BILL & MELINDA GATES FOUNDATION PRIVACY & COOKIES NOTICE

Last updated March 3, 2023 Update history

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and our affiliates (“Foundation,” “we,” or “us”) are committed to the lawful, fair, and transparent collection and use of personal data. This notice is intended to help you understand how we collect and use your personal data, as well as how we share, store, and protect that data. If at any time you have questions about this notice, please let us know by contacting us at the information listed below in the section titled, “How to contact us.”

We may update this notice and any supplemental privacy notices to reflect changes in our practices and applicable law. We will post a notice of any material updates on our sites.

Translations of the Privacy & Cookies Notice are also available:

To view the Privacy & Cookies Notice in Chinese, click here.
To view the Privacy & Cookies Notice in French, click here.
To view the Privacy & Cookies Notice in German, click here.
To view the Privacy & Cookies Notice in Hindi, click here.

When this notice applies

Our sites
This notice applies to personal data we collect, including through this website, other Foundation registration or other website, mobile applications, online portals, electronic forms, surveys, interactive exhibits, and any other channel or mobile feature that we operate (collectively, “our sites”). In these instances, the Foundation is the controller responsible for your personal data.

Supplemental privacy notices
This notice may be supplemented by a supplemental privacy notice applicable to a particular interaction with us, which may be either embedded in this notice or made available to you separately. We will tell you when a supplemental privacy notice applies.

Links to third-party sites
This notice does not apply to any third-party sites that may link to, or be accessible from, our sites. We are not responsible for any of the content, features, functionality, or privacy practices of other linked sites or services. The data collection and use practices of any linked third-party site will be governed by that third party’s applicable privacy notice, statement, or policy, and its terms of use. We encourage you to read them.

What data we collect about you

Data you provide about yourself
We collect your personal data when you voluntarily provide it to us. For example, you may give us: your email address, country of residence, and areas of interest if you choose to receive newsletters, updates, or other information from us; your contact information, and any other personal data you choose to include, if you email, text, or instant message us, or contact us through our sites; and any personal data contained in, or included with, any proposal documents, feedback, comments, photos, videos, or other information you submit via online portals, forms, surveys, or interactive portions of our sites.

It is always your choice whether to provide this personal data. However, some personal data must be provided to participate in certain programs, activities, or events (such as to sign up for a newsletter, apply for a job, or register to participate in one of our events), so the decision not to provide information might limit or eliminate such functions of our sites or your ability to participate in such programs, activities, or events. Please do not disclose more personal data than is requested.

Personal data you provide about others
Do not provide personal data about others unless you are authorized or required to do so by contract or applicable law. You may provide personal data on behalf of another person if you have provided them with a copy of this notice and any applicable supplemental privacy notice, and obtained their explicit consent. We may ask you to provide evidence of that notice and consent.

Data we receive from third parties and other sources
We may receive personal data about you from other sources, including your company/organization, professional references, publicly-available sources, third-party analytics providers, and other third parties. For example, we may receive your personal data if: someone at your company/organization designates you as a contact person for that company/organization or includes information about you in proposal documents; another visitor includes it in any feedback, comments, photos, videos, or other information submitted via online portals, electronic forms, surveys, or interactive portions of our sites; or one of our employees or service providers provides or a third party acting on apparent authority provides it to us when registering you to access our facilities or our sites, apply for a job, or participate in one of our events.

Payment Processors
If you make a donation or any purchase via the sites, the transaction may be handled by our service providers or third parties responsible for processing your transaction (“Payment Processors”). Please be aware that Payment Processors have their own privacy policies and those terms will apply to you regarding how that Payment Processor handles your personal data. Depending on your donation or purchase, it may be made via the sites or you may be re-directed to a third-party site for payment. If your donation or purchase is made via the sites, in order for the Payment Processor to process your transaction, we may require payment, credit card, or other credit-related information. If you are re-directed to a third-party site for your donation or purchase, please be sure to review any linked policies provided during payment processing as they will apply to you.

