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ThoughtFarmer Privacy Policy

Last updated: October 15 2020

Your privacy is important to us, and so is being transparent about how we collect, use, and share information about you. This Privacy Policy is intended to help you understand what information we collect about you, how we use and disclose such information, the steps we take to protect such information, and your rights regarding your personal information.

This Privacy Policy covers the information we collect about you when you use our products or services, or otherwise interact with us (for example, by attending our events), unless a different policy is displayed.  “ThoughtFarmer”, “we” and “us” refers to OpenRoad Communications Ltd. We offer a range of products and services, delivered via our websites, our Cloud environment, our mobile apps, and on-premise software. We refer to all of these products, together with our other services and websites as “Services” in this Privacy Policy.    

If you do not agree with this Privacy Policy, do not access or use our Services or interact with any other aspect of our business. Where we provide the Services under contract with an organization (for example your employer) that organization controls the information processed by the Services. For more information, please see Notice to End Users below.

What information we collect about you

We collect information about you when you provide it to us, when you use our Services, and when other sources provide it to us, as further described below.

Information you provide to us

We collect information about you when you input it into the Services or otherwise provide it directly to us.    

  • Account and Profile Information: We collect information about you when you register for an account, sign up for a demonstration or contact us through the Services. You also have the option of adding a display name, profile photo, job title, and other details to your community profile information to be displayed in our Services. We keep track of your preferences when you select settings within the Services.
  • Content you provide through our products: The Services include ThoughtFarmer Cloud and mobile apps, where we collect and store content that you post, send, receive, and share. This content includes any information about you that you may choose to include. Examples of content we collect and store include but are not limited to: pages you create, comments you add to blog posts, photos and videos that your captured with your mobile device and shared using our mobile apps, and any feedback you provide to us. Content also includes the files and links you upload to the Services.  If you use the on-premise version of ThoughtFarmer, we do not host, store, transmit, receive, or collect information about you (including your content), except in limited cases where we are permitted to do so by your administrator, we collect feedback you provide directly to us through the product and; we collect technical data such as error reporting and performance characteristics that may include the names of slow performing pages; and we collect clickstream data about how you interact with and use features in the Services. On-premise customers can disable our collection of this information from the Services via the administrator settings, or prevent this information from being shared with us by blocking transmission at the local network level.
  • Content you provide through our website(s): The Services also include websites owned or operated by us. We collect other content that you submit to these websites, which include social media or social networking websites operated by us. For example, you provide content to us when you provide feedback or when you participate in any interactive features, surveys, contests, promotions, sweepstakes, activities, or events.  
  • Information you provide through our support channels: The Services also include our customer support, where you may choose to submit information regarding a problem you are experiencing with a Service.  Whether you designate yourself as a technical contact, open a support ticket, speak to one of our representatives directly or otherwise engage with our support team, you will be asked to provide contact information, a summary of the problem you are experiencing, and any other documentation, screenshots or information that would be helpful in resolving the issue.
  • Payment Information: We collect certain payment and billing information when you register for certain paid Services. For example, we ask you to designate a billing representative, including name and contact information, upon registration.  You might also provide payment information, such as wire transfer information.

Information we collect automatically when you use the Services

When you use the Services, we may automatically record certain information from your device by using various types of technology, including cookies, ‘clear gifs’ or ‘web beacons’. This automatically collected information may include your IP address or other device addresses or ID, web browser and/or device type, user agent, push notification token, operating system type, operating system version, the web pages or sites visited immediately  before or immediately after using the Service, the pages or other content you view or interact with on the Service, and the dates and times of the visit, access, or use of the Service. We also may use these technologies to collect information regarding your interaction with email messages, such as whether you open, click on, or forward a message. You may limit the automatic collection of certain information by our Service, by disabling the cookies using your browser options or by installing a third party cookie blocker, like Ghostery. By doing so it may prevent you from using specific features on our Service, such as maintaining an online account. We use automatically collected information and other information collected on the Service through cookies and similar technologies to: (i) personalize our Services, such as remembering your information so that you will not have to re-enter it during a visit or on subsequent visits; (ii) provide customized advertisements, content, and information; (iii) monitor and analyze the effectiveness of Services and third party marketing activities; (iv) monitor aggregate site usage metrics such as total number of visitors and pages viewed; and (v) track your entries, submissions, and status in any promotions or other activities on the Services.

