Privacy Notice for Stack Overflow for Teams
(Free, Basic and Business)
ABOUT STACK OVERFLOW
The Stack Overflow Network (also referred to herein as "Stack Overflow" or "Network") is a set of related Internet sites and other applications for asynchronous collaboration and sharing knowledge, owned and operated by Stack Exchange, Inc. ("Stack Overflow", "we" or "us"), a Delaware corporation.
Stack Overflow welcomes you to the Network, the largest community of developers and technologists in the world, and invites you to participate in the community by sharing knowledge with your peers and colleagues.
This Privacy Notice is applicable to you when you interact with us on Stack Overflow for Teams (Free, Basic and Business).
ABOUT STACK OVERFLOW FOR TEAMS
Stack Overflow for Teams (Free, Basic, and Business ) (the "Product" or "Teams") is a software application tailored for sharing questions and answers within your company and is owned and operated by Stack Overflow. We offer various levels of the Product: Free, Basic, and Business. This privacy notice covers all of these Products. These Products allow you to participate in both (i) the Public Network and (ii) to post privately within your Company to share knowledge with your peers and colleagues. Stack Overflow for Teams allows you to share private content via authorized closed communities.
Here you will find details about the personal information we collect about you when you use the Stack Overflow for Teams Platform, how and why we collect it, how we use it, and how we keep it secure. This Privacy Notice also tells you about your rights, how you can exercise those rights, and how the law protects you.
Stack Exchange, Inc. is the controller responsible for your personal data.
Determining Controllers and Processors
We may process data in two ways; as processor, acting on behalf of your organization, or as controller, acting for our own purposes. This privacy notice covers our obligation as controller, but we also explain when we act as processor on behalf of your organization.
In accordance with our terms of service, when we provide the services to you on Stack Overflow for Teams, we act as processor, carrying out instructions on your behalf. In certain circumstances, we will also process data for our own purposes, as controller. More details are set out below.
Data we process on your behalf as processor
When we provide Teams services to our Customers, the Customer acts as the controller and Stack Overflow acts as the processor in respect of any personal data that is held or processed as a result. Any personal data that we process as part of the services will be on behalf of the Controller. Your organization retains the responsibility to comply with any applicable regulatory requirements, including issuing any privacy notices and obtaining consent, where required, for processing personal data. You should read your organization’s privacy notice to find out more about how your data is processed and how you can exercise your rights. We are also required by data protection laws to sign a Data Processing Addendum (DPA) with your organization before we process any personal data. Please refer to the tier specific DPA below:
Stack Overflow as Controller
When you interact with us as a Teams customer, we will also collect and process certain information for our own purposes as controller. This includes personal data, such as billing information, names, telephone number, email address and other contact details of key contacts and authorized users.
This Privacy Notice describes the personal data that we collect about you as controller when you interact with us as a Teams customer; how and why we collect it, how we use it, and how we keep it secure and your data privacy rights.
WHAT INFORMATION DO WE COLLECT?
As a participant on Stack Overflow for Teams, we require you to create an individual account on our public Network and we associate this account registration with your Team for account security purposes and to verify your identity. Account registration information as well as company or team affiliation information is displayed to authorized users of your Team.
In addition to account registration and company or team affiliation information, Stack Overflow collects certain application metadata for the purposes of maintaining and enhancing the Stack Overflow for Teams product and related services we provide. This metadata is only made available to Stack Overflow authorized personnel, and in some cases, authorized third parties, such as vendors, under a duty of confidentiality. Please see the table below for more information.