Interest-based advertising
We may use third-party service providers to serve our advertisements across the Internet. These companies may use tracking technologies to collect information about your visits to our sites and other websites and your interaction with our advertising and other communications. Some advertisements may be personalized, meaning that they are intended to be relevant to you based on information collected about your visits to our sites and elsewhere over time. Other companies may also use such technology to advertise on our sites.

You have the choice to tell us not to collect and use this information, and in some jurisdictions, we will only engage in interest-based advertising if you opt-in. If you would like more information about this practice and to know your choices concerning interest-based advertisements, visit:
http://www.networkadvertising.org/choices/
www.aboutads.info/choices
In Canada, please visit: http://youradchoices.ca/choices/
In the EU, please visit: http://www.youronlinechoices.eu/

Data we collect automatically, including cookies, pixels, and similar technologies
We may collect some personal data automatically. For example, when you visit our sites, we may collect your Internet Protocol (“IP”) address, Internet service provider (“ISP”) information, and browser type and language. We also may use cookies, pixels, and similar technologies to collect data about your interaction with our sites, including, for example, referring webpage, pages visited on our sites, and crash data. In addition, we may link the information we collect automatically or the information from any cookie or pixel with the information you provide in other contexts on our sites (newsletters, etc.) to personalize, connect and streamline your experience when visiting our sites. For example, this may include connecting your use of our site from your desktop, mobile, or other device. Please see Cookies & Similar Technologies for more information, including how to manage cookies, pixels, and similar technologies.

Special categories of data
We will not intentionally collect any “special categories of data” under the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), the UK General Data Protection Regulation (“UK GDPR”), or the Protection of Personal Information Act (“POPIA”) without your explicit consent for one or more specified purposes or as otherwise permitted or required by applicable law. Special categories of data include personal data (a) revealing racial or ethnic origin, political opinions, religious or philosophical beliefs, or trade union membership; or (b) concerning health or data concerning a natural person’s sex life or sexual orientation.

Minors
Our sites are not intended for minors (individuals under the age of 13, or equivalent minimum age depending on jurisdiction), and we do not knowingly collect personal data from minors. If you become aware of any personal data we have collected from a minor, please contact us. If we learn that we have collected personal data from a minor, we will take steps to delete the data without notice as soon as possible.

How we use your data

Purposes
We may use your personal data to: send you information that you have expressly chosen to receive [with your consent]; review and respond to proposal documents, feedback, comments, photos, videos, or other information you submit via online portals, electronic forms, surveys, or interactive portions of our sites [for our legitimate interests and/or to perform a contract with you]; administer and inform our program strategies and charitable activities [for our legitimate interests]; administer, safeguard, and improve our sites, systems, facilities, events, and other business operations [for our legitimate interests]; protect our rights and the safety of others [for our legitimate interests]; contribute to our archive of information in the public interest [for our legitimate interests]; and/or comply with applicable law, court order, subpoena, or legal process served on us [to comply with legal obligations].

Additional purposes
Additional purposes for using your personal data may be described in a supplemental privacy notice.

Legal bases under the GDPR, UK GDPR, or POPIA
If you are in the European Economic Area (EEA), the United Kingdom (UK) or South Africa, we will collect and use your personal data only if we have one or more legal bases for doing so under the GDPR, UK GDPR, or POPIA. The legal bases depend on your interaction with us and our sites. This means we collect and use your personal data only where: you have given your consent for one or more specific purposes; it is necessary to perform a contract we are about to enter into or have entered into with you; it is necessary for our legitimate interests (or those of a third party) and your interests and fundamental rights do not override those interests; it is necessary to protect the vital interests of you or another natural person; or it is necessary to comply with a legal obligation. We will indicate the legal basis or bases on which we are relying for each purpose. Where we are relying on consent as the legal basis, we will notify you and seek additional consent before using your personal data for a new purpose that is inconsistent with the original purpose for which we collected it.

When we share your data

Employees, agents, affiliates, service providers, and partners
We may share your personal data with our employees, agents, and affiliates who have a business need to know, our services providers (including contingent workers, consultants, contractors, vendors, and out-sourced service providers) to process it for us based on our instructions and for no other purpose, and with partners that are collaborating with us to fund projects or host events. We do not share your personal data with any third party (including our service providers) for marketing purposes unless you have provided consent for us to do so. If you believe personal data you provided to us is being misused by a third party, please contact us right away.