Information we receive from other sources

We receive information about you from other Service users, from third-party services, from our related companies, and from our business and channel partners.    

  • Other users of the Services: Other users of our Services may provide information about you when they submit content through the Services.  For example, you may be mentioned in a comment made by someone else.We also receive your email address from other Service users when they provide it in order to invite you to the Services.  Similarly, an administrator may provide your contact information when they designate you as the billing or technical contact on your company’s account.
  • Other services you link to your account: We receive information about you when you or your administrator integrate or link a third-party service with our Services.  For example, if you create an account or log into the Services using your Google credentials, we receive your name and email address as permitted by your Google profile settings in order to authenticate you. You or your administrator may also integrate our Services with other services you use, so as to allow you to access, store, share and edit certain content from a third-party through our Services.  For example, you may authorize our Services to access, display and store files from a third-party document-sharing service within the Services interface. The information we receive when you link or integrate our Services with a third-party service depends on the settings, permissions and privacy policy controlled by that third-party service. You should always check the privacy settings and notices in these third-party services to understand what data may be disclosed to us or shared with our Services.
  • ThoughtFarmer Partners: We work with a global network of partners who provide consulting, implementation, training and other services around our products.  Some of these partners also help us to market and promote our products, generate leads, and resell our products. We receive information from these partners, such as billing information, contact information, company name, what products you may be interested in, evaluation information you have provided, what events you have attended, and what country you are in.
  • Other Partners: We receive information about you and your activities on and off the Services from third-party partners, such as advertising and market research partners who provide us with information about your interest in and engagement with, our Services and online advertisements. Those partners may use non-cookie technologies that may not be impacted by browser settings that block cookies. You can use opt-out platforms such as those provided by the NAI, EDAA, or DAA to decline the collection and use of information for the purpose of serving you interest based advertising. 

How we use the information we collect

We take steps designed to ensure that only those employees who need access to your personal information to fulfill their employment duties will have access to it. How we use the information we collect depends in part on which Services you use, how you use them, and any preferences you have communicated to us.  Below are the specific purposes for which we use the information we collect about you.

  • to operate, maintain, enhance (including research and development) and provide all features of the Services, to provide the services and information that you request, to respond to comments and questions, and to provide support to users of the Services;
  • to understand and analyze the usage trends and preferences of our users, to improve the Services, and to develop new products, services, feature, and functionality;
  • to verify accounts and activity, to monitor suspicious or fraudulent activity, and to identify violations of Service policies;
  • to send you communications; or
  • to comply with legal and regulatory requirements, where applicable.

Legal bases for processing (for EEA users):

If you are an individual in the European Economic Area (EEA), we collect and process information about you only where we have legal bases for doing so under the General Data Protection Regulations (“GDPR”). The legal bases depend on the Services you use and how you use them. This means we collect and use your information only where:

  • We need it to provide you with the Services, including to operate the Services, provide customer support and personalized features, and to protect the safety and security of the Services;
  • It satisfies a legitimate interest (which is not overridden by your data protection interests), such as for research and development, to market and promote the Services, and to protect our legal rights and interests;
  • You give us consent to do so for a specific purpose; or
  • We need to process your data to comply with a legal obligation.
  • If you have consented to our use of information about you for a specific purpose, you have the right to change your mind at any time, but this will not affect any processing that has already taken place. Where we are using your information because we or a third party (e.g. your employer) have a legitimate interest to do so, you have the right to object to that use though, in some cases, this may mean you forgoing access to, or use of  the Services.

How we share information we collect

We make collaboration tools, and we want them to work well for you. This means sharing information through the Services and with certain third parties in the ways discussed below. We may share or transfer information we collect under this Privacy Policy in connection with any merger, sale of company assets, financing, or acquisition of all or a portion of our business to another company. You will be notified via email and/or a prominent notice on the Services if a transaction takes place, as well as any choices you may have regarding your information.

