Date of Last Revision: 15 May 2014
Flattr AB (“Flattr”, “we”, “us” or “our”), a Swedish company, is the data controller for the purpose of the Data Protection Act 1998 (“Act”). Flattr knows that you care about how your personal information is used and shared, and we are committed to treating your information with respect and sensitivity. Please read the following to learn more about this commitment and our privacy policy (“Privacy Policy”). By visiting the Flattr Site you are accepting the practices outlined in this Privacy Policy. The Privacy Policy covers Flattr’s treatment of personal data that Flattr gathers when you are on the Flattr Site and when you use the “Service” (defined in Flattr’s Terms of Use (“Terms”)). The Privacy Policy does not apply to the practices of third parties that Flattr does not own or control, or to individuals that Flattr does not employ or manage.
“You”, “your” and “yourself” refer to anyone visiting the Flattr Site or using the Service.
Changes to the Privacy Policy
As the Service evolves we may from time to time amend the Privacy Policy. We encourage you to check the Flattr Site frequently to see the current Privacy Policy and Terms in effect and any changes that may have been made to them. If we make changes to the Privacy Policy, we will post the revised Privacy Policy so you are always aware of what information we collect, how we use it and under what circumstances, if any, it is disclosed, along with the revised effective date, on the Flattr Site.
Children’s Privacy (Under 18 Years of Age)
You must be 18 years or older to register to use the Flattr website. If you are under the age of 18, please do not use or access the Flattr Site or Service in any way. We will not knowingly collect or use any personal information from any children under the age of 18. If we learn that Flattr has collected information from a child under the age of 18, we will delete that information as quickly as possible.
Information Collected by Flattr
We only collect and process information that is relevant to the purpose of our Flattr Site and Service. This information allows us to provide you with a customised and efficient experience. We do not collect and process this information in a way that is incompatible with this purpose. You may choose not to provide us with certain information but then you may not be able to take advantage of many of our features. We collect the following types of information from you:
1. Information You Provide to Us:
Registration: In order for you to use the Services you will provide us with information by filling in forms on the Flattr Site. We may also ask you for information when you report a problem with the Flattr Site. We also allow you to express yourself beyond just the information collected during registration, such as a bio or favorite URLs and photos of yourself in your profile. As indicated below, in the section titled “Sharing Your Information”, you can control how your information is displayed and used.
Once you start using the Flattr Site, we collect information about your activity on Flattr-enabled sites via cookies in order to recognise you. We do this so you can avoid having to re-identify yourself manually when you visit the sites you have chosen to support.
If you contact us, we may keep a record of that correspondence.
We may also ask you to complete surveys that we use for research and to improve the Service we offer you, although you do not have to respond to them.
2. Automatic Information:
As is true of most websites, we receive and store in log files certain types of information whenever you interact with us. Flattr automatically receives and records certain “traffic data” on our server logs from your browser including your IP address, Internet Service Provider (ISP) information, referring/exit pages, date/time stamps, operating system information, clickstream data, Flattr cookie information and the page you requested. Flattr uses this traffic data to help diagnose problems with its servers, analyse trends and administer the Flattr Site.
Flattr may collect and on any page display the total counts that page has been viewed. This includes User Profile pages. We may use a third-party tracking service, such as Google Analytics, that may use cookies to track non-personally identifiable information about visitors to the Flattr Site in the aggregate for marketing research purposes.
Many companies offer programs that help you visit websites anonymously. While Flattr will not be able to provide you with a personalised experience if we cannot recognise you, we want you to be aware that these programmes are available.
E-mail Communications
Flattr is very concerned about your privacy and we will never provide your e-mail address to a third party without your explicit permission, as detailed in the “Sharing Your Information” section below. Flattr may send out e-mails with Flattr-related news, products, offers, surveys or promotions. You may also receive notification e-mails from Flattr, which inform you of actions that have been performed on the Flattr Site. If you do not want to receive e-mails from us you can change this in your settings. However, please note that in all cases you will continue to receive all system e-mails (e.g. those regarding forgotten user passwords) and legal notices (e.g. updates to our policies) from us.
Additionally, while we appreciate your feedback and other suggestions about the Flattr Site and Service, we are not responsible for maintaining the confidentiality of any such feedback that you provide us and you agree that we may use your feedback at our discretion without compensation or liability to you.
Cookies
• Cookies are alphanumeric identifiers that we transfer to your computer’s hard drive through your Web browser to enable our systems to recognise your browser and tell us how and when pages in the Flattr Site are visited and by how many people. This may enable us to customise the Flattr Site according to your individual interests, speed up your searches and recognise you when you return to the Flattr Site.
• The “help” portion of the toolbar on the majority of browsers will direct you on how to prevent your browser from accepting new cookies, how to command the browser to tell you when you receive a new cookie or how to fully disable cookies. We recommend that you leave the cookies activated because we believe cookies allow you to use Flattr Site’s features.
