Privacy Policy

[Paul Cutler <pcutler gnome org>]

Hi,

Working on Snowy / Tomboy Online, Sandy filed Bug 613890 for Tomboy
Online to create a privacy policy for its users.  Searching Bugzilla,
Bug 601843 was filed last year noting that GNOME itself doesn't have a
formal privacy policy.

Asking on identi.ca, Greg Grossmeier pointed out that both Automattic,
Inc. (home of Wordpress.com) and StatusNet both offer their privacy
policies under a CC license [1],[2].

Using those as a basis, especially Automattic's privacy policy, I've
written a first draft for review.  I'm hoping if it's done right, we can
have one GNOME privacy policy that also includes GNOME's web services.

The file is attached and also attached to Bug 613890.

Paul


The GNOME Foundation (“GNOME”) operates several websites including gnome.org and tomboy-online.org. It is GNOME’s policy to respect your privacy regarding any information we may collect while operating our websites.

Website Visitors
Like most website operators, GNOME collects non-personally-identifying information of the sort that web browsers and servers typically make available, such as the browser type, language preference, referring site, and the date and time of each visitor request. GNOME’s purpose in collecting non-personally identifying information is to better understand how GNOME’s visitors use its website. From time to time, GNOME may release non-personally-identifying information in the aggregate, e.g., by publishing a report on trends in the usage of its website.

GNOME also collects potentially personally-identifying information like Internet Protocol (IP) addresses for logged in users and for users using Tomboy Online. GNOME only discloses logged in user and commenter IP addresses under the same circumstances that it uses and discloses personally-identifying information as described below.

Gathering of Personally-Identifying Information
Certain visitors to GNOME’s websites choose to interact with GNOME in ways that require GNOME to gather personally-identifying information. The amount and type of information that GNOME gathers depends on the nature of the interaction. For example, we ask visitors who sign up for a Tomboy Online account to provide a username and email address. Those who engage in transactions with GNOME – by donating to GNOME, for example – are asked to provide additional information, including as necessary the personal and financial information required to process those transactions. In each case, GNOME collects such information only insofar as is necessary or appropriate to fulfill the purpose of the visitor’s interaction with GNOME. GNOME does not disclose personally-identifying information other than as described below. And visitors can always refuse to supply personally-identifying information, with the caveat that it may prevent them from engaging in certain website-related activities.

Aggregated Statistics
GNOME may collect statistics about the behavior of visitors to its websites. For instance, GNOME may monitor the most popular blogs on the blogs.gnome.org site. GNOME may display this information publicly or provide it to others. However, GNOME does not disclose personally-identifying information other than as described below.

Protection of Certain Personally-Identifying Information
GNOME discloses potentially personally-identifying and personally-identifying information only to those of its employees, contractors and affiliated organizations that (i) need to know that information in order to process it on GNOME’s behalf or to provide services available at GNOME’s websites, and (ii) that have agreed not to disclose it to others. Some of those employees, contractors and affiliated organizations may be located outside of your home country; by using GNOME’s websites, you consent to the transfer of such information to them. GNOME will not rent or sell potentially personally-identifying and personally-identifying information to anyone. Other than to its employees, contractors and affiliated organizations, as described above, GNOME discloses potentially personally-identifying and personally-identifying information only when required to do so by law, or when GNOME believes in good faith that disclosure is reasonably necessary to protect the property or rights of GNOME, third parties or the public at large. If you are a registered user of a GNOME website and have supplied your email address, GNOME may occasionally send you an email to tell you about new features, solicit your feedback, or just keep you up to date with what’s going on with GNOME and our products. We primarily use our various product blogs to communicate this type of information, so we expect to keep this type of email to a minimum. If you send us a request (for example via a support email or via one of our feedback mechanisms), we reserve the right to publish it in order to help us clarify or respond to your request or to help us support other users. GNOME takes all measures reasonably necessary to protect against the unauthorized access, use, alteration or destruction of potentially personally-identifying and personally-identifying information.

Cookies
A cookie is a string of information that a website stores on a visitor’s computer, and that the visitor’s browser provides to the website each time the visitor returns. GNOME uses cookies to help GNOME identify and track visitors, their usage of GNOME website, and their website access preferences. GNOME visitors who do not wish to have cookies placed on their computers should set their browsers to refuse cookies before using GNOME’s websites, with the drawback that certain features of GNOME’s websites may not function properly without the aid of cookies.

Miscellaneous
In urgent situations, administrators may send you email directly to your registered email address, even if you've requested no notices or newsletter. Administrators will use digitally-signed email.

GNOME will comply with court orders to turn over your private information.

Privacy Policy Changes
Although most changes are likely to be minor, GNOME may change its Privacy Policy from time to time, and in GNOME’s sole discretion. GNOME encourages visitors to frequently check this page for any changes to its Privacy Policy. If you have a WordPress.com account, you should also check your blog’s dashboard for alerts to these changes. Your continued use of this site after any change in this Privacy Policy will constitute your acceptance of such change.

License

This document is licensed under a CC-BY-SA 3.0 license and contains text originally written by Automattic, Inc. and StatusNet Inc.