Privacy Policy
Effective Date: November 1st 2018
Alphonso Inc. (Alphonso) interacts with consumers and businesses in several different ways. Alphonso owns and operates the website www.alphonso.tv (the Site). Alphonso develops and distributes certain software applications for automatic content recognition (ACR), which may include applications for set top boxes, smart televisions and mobile devices (Alphonso Apps). Alphonso also develops and distributes a software development kit, including application programming interfaces, software, documentation and related materials (the SDK), which certain website publishers, software developers, device manufacturers and other users (Independent Developers) may elect to utilize in connection with developing and operating their own ACR applications (Independent Applications). Additionally, some of Alphonso’s media partners may include an Alphonso web beacon on their advertisements, to allow Alphonso to assist the partner in understanding the effectiveness of those ads, or may include an Alphonso web beacon on their websites, to allow Alphonso to measure visitation to the website. The Site, Apps, SDK and web beacons, together with the data collection, storage, analysis and reporting tools, functions and services that are provided at or by the Site, Apps, SDK, or web beacons, are collectively referred to as the Service.
The following policy explains how Alphonso collects, uses and shares information when consumers interact with the Service, which may occur directly or as the result of interacting with an Independent Application or Host Application. Alphonso complies with the EU-U.S. Privacy Shield Framework as set forth by the U.S. Department of Commerce regarding the collection, use, and retention of personal information transferred from the European Economic Area to the United States (U.S.). For more information see “For Users in the European Economic Area” below. Capitalized terms used herein without definition will have the same meanings as defined in the Terms of Service applicable to the Service, which are available at www.alphonso.tv/terms.html. If you are a developer, publisher, advertiser, or device manufacturer that wants to use the Service in your mobile app or other device, please visit our website at www.alphonso.tv to learn more or email us at info@alphonso.tv.
Information Collected
Site
While you are on our Site, you may provide us with information about yourself when you submit a form, ask questions, or request services from us. You can also authorize a third party to provide us with information about you when you register or sign in with our Site using a third-party login service (such as LinkedIn). You may correct or otherwise change your registration data by contacting Alphonso, as provided below.
When you visit our Site, we automatically collect information about your visit, like time, date and the URL or address of the website from which you entered the Site, and the IP address or other identifiers linked to the device you are using to access the Site (collectively, the Traffic Data). We combine this information with information from third party data providers that help us understand the demographics and interests of our Site visitors, as well as the frequency and duration of use of areas within our Site. Collection of Traffic Data may involve the use of software programs, web beacons, pixel tags, cookies (as defined below), or other similar technologies.
Service
Whenever you interact with the Service, which may occur directly or as a result of interacting with an Independent Application or Host Application, and you provide your consent a variety of technologies are employed to collect data that includes:
• Browser or device type;
• Make and model of device;
• Operating system type;
• The time of your interaction with the Service;
• Your use of the Site or other sites where an Alphonso partner has placed a beacon, and what websites you previously viewed;
• Device identifiers, such as IDFA, IP address, MAC address, or other such identifiers;
• Information about the websites you visit and mobile applications you use over time and across various devices and browsers;
• Encoded (hashed) audio signatures about the commercial audio content playing from sources on or around a mobile device (such as TV, radio, or theater); and
• Information about your location.
We also receive information, such as demographic, interests, and other information described in this policy, about you from certain third-party data providers. We combine any of the information we collect and use and share it in the manner described in this privacy policy.
