy Notice, we authorize only a limited use of such information, and we require these parties to use reasonable confidentiality measures.
  • Scribd may disclose User information if required to do so by law or in the good-faith belief that such action is necessary to comply with state and federal laws (such as U.S. Copyright law) or respond to a court order, judicial or other government subpoena, or warrant in the manner required by the requesting entity.
  • Scribd also reserves the right to disclose User information that we believe, in good faith, is appropriate or necessary: to take precautions against liability; to protect Scribd from fraudulent, abusive, or unlawful uses; to investigate and defend ourselves against third-party claims or allegations; to assist government enforcement agencies; to protect the security or integrity of the Scribd Platform; or to protect the rights, property, or personal safety of Scribd, our Users, or others.
  • Scribd shows aggregate geographical information about visitors on Scribd document pages in our analytics section. This information includes the cities and countries of people viewing documents, the document which was viewed, and the time the document was viewed. This information is publicly available to all Scribd users.

4. Your Choices

You may, of course, decline to share your personally-identifiable information with Scribd, in which case Scribd will not be able to provide to you some of the features and functionality found on the Scribd Platform. You may update, correct, or delete your user information and preferences at any time here.

You may also choose to opt-out of receiving interest-based advertising from many of our advertising partners and others by visiting http://www.aboutads.info/choices/ or http://www.networkadvertising.org/managing/opt_out.asp

To protect your privacy and security, we take reasonable steps to verify your identity before granting you account access or making corrections to your information.  YOU ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR MAINTAINING THE SECRECY OF YOUR UNIQUE PASSWORD AND ACCOUNT INFORMATION AT ALL TIMES.

5.  Third-Party Advertisers

Scribd adheres to the Digital Advertising Alliance’s Self-Regulatory Principles for Online Behavioral Advertising, available at http://www.aboutads.info.  Our advertising partners, such as RapLeaf, Bizo and BlueKai, may use technology to provide the advertisements that appear on the Scribd Platform and to use data collected through the Scribd Platform, as described above and in this section, to better target ads shown on Scribd and other websites. For a list of many of the advertisers that may work with Scribd please visit http://www.aboutads.info/participating.

Our advertising partners may also use cookies or pixel tags to enable the serving of customized advertisements and content to you both on Scribd and on other websites and services based on your visits to, and use of Scribd, as well as based on your visits to third-party sites and services on the Internet.   These cookies or pixel tags may contain non-personally identifiable demographic or other data.  You may opt-out of receiving interest-based advertising from many of our advertising partners by visiting http://www.aboutads.info/choices/ or http://www.networkadvertising.org/managing/opt_out.asp

6. OUR COMMITMENT TO DATA SECURITY

SCRIBD USES COMMERCIALLY REASONABLE PHYSICAL, MANAGERIAL, AND TECHNICAL SAFEGUARDS TO PRESERVE THE INTEGRITY AND SECURITY OF YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION. WE CANNOT, HOWEVER, ENSURE OR WARRANT THE SECURITY OF ANY INFORMATION YOU TRANSMIT TO SCRIBD, AND YOU DO SO AT YOUR OWN RISK. ONCE WE RECEIVE YOUR TRANSMISSION OF INFORMATION, SCRIBD MAKES COMMERCIALLY REASONABLE EFFORTS TO ENSURE THE SECURITY OF OUR SYSTEMS.HOWEVER, PLEASE NOTE THAT THIS IS NOT A GUARANTEE THAT SUCH INFORMATION MAY NOT BE ACCESSED, DISCLOSED, ALTERED, OR DESTROYED BY BREACH OF ANY OF OUR PHYSICAL, TECHNICAL, OR MANAGERIAL SAFEGUARDS.

IF SCRIBD LEARNS OF A SECURITY SYSTEMS BREACH, THEN WE MAY ATTEMPT TO NOTIFY YOU ELECTRONICALLY SO THAT YOU CAN TAKE APPROPRIATE PROTECTIVE STEPS. SCRIBD MAY POST A NOTICE ON THE SCRIBD PLATFORM IF A SECURITY BREACH OCCURS. DEPENDING ON WHERE YOU LIVE, YOU MAY HAVE A LEGAL RIGHT TO RECEIVE NOTICE OF A SECURITY BREACH IN WRITING. TO RECEIVE A FREE WRITTEN NOTICE OF A SECURITY BREACH YOU SHOULD NOTIFY US AT PRIVACY@SCRIBD.COM.

7. OUR COMMITMENT TO CHILDREN'S PRIVACY

IF YOU ARE UNDER 13 YEARS OF AGE, THEN PLEASE DO NOT USE OR ACCESS THE SCRIBD PLATFORM AT ANY TIME OR IN ANY MANNER.

