privacy notice

how data is collected

Registration Information:

Many of our services can be used without registering with us.  However, you will need to register with us if you want to use some of our enhanced features.  If you chose to register with us, you affirm that you are 13 years of age or older and you will be providing us with certain information, some of which identifies you personally, such as your name and email, and other registration information. We do not sell or share registration information to third parties for marketing purposes. We may offer social media services in which our registered users can share information about themselves with their friends, including information about their interests and favorite websites.  You can decide what information you want to share with others in this manner.  This information will only be made available to friends with whom you specifically share such information.  However, whenever you voluntarily post personal information in public areas, like blogs, message boards, and forums, you should be aware that this information can be accessed by anyone with access to those places.  Please exercise discretion in deciding what information you disclose.

Note on Emails from Users with ShareThis Icon:

When you share to email with the ShareThis Icon, you chose how to connect to email from your device, depending on how email is set up on your device.  We do not verify your identity to that email account; we rely on your device email settings, using third-party authentication through Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Google, Yahoo!, as applicable. Even still, we cannot block users from sending emails from your email address or to your email address. We are not responsible for the information provided or shared by users via the ShareThis Publisher Applications.

Usage Data:

We collect data when your device visits our website, uses or interacts with our services (including sharing content with the ShareThis Icon), when your device visits Publishers’ websites that use ShareThis Publisher Applications, and when your device views or clicks advertisements that we serve or are served on our behalf. Publishers are owners or operators of websites that make ShareThis Publisher Applications available on their site to collect Usage Data as a data controller in the European Union.  Publishers make the ShareThis Publisher Applications available on their site to facilitate their legitimate interest in facilitating browsing and sharing content from their website and are required to deploy banner cookie notices/consent, as applicable by local law.

Usage data may include, without limitation:

• Unique IDs of a cookie placed on a web browser (example: 37d387ca-f68a-11e5-b87d-0e58954c72b1)
• General click-stream behavior
  • Webpages viewed (including the URL addresses of such pages)
  • Search queries from which users are directed to a page
  • Navigation from page to page through the ShareThis services
  • Time spent on each page
  • Items clicked or selected
  • Content highlighted
• IP addresses
• Mobile advertising identifiers (Apple IDFA or Google AAID) which are specific technical data created by mobile manufacturers to allow personalization and customer analytics in a secure and non-identifying way for users (not collected by us but may be used with our data)
• Information contained in HTTP headers or other intent transfer protocol signals
• Attributes of computer or device usage, type of browser (e.g., Internet Explorer, Firefox, or Safari), and operating system (iOS or other for mobile devices)

Specific types of the information listed above that do not directly identify an individual may be considered personal information in different parts of the world or when combined with other information. In such cases, we treat this information as personal information.

Sensitive Data:

ShareThis is aware of the sensitivity of certain types of data. We do not create interest segments that reflect data that we consider sensitive.  While types of data considered sensitive may vary among users, we presently treat data as sensitive if it includes sensitive health information (such as a user having a serious medical condition like cancer); certain aspects of a user’s personal life or financial situation (such as credit, insurance or employment eligibility); or use of, or interest in, gambling, alcoholic beverages, or “adult” products or services.  Except as required by local law, ShareThis does not consider general health interest such as skin care, diet, or fitness to be sensitive and therefore may use such interests.  If you would like to view the list of health and wellness interest data segments available by ShareThis, please click here.

Children:

ShareThis does not intentionally collect data from, and does not tailor any segments to, children under 13 years of age.

Please note that publisher websites, advertisers and our other data partners may independently gain other demographical information about you after they place their own cookies or web beacons.  The use of cookies and pixel tags by these third-party advertisers, publishers, and ad networks are subject to their own privacy policies. For full disclosure on the cookies on your browser, you can use tools such as Ghostery Browser Extension which will display a list of cookies on each website you visit and the option to opt out for each.

how data is used

Registration Information:

We use your Registration Information: a) to fulfill requests for our services; b) to communicate with you and respond to your inquiries; c) to conduct research about the use of our services; d) to enable you to create an account, store log-in credentials, and customize your ShareThis services; e) to contact you from time to time about ShareThis services; and f) for ShareThis to provide offers for products and services of ShareThis and our partners that may be of interest to you.  If you decide to share your interests and your profile information with your friends on ShareThis, we will display your profile information according to the preferences you set in your account.  You can control the types of certain emails you receive by click on links in the emails, although you agree that we may always contact you to provide you with important information or notices required by ShareThis.