When you create or join a team, we will collect the following:
Information that you give to us
| Account registration information | Account registration information such as name, email address, IP address, that we will need from Customers or individuals granted access to your organization’s Private Network ("Authorized Users"). |
| Sales and other contact information | Names and contact details of key contacts and representatives |
| Billing and account information | Billing and accounting information |
Information we generate or collect automatically through your use of Teams
| Services metadata | When an Authorized User interacts with the Services, metadata is generated that provides additional context about the way Authorized Users work. |
| Log data | Our servers automatically collect information when you access or use our websites or Services and record it in log files. This log data may include the Internet Protocol (IP) address, the address of the web page visited before using the Website or Services, browser type and settings, the date and time the Services were used, information about browser configuration and plugins, language preferences and cookie data. |
| Device information | Stack Overflow collects information about devices accessing the Services, including type of device, what operating system is used, device settings, application IDs, unique device identifiers and crash data. |
| Location information | We receive information from you and other third-parties that helps us approximate your location. For example, with your consent, we may collect information about the location of your mobile device (for example, by using GPS or Bluetooth). |
| Contact Information | In accordance with the consent process provided by your device, any contact information that an Authorized User chooses to import (such as an address book from a device) is collected when using the Services. |
| Information collected from cookies and similar technologies | We use cookies, which are small text files that collect and track certain technical information, and similar technologies to help us operate and provide our Services to you. We use this information for various reasons including to improve the quality of our services, improve your experience, understand user activity, and personalize content and advertisements. More information on how Stack uses cookies and how you can disable them can be found in our cookie policy. |
WHAT WE USE YOUR PERSONAL DATA FOR (PURPOSES)
Our collection of such content is solely to provide the Products and Services, and is provided pursuant to the applicable product terms such as private Network Terms. Stack Overflow personnel may not access such content except to the extent as may be required in response to a support request with your explicit permission, or when required for security or maintenance of the product or services. In such cases, Stack Overflow personnel will only access the minimum content necessary to resolve the issue and in accordance with the applicable product terms such as private Network Terms.
OUR LEGAL GROUNDS FOR USING YOUR PERSONAL DATA
We will only use your personal data when the law allows us to. We will use your personal data in the following circumstances:
- Where we need to perform the contract we are about to enter into or have entered into with you. For example, when Customers purchase an Enterprise product, where you request a service from us, or where we need to set up your account or for billing purposes.
- Where we have your consent. For example, where you have provided your consent to receive marketing emails from us or where you have given your consent to be contacted by a third party sponsor for an event you have participated in. You can withdraw your consent at any time. In the case of marketing emails, you can withdraw your consent by clicking on the "unsubscribe" link in the email you received.
- Where we need to comply with a legal or regulatory obligation.
- Where it is in our legitimate interests, including our commercial interests or a third party’s legitimate interest in using the personal information. Examples include when we carry out analysis to understand how our products are used and how we can improve them; carrying out marketing analyses to better understand your interests and preferences so that we can make our marketing more relevant to your interests and preferences. This includes when we promote our own products and services.
Whenever we rely on legitimate interests for processing, we ensure that we consider and balance our interests against the individual’s interests before processing. We do not use your personal data on the basis of legitimate interest for activities where individuals’ interests override our interests.
WHO DO WE SHARE YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION WITH?
When you are using the private Network, your account settings, including, name, affiliated role and company, and other information may be shared with your private Network Team members designated as authorized users of your private Network account.
While some of the public and private Network profile information is required, much of it is within your control as we describe herein and can be modified, updated, and restricted by you in your Profile Settings (link requires you to be logged in).
Any content you provide in the course of your use of the Stack Overflow for Teams product is shared privately with authorized users of your Team, and may include private questions and answers, votes, source code, and other sensitive data.
We may also share your personal data as described in our General Privacy Notice.
YOUR CHOICES - HOW TO ACCESS AND CONTROL YOUR PERSONAL DATA
You can make choices about the collection and use of your data by Stack Overflow in the various ways set out below.
You may change or correct your account settings or you can inform your usual contact person.
You can also control your personal data that Stack Overflow has collected and exercise your data protection rights as set out in Your Rights, or by using the tools described below.
Promotional emails, notifications, SMS messages, telephone calls and postal mail from Stack Overflow
When we send promotional emails and texts, we will give you an ‘unsubscribe’ option to opt out of receiving such messages, and you can also opt out in your Profile Settings. You can opt out of receiving telephone calls. Occasionally, we may send promotional mail. You can let us know if you do not wish to receive mail by contacting us through the link in the email you receive.
Interest based advertising
We may carry out interest-based advertising through third party services such as Microsoft or Google, as described under Advertising, above. You can opt out of such advertising in the following ways:
- You can control the use of your data for interest-based advertising from Microsoft by visiting their opt-out page.