Other visitors to our sites
If you submit feedback, comments, photos, videos, or other information to interactive portions of our sites, such submission may be made publicly available to anyone who visits those areas of our sites. Other visitors may access, re-post, or use such submission. Even if you remove or delete your submission, copies may remain in cached or archived areas of our sites or retained by other visitors. Please use your discretion when submitting personal data in these contexts.

Law enforcement
We may share your personal data with law enforcement, other government agencies or authorities, or third parties as required by applicable law, court order, subpoena, or legal process served on us.

How we store and protect your data

Storage and transfers
Your personal data may be stored in your region or in any other country where we or our service providers have facilities. We may also allow employees and service providers located around the world to access personal data as provided in this notice. If your personal data is subject to GDPR, UK GDPR, or POPIA, we will ensure your legal rights and protections travel with any such “transfer” of your personal data as required by applicable law. We do this by signing “standard contractual clauses” approved by the European Commission that give personal data the same protection it has in the European Union, and/or otherwise requiring that our service providers protect personal data in accordance with applicable law. We will also comply with similar applicable laws regarding the storage and transfer of personal data in other jurisdictions where your personal data may be collected or provided.

Storage period
We will store your personal data until it is no longer needed to fulfill the purpose(s) for which it was collected or as otherwise required or permitted by law. After such time, we will either delete or anonymize your personal data or, if this is not possible, we will securely store your personal data and isolate it from any further use until deletion is possible. We may dispose of any data in our discretion without notice, subject to applicable law. Please contact us if you would like more details regarding our retention periods for different categories of personal data.

Protection
As the transmission of data via the internet is not completely secure, we cannot guarantee the security of your information transmitted to our sites and any such transmission is at your own risk. However, we maintain appropriate technical and organizational measures, including performing regular self-assessments, to prevent unauthorized disclosure of, or access to, personal data. We limit access to personal data and require that employees authorized to access personal data maintain the confidentiality of that data. We hold our service providers to at least the same data privacy and security standards to which we hold ourselves. Our standard information security requirements for service providers are available here.

How you can access and control your data; your rights

To the extent provided by applicable laws, you may have the right to obtain confirmation that we hold personal data about you; to access, correct, or delete your personal data; to withdraw any consent you previously provided to us; to object to or restrict our processing of your personal data in any other context; to deactivate, block, anonymize, or delete personal data as appropriate; or to request and receive a copy of the personal data you have provided us and to transmit this data to a third party. To exercise any of these rights that you are not able to do directly, please contact us. You may also have the right to lodge a complaint with the applicable data protection authority. If you reside in South Africa, you have the right to submit a complaint to the Information Regulator here:

Address: JD House, 27 Stiemens Street, Braamfontein, Johannesburg, 2001
Email: [email protected]

Newsletters, auto-generated emails, and updates from us often include links to access, correct, or delete your personal data and to manage any subscriptions directly. If you do not wish to receive promotional communications from us, you can opt-out by following the instructions contained in the messages you receive. Even if you opt-out of receiving these promotional communications, we reserve the right to send you certain communications relating to our sites, including administrative messages. We do not offer you the opportunity to opt-out of receiving those communications. For more information about interest-based advertising, including how you can manage advertising, please see above “Interest-based advertising.”

How to contact us

Please use our Data Privacy Portal for questions, concerns and requests.

If you prefer to contact us by mail:

BILL & MELINDA GATES FOUNDATION SUPPLEMENTAL PRIVACY NOTICE FOR EVENT PARTICIPANTS

This notice supplements our Privacy & Cookies Notice and describes how we collect, use, and share additional personal data when you participate in a foundation event (whether as an attendee, guest, or speaker), and how to access and control this additional data. Please let us know if you have any questions about this supplemental notice.

What additional data we collect about event participants

Event registration
When you register to participate in a Foundation event, we will ask you to provide your name, company/organization, professional title, email address, phone number, emergency contact name and phone number, and any dietary or disability-based accommodation needs. In addition, if you participate as a presenter, panelist, or facilitator at the event, we may collect your photograph and presentation materials. We may also collect feedback and evaluations about you as a presenter, panelist, or facilitator. We may also collect other optional information. We will indicate on the event registration materials which data is required. Please contact us if you have any questions about why certain data is required.