Sharing with other Service users

When you use the Services, we share certain information about you with other Service users.

  • For collaboration: You can create content, which may contain information about you, and grant permission to others to see, share, edit, copy, and download that content based on settings you or your administrator (if applicable) select. Some of the collaboration features of the Services display some or all of your profile information to other Service users when you share or interact with specific content.  For example, when you comment on a page, we display your profile picture and name next to your comments so that other users with access to the page or issue understand who made the comment. Similarly, when you publish a page, your name is displayed as the author of that page, and Service users with permission to view the page can view your profile information.
  • Managed accounts and administrators: If you register or access the Services using an email address with a domain that is owned by your employer or organization, certain information about you including your name, profile picture, contact info, content and past use of your account may become accessible to that organization’s administrator and other Service users sharing the same domain.  If you are an administrator for a site or group of users within the Services, we may share your contact information with current or past Service users, for the purpose of facilitating Service-related requests.
  • Community Forums:  Our services include publicly accessible sites like our website and the ThoughtFarmer Community. Any information you provide on these websites – including profile information associated with the account you use to post the information – may be read, collected, and used by any member of the public who accesses these websites.  Your posts and certain profile information may remain even after you terminate your account. We urge you to consider the sensitivity of any information you input into these Services.

Sharing with third parties

We share information with third parties that help us operate, provide, improve, integrate, customize, support and market our Services. When we disclose your personal information to third parties, we take reasonable measures to ensure that the rules set forth in this Privacy Policy are complied with, and these third parties provide sufficient guarantees to implement appropriate technical and organizational measures.

  • Service Providers: We work with third-party service providers to provide website and application development, hosting, maintenance, backup, storage, virtual infrastructure, payment processing, analysis and other services, which may require them to access or use information about you.  
  • ThoughtFarmer Partners: We work with third parties who provide consulting, sales, and technical services to deliver and implement customer solutions around the Services. We may share your information with these third parties in connection with their services, such as to assist with billing and collections, to provide localized support, and to provide customizations. We may also share information with these third parties where you have agreed to that sharing.
  • Third-Party Apps: You, your administrator or other Service users may choose to add new functionality or change the behavior of the Services by integrating third-party apps within the Services.  Doing so may give third-party apps access to your account and information about you, such as your name and email address, and any content you choose to use in connection with those apps.  Third-party app policies and procedures are not controlled by us, and this Privacy Policy does not cover how third-party apps use your information. We encourage you to review the privacy policies of third parties before connecting to or using their applications or services to learn more about their privacy and information handling practices. If you object to personal information about you being shared with these third parties, please disable the integration.
  • Links to Third Party Sites: The Services may include links that direct you to other websites or services whose privacy practices may differ from ours. If you submit information to any of those third party sites, your information is governed by their privacy policies, not this one. We encourage you to read the privacy policy of any website you visit.
  • Third-Party Widgets: Some of our Services contain widgets and social media features, such as the Twitter “tweet” button. These widgets and features collect your IP address, which page you are visiting on the Services, and may set a cookie to enable the feature to function properly. Widgets and social media features are either hosted by a third party or hosted directly on our Services. Your interactions with these features are governed by the privacy policy of the company providing it.
  • Compliance with Enforcement Requests and Applicable Laws; Enforcement of Our Rights: In exceptional circumstances, we may share information about you with a third party if we believe that sharing is reasonably necessary to (a) comply with any applicable law, regulation, legal process or governmental request, including to meet national security requirements, (b) enforce our agreements, policies and terms of service, (c) protect the security or integrity of our products and services, (d) protect ThoughtFarmer, our customers or the public from harm or illegal activities, or (e) respond to an emergency which we believe in good faith requires us to disclose information to assist in preventing the death or serious bodily injury of any person.