- You can opt out of advertising from Google or find out more by visiting Google's help center.
More information and resources on how you can control your ad choices and how to opt out of interest based advertising can be found on NAI Consumer Opt Out and YourAdChoices.com.
If you want to access or control personal data processed by Stack Overflow that is not available via the tools, please refer to Your Rights or contact us at [email protected].
HOW WE MAY CONTACT YOU
Service communications
From time to time, we may send you service emails, for example, how to use certain features of products you have bought or renewal reminders (if applicable).
Marketing and product communications, notifications and newsletters
From time to time, Stack Overflow may communicate with you about commercial and other Product and Services offerings and to let you know how you can continue to share, learn, and build your knowledge within the Stack Overflow community. You can opt-out of such messages at any time by changing your permissions in your Profile Settings or by telling your usual Stack Overflow contact. In some cases, e.g. third party offers, we will only send these if you have given us permission.
Direct marketing opt out
You may opt-out of receiving Stack Overflow email marketing materials by using the unsubscribe link in these communications or by changing your Email Settings.
INTERNATIONAL DATA TRANSFERS
We may share your personal data with entities within Stack Overflow and transfer it to internal and third party systems and service providers including data centers and cloud services providers based outside the UK and the EEA. More details about international transfers can be found in our General Privacy Notice.
WHERE WE PROCESS YOUR INFORMATION (LOCATIONS)
Details about where we process your information are described in our General Privacy Notice.
OUR ONGOING COMMITMENT TO DATA SECURITY
Our commitment to data security is described in our General Privacy Notice.
YOUR RIGHTS
You have a number of rights in relation to your personal data and you can contact us if you want to exercise any of these.
Your rights include:
| Access | The right to be provided with a copy of your personal data also known as a "data subject access request" |
| Rectification | The right to require us to correct any mistakes in your personal data |
| Erasure | The right to require us to delete your personal data—in certain situations |
| Restriction of processing | The right to require us to restrict processing of your personal data in certain circumstances (e.g., if you contest the accuracy of the data) |
| Data portability | The right to receive the personal data you provided to us, in a structured, commonly used and machine-readable format and/or transmit that data to a third party—in certain situations |
| To object |
The right to object:
|
If you would like to exercise any of these rights, please email [email protected].
We may need to request specific information from you to help us confirm your identity before we can deal with your request. We will respond to your request within one month. If your request is complicated, it may take us longer. We will let you know if we need longer than one month to respond.
You also have the right to take your concerns at any time to the UK or EU Supervisory Authority, depending on your location.
HOW LONG WILL WE RETAIN YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION FOR?
We will keep your personal data only for as long as is necessary for the purposes set out in this privacy notice and to fulfil our legal obligations. We will not keep more data than we need. While you remain a Teams customer or user, we will retain your data in order to keep providing services to you. We are required to keep some basic information about our customers for a longer period in accordance with applicable tax and other laws. In some circumstances, you can ask us to delete your data. If you also interact with us through the Public website or on other Products, we may hold your personal data in relation to those other Products or Services.
If you have any questions about this Privacy Notice or the way we use your personal data please contact us at [email protected].
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION FOR CALIFORNIA CONSUMERS
Please visit our General Privacy Notice for more information.
CHILDREN
The Stack Overflow platform is not intended for children. We do not knowingly offer this or any other Product or Service to anyone under the age of 16.
PRIVACY POLICY AMENDMENTS
We may amend or update this policy from time to time and will notify you of any material changes to this policy. Previous versions of this privacy policy are available upon request.
CONTACT US
Privacy Officer
- Privacy Officer, 110 William Street, Floor 28, New York, NY 10038, [email protected], phone: 212-232-8280
UK Representative
- Privacy Officer, Bentima House, 168-172 Old Street, London EC1V 9BP, [email protected], phone: +44 (0) 20 3349 1000
EU Representative
- The MD Stack Overflow GMBH HRB 234500
3 Frieslandstraat, Amsterdam,
[email protected], phone: +44 (0) 20 3349 1000