• Some of our business partners, like any advertisers, may use cookies on the Flattr Site. We have no access to, or control over, these cookies.
Sharing Your Information
Because the Flattr Site enables people to discover and share information with one another, information about the people who use the Flattr Site is an integral part of the Flattr experience. We neither rent nor sell your personal information to anyone and we will share your personal information only as described below.
• Flattr Personnel: Flattr personnel and authorised consultants or contractors may have access to your information if necessary in the normal course of Flattr business.
• Protection of Flattr and Others: We may release personal information when we believe in good faith that release is necessary to comply with a law; to enforce or apply the Terms or other agreements and policies; or to protect the rights, property, or safety of Flattr, our employees, our users or others. This includes exchanging information with other companies and organisations for fraud protection and credit risk reduction.
• User Profile Information: Information collected during registration and subsequent visits, such as your full name, may be displayed to other Flattr users in your User Profile.
• Social Sharing of Data: Flattr allows you to permit other users to browse things that you have “flattred” (defined in the Terms), submitted or commented on. You can opt-in to this feature by changing your Privacy options. If you opt-in, this information is made available publicly via your User Profile, via the public API or within the permalink URL of the website on which you performed the action. Flattr may choose to post this data on other site features.
• API: Flattr will allow third parties access to all Flattr data that is already publicly available through the Flattr website. Flattr will keep private any passwords.
• Syndication: Flattr allows for the RSS syndication of all of its public content within the Flattr Site.
• With Your Consent: Except as noted above, we will contact you when your personal information is shared with third parties or used for a purpose incompatible with the purpose(s) for which it was originally collected, and you will be able to opt out to prevent the sharing of this information.
Keeping Information Secure
• All information you provide to us is stored on our secured servers. Any payment transactions will be encrypted using SSL technology. Your “Flattr User Account” (defined in the Terms) information is protected by a password for your privacy and security. It is your responsibility to protect against unauthorised access to your password and to your computer by logging off once you have finished using a shared computer. We ask you not to share any password with anyone.
• Only employees who need personal information to perform a specific job (for example, a customer service representative) are granted access to it. All such employees are kept up to date on our privacy and security practices.
• Personal information collected through the Flattr Site and/or the Service may be stored and processed in any country in which Flattr or its providers (or their affiliates or providers) maintain facilities. By using the Flattr Site and/or the Service, you consent to any such transfer and processing of information outside of your country. Flattr will take all steps reasonably necessary to ensure that your information is treated securely and in accordance with the Privacy Policy.
• Unfortunately, the transmission of information via the internet is not completely secure. Although we will do our best to protect your personal information, we cannot guarantee the security of your information transmitted to the Flattr Site and any transmission is at your own risk. Once we have received your information, we will use strict procedures and security features to try to prevent unauthorised access.
Uses Made of Information
We use information held about you in the following ways:
• To ensure that content from the Flattr Site is presented in the most effective manner for you and for your computer.
• To carry out our obligations arising from the Terms.
• To allow you to participate in interactive features of the Service, when you choose to do so.
• To notify you about changes to the Service.
Ways to Control Display and Use of Your Information
• As stated previously you can always opt not to disclose information but then you may be unable to use certain features on our website, such as posting new links.
• By visiting your User Profile you can correct, amend, add or delete personal information on the Flattr Site. When you update information, however, we often maintain a copy of the unrevised information in our records.
Site Owners’ Information
• Flattr Button activity may be publicly available on an opt-in basis: Please be aware that most of the information we collect through the Service related to a Site Owner and Flattr Buttons could be made available to the public on the Service. Except for the Designated Account information and your Flattr User Account login information (user name and password), all other information about activity through the Service involving any Flattr Button(s) could be publicly displayed to everyone with access to the Internet, whether or not they are a registered Flattr User or a Site Owner. This includes information on all monies (i.e. Flattring Amounts) received by each of the Flattr Buttons (“Revenue History”) and from which Flattr Users these monies (including amounts) are received (subject only to privacy constraints imposed by the Flattr Users) (“Contribution History”). We only use this information for display and accounting purposes and this information will not be used for any other purpose, and is only publicly visible if you opt-in by changing your Privacy settings.
• Flattr Button activity remains publicly available even after suspension: Even after a Flattr Button is removed from a Site Owner’s site (“Site”) and marked as “inactive” on the Flattr Site, the history of that Flattr Button may remain in the Flattr system on an ongoing basis at Flattr’s discretion. This includes information about the Site, traffic to the Site, Flattr contributions to the Site accrued prior to the removal of the Flattr Button from the Site and other information relating to the Site in connection with the Service, as part of the Service, including the information used for historical financial tracking purposes as well as for publicly displaying the Contribution History of Flattr Users and the Revenue History of Site Owners.
Conditions of Use
If you decide to visit the Flattr Site, your visit and any possible dispute over privacy is fully subject to the Privacy Policy and the Terms including but not limited to the provisions within the Terms regarding limitation of liability, dispute resolution and application of Swedish law.