Privacy

1. Acknowledgement

 Your use of any of our Services indicates your acknowledgement of the practices described in this Privacy Policy. We may update it from time to time, and we will provide notice of these changes if we believe it is necessary. Unless we require your consent, you agree to those updates by continuing the use the Services.

2. Types of Data We Collect

We may collect and process information that relates to identified or identifiable individuals (“Personal Data”). We collect and process the following categories of Personal Data (note, specific Personal Data elements listed in each category are only examples and may change):

3. Information You Provide to Us

Identity Data

First name, last name, age or birthday, gender, username/password

Contact Data

Email and mailing address

Payment Data

Credit card, bank account, or other information used in payments

User Content

Text inputs, images, audio/videos recordings, or other content you provide to the Services

User Controls

Audio or visual inputs (e.g. camera inputs) used to control a device

Job Data

Information you include if you apply for a position at Sphero, like resume, personal and contact information, social profiles, and any additional files you submit.

Social Media Data

We may collect Personal Data when you interact with our advertisements and other content on third-party sites or platforms, such as social networking sites. This may include information such as “Likes”, demographic information, or the fact that you viewed or interacted with our content.

4. Information We Collect Automatically

Device Data

Data about the device you use to access our Services, e.g. device type, its software version, or carrier

Toy Data

Data about your toy, how the toy or Application is used or operates, such as diagnostic data, MAC Address or device identifier depending on the toy, accelerometer data from crashes, and the like

Usage Data

Data about the use of our Services, including analytics information, how you use our Services, e.g. clickstream data from our Site, information on how long you stay or what you do on our Site, whether a page or email was loaded/opened, and the like

5. How We Process data

Subject to your Rights and Choices below, we generally process your data in the following ways:

A. To Provide our Services

We generally use the Personal Data as necessary to provide our Services, or complete transactions you request. For example:

• We use identity and contact data to create your account, where applicable.
• When you reserve or buy a toy, we will process the identity data, payment data, and contact data you give us that is necessary to complete the transaction.
• If you provide us feedback or contact us via email, we will use your contact data and user content to help carry out your request.
• When you make postings on Sphero Edu or our social media pages, the contact information and user content you give us will be stored on our third-party servers and other users may be able to see it.
• When you interact with the Services, we use usage data to understand what you like and don’t like in order to improve the services.
• If you apply to work at Sphero, we use the Job Data to evaluate your application and contact you about it.

B. Toy Operation

Our toys are interactive, and we are always working to improve our toys and make sure everything works. For example:

• We process user controls and user content on the toy or device to help you interact with or control the toys or store your content for use by the toy.
• We use device data and toy data to understand a user’s engagement in an activity or feature, for example which activities you played on the toy and data about any crashes during use.
• We use contact and identity data to help personalize the content, e.g. greeting you by username, tracking in-game progress, using the right language, or showing you age-appropriate activities.

C. Analytics

We are always working to improve our Site and want to keep visitors informed about our toys and Services. For example:

• We use usage data when you visit our Site to manage traffic and help us understand and improve the design, usability, and other aspects of our Site.
• We use usage data and device data to help improve our Application and Services, internal operations, and systems.
• We may also create de-identified or aggregate data records from Personal Data by excluding or changing information that makes the information personally identifiable to you. We use this data for a variety of purposes, such as to analyze request and usage patterns so that we may enhance the content of our Services and improve Site functionality.

D. Marketing Communications

We use your Contact Data for promotional marketing if you have purchased a toy or agreed to receive such emails. For example, if you have chosen to provide your Contact Data, we may send you newsletters, surveys, offers, and other promotional materials related to our Services, and for other direct marketing purposes. We do this to promote our toys and issue our direct marketing.

E. Behavioral Advertising

We, and certain third parties operating on or through our Site, may engage in online behavioral advertising. This form of advertising includes various parties and service providers, including third party data controllers, engaged in the processing of personal data in connection with advertising. We may collect usage data and social media data from you and provide it directly to a third party for targeting on a third party platform. Sometimes, these third parties may collect this information directly (e.g. a Facebook “Like” button).

The parties that control the processing of Personal Data for behavioral advertising purposes may build a profile of you containing this information, and may be able to identify you across sites, devices, and over time. These services may also track whether you view, interact with, or how often you have seen an ad, or whether you complete a purchase for a good or service you were shown in an advertisement. See your Rights and Choices below, or Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Reddit, Snapchat, Discord, and Twitter’s privacy policies, for information about how you can limit or opt out of this processing.