Usage Data:

ShareThis uses the usage data we collect and information collected from our third-party partners to create audience segments and to otherwise enable interest-based advertising (“Usage Data”).  Audience segments are groups of users and certain general interest categories that we have inferred based on a) demographic or interest data, b) a general geographic location derived from your IP address, c) the pages you view and links you click, and/or search terms you enter when using certain services.  These audience segments do not contain Personally Identifiable Information (“PII”); they are tied to a device, not a person.   For example, these segments may disclose that a user located in a geographic area may be interested in cars, but this information does not identify or include the name, email, phone number, mailing address, or user name of any specific individual.  Audience segments are not tied to Registration Information.

We may also use Usage Data for research and development purposes, for our internal operational purposes, and to create aggregate statistics for market research or analytics services.  These aggregated statistics do not include information that directly identifies an individual. We offer some of the Usage Data to Our customers for their own internal analytics or data modeling. In such cases, we contractually prohibit the customers from re-identifying you without your opt in consent.

Note:

Each environment is separate. If you do not want to receive ads based on usage data collected by ShareThis whatever device or browser used, you must disable our services for each device and each internet web browser.

Also note:

Opting out does not mean you will stop seeing advertisements, but that the advertisements you do see will not be influenced by the usage data collected by ShareThis. It also does not affect your registration information. For canceling or deleting your registration information, see Data Security and Retention.

Browser environment: (desktop, tablet, and smartphone browsers)

When you opt out as instructed in this section, an opt out cookie will be set on your browser. We must maintain the opt out cookie on your browser in order to recognize you as having opted out from our service. You must opt out again if you clear that cookie from your browser, use a different internet browser, or use a new computer to access the internet.

You can also opt out by visiting the following links. Please note these links allow you to opt out of interest-based advertising delivered by registered members (i.e., us and other companies that also provide interest-based advertising and are members of these self-regulatory organizations) on the current browser you are using when you opt out on their platform.

Network Advertising Initiative (“NAI”) Opt-Out Platform

Digital Advertising Alliance (“DAA”) Opt-Out Platform

Note:

The opt-out tools above are currently cookie-based, and prevent ShareThis from using Usage Data for interest-based advertising on the browser on which they are installed. As a result, the opt out will only function if your browser is set to accept third-party cookies, and may not function where cookies are sometimes automatically disabled or removed (potentially without your knowledge), like Safari. If you delete cookies, change your browser settings, switch browsers or computers, or use another operating system, you will need to opt out again.

Also, note:

Our statistical IDs are not used for interest-based advertising. Therefore, the industry opt out platforms listed above may not apply to our statistical IDs.  Also, please keep in mind that your web browser may not permit you to block the use of these statistical IDs, and those browser settings that block cookies may have no effect on such techniques.

Mobile environment:

While the opt-out methods described above often work for mobile web browsing, they are cookie-based and are therefore less reliable in mobile “app” environments that may not accept interest-based advertising cookies.

Instead, you can typically opt out at the mobile platform level by the limit ad tracking within the settings function, as described below. Though we do not collect data from mobile apps for interest-based advertising, we or third parties we work with may use such data collected by others in delivering interest-based ads.

Most Android Users:

To use the “opt-out of interest-based advertising” option, follow the instructions provided by Google here: Google Play Help.

Please note that this is a device setting and will disable interest-based ads from all providers, and not just for ShareThis.

iOS users: (version 6 and above)

To use the “Limit Ad-Tracking” option, follow the instructions provided by Apple here: Apple Support Center.

Please note that this is a device setting and will disable interest-based ads from all providers, and not just for ShareThis.