How we store and secure the information we collect

Your personal information may be stored and processed in any country where we have facilities or in which we engage third party service providers, including data hosting service providers. By using the Services, you consent to the transfer of information to countries outside of your country of residence, including the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom, which may have different data protection rules than in your country. While such information is outside of your country of residence, it is subject to the laws of the country in which it is held and may be subject to disclosure to the governments, courts or law enforcement or regulatory agencies of such other country, pursuant to the laws of such country. However, our practices regarding your personal information will at all times continue to be governed by this Privacy Policy and, if applicable, we will comply with the GDPR requirements providing adequate protection for the transfer of personal information from the EU/EEA to third country.

While we implement safeguards designed to protect your information, no security system is impenetrable, and due to the inherent nature of the Internet we cannot guarantee that data, during transmission through the Internet or while stored on our systems or otherwise in our care, is absolutely safe from intrusion by others.

If you use our server or data center Services, responsibility for securing storage and access to the information you put into the Services rests with you and not ThoughtFarmer. We strongly recommend that server or data center users configure SSL to prevent interception of data transmitted over networks and to restrict access to the databases and other storage points used.

How long we keep information

How long we keep the information we collect about you depends on the type of information, as described in further detail below. After the relevant amount of time such as is detailed below, we will either delete or anonymize your information or, if this is not possible (for example, because the information has been stored in backup archives), then we will securely store your information and isolate it from any further use until deletion is possible.  

  • Account information: We retain your account information for as long as your account is active, and a reasonable period thereafter in case you decide to re-activate the Services.  We also retain some of your information as necessary to comply with our legal obligations, to resolve disputes, to enforce our agreements, to support business operations, and to continue to develop and improve our Services. Where we retain information for Service improvement and development, we take steps to eliminate information that directly identifies you, and we only use the information to uncover collective insights about the use of our Services, not to specifically analyze personal characteristics about you.  
  • Information you share on the Services: If your account is deactivated or disabled, some of your information and the content you have provided will remain in order to allow your team members or other users to make full use of the Services.  
  • Managed accounts: If the Services are made available to you through an organization (e.g., your employer), we retain your information as long as required by the administrator of your account.  
  • Marketing information: If you have elected to receive marketing emails from us, we retain information about your marketing preferences for a reasonable period of time from the date you last expressed interest in our Services, such as when you last opened an email from us. We retain information derived from cookies and other tracking technologies for a reasonable period of time from the date such information was created.   

How to access and control your information

You have certain choices available to you when it comes to your information. Below is a summary of those choices, how to exercise them and any limitations.