Mobile application
For some large events, you may have the option to download a mobile application (each, a “mobile app”) for participant communication and information sharing. When you download a mobile app, the app store may require the device identifier associated with your device, but neither we nor our mobile app provider will collect any personal data through the mobile app.

Travel/hotel bookings, ground transportation, and expense reimbursement
For some events and participants, we may offer to book your travel/hotel, arrange ground transportation, or reimburse certain out-of-pocket expenses. If so, we may ask you to provide your full name, gender, date of birth, home airport, airline and seat preference, frequent flyer number, global entry number, special meal needs, hotel preference, and any other travel-related information. If booking international travel, we may ask you to provide your passport number, passport expiration date, and passport country of issuance. If arranging ground transportation, we may ask you to provide your flight arrival/departure information and mobile phone number. If reimbursing expenses, we may ask you to provide your bank account number and other personal data required to transfer funds to you.

Event photography and audio video recordings
We frequently take photos and record audio and/or video in public areas of our events. If so, we may make and store photographs containing your likeness and recordings of your voice and likeness. We may associate your image and the sound of your voice with your name if you are identified during the recording or identify yourself by name.

How we use this additional data

Event registration
We may use this information to register you to attend the event [with your consent]; send emails to you (and your assistant if one is indicated) to confirm your registration and provide you with updates regarding the event [with your consent]; print your physical badge at the event [for our legitimate interests]; track and administer dietary and physical accommodation requests [with your consent]; review and potentially share your photo, materials, and other information you have authorized us to share with other event participants [with your consent and for our legitimate interests]; send you reports, materials, and updates [with your consent]; contact you about future events [with your consent]; review and respond to feedback, comments, photos, videos, or other information you submit via registration forms or post-event surveys [for our legitimate interests]; administer, safeguard, and improve our event operations [for our legitimate interests].

Travel/hotel bookings, ground transportation, and expense reimbursement
We may use this information to assist you with travel/hotel bookings, arrange ground transportation, and reimburse certain out-of-pocket expenses [with your consent].

Event photography and audio or video recordings
We may use, edit, copy, exhibit, publish, or distribute photos and audio or video recording for any charitable purpose relating to the event itself or foundation events in general [for our legitimate interests].

When we share this additional data

Event service providers and partners
Unless otherwise stated on a registration site, we use Cvent, Inc. to manage our online registration and the mobile app. We may share your personal data with Cvent, Inc., other event service providers, and event partners as needed to provide you with information and services associated with the event.

Travel/hotel bookings and ground transportation service providers
Unless otherwise stated on a registration site, we use Carlson Wagonlit Travel (“CWT”) and Corporate Travel Management Inc. (“CMT”) to manage travel/hotel bookings. If you ask us to book your travel/hotel, we may share your personal data with CWT or CMT and/or other travel service providers to arrange travel/hotel accommodations.

As a part of booking your travel/hotel, we or our service providers may share your personal data with airlines, hotels, and ground transportation companies for that purpose. When we do, neither we nor our service providers will have direct control over that personal data, and the airline, hotel, or ground transportation company may use your personal data in accordance with its privacy policies.

Expense reimbursement service provider
Unless otherwise stated on a registration site, we use SAP Concur to manage expense reimbursement. If you request expense reimbursement, we may share your personal data with SAP Concur (or alternative service provider) to process your request.

How long we keep this additional data

We store personal data of all event participants in accordance with the Privacy & Cookies Notice. If you participate in one of our events, we will retain your registration, travel or other event information for as long as necessary to produce the event, book or travel, reimburse expenses and/or otherwise achieve our charitable goals.  

How you can access and control this additional data

You may update your event registration information anytime by going directly to your registration account. If you wish to access or correct other personal data, or object to our data processing, please contact us. Please note that neither changes to, or deletion of, such personal data will alter personal data already relied upon or no longer in our control.