Do Not Track and Cookie Blocking:

ShareThis does not process do-not-track signals from browsers. If you block third-party cookies from being set on your browser, you may not be able to enjoy some features or functionality of, and you may see the same content and advertisements repeatedly on, some websites. Blocking cookies will also block the function of our opt-out, which is an opt-out cookie.  Check your browser’s “Help” files to learn more about handling cookies on your browser.

The Ghostery browser extension is also a good tool to see a list of all third-party cookies on each website you visit and allows you to selectively opt out.

This information is used only for the reasons it was collected, such as responding to your communication, and is not shared with third parties other than to fulfill the purpose for which it was collected.

We may also collect non-personally identifiable information (Non-PII), through the use of technologies such as cookies, as explained in our Technology Section above.  We may use this Non-PII for purposes including enhancement of our services; marketing, interest-based advertising, and to more effectively match our website content to your interest.

We may also work with third parties who collect information on ShareThis.com, and we may maintain links to other websites on ShareThis.com.  This Privacy Notice does not apply to the privacy practices of other websites or of third parties who collect information on ShareThis.com.  We encourage you to visit the applicable policies of those third parties, or visit www.aboutads.info to learn more about interest-based advertising and to see your opt-out choices from other participating companies that may be collecting and using data on ShareThis.com.

Our website is not intentionally directed at children under the age of 13.  We do not knowingly collect information from children under the age of 13.

We share non-personally identifiable Usage Data, including audience segments, with advertisers, Publishers, advertisers, and other data partners (all, “Our Customers”) for interest-based advertising, analytics and data modeling.  In the European Union, we may transfer Usage Data to other controllers.

Our Customers may use third-party service providers, acting on their behalf, to display advertising or other content that reflects users in an audience segment.

We also provide analytics to help Publishers to better understand the use and interactions on their website.  This information tells a Publisher how many people are sharing content from their website.  We may offer aggregate browsing data so a Publisher may know the people most likely to share their content with their friends are, for example, soccer fans.

When we share Usage Data with Our Customers, we contractually prohibit them from re-identifying you (with your name, address, email, phone or other directly identifying information) without opt in consent, unless the Usage Data is only from their website.

We also share Usage Data with third-party service providers (e.g., data storage and processing facilitates or modeling vendors) in order for those service providers to perform business functions for ShareThis or on behalf of ShareThis customers.   When ShareThis shares Usage Data with third party service providers, we require them to use it only for the purposes of providing services to us and to implement security controls and to maintain the confidentiality of that information.

ShareThis may use or disclose registration information and/or Usage Data as we believe to be necessary or appropriate: (a) under applicable law, including laws outside your country of residence; b) to comply with legal process; c) to respond to requests from public and government authorities, including public and government authorities outside your country of residence to meet national security and/or law enforcement

requirements; d) to enforce our terms and conditions; e) to protect our operations or those of any of our affiliates, you or others; f) to allow us to pursue available remedies or limit the damage that we may sustain; and g) as part of a merger, acquisition, or sale of assets.

The security of your information is a high priority to ShareThis.  We have implemented industry-standard security measures, as appropriate for the sensitivity of the particular data.

However, no transmission of data over the Internet is guaranteed to be completely secure.  While we strive to protect your data, it may be possible for third parties not under the control of ShareThis to unlawfully intercept or access transmissions or private communications.  ShareThis cannot ensure or warrant the security of information you transmit to us.

Usage Data:

We retain Usage Data that we collect for up to 14 months from the date of collection.  Our cookies expire 14 months after they are last updated. For example, if you browsed a sports website for baseball on January 1, your membership to ShareThis’ “Sports/Team Sports” audience segment would expire by March 1 of the following year.   Aggregate, de-identified data (which is not connected to an individual or device) for reporting may be retained for a longer period. We may permit some customers to retain Usage Data for longer periods of time for limited purposes such as seasonal or cyclical interest-based advertising campaigns or internal analytics and model development.  Such customers deletion of this Usage Data is according to their posted privacy policies or other retention periods communicated publicly.

