The Question Bump Network (also referred to herein as “Question Bump” or “Network”) is an Internet site for questions and answers, owned and operated by Question Bump. (“Question Bump”, “we” or “us”), Question Bump welcomes you to the Network, one of the largest community in the world, and invites you to participate by sharing knowledge with your peers and colleagues. We have the modest goal of making the internet a better place, and as such are committed to your privacy. This privacy policy describes what information we collect on our Network and in the use of our Products and Services, how we use that information, and what options we offer you to control your personal information.
We will need to process your personal information in order to offer the Network, and to offer you our Products and Services. By using the Network or (whether via the public or private Network, collectively the “Terms of Service”), or purchasing our Products or Services, you confirm that you have read and understood the Terms of Service and this privacy policy (“Privacy Policy”) including how and why we use your information and that your use of the Network is subject to the applicable Terms of Service and this Privacy Policy. If you do not want us to collect or process your personal information as described herein, you have several choices including limiting the information we collect on you, or not using the Network, or our Products and Services.
By using the Network or purchasing our Products and Services, you acknowledge that Question Bump will use your information on the internet as well as any other country where Question Bump operates. This privacy policy has been updated to comply with the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and this policy describes how we protect personal information that is transferred outside of the EU. Please be aware that the privacy laws and standards in certain countries, including the rights of authorities to access your personal information, may differ from those that apply in the country in which you reside. We will transfer personal information only to countries to which we are permitted by law to transfer personal information and we will continue to ensure that your personal information is appropriately safeguarded.
HOW WE COLLECT INFORMATION ON YOU
In the course of providing you access to the Network, as well as Products and Services, Question Bump collects and receives personal information in a few ways. Often, you can choose what information to provide, but sometimes we require personal information from you to carry out certain activities such as account verification. This section details the ways in which we collect information from you and how that information is received.
Account Registration
Although the Network provides for anonymous and pseudonymous participation, in some instances in order to use certain Products or Services, we require account registration. This requires a name associated with your account, an email address at which we can contact you, and in some cases, additional information including, a contact address, a billing address, and a password to help secure your personal information.
Profile Information
When completing a public “profile” be it for use of the Network or our Products and Services, we may require you to share certain personally identifying information or sensitive information in required and optional profile fields. The name associated with your account, which you may review and change in your account settings, as well as reputation points are publicly displayed and connected to your activity on the Question Bump Network and via certain Products and Services.
Other profile information may also be publicly displayed if you choose to complete certain elective components of the Account Registration options including, e.g., your Country, display picture, phone number and website, and some information is publicly displayed. Similarly, you may share additional information that is not required but will be displayed publicly at your election.
Question Bump receives and records information from your browser or mobile device when you visit the Network or use the Apps, such as your Internet Protocol (IP) address or unique device identifier. Cookies and data about which pages you visit on our Network allow us to operate and optimize the Products and Services we provide to you. This information is stored in secure logs and is collected automatically. We may combine this browser information with other information we collect about you. This information is used to keep the Products and Services secure, analyze and understand how our Products and Services are used, optimize such usage, provide advertising across the Network as well as certain Products and Services to personalize your experience.
Location Information
When you use the Question Bump Network, we collect location information about you including your IP address, your location, browser information, and how you came to the Question Bump Network. This is the case for individuals who have registered for an account, and non-members who engage with the Question Bump Network by visiting our website(s) but who have not completed an account registration. This information is collected for various purposes, including advertising, analytics and to serve content as it relates to certain Products or Services, as well as to provide you with localized content, recommendations, and marketing. You may revoke our permission to collect some of this data, including your location and browser information through your Account Settings, but this may limit functionality in some cases. Certain location information we collect is required for security and site functionality. We share this information with certain third-parties (e.g., social media networks, payment processors, and advertising providers) in order to provide you with our Products and Services.
Information from Third Parties
We may share personal information with third parties who provide services to Question Bump, such as payment processors, email delivery services, and advertising providers. Additionally, to improve user experience, we offer single sign-on solutions for account login and these third parties (including Facebook and Google) may receive information from these services when you elect to use them. When Question Bump shares your personal information and other collected information with third party service providers, we require that they use your information only for the purpose of providing services to us and that their terms are consistent with this privacy policy.
Advertising and Marketing Partners
When you register for an account, and when you interact with Question Bump, we and authorized third parties place cookies on you and your account activity. We use this information to serve you certain advertising content. Similarly, we market our Products and Services to you and communicate important information and product opportunities to you. If you do not wish to receive direct marketing communications from us, you can tell us and remove yourself from our marketing communications via the unsubscribe and opt out options in our email communications and your Account Settings. If you do not wish to receive advertising promotions, you may restrict such activities in your Account Settings.