How to contact us

BILL & MELINDA GATES FOUNDATION SUPPLEMENTAL PRIVACY NOTICE FOR JOB APPLICANTS 

This notice supplements our Privacy & Cookies Notice and describes how we collect, use, share, and retain additional personal data when you participate in our job application process, and how you can access and control this additional data. Please let us know if you have any questions about this supplemental notice.

What additional data we collect about job applicants

Data you provide about yourself
When you participate in our job application process, we will ask you to provide personal data such as: your name, email address, mailing address, and telephone number; your resume/CV, work experience, educational history, and skills; links to any relevant websites or your LinkedIn profile; whether you are legally authorized to work in the country in which the position you have applied for is located; whether you will require sponsorship to obtain legal authorization to work in a particular country; whether you are 18 years or older; and whether you are currently working for a grantee of ours. In addition, we will ask you to voluntarily provide information regarding your gender, veteran status, ethnicity, and disability status. This information, or your decision not to provide this information, will not impact your application in any way.

Before uploading a resume, please remove any sensitive personal data such as government-issued ID numbers, financial information, photos, dates of birth, etc. We do not require or wish to receive sensitive personal data in a resume.

Data we receive from other sources
We may receive personal data about you from other sources, your references, prior employers, a person or company/organization authorized by you to submit an application on your behalf, and/or publicly-available sources.

Data we collect from consumer reports or consumer investigative reports
If we think you might be a good fit for a position, we may ask you to authorize us to obtain a consumer report or investigative consumer report. A consumer report is a report on credit worthiness, credit standing, credit capacity, character, general reputation, personal characteristics, or mode of living which is used as a factor in establishing an applicant’s eligibility for employment. An investigative consumer report is similar, but the information is obtained through personal interviews with neighbors, friends, associates, or acquaintances. Both kinds of reports may include information from court, administrative, or criminal records if and to the extent permitted by applicable law. If you choose not to provide this authorization upon request, we will not be able to offer you employment.

How we use this additional data

General
In addition to the uses specified under the Privacy & Cookies Notice, we may use personal data we collect in this context to: identify and contact applicants [for our legitimate interests]; evaluate applicants and make hiring decisions [for our legitimate interests]; match applicants to other career opportunities within the Foundation [for our legitimate interests]; prepare applicants for employment if a job has been offered and accepted [for our legitimate interests and/or to perform a contract with you]; keep records related to our hiring practices [for our legitimate interests and/or to comply with legal obligations]; comply with applicable employment-related laws such as checking names against anti-terrorism lists, complying with immigration restrictions, or assisting the government in an investigation [to comply with legal obligations]. If you are hired as a Foundation employee, this information may be used for additional employment and business purposes subject to any internal privacy policies and notices. [for our legitimate interests and/or to perform a contract with you].

Special category/sensitive personal data and criminal offense data
We believe our employees should reflect the rich diversity of the global populations we aim to serve, and we support this diversity through all our employment practices. Accordingly, we ask applicants to provide information regarding their gender, veteran status, and ethnicity. If you choose to provide this information, we will keep it separate from your application and use it solely for the purpose of monitoring, informing, and reporting on our diversity efforts  [for our legitimate interests, and for the purposes of complying with our obligations under employment law to monitor the equality of our employment practices]. We process criminal offence data in the context of a consumer report, or consumer investigative report [for our legitimate interests, and for the purposes of complying with our obligations to provide a safe workplace for our employees and guests].

When we share this additional data

We may share your personal data with service providers (including Workday, Inc., recruiters, and other third parties) that assist us with recruiting, application, and employment processes and our affiliates and other third parties with whom you might work if you are offered and accept the job.

How long we keep this additional data

We store personal data of all applicants in accordance with the Privacy & Cookies Notice. If you accept a job with us, we may retain your application and any other information we relied on during the application process as part of your employee file. Please note that we have the right to delete accounts and application information at any time, so you may want to retain copies of any information, including resumes/CVs, you provide to us during the application process.

How you can access and control this additional data

You may update your contact information anytime by going directly to your account. If you wish to access or correct other personal data, or object to our data processing, please contact us. Please note that neither changes to, or deletion of, such personal data will alter personal data already relied upon or no longer in our control.