F. Support

We use information you give us in connection with your support requests, for example, to help solve issues, troubleshoot the toys, manage your account, or respond to your inquiries.

If you are a child under applicable law, we will only contact you regarding support in compliance with applicable law.

We may use third parties to help provide support to you.

G. Consent

We may use any Personal Data you give us by consent in accordance with that consent. For example, if you provide Job Data, we will use it to evaluate your application.

6. Cookies and Similar Technologies

To make our Site and Services more useful to you, we and certain third parties may process usage and other data when you interact with cookies and similar technologies on our Site. We may receive this data from third parties to the extent allowed by the applicable partner. Please note that the privacy policies of third parties may apply to these technologies and information collected.

“Cookies” are small pieces of information that a website stores on your computer’s hard drive while you are viewing a website. We may use both session cookies (which expire once you close your web browser) and persistent cookies (which stay on your computer until you delete them) to provide you with a more personal and interactive experience on our Site and Services. You may remove persistent cookies by following Internet browser help file directions. Web beacons are electronic images that we use on our Sites and Services and in our emails that, when loaded, provide us with information, such as where users navigate on a Site, or whether an email is opened. See below for your choices regarding these technologies.

We use generally use usage data, cookies, and similar technologies as follows:

• for “essential” or “functional” purposes, such as to enable various features of the Services like remembering passwords or staying logged in during your session;
• for social media integration e.g. via third-party social media cookies, when you share information using a social media sharing button or “like” button on our Site, or you engage with our content on or through a social networking website such as Facebook or Twitter;
• for analytics purposes, consistent with our legitimate interests in how our Services are used or perform, how users engage with and navigate through the Site, what sites users visit before visiting our Site, how often they visit our Site, whether an email was received or opened, and other similar information; and
• subject to any consent required by law, for the purpose of displaying advertisements via retargeting to those users who have visited our Site, or for targeting advertising to visitors to our Site.

Note: We do not place advertising cookies on your browser, nor serve targeted advertisements to you if you have only visited: https://edu.sphero.com.

7. Data Sharing

We may share information we collect with a variety of parties, depending upon the purpose for and context in which you provided that information. We generally share data with the following types of recipients:

A. Parents/Schools

Consistent with the Sphero Edu Privacy Policy, applicable law, and your choice, we share Personal Data, including User Content with parents and teachers.

B. Service Providers

In connection with our general business operations, toy/Service improvements, to enable certain features, and in connection with our other legitimate business interests, we may share your Personal Data with service providers or sub-processors who provide certain services or process data on our behalf. See the Data Processor List below for more information.

C. Affiliates

In order to streamline certain business operations and develop toys and services that better meet the interests and needs of our customers, and inform our customers about relevant toys and Services, we may share your Personal Data with any of our current or future affiliated entities or subsidiaries.

D. Marketers

In order to deliver certain advertisements and develop better toys and Services, we may share certain Personal Data collected from our Site (as described in the Cookies and Similar Technology section above) with trusted third parties for marketing, advertising, or similar commercial purposes.

E. Corporate Events

Your Personal Data may be processed in the event that we go through a business transition, such as a merger, acquisition, liquidation, or sale of all or a portion of our assets. For example, Personal Data may be part of the assets transferred, or may be disclosed (subject to confidentiality restrictions) during the due diligence process for a potential transaction.

F. Legal Disclosures

In limited circumstances, we may, without notice or your consent, access and disclose your Personal Data, any communications sent or received by you, and any other information that we may have about you to the extent we believe such disclosure is legally required, to prevent or respond to a crime, to investigate violations of our Terms of Use, or to protect the vital interests of us or any person. Note, these disclosures may be made to governments that do not ensure the same degree of protection of your Personal Data as your home jurisdiction. We may, in our sole discretion (but without any obligation), object to the disclosure of your Personal Data to such parties.

8. Data Processor List

9. Your Rights and Choices

You, or your parent/guardian (if you are a child), may exercise the below Rights and Choices by emailing us at [email protected]. Our mailing address is Sphero, Inc., Attn: DPO, 4775 Walnut St., Suite 100, Boulder, CO 80301. 

A. Your Rights

Subject to the rights granted to other individuals, and our rights to limit or deny access/disclosure under applicable law, you have the following rights in your Personal Data. We may require that you provide additional Personal Data to exercise these rights, e.g. information necessary to prove your identity. Note: we may not have access to or control over all or some Personal Data controlled by education partners and others. Please contact these third parties directly for data rights requests regarding information these third parties’ control, and we will assist the you as appropriate in the fulfillment of your request.