Analytics Information
Question Bump uses data analytics to ensure site functionality and to optimize our Product and Service offerings to you. We use web browser and mobile analytics to allow us to understand Network and Apps functionality. In doing so, we record information including, for example how often you visit the Network, how often you contribute content, Network and Apps performance data, errors and debugging information, and the type of activity you engage in while on the Network or in your use of our Products and Services. We may on occasion share this information with third parties for research or product and services optimization.
Billing Information
For Products and Services requiring payment, we collect a billing name, phone number, and email address. We also collect a billing and shipping address for invoicing purposes. If you elect to pay by credit card, Question Bump may engage a third party to securely process your payment. All payment processing is done through a PCI DSS compliant third party. If customers are paying by a credit card, their card details are vaulted through a third party payment gateway. Question Bump will store an encrypted token along with the last four digits of the credit card and the expiration month and year of the card and will not store or retain any other billing information about you.
WHAT INFORMATION WE COLLECT ON YOU
This section describes in further detail the information we collect on you and how we use that information broken down by our Products and Services offerings.
Public Network (Questions and Answers Content)
The Public Question and Answer Network (“public Network”) allows individual users to engage in a community to share their knowledge and expertise, and to acquire knowledge and expertise. It is community-moderated, and the content in the public Network is . . . public. To provide an optimal community experience, and to ensure Network security, we collect certain personal information.
We collect information such as your username, password, email address, IP address (collected at each site visit). This information is also used to identify individual users to the public Network and to award activities and attribute them to you. Your username and additional content you provide including your profile picture, question and answer content, and your reputation are visible publicly. Other limited information is visible to moderators, who have elevated access privileges, and may access content including your posts.
Please be aware that when using the Public Question and Answer Network, you cannot revoke permission for Question Bump to publish and to allow others to have derivative rights to such public content once it is made public. The content you contribute on the public network is public, in perpetuity, and Question Bump loses direct control over such content when it is published on the open internet. This also means that if you post personal information about yourself, you do so at your own risk, including the risk of abandoning any privacy rights you had in such information.
Additionally, from time to time, Question Bump makes such public content available via compilation via the Creative Commons Data Dump and by providing public content to the Question Bump Network, you should be aware that such content, once public, cannot often be removed from public view even if it is removed from the Question Bump network and our servers.
Advertising Products
Question Bump partners with third parties to display advertisements on our public Network and within our Public Platform. Question Bump and its third party partners may collect and use your personal information to tailor your advertising experience to suit your interests, skills, as well as to monitor your account activity in order to optimize our Products and Services.
We seek to limit what information advertisers and similar third parties have access to, as well as to ensure that your user experience on the public and private Question Bump network is not overwhelmed by advertising initiatives. However, our advertising products and services require us to collect certain personal and non-personal information on you, which includes:
- Data from advertising technologies like cookies, web beacons, pixels, ad tags, and browser/device identifiers
- Information you have provided to us directly including profile information, your Developer Story, and in limited instances your job history
- Usage analytics including your visits to the Network, browsing and search history
- Information from our advertising partners (e.g., device type and location)
Privacy is a guiding principle of all Question Bump Products and Services and we value your privacy. To this end, we provide you with the ability to control how your information is stored, and what information is collected. You may change or correct your account settings, and choose not to share certain information by creating a pseudonymous account. Additionally, much of the data we collect is voluntary and your choice entirely to provide us or not. You may also remove certain optional information that you no longer wish to be publicly displayed, such as your photo, or job history. In the event Question Bump decides to provide additional opt-out or opt-in mechanisms under the Privacy Shield Framework, the mechanisms will be clear, conspicuous, and readily available for you to exercise your choice. And of course, should you wish, you may also request the permanent deletion of your account, in which case all personal information collected on you will be removed from our servers and encrypted (except, in some cases your IP address required for security purposes, site maintenance, and spam protection).
We also provide you additional data control options, created by the GDPR, but provided to the Question Bump community regardless of geographic location with respect to your information, including data access and portability (including the right to obtain and download a copy of the personal data you provided to Question Bump), data correction (the ability to update the personal data we collect and display on you, in many cases via your account settings), data deletion (where Question Bump will delete personal information stored on you, which we are not required by necessity to maintain), and the ability to have us stop processing your personal data (with certain exceptions as may be necessary). Please also be aware that in order to provide some of these data choices to you, we may need to first verify your identity. We will make reasonable efforts to verify your identity, however if we are unable to do so, we reserve the right to refuse such a request in keeping with data privacy and information security principles.
