Privacy policy - Root SMS

ROOTSMS.COM
Privacy Policy

Modified on 26 September 2021
Our confidentiality obligations

Personal information" means information or opinions about an identified or reasonably identifiable individual. The ROOTSMS Privacy Policy applies to personal information collected and/or held by ROOTSMS.

This privacy policy also explains how we handle "personal data" relating to European Union (EU) citizens, as required by the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).

We will review this policy regularly and may update it from time to time.
The types of personal information we collect and hold

We collect personal information about our users in order to provide our products, services and customer support. Our products, services and customer support are provided through a number of platforms, including websites, phone applications, email and phones. The platform and the product, service or support you interact with may affect the personal data we collect.

All information requested, collected and processed by us is not "personal information" because it does not identify you as a specific individual. This will include the majority of "user generated content" that you have provided to us with the intention of sharing with other users. Such "non-personal information" is not covered by this Privacy Policy. However, non-personal information may be used in aggregate or in combination with existing personal information; in this form it will be treated as personal information. As such, this privacy policy will list both types of information for the sake of transparency.

In some situations, users may provide us with personal information without our requesting it, or through means not intended for the collection of information of a particular type. While we may take reasonable steps to protect this data, the user will have bypassed our systems, processes and controls, so the information provided will not be governed by this privacy policy.

In some situations, users may provide us with personal information on platforms beyond our control; for example, via social media or forums. While any information collected by us is governed by this Privacy Policy, the platform through which it was provided will be governed by its own privacy policy.
How do we collect personal information?
Information you specifically give us

When you use our products and services, you may be asked to provide certain types of personal information. This may happen via our website, applications, chat systems, phones, paper forms or face-to-face meetings. We will give you notice of collection at that time, explaining how we will use the personal information we request. The notice may be written or verbal.

We may request, collect or process the following information:

Account details - username, password, profile picture.
Contact details - email address, phone number.
Location details - physical address, billing address, time zone.
Identity details - full name, proof of identity (driving licence, passport etc), proof of address (electricity bill etc), user photo.
Financial information - credit card details, bank transfer details, payment processor details (e.g. skrill, paypal), tax numbers.
User generated content - project descriptions and attachments, auction descriptions, user profiles, user reviews, competition descriptions and attachments, user messages, etc.

Information we collect from others

Users may allow us to connect to their accounts on other platforms to collect personal information. This includes, but is not limited to, Facebook, LinkedIn and Google. The information collected will be governed by this privacy policy. Users can prevent us from collecting data from other platforms by removing our access on the other platform or by contacting our support team.

Users have the ability to invite non-users to our platform by providing contact details such as email address. In these situations, the information will be collected and stored by us to contact the non-user and prevent abuse of the invitation systems.

Your payment provider may transmit payment information that we may collect or process.

In some situations, users' personal information may be collected from public sources.

We may collect or process the following information:

Basic details - username, profile picture.
Contact details - email address, phone number.
Location details - physical address, billing address, time zone.
Financial information - payment account details (e.g. email address and physical paypal address) and bank transfer details.
Contact list - Email provider's address book.
User-generated content - user profile.

Information we collect when you use our service

We maintain records of the interactions we have with our users, including the products, services and customer support we have provided. This includes our users' interactions with our platform, for example when a user has viewed a page or clicked a button.

In order to deliver certain products or services, we may passively collect your GPS coordinates, if available on your device. Most modern devices, such as smartphones, will display an authorization request when our platform asks for this data.

When we are contacted, we may collect personal information intrinsic to the communication. For example, if we are contacted by email, we will collect the email address used.

We may collect or process the following information:

Metadata - IP address, computer and connection information, referring web page, standard web log information, language settings, time zone, etc.
Device information - Device ID, device type, device plug-ins, hardware capabilities, etc.
Location - GPS position.
Actions - pages viewed, buttons clicked, duration of viewing, search keywords, etc.

Links to other sites

On our website, you will encounter links to third party websites. These links may originate from us or may appear as content generated by other users. These linked sites are not under our control and we are not responsible for their actions. Before providing your personal information via any other website, we advise you to review that website's terms of use and privacy policy.

We may request, collect or process the following information:

Information we collect from others

Your payment provider may transmit payment information that we may collect or process.

In some situations, users' personal information may be collected from public sources.

We may collect or process the following information:

Information we collect when you use our service

When we are contacted, we may collect personal information intrinsic to the communication. For example, if we are contacted by email, we will collect the email address used.

We may collect or process the following information:

Links to other sites

Other disclosures and transfers

We may also disclose your personal information to third parties for the following purposes

as necessary to provide the service or product you have requested
if we receive court orders, subpoenas or other requests for information from law enforcement agencies
as otherwise permitted or required by law; or
for other purposes with your consent.

As we are a global company, with offices all over the world, your personal information can be handled by staff in any of our offices. ROOTSMS currently has offices in Belgium, the United Kingdom, the United States and France.
Access, correct or download your personal information

You have the right to request access to the personal information ROOTSMS holds about you. With some exceptions, we must allow you to access the personal information we hold about you within a reasonable time and without unreasonable charges and without cost. Most personal information is accessible by logging into your account. If you wish to access information that is not accessible via the Platform, or if you wish to download all the personal information we hold about you in a portable data format, please contact our Privacy Officer.

You also have the right to request correction of the personal information we hold about you. All your personal information can be updated via the user settings pages. If you need assistance, please contact our customer service department.
Exercising your other rights

You have a number of other rights with respect to the personal data ROOTSMS holds about you. However, there may be restrictions on how you can exercise these rights. This is largely due to the nature of the products and services we provide. Most of the data we collect is intended to facilitate contracts between users, facilitate payments and protect legitimate users of our marketplace - these uses of data are protected from the rights set out below.

You have the right to:

requesting a human review of automated decision-making or profiling
withdrawal from direct marketing and profiling for marketing purposes
erasure
temporary restriction of processing.

Human review of automated decision making and profiling - In the case of our ranking algorithms, this right cannot be exercised because this ranking is a fundamental part of the marketplace in which users participate. Decisions affecting the security of the marketplace are already reviewed by humans.

Direct marketing and profiling: users can control the emails they receive via their settings page.

Deletion - Most personal information and user-generated content cannot be deleted as it is used to support contracts between users, document financial transactions and is used to protect other legitimate users of the marketplace. In the case of non-personal data that may be linked to personal data, this will either be deleted or otherwise anonymised.

Temporary restriction on processing - In certain circumstances you may exercise this right, in particular if you believe that the personal data we have is inaccurate or if you believe that we do not have legitimate grounds to process your information. In both cases, you can exercise this right by contacting our Privacy Officer.

Unless otherwise specified, users may exercise any of the above rights by contacting our Privacy Officer.
To contact our Privacy Officer

If you have a question or complaint about how we handle your personal information or to seek to exercise your privacy rights in relation to the personal information we hold about you, you can contact our Privacy Officer as follows

By email:
privacy-officer@ROOTSMS.COM