  • You have the right to request a copy of your information, to object to our use of your information (including for marketing purposes), to request the deletion or restriction of your information, or to request your information in a structured, electronic format.  Below, we describe the tools and processes for making these requests. You can exercise some of the choices by logging into the Services and using settings available within the Services or your account. Where the Services are administered for you by an administrator (see “Notice to End Users” below), you may need to contact your administrator to assist with your requests first.  For all other requests, you may contact us as provided in the Contact Us section below to request assistance.
  • Your request and choices may be limited in certain cases: for example, if fulfilling your request would reveal information about another person, or if you ask to delete information which we or your administrator are permitted by law or have compelling legitimate interests to keep.  Where you have asked us to share data with third parties,, you will need to contact those third-party service providers directly to have your information deleted or otherwise restricted. If you have unresolved concerns, you may have the right to complain to a data protection authority in the country where you live, where you work or where you feel your rights were infringed.
  • Access and update your information: Our Services and related documentation give you the ability to access and update certain information about you from within the Service. For example, you can access your profile information from your account and search for content containing information about you using keyword searches in the Service.  You can update your profile information within your profile settings and modify content that contains information about you using the editing tools associated with that content.
  • Deactivate your account: If you no longer wish to use our Services, you or your administrator may be able to deactivate your Services account. If you can deactivate your own account, that setting is available to you in your account settings. Otherwise, please contact your administrator. If you are an administrator and are unable to deactivate an account through your administrator settings, please contact ThoughtFarmer support.  Please be aware that deactivating your account does not delete your information; your information may remain visible to other Service users based on your past participation within the Services.
  • Delete your information: Our Services and related documentation give you the ability to delete certain information about you from within the Service. Please note, however, that we may need to retain certain information for record keeping purposes, to complete transactions or to comply with our legal obligations.   
  • Request that we stop using your information:  In some cases, under the GDPR, you may ask us to stop accessing, storing, using and otherwise processing your information where you believe we don’t have the appropriate rights to do so.  For example, if you believe a Services account was created for you without your permission or you are no longer an active user, you can request that we delete your account as provided in this Privacy Policy.  Where you gave us consent to use your information for a limited purpose, you can contact us to withdraw that consent, but this will not affect any processing that has already taken place at the time. You can also opt-out of our use of your information for marketing purposes by contacting us, as provided below.  When you make such requests, we may need time to investigate and facilitate your request. If there is a delay or dispute as to whether we have the right to continue using your information, we will restrict any further use of your information until the request is honored or the dispute is resolved, provided your administrator  (where applicable) does not object. If you object to information about you being shared with a third-party app, please disable the app or contact your administrator to do so.
  • Opt out of communications: You may opt out of receiving promotional communications from us by using the unsubscribe link within each email, updating your email preferences within your Service account settings menu, or by contacting us as provided below to have your contact information removed from our promotional email list or registration database.  Even after you opt out from receiving promotional messages from us, you will continue to receive transactional messages from us regarding our Services. You can opt out of some notification messages in your account settings.
  • Data portability: Data portability is the ability to obtain some of your information in a format you can move from one service provider to another (for instance, when you transfer your mobile phone number to another carrier).  Depending on the context, under the GDPR, this applies to some of your information, but not to all of your information. Should you request it, subject to applicable laws, we will provide you with an electronic file of your basic account information.  

Notice to End Users

Many of our products are intended for use by organizations. Where the Services are made available to you through an organization (e.g. your employer), that organization is the administrator of the Services and is responsible for the accounts and/or Service sites over which it has control. If this is the case, please direct your data privacy questions to your administrator, as your use of the Services is subject to that organization’s policies. We are not responsible for the privacy or security practices of an administrator’s organization, which may be different than this Privacy Policy.

Administrators are able to: (i) require you to reset your account password; (ii) restrict, suspend or terminate your access to Services; (iii) access information in and / or about your account; (iv) access or retain information stored as part of your account; (v) install or uninstall third-party apps or other integrations. In some cases, administrators can also: (i) restrict, suspend or terminate your account access; (ii) change the email address associated with your account; (iii) change your information, including profile information; (iv) restrict your ability to edit, restrict, modify or delete information.

Even if the Services are not currently administered to you by an organization, if you use an email address provided by an organization (such as your work email address) to access the Services, then the owner of the domain associated with your email address (e.g. your employer) may assert administrative control over your account and use of the Services at a later date. Please contact your organization or refer to your administrator’s organizational policies for more information.

Our policy towards children

The Services are not directed to individuals under the age of 16. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under the age of 16. If we become aware that a child under 16 has provided us with personal information, we will take steps to delete such information. If you become aware that a child has provided us with personal information, please contact our support services.

Changes to our Privacy Policy

We may change this Privacy Policy anytime. We will post any Privacy Policy changes on this page and, if the changes are significant, we will provide a more prominent notice by adding a notice on the Services homepages, login screens, or by sending you an email notification. We encourage you to review our Privacy Policy whenever you use the Services to stay informed about our information practices and the ways you can help protect your privacy. If you disagree with any changes to this Privacy Policy, you will need to stop using the Services and deactivate your account(s), as outlined above.

Contact Us

If you have any questions or comments about this Privacy Policy or your personal information, to make an access or correction request, to exercise any applicable rights, to make a complaint, or to obtain information about our policies and practices with respect to any service providers outside your country of residence, our Privacy Officer can be reached by mail or email using the following contact information:
ThoughtFarmer Inc.
#210 – 12 Water St.
Vancouver, British Columbia, V6B 1A, Canada
E-Mail: privacy@thoughtfarmer.com