How to contact us

BILL & MELINDA GATES FOUNDATION SUPPLEMENTAL PRIVACY NOTICE FOR REPORTERS OF IMPROPER CONDUCT 

This notice supplements our Privacy & Cookies Notice and describes how we collect, use, share, and retain additional personal data when you report possible illegal, unethical, or improper conduct using EthicsPoint™.

Note regarding limitations on using EthicsPoint™ to submit a report

In some countries, regulations limit how a service may be used to report concerns. For example, local laws may:

• Limit the topic of concern to certain areas of compliance such as anti-bribery, auditing and accounting, banking, and financial matters;
• Prohibit anonymous reports; or
• Disallow reports concerning Foundation personnel except employees in key or management functions

Accordingly, the Foundation may be limited in its ability to respond to a report submitted through EthicsPoint™ depending on the country of your location or where the reported conduct took place.

What additional data we collect about reporters of improper conduct

Data you provide about yourself
When reporting improper conduct, unless you choose to report anonymously, we may ask you to provide personal data about yourself, such as your name and contact information (e.g., phone number and/or email address). We will ask you to provide a description of the conduct reported.

The information you submit will be treated as confidential, except where required otherwise by applicable law, but in all cases, will be handled with sensitivity. We encourage you to identify yourself (in lieu of reporting anonymously) so that we can follow up with you about any questions we may have and so we may best address the issues raised.

Data you provide about others
When reporting improper conduct, we may ask you to provide the name and contact information of the persons in your report. We will ask you to provide a description of the conduct reported, which also may include other personal data about the persons in your report.

As the information you report may result in decisions adverse to others, we ask that you carefully consider the information that you provide in advance and report only what you believe to be true. The Foundation does not retaliate for the good-faith reporting of ethical or compliance issues even if such report may later be determined to be factually incorrect. Knowingly providing false or misleading information, however, will not be tolerated.

How we use this additional data

In addition to the uses specified under the Privacy & Cookies Notice, we may use personal data that we collect in this context to: contact you (unless you have asked to remain anonymous) [for our legitimate interests]; conduct an investigation [for our legitimate interests and/or to comply with legal obligations]; ensure Foundation grantees and vendors meet their contractual and legal obligations [for our legitimate interests and/or to comply with legal obligations]; keep records related to our business practices [for our legitimate interests and/or to comply with legal obligations]; and comply with applicable laws [to comply with legal obligations].

When we share this additional data

General
We may share your personal data with Foundation employees, representatives, agents, external legal counsel, and contractors who have a need to know the information in order to conduct an investigation or respond to claims relating to the reported conduct. We also may share your personal data with law enforcement if required by applicable law.

Subject of the report
We will promptly notify any person who is the subject of a report, except where notice needs to be delayed to help ensure the integrity of the investigation or the preservation of relevant information. With some exceptions, the subject of the report may access information concerning the report, but not the identity of the reporter, and may in certain cases request correction of personal data that is inaccurate or incomplete in accordance with applicable law.

How long we keep this additional data

The information you provide will be kept as long as necessary to conduct an investigation, maintain records of that investigation and any actions taken, or, if applicable, as long as necessary to fulfill our legal requirements.

How you can access and control this additional data

EthicsPoint™ users are given a report key to access and follow up their report on a self-service basis at any time. As noted above, subject to certain exceptions, others may request and obtain access to personal data about them contained in the report.

If you wish to correct, amend or delete your personal data please contact us. Please note that neither changes to, or deletion of, such personal data will alter personal data already relied upon or no longer in our control.

How to contact us

BILL & MELINDA GATES FOUNDATION COOKIES & SIMILAR TECHNOLOGIES

This notice describes the different types of cookies and similar technologies we may use in connection with our sites. Unless you have adjusted your browser setting so that it will refuse cookies, cookies may be issued when you visit our sites.

We use strictly necessary cookies to make our site work. We and our partners also use additional cookies and similar technologies to collect information when you interact with our site to improve your experience including, to provide you with tailored content, personalized experience, and analyze site usage.