Access

You may receive a list of your Personal Data that we process to the extent required and permitted by law.

Rectification

You may correct any Personal Data that we hold about you to the extent required and permitted by law. You may be able to make changes to much of the information you provided directly to the Application or Service via your account settings menu.

Erasure

To the extent required by applicable law, you may request that we delete your Personal Data from our systems. You may request erasure of your Contact Data by emailing us at [email protected].

Data Export

To the extent required by applicable law, we will send you a copy of your Personal Data in a common portable format of our choice.

Objection

Where we process data in accordance with our legitimate interests, you can object to that processing to the extent allowed by law. You can stop future collection of all data by the Application by uninstalling it.

Regulator Contract

You have the right to contact or file a complaint with regulators or supervisory authorities about our processing of Personal Data. To do so, please contact your local data protection or consumer protection authority.

California Rights

Residents of California (and others to the extent required by applicable law) may request a list of Personal Data we have disclosed about you to third parties for direct marketing purposes during the preceding calendar year. This request must be written, signed, and mailed to us at the address above.

B. Your Choices

You may use some of our Services without providing any Personal Data, but you may not be able to access certain features or view certain content. You have the following choices regarding the Personal Data we process:

Consent

If you consent to processing, you may withdraw your consent at any time, to the extent required by law.

Direct Marketing

You may opt out of or withdraw your consent to direct marketing communications. You may cease direct marketing from us in relation to any Service that collects your email by emailing [email protected], or by clicking the unsubscribe link in any promotional email we send you.

Cookies & Similar Tech

If you do not want information collected through the use of cookies, you can manage/deny cookies (and certain technologies) using your browser’s settings menu. Please note this does not necessarily opt you out of being delivered advertising. You may continue to receive generic ads. You must opt out of third party services directly via the third party. You may view a list of other third party service providers who collect information, and/or opt out of such collection of information about you, by visiting https://www.networkadvertising.org/choices/ or https://www.aboutads.info/choices. Please note, at this time, our Service does not respond to your browser’s do-not-track request. You may opt out as follows:

• DoubleClick (here)
• Google Analytics (here)
• Lotame (here)
• Bing (here)
• IMM (here)

As of January 1, 2020, the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) grants these specific rights to California residents.

1. The right to request disclosure of your business’ data collection and sales practices in connection with the requesting consumer, including the categories of personal information you have collected, the source of the information, your use of the information and, if the information was disclosed or sold to third parties, the categories of personal information disclosed or sold to third parties and the categories of third parties to whom such information was disclosed or sold;
2. The right to request a copy of the specific personal information collected during the 12 months before their request (together with right #1, a “personal information request”);
3. The right to have such information deleted (with exceptions);
4. The right to request that their personal information not be sold to third parties, if applicable; and
5. The right not to be discriminated against because they exercised any of the new rights. With respect to the CCPA, Sphero collects the following categories of information:
   • Identifiers
   • Select Information in Customer Records
   • Commercial Purchasing Information
   • Internet or Network Activity
   • Geolocation
   • Information Typically Detected by the Senses
   • Employment Information
   • Education Information
   • Inferences from Above Used to Profile

To submit a personal information or erasure request under CCPA, you can use the form located here or call us at 1-888-977-4376. You will need to provide your email address. We will send an email to your address and await your reply to confirm your identity before any data is changed, sent or deleted.

10. Data Retention

Subject to the earlier exercise of your Rights and Choices, we will store your Personal Data as long as you have an account on the Services. We may keep your email as long as you do not revoke your consent to direct marketing. We will store your Site Data as long as we deem reasonably necessary to provide the Services. We store log data, which may contain Personal Data, for less than three months. Our data warehouse, which does not store any Personal Data, stores information indefinitely. We are developing ways to retain your data for shorter periods and will update this Privacy Policy accordingly.

11. Security

We use appropriate technical and organizational means to protect your Personal Data. For example, we use SSL to encrypt data in transit. We encrypt passwords at rest. Unfortunately, no data transmission over the Internet or data storage system can be guaranteed to be 100% secure and we do not warrant complete security of your Personal Data or the Services. If you have reason to believe that your interaction with us is no longer secure (for example, if you feel that the security of any account you might have with us is compromised), please immediately notify us of the problem.

