Privacy Policy – Canonical Websites

Canonical websites, including www.canonical.com and www.ubuntu.com are provided by Canonical Group Ltd. At Canonical, we consider your privacy to be extremely important. These are the fundamental principles that we follow:

• We don't ask you for personal information unless we truly need it.
• We don't share your personal information with anyone except to provide you with services, comply with the law, or protect our rights.
• We don't store personal information on our servers unless required for the on-going operation of our services.
• We will use personal data that you provide to us in accordance with this Privacy Policy.

What we collect

Like most website operators, Canonical collects non-personally-identifying information of the sort that web browsers and servers typically make available, such as the browser type, referring site, and the date and time of each visitor's request. Our purpose in collecting non-personally identifying information is to better understand how visitors use our websites and services.

When you register to use certain parts of our websites, such as wikis or message boards, we ask for personally identifying information such as your full name, email address, and a password.

Chat rooms, forums, and/or news groups are available to our community. Any information that you disclose in these areas becomes public information and may be recorded, archived, and/or republished by anyone. Please exercise caution when deciding to disclose any personal information in those areas.

How do we collect information

We use persistent cookies to support a smooth user experience. This cookie remains on your computer after you close your browser and may be used by your browser on subsequent visits to our websites. We also use cookies to better understand how you interact with our websites and services and to improve our websites and services overall. If you do not wish to have cookies placed on your computers, you should set your browsers to refuse cookies before visiting our websites and using our services. Be aware that your experience with using our websites and services may be degraded if you set your browser to refuse cookies.

What do we do with the information we collect

We may use your information in the following ways:

1. To study how anonymous users interact with our websites and services and improve them.
2. To authenticate access to certain features of our websites.
3. To contact you to respond to enquiries or to provide notices to you regarding your use of our websites.
4. To comply with legal and regulatory requirements (including responding to subpoenas and to prevent crime). These special circumstances may require us to disclose personally identifiable information.
5. To contact you if your actions violate your services agreement.
6. To contact you about Canonical's products and services, but only after you have opted to be contacted for this purpose.

The information you provide to us will be held on computers and may be accessed by or given to our staff working inside and outside of the UK and to third parties, including companies within Canonical’s group, for the purposes set out in this Privacy Policy or as otherwise agreed with you. You acknowledge that it may be necessary for your information to be processed by such parties and that it may be transferred to someone who provides a service to us in other countries, including some outside of the European Economic Area, and you consent to such processing and transfer. If it is necessary to transfer your personal data outside of the European Economic Area we will make every effort to ensure that the person to whom we pass the information agrees to treat it with the same level of protection as we do.

If we are sold or merge with another business entity your information may be disclosed to our new business partners or owners.

Unless required by law, we will not otherwise share, sell or distribute any information you provide to us without your consent.

How do we protect the information we collect

Canonical is very concerned about protecting the confidentiality of your personally identifiable information. We have security measures, including administrative, physical and electronic measures, to protect against the loss, misuse or alteration of information that we have collected from you in the use of the services. These measures include SSL data encryption to transmit your data as well as technical architectures and systems to prevent unauthorised internal employees, contractors and affiliated organizations from accessing your data.

What happens if these terms change

Although most changes are likely to be minor, Canonical may change its website Privacy Policy from time to time, and at Canonical's sole discretion. If the alterations constitute a material change to the Privacy Policy, we will notify you by email if you have provided your email address to us. What makes up a "material change" will be determined by Canonical, in good faith and using common sense and reasonable judgment. You may also check this page for any changes to this policy.

How to contact us

You have a right to access the personal information we hold about you or to obtain a copy of it; if you would like to do so please contact us by postal mail to the address below.

Please submit any questions or comments about this Privacy Policy, or about our use of your personally identifiable information by postal mail at the following address: Canonical Group Ltd, 27th Floor Millbank Tower, 21-24 Millbank, London, England, SW1Q 4QP.