If the site has a “Manage Cookies” button, you can view, change and manage your cookie settings at any time. By clicking “Accept All,” you consent to the placement of these additional cookies and similar technologies.

If the site does not have a "Manage Cookies" button, your continued use of the site represents your consent to the relevant cookies and similar technologies being placed on your computer or device.

For more information, please see “Managing cookies and similar technologies” section below.

Cookies and similar technologies we use

Cookies
Our sites may use cookies, which are small text files stored on your computer or device when you access a website. More information about cookies is available at www.aboutcookies.org. We may use cookies to: (1) allow you to use the sites without having to re-enter your user name and password; (2) understand how you engage with the sites and to enhance or personalize your experience, including across devices; (3) monitor the site usage; (4) manage the sites; and (5) improve the sites and our services, including providing you with interest-based ads. For more information on our advertising, see above: “Interest-based advertising."

We may also use web beacons on our sites, in our emails, and in our advertisements on other websites. Web beacons are tiny graphic images that are used to collect information about your visit to our sites, such as the pages you view and the features you use, as well as information about whether you open and/or act upon one of our emails or advertisements. We may also collect the URL of the website you visited immediately before coming to our sites. Web beacons help us analyze our site visitors' behavior and measure the effectiveness of our sites and our advertising. We may work with service providers that help us track, collect and analyze this information.

Click-through URLs
If you “opt in” to receive newsletters, updates, or other information from us, our emails may use a “click-through URL” linked to content on our sites. When you click one of these URLs, they pass through a separate web server before arriving at the destination page on our sites. We use this click-through data to help us understand how recipients respond to, or interact with, our emails.

Third-party cookies and similar technologies

Third-party analytics services
We use third-party analytics services, including Google Analytics and others, to collect information about your use of our sites and enable us to improve our sites. You can learn about Google’s practices by going to www.google.com/policies/privacy/partners. Google Analytics and other third-party analytics services use cookies and similar technologies to collect information about use of our sites and to report website trends to us, without identifying individuals to us. We use this information to see the overall patterns of usage on our sites, help us record any difficulties you have with our sites, and tell us whether our communication efforts are effective. We may also link the information provided by third party analytics services with the information we collect, or you provide in other contexts on our site (newsletters, etc.), to personalize, connect and streamline your experience when visiting our sites.

Social media and video sites
If you choose to share our digital content with friends through social networks, such as Facebook and Twitter, or to watch a video posted to a third-party media site (such as YouTube), you may be sent cookies from these third-party websites. We do not control the setting of these cookies, so please check the third-party websites for more information about their cookies and how to manage them.

Managing cookies and similar technologies

Cookies
You do not need to have cookies enabled to browse our sites unless you want us to remember you and your preferences when you return. If you prefer not to allow cookies, most cookies can be managed or blocked through your browser. However, if your browser is set to reject cookies or you manually delete cookies, you may have some trouble accessing and using some of the pages and features that are currently on our sites, or that we may put on our sites in the future. Note that browser-management tools for cookies are outside of our control and we cannot guarantee their effectiveness. More information about managing cookies is available at the following links:

• Adobe Flash
• Android Browser
• Google Chrome
• Internet Explorer
• Mozilla Firefox
• Safari (Desktop)
• Safari (Mobile)

Click-through URLs
If you prefer not to be tracked in this way, please do not click text or graphic links in emails you receive from us.

Third-party analytics services
You can opt out of data collection or use by Google and other third-party analytics services we may use on some of our sites at the following links:

• Adjust: www.adjust.com/opt-out
• AppsFlyer: www.appsflyer.com/optout
• Clicktale: www.clicktale.net/disable.html
• Google Analytics: tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout (requires you to install a browser add-on)
• Kissmetrics: kissmetrics.io/privacy
• Mixpanel: mixpanel.com/optout
• WebTrends: ondemand.webtrends.com/support/optout.asp

Do-not-track requests
There is no standard for how online service should respond to “Do Not Track” signals or other mechanisms that may allow you to opt out of the collection of information across networks of websites and online services. Therefore, we do not honor “Do Not Track” signals. As standards develop, we will revisit this issue and update this notice if our practices change. More information about Do Not Track is available at www.allaboutdnt.org.