Privacy policy

Date of Last Revision: 20 May 2010 14:30 BST

Flattr is a social platform that lets you show love for the things you like. With Flattr we want you to support the people you like and enable them to continue with what they do. We also want you to add your own things to Flattr and receive appreciation from others.

Flattr knows that you care about how your personal information is used and shared, and we are committed to treating your information with respect and sensitivity. Please read the following to learn more about this commitment and our privacy policy. By visiting the Flattr website, you are accepting the practices outlined in this Privacy Policy. This Privacy Policy covers Flattr's treatment of personal information that Flattr gathers when you are on the Flattr website and when you use Flattr services. This policy does not apply to the practices of third parties that Flattr does not own or control, or to individuals that Flattr does not employ or manage.

Changes to this Privacy Policy

As our services evolve we may from time to time amend this Privacy Policy. We encourage you to check this Flattr website frequently to see the current Privacy Policy and Terms of Use in effect and any changes that may have been made to them. If we make changes to this Policy we will post the revised Policy so you are always aware of what information we collect, how we use it, and under what circumstances if any, it is disclosed, along with the revised effective date on the Flattr website. Please check back here periodically or contact us at http://flattr.com/support/contact for the current version.

Children’s Privacy (Under 18 Years of Age)

You must be 18 years and older to register to use the Flattr website. If you are under the age of 18, please do not use or access the Flattr Site or Service in any way. We will not knowingly collect or use any personal information from any children under the age of 18. If we learn that Flattr has collected information from a child under the age of 18, we will delete that information as quickly as possible.

Information Collected by Flattr

We only collect personal information that is relevant to the purpose of our Site and Services. This information allows us to provide you with a customised and efficient experience. We do not process this information in a way that is incompatible with this objective. We collect the following types of information from our Flattr users:

  1. Information You Provide to Us:

    We receive and store any information you enter on our website or provide to us in any other way. You can choose not to provide us with certain information, but then you may not be able to take advantage of many of our special features. Registration: In order for you to use Flattr services you must complete a registration form. As part of this registration form, we require select personal information (including your full name and e-mail address).

    User Profile: To allow you to express yourself beyond just the information collected during registration, we may eventually enable you to provide additional information, such as a bio or favourite URLs. In addition, you may eventually be able to include photos of yourself in your profile. As indicated below, in the section titled "Sharing Your Information", you can control how your information is displayed and used.

    Your Use of the Service: Once you become a Flattr User, we collect information about your activity on Flattr-enabled sites via cookies, in order to recognise you. We do this so you can avoid having to re-identify yourself manually when you visit the sites you have chosen to support. Once activated, the Flattr Button also keeps count of your visits in order to distribute your Flattr funds. We encode our cookies so that only we can interpret the information stored in them. You can decline our cookie if your browser permits, but doing so will interfere with the use of our service.

  2. Automatic Information:

    As is true of most websites, we receive and store in log files certain types of information whenever you interact with us. Flattr automatically receives and records certain "traffic data" on our server logs from your browser including your IP address, Internet Service Provider (ISP) information, referring/exit pages, date/time stamps, operating system information, clickstream data, Flattr cookie information, and the page you requested. Flattr uses this traffic data to help diagnose problems with its servers, analyse trends and administer the website.

    Flattr may collect and, on any page, display the total counts that page has been viewed. This includes User Profile pages. We may use a third-party tracking service, such as Google Analytics, that may use cookies to track non-personally identifiable information about visitors to the Flattr Site in the aggregate for marketing research purposes.

    Many companies offer programs that help you to visit websites anonymously. While Flattr will not be able to provide you with a personalised experience if we cannot recognise you, we want you to be aware that these programs are available.


E-mail Communications

Flattr is very concerned about your privacy and we will never provide your email address to a third party without your explicit permission, as detailed in the "Sharing Your Information" section below. Flattr may send out e-