The Service collects data to enhance your media viewing experience, and to increase the relevancy of the advertising that you may see across the various devices you use. However, the Service only collects data from your device if you have agreed to participate. If you agree to receive the Service, the Alphonso App, Independent Application or Hosted Application (as the case may be) receives brief audio samples (about 10 milliseconds) through the device microphone on which the Alphonso App is installed, or from the audio of content on your viewing device (e.g., TVs, video and audio streaming devices, set-top boxes, etc.). These audio samples are encoded (hashed) into digital “audio signatures” on your device. The audio signatures are then sent to Alphonso’s servers where they are compared to audio signatures of pre-existing commercial content. Matched audio signatures are used by Alphonso and shared with third parties for a variety of media recommendations (such as alerting viewers of breaking news or the release of a favorite show), and for ad targeting and measurement services across mobile and other associated devices. The audio signatures are associated with IP address and/or device ID, but not name, postal address, or email. Importantly, Alphonso’s ACR service is not designed to recognize human conversation, ambient sounds, and other non-commercial audio or sounds.
Use & Sharing of Information
Alphonso uses the various types of information it collects for a variety of purposes with your consent where required, including to:
• Maintain, operate, improve and provide the Service;
• Analyze user trends and behaviors, and to generate reports;
• Deliver marketing and advertising materials on our behalf, and for other third parties, that we believe are relevant to you;
• Offer recommendations to you about programing content on your TV and other devices we believe you may enjoy; and
• As otherwise disclosed at the time of collection.
Alphonso also uses the various types of information it collects in its legitimate interest:
• Maintain, operate, improve our business;
• To support our business development efforts;
• To provide customer service, communicate with and market to our customers;
• To monitor the Service for legal compliance, and compliance with your terms of use; and
• As otherwise disclosed at the time of collection.
Alphonso shares any data it collects with a variety of parties, including:
• Service providers, such as email and marketing fulfillment providers;
• With Independent Developers and Authorized Distributors with respect to users of their apps;
• With select third parties that will use the information for their own business purposes including ad targeting and measurement for participants in the Service and other users;
• With third parties for their direct marketing purposes;
• With third parties for reporting and analytics purposes;
• With our affiliated companies for their business and marketing purposes;
• As part of a corporate sale, merger, acquisitions, or other transfer of all or part of our assets, including as part of a bankruptcy proceeding. Alphonso’s successor will have all of the rights and be subject to all of the obligations of this Privacy Policy.;
• Pursuant to a subpoena, court order, or other legal process or as otherwise required by law, or to protect our rights, or the rights of third parties; or
• With your consent or as otherwise disclosed at the time of collection.
To learn about how you can control our use and sharing of information we collect, or to withdraw consent that you previously provided, please see the “Your Choices” section of this policy. Please note that if you do not provide consent, or if you choose to withdraw your consent, the advertising you see in mobile apps may be less relevant to you and you will not receive personalized content recommendations on your TV. You have the right to withdraw your consent at any time. Alphonso shares data that does not identify you or your device specifically, such as aggregate or de-identified data, without restriction.
“Cookies” are pieces of information that a website transfers to your computer’s hard disk for record-keeping purposes. Cookies are used to identify a user’s web browser. If applicable, you may be able to set your web browser to refuse cookies, which in turn may affect your ability to access and use the Site, Service and, possibly, Independent Applications and Host Applications. Note that if you block cookies we may still collect information from your browser or device using different technologies. Our Business Partners and third parties who provide advertising using the Service may also use cookies for the purpose of collecting and storing information across this website and other websites over time. Alphonso does not have access to or control over third party advertisers’ use of cookies. For more information regarding Alphonso’s use of cookies and your choices related to them, please see our Cookie Policy.
Your Choices
Choice on Televisions and Other Devices: If you own a television or other device that includes the Service, you can consent to our collection and use of data about the video content you watch on that television to customize advertising in mobile apps, as well as provide you with television content recommendations. If you would like to withdraw that consent at any time, you can do so in the settings menu of your television where the Service is integrated.
Choice for Device Microphone Data
If you use a mobile application that includes the Service, you can also provide consent for us to access your device microphone to collect and use data about the content from sources being played on or around your device to customize advertising in mobile apps, as well as provide you with content recommendations. To withdraw that consent, you can use the platform settings of your device as shown in our mobile opt out guide, available at alphonso.tv/mobile-opt-out-guide/. You could also withdraw consent at any time from the settings menu of your mobile app.