PROTECTING THE PRIVACY OF YOUNG CHILDREN IS ESPECIALLY IMPORTANT. FOR THAT REASON, SCRIBD DOES NOT KNOWINGLY COLLECT OR MAINTAIN PERSONALLY IDENTIFIABLE INFORMATION FROM PERSONS UNDER 13 YEARS-OF-AGE. IF SCRIBD LEARNS THAT PERSONALLY-IDENTIFIABLE INFORMATION OF PERSONS LESS THAN 13-YEARS-OF-AGE HAS BEEN COLLECTED ON OR THROUGH THE SCRIBD PLATFORM, THEN SCRIBD WILL TAKE THE APPROPRIATE STEPS TO DELETE THIS INFORMATION.

IF YOU ARE THE PARENT OR LEGAL GUARDIAN OF A CHILD UNDER 13 WHO HAS BECOME SCRIBD PLATFORM MEMBER, THEN PLEASE CONTACT SCRIBD AT PRIVACY@SCRIBD.COM TO HAVE THAT CHILD’S ACCOUNT TERMINATED AND INFORMATION DELETED.

THE FOLLOWING ARE SOME RESOURCES THAT MAY HELP PARENTS AND LEGAL GUARDIANS IN MONITORING AND LIMITING YOUR CHILDRENS' ACCESS TO CERTAIN TYPES OF MATERIAL ON THE INTERNET. WHILE SCRIBD DOES NOT ENDORSE THESE PRODUCTS, WE PROVIDE INFORMATION ABOUT THEM AS A PUBLIC SERVICE TO OUR COMMUNITY.

  • “OnGuard Online,” maintained by the Federal Trade Commission.
  • WiredSafety
  • Netsmartz.org
  • The Child Safety Network
  • Control Kids
  • Cyber Sitter
  • Net Nanny

8. INTERNATIONAL VISITORS

FOR USERS VISITING THE SCRIBD PLATFORM FROM THE EUROPEAN ECONOMIC AREA OR OTHER NON-U.S. TERRITORIES, PLEASE NOTE THAT ANY DATA YOU ENTER INTO THE SCRIBD PLATFORM WILL BE TRANSFERRED OUTSIDE THE EUROPEAN ECONOMIC AREA OR SUCH OTHER NON-U.S. TERRITORY FOR USE BY SCRIBD AND ITS AFFILIATES FOR ANY OF THE PURPOSES DESCRIBED HEREIN.IN ADDITION, BECAUSE SCRIBD OPERATES GLOBALLY, WE MAY MAKE INFORMATION WE GATHER AVAILABLE TO WORLDWIDE BUSINESS UNITS AND AFFILIATES. BY PROVIDING ANY DATA ON THE SCRIBD PLATFORM, YOU HEREBY EXPRESSLY CONSENT TO SUCH TRANSFERS OF YOUR DATA TO THE UNITED STATES OR OTHER COUNTRIES.

9. IN THE EVENT OF MERGER OR SALE

IN THE EVENT THAT SCRIBD IS ACQUIRED BY OR MERGED WITH A THIRD-PARTY ENTITY, WE RESERVE THE RIGHT, IN ANY OF THESE CIRCUMSTANCES, TO TRANSFER OR ASSIGN THE INFORMATION THAT WE HAVE COLLECTED FROM USERS AS PART OF THAT MERGER, ACQUISITION, SALE, OR OTHER CHANGE OF CONTROL.

10. CHANGES AND UPDATES TO THIS PRIVACY NOTICE

THIS PRIVACY NOTICE MAY BE REVISED PERIODICALLY WITHOUT FURTHER NOTICE TO YOU AND THIS WILL BE REFLECTED BY A “LAST MODIFIED” DATE BELOW. PLEASE REVISIT THIS PAGE TO STAY AWARE OF ANY CHANGES. IN GENERAL, WE ONLY USE YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION IN THE MANNER DESCRIBED IN THE PRIVACY NOTICE IN EFFECT WHEN WE RECEIVED THAT PERSONAL INFORMATION.YOUR CONTINUED USE OF THE SCRIBD PLATFORM CONSTITUTES YOUR AGREEMENT TO THIS PRIVACY NOTICE AND ANY FUTURE REVISIONS.

FOR REVISIONS TO THIS PRIVACY NOTICE THAT MAY BE MATERIALLY LESS RESTRICTIVE ON OUR USE OR DISCLOSURE OF PERSONAL INFORMATION YOU HAVE PROVIDED TO US, WE WILL MAKE REASONABLE EFFORTS TO NOTIFY YOU AND OBTAIN YOUR CONSENT BEFORE IMPLEMENTING REVISIONS WITH RESPECT TO SUCH INFORMATION.

11. SCRIBD CONTACT INFORMATION

PLEASE CONTACT SCRIBD WITH ANY QUESTIONS OR COMMENTS ABOUT THIS PRIVACY NOTICE, YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION, AND OUR THIRD-PARTY DISCLOSURE PRACTICES OR YOUR CONSENT CHOICES AT: SCRIBD.COM, 539 BRYANT ST., SUITE 200, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94107, OR BY EMAIL: PRIVACY@SCRIBD.COM. WE WILL RESPOND TO YOUR INQUIRY WITHIN 30 DAYS OF ITS RECEIPT.

 
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