12. International Transfers

We operate in and use service providers located in the United States. If you are located outside the U.S., your Personal Data may be transferred to the U.S. The U.S. does not provide the same legal protections guaranteed to Personal Data in the European Union. Accordingly, your Personal Data may be transferred to the U.S. pursuant to the EU-U.S. Privacy Shield Framework. Contact us for more information regarding the mechanisms to ensure adequate protection of data subject to EU Law.

13. EU Users

We operate in and use service providers located in the United States. If you are located outside the U.S., your Personal Data may be transferred to the U.S. The U.S. does not provide the same legal protections guaranteed to Personal Data in the European Union. Accordingly, your Personal Data may be transferred to the U.S. pursuant to the EU-U.S. Privacy Shield Framework. Contact us for more information regarding the mechanisms to ensure adequate protection of data subject to EU Law.

A. Controller

Sphero, Inc., a Delaware corporation, is the data controller for Personal Data collected under this Privacy Policy, provided that Sphero Robotics UK Limited, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Sphero, Inc., processes certain human resources data in the UK. In certain cases (e.g. when we partner with schools or shippers) our partner may be a joint controller with respect to certain Personal Data we provide it.

B. Legal bases for processing

The legal basis of our processing of your Personal Data are in the table below. If you have questions about the legal basis of how we process your Personal Data, contact us at [email protected]. For more information on specific legitimate interests for processing by our Applications or toys, see their respective privacy policies.

C. Privacy Shield & Dispute Resolution

Sphero, Inc., Sphero Holdings, Inc., and Sphero Robotics UK Limited (together the “Sphero Entities”) comply with the EU-U.S. Privacy Shield Framework as set forth by the U.S. Department of Commerce regarding the collection, use, and retention of personal information transferred from the European Union to the United States. The Sphero Entities have certified to the Department of Commerce that they adhere to the Privacy Shield Principles. If there is any conflict between the terms in this privacy policy and the Privacy Shield Principles, the Privacy Shield Principles shall govern. To learn more about the Privacy Shield program, and to view our certification, please visit https://www.privacyshield.gov/

Furthermore, we require third-party recipients of EU citizens’ Personal Data to agree to respect these principles, and we accept liability for third parties’ processing of EU citizens’ data to the extent required by law.

We encourage EU (and U.S.) users to contact us if they have any concerns about our compliance with this Privacy Policy and the Privacy Shield Framework. Send any questions or concerns to [email protected]. Sphero will respond to complaints from E.U. citizens within 45 days. You may view the list of Privacy Shield companies here.

If any Privacy Shield-related complaints cannot be resolved between an EU user and Sphero, we have committed to refer such unresolved complaints to JAMS, an alternative dispute resolution provider located in the United States. If you do not receive timely acknowledgment of your complaint from us, or if we have not addressed your complaint to your satisfaction, please contact or visit https://www.jamsadr.com/eu-us-privacy-shield. If required by law, we will work with the appropriate panel of DPAs or individual DPA in the EU to resolve disputes. Under certain circumstances, these dispute resolution processes may result in your ability to invoke binding arbitration. The services of JAMS are provided at no cost to you.

As a U.S. company, we are also subject to the investigatory and enforcement power of the FTC regarding our compliance with the Privacy Shield Framework and this Privacy Policy, and you may direct complaints to the FTC in the event the dispute resolution processes described above is unsatisfactory.

14. Contact Information

Sphero welcomes your comments or questions regarding this Privacy Policy. Please contact us at:

Sphero, Inc.
Attn: Legal, Privacy Policy
4772 Walnut St, Suite 206
Boulder, CO 80301

[email protected]

Sphero’s Data Protection Officer may be reached at [email protected]. Please include “Attention: Data Protection Officer” in your email.

15. Specific Privacy Policies

Several of our products’ applications and, where applicable, products, has its own additional privacy policy, available below and in the respective application. This Privacy Policy controls with respect to any subject not explicitly covered in an individual privacy policy. The individual privacy policies are:

• Sphero Play App Privacy Policy
• Sphero Edu & Child Privacy Policy
• Sphero Mini Privacy Policy
• Sphero Academy Privacy Policy
• Specdrums MIX Privacy Policy
• Specdrums Music App Privacy Policy
• Spider-Man Privacy Policy
• Ultimate Lightning McQueen Privacy Policy
• Star Wars Droid App Privacy Policy
• BB-8 Droid Application Privacy Policy
• Force Band Privacy Policy

16. Changes to This Privacy Policy

This Privacy Policy is subject to occasional revision. If we make any changes to this Privacy Policy, we will change the “Last Updated” date above.