Interest-Based Advertising
As described under the “Service” section, we collect information when you visit or use third-party apps equipped with the Alphonso technology. For example, after you opt in to our Service, a mobile app may enable us to receive information about the content you watch so that our Service can suggest additional viewing content that you might like. Also, by understanding the types of shows you watch, our Service may enable the delivery of interest-based advertisements to you on your browser and across various browsers and devices associated with it.
Website Beacons
As described above, certain partners who are looking to better understand the visitors that come to the partners’ websites may include an Alphonso web beacon on those websites. These beacons use JavaScript to run. Consequently, if you disable JavaScript on your browser, none of the Alphonso beacons will be active, so no data will be collected. One thing to note, if you want to disable JavaScript, you will need to do it for each type of browser you use (e.g., Chrome, Firefox, Edge, etc.). Instructions for disabling JavaScript are widely available either through the Help function of your browser or through an Internet search.
As part of our Service, we or our business partners engage other companies to serve advertisements on our behalf and to provide analytics services to us. These companies may use cookies, web beacons, device IDs, and other technologies to collect information about your use of the Services and other websites and apps, including: your IP address, web browser, pages viewed, time spent on pages or in apps, links clicked, and conversion information. This information may be used by Alphonso and others in various ways, including to analyze and track data, determine the popularity of certain features, deliver interest-based advertising and other content targeted to your interests on our Services and other websites, and to better understand your online activity. This type of advertising is called interest-based advertising. Alphonso adheres to the Digital Advertising Alliance’s (“DAA”) Self-Regulatory Principles regarding interest-based advertising.
If you would like to exercise choice regarding interest-based advertising in this browser, you can visit www.aboutads.info/choices. To make choices about the collection, use, and transfer of data from mobile apps on your mobile device, by Alphonso and other companies that participate in DAA’s AppChoices app, download the version of AppChoices for your device via www.youradchoices.com/appchoices. See also our mobile opt out guide, available at alphonso.tv/mobile-opt-out-guide/, for additional controls that may be available to you through your device platform. To control the collection of precise location data from your mobile device, you can use the location data controls that may be available in your device’s settings.
When you make choices regarding interest-based advertising through the tools described above, we will stop using data from that device or browser for interest-based advertising on that device or browser and on associated devices and browsers. We will also stop using data collected from associated devices or browsers for interest-based advertising on the device or browser where choice was exercised. If you delete cookies, reset your device identifier, or use another browser or device, you may need to repeat your choices made through the tools described above. If you opt out, you will still receive ads, but these ads may be less relevant to you. Also, if you elect to opt out, we may still collect data for other purposes including analytics, reporting, content personalization, and other business purposes.
Marketing E-mails
If you receive marketing emails from Alphonso regarding our products and services, you can unsubscribe from these emails through opt-out included in that e-mail.
California Residents
Under California Civil Code Section 1798.83 (the “Shine the Light” law), California residents who provide personal information in obtaining products or services from Alphonso are entitled to request and obtain from us once a calendar year information about the customer information we shared, if any, with other businesses for their own direct marketing uses. If applicable, this information would include the categories of customer information and the names and addresses of those businesses with which we shared customer information for the immediately prior calendar year. If you are a California resident and would like a copy of this information, please submit a written request to:
Alphonso Inc.
Attn: Privacy Policy
2440 W El Camino Real
Mountain View, CA 94040
E-mail: info@alphonso.tv
Children
Alphonso will not collect personally identifiable or other information from any person who is actually known to us to be under the age of 13 (or an age set by local law in a jurisdiction where we offer our Services). If we become aware that a person under 13 has provided personally identifiable or other information, Alphonso will take steps to remove such information and terminate that individual’s access and use of the Service.
Security
Alphonso takes reasonable physical, technical, and administrative steps to help maintain information we collect, store, and use in a secure manner.