You may additionally control the receipt of certain marketing and advertising communications from Question Bump. Some messages that we send are required, and related to our legal obligations, or service related and mandatory. Other messages, like marketing and advertising communications are provided by us to let you know how you can continue to share, learn, and build your knowledge within the Question Bump community, and are voluntary.
COOKIES
In order to provide the Question Bump Network along with the Products and Services described in this policy, we may place cookies on you as well as partner with third parties including advertising partners, who may use cookies or other similar technologies to provide you with advertising based on your browsing activities and interests.
DATA PROCESSING DISCLOSURES
When you access the Question Bump Network and use the Products and Services we offer, we collect, display, store, share, transmit, and process your information in the manner described in this policy. In order to carry out these activities, Question Bump may rely on a number of legal bases in order to process your personal data, including where:
- necessary to perform the contractual obligations in our Terms of Service and in order to provide the Products and Services to you
- necessary for a third party’s, or our, legitimate interests
- necessary to comply with a legal obligation or to defend legal claims
- necessary to protect the public interest or vital interest of others
- you have expressly made information public
- you have consented to the processing, which may be revoked at any time
Where we process your information on the basis of legitimate interests, we do so in order to:
Secure your Personal Data and Information
All records containing personal or financial information are considered to be proprietary and are afforded confidential treatment at all times. Question Bump is committed to the safety and security of your personal data and the information that you share with us and with the public. We treat your personal safety and safety from harassment as top organizational priorities. At Question Bump we consider it necessary to pursue these legitimate interests in order to keep our community, you and your information safe from spam, harassment, intellectual property infringement, identity theft, and the scraping and unlawful collection of your information.
Provide and Optimize Products and Services
We use your information to provide and improve our Products and Services, for identification verification, to provide support, for online and offline marketing including through third party tools such as Google Analytics, and for general research and analytics reporting. In doing so, we may learn which of our Products and Services you are using most, what you’re interested in, and to better enable you to use and access our Products and Services. As a core part of our business, Question Bump has a legitimate interest in enabling and customizing your experience of our Product and Services offerings.
Comply with Regulatory and Legal Obligations
Question Bump has a legitimate interest in complying with certain legal obligations and interests which, from time to time, may require the disclosure of your personal information. Question Bump will not disclose your personal information to legal authorities except where such disclosure is by lawful request, including to meet legitimate national security or law enforcement demands (including a subpoena, court order, or other lawful legal demand by a legal authority with lawful jurisdiction). In some cases, we may also release your personal information to defend our legitimate legal interests. We consider our obligation to protect the Question Bump community from imminent physical harm to be both a legitimate business interest as well as to be within the public interest and may disclose your personal information if we believe you or another individual may be in imminent danger of harm to yourself or to another.
Core Business Operations
Question Bump may engage with third parties in business transactions including the buying and selling of assets, the auditing of our business practices and financials, and to engage in business development opportunities. These core activities may involve the processing and/or disclosure of some limited personal information which may be necessary and within our legitimate interests to develop the Question Bump brand and business. If we transfer any personal information in pursuing such a business transaction, we will always ensure that strict confidentiality measures are in place to protect your privacy interests.
DATA TRANSFERS
Question Bump is a global community and as such, you may access the Question Bump Network from anywhere in the world, and are subject to the local laws of your jurisdiction. By accessing the Question Bump Network and engaging with our Products and Services, you acknowledge that your personal data may be collected and transferred from your local jurisdiction (including member states to the European Union) to the United States.
Where Question Bump transfers your personal data from your local jurisdiction (including member states to the European Union) we rely on certain lawful transfer mechanisms to do so, including the following lawful bases for such transfers:
Standard Contractual Clauses
The European Commission has adopted standard contractual clauses (also referred to as model clauses), which provide safeguards to protect the transfer of personal information outside of the European Union. We may use these standard contractual clauses when transferring personal information outside of the European Union. You may review and request a copy of such standard contractual clauses as used by Question Bump by contacting us at ask (at) questionbump (dot) com.
OUR ONGOING COMMITMENT TO DATA SECURITY
Security is important to us and we know it is important to you. Question Bump follows generally accepted standards to protect your personal information when processing, transferring, and storing your personal information including Transport Layer Security (“TLS”), by restricting your personal data when we do not need to access it and by keeping your personal data only as necessary to perform our legitimate business interests.
As the data subject, you too have an important role to play in helping us protect your personal information. We encourage you to protect yourself against unauthorized access to your personal information by choosing a password carefully and in accordance with industry best standards. Do not share your password with anyone you do not trust, and make sure your computer accesses Question Bump via a secure network and that you do not leave your personal information vulnerable to hackers and other bad actors by leaving your computer unattended or by failing to logout of your account when you have ended your session activity.
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.