ShareThis may also retain other statistical data related to the performance, operation and use of services for more than 14 months for security and operations management, statistical analyses, service improvement, and research and development

Registration Information:

We will retain registration information as long as you have an active account with us.  If you have not logged into any of our services with your username and password for a period of 14 consecutive months, we may deem your account as being inactive.  Once we deem your account inactive, we may delete your registration information, including any data you may have saved, without any liability to you.  You always have the option to cancel your account with us at any time.  Simply sign into the site and click on the My Account at the top of the page.  Click on Edit Profile and then select Deactivate Account and follow the instructions.  You may also request to have your registration information removed by submitting a request to privacy@sharethis.com.

In particular, ShareThis is a member of the following self-regulatory programs:

Network Advertising Initiative (NAI):

ShareThis adheres to the NAI codes (NAI Code of Conduct, Mobile Application Code).  NAI offers an online web opt-out platform to allow consumers to express their choices and provides general information related to privacy and Interest Based Advertising.

The Digital Advertising Alliance (DAA):

ShareThis adheres to the Digital Advertising Alliance Self-Regulatory Principles for Online Behavioral Advertising.  The DAA opt-out platform offers the consumer a choice page to opt out from advertising services, and general information related to privacy.
For California Users:

California privacy law allows California residents to obtain specific disclosures about a business’s privacy practices if it shares information with other companies for direct marketing purposes.  To make a request, please send an email to: privacy@sharethis.com.  Pursuant to California privacy law, registered users under 18 years of age may request to have content or information posted by the user removed from any of our online platforms by sending an email request to: contentremoval@sharethis.com.  The removal of content does not ensure complete or comprehensive removal of the content posted on any of our line platforms by the registered user.  We do not advertise or market any products or services identified in Chapter 22.1 Sec.22580 to users we have actual knowledge are under 18 years of age.

EU-US Privacy Shield:

ShareThis, Inc. complies with the EU-US Privacy Shield Framework as set forth by the US Department of Commerce regarding the collection, use, and retention of personal information from European Union member countries.  ShareThis has certified that it adheres to the Privacy Shield Principles of Notice, Choice, Accountability for Onward Transfer, Security, Data Integrity and Purpose Limitation, Access, and Recourse, Enforcement and Liability.  If there is any conflict between the policies in this privacy 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 page, please visit https://www.privacyshield.gov

ShareThis’s accountability for personal data that it receives under the Privacy Shield and subsequently transfers to a third party is described in the Privacy Shield Principles.  In particular, ShareThis remains responsible and liable under the Privacy Shield Principles if third-party agents that it engages to process the personal data on its behalf to do so in a manner consistent with the Principles, unless ShareThis provides that it is not responsible for the event giving rise to the damage.

In compliance with the EU-US Privacy Shield Principles, ShareThis commits to resolve complaints about your privacy and our collecting or use of your personal information.  European Union individuals with inquiries or complaints regarding this privacy notice should first contact ShareThis directly at privacy@sharethis.com.  We will respond to your complaint within 45 days of receipt.

We have further committed to refer unresolved privacy complaints under the EU-US Privacy Shield Principles to BBB EU PRIVACY SHIELD, a non-profit alternative dispute resolution provider located in the United States and operated by the Council of Better Business Bureaus.  If you do not receive timely acknowledgement of your complaint, or if your complaint is not satisfactorily addressed, please visit www.bbb.org/EU-privacy-shield/for-eu-consumers/ for more information and to file a complaint.

For residual disputes that cannot be resolved by the methods above, under limited circumstances, a binding arbitration option may be available before a Privacy Shield Panel.  To find out more about the Privacy Shield’s binding arbitration scheme, please see: https://www.privacyshield.gov/article?id=ANNEX-I-introduction.

The Federal Trade Commission has investigation and enforcement authority over our compliance with the Privacy Shield. We acknowledge the right of EU individuals to access their personal data. If you are in the European Union and would like to gain access to, or request amendment, correction or deletion of information that ShareThis holds about you, please contact us using the details in the “Contact Us” section below. We will consider and respond to your request in accordance with, as applicable, the EU-U.S. Privacy Shield, and any applicable laws.