Data Retention
Alphonso retains data we collect to support our Site and Service only as long as it is needed to provide our services to our customers or for our use for our legitimate interest such as accounting and legal compliance, and after this time, that data is deleted or de-identified.
For Users in the European Economic Area
EU-U.S. Privacy Shield
Alphonso complies with the EU-U.S. Privacy Shield Framework as set forth by the U.S. Department of Commerce regarding the collection, use, and retention of personal information transferred from the European Economic Area (EEA) to the U.S. for the transfer of personal information to the U.S., as that term is defined in the Privacy Shield Framework. Alphonso has certified to the Department of Commerce that we adhere to the Privacy Shield Principles of notice, choice, accountability for onward transfers, security, data integrity and purpose limitation, access, recourse, enforcement and liability. If there is any conflict between the terms in this policy and the Privacy Shield Principles, the Privacy Shield Principles shall govern. To learn more about the Privacy Shield program, and to view our certification, please visit www.privacyshield.gov.
This Privacy Policy describes the types of personal information we collect, the types of third parties to which we disclose this information, and the purposes for which we do so. Residents of the EEA have the right to access the personal information that Alphonso maintains, and in some cases, may have the right to correct or amend information that is inaccurate or has been processed in violation of the Privacy Shield Principles, to the extent allowed by law. To exercise this right, contact us at [EUprivacy@alphonso.tv]. Alphonso is responsible for the processing of personal data it receives, under the Privacy Shield Framework, and subsequently transfers to a third party who processes this personal information in a manner inconsistent with the Privacy Shield Principles. Alphonso may also be required to disclose information in response to lawful requests by public authorities, including to meet national security or law enforcement requirements.
Residents of the EEA with inquiries or complaints regarding this Privacy Policy should first contact Alphonso via the contact information listed in this Privacy Policy below. If your privacy concern is not resolved satisfactorily, please contact our U.S.-based third party dispute resolution provider (free of charge), to the JAMS EU-U.S. Privacy Shield Program, which is based in the United States and which serves as our third-party alternative dispute resolution provider. We will cooperate with JAMS pursuant to the JAMS International Mediation Rules, which are accessible on the JAMS website at http://www.jamsadr.com. Under certain conditions, more fully described on the Privacy Shield website, you may be entitled to invoke binding arbitration when other dispute resolution procedures have been exhausted.
By participating in the EU-U.S. Privacy Shield Framework, Alphonso is subject to the investigatory and enforcement powers of the U.S. Federal Trade Commission. For more information about the EU-U.S. Privacy Shield, please visit https://www.privacyshield.gov/list. Individual Rights: We recognize that individuals from the EEA have certain individual rights under European law with respect to your personal data, including the right to request access to, correct, amend, delete, or limit the use of your personal data under certain circumstances. If you wish to exercise these rights, and we are required to effectuate those rights, please reach out to us at [EUprivacy@alphonso.tv]. In addition, please see the “Your Choices” section above for information about how to withdraw your consent to our collection of personal data. You have the right to withdraw your consent at any time. You also have the right to lodge a complaint with the applicable supervisory authority in the member state of your residence.
Updates.
Alphonso reserves the right, at its sole discretion, to update, modify or replace this Privacy Policy, in whole or in part, at any time. Alphonso will use reasonable efforts to notify you of any material change approximately 30 days in advance of the effective date of any change. Change notices may be communicated by postings at or through the Site, Apps, SDK or otherwise. In any case, you should periodically check the Privacy Policy for changes. Continued access or use of the Service following any change to the Privacy Policy constitutes your acceptance of those changes. Information collected by the Service is subject to the Privacy Policy in effect at the time of use.
Contact
If you have any questions regarding this Privacy Policy or your dealings with the Service, please contact us in our role as a data controller, at:
Alphonso Inc.
Attn: Privacy Policy
2440 W El Camino Real
Mountain View, CA 94040 USA
E-mail: info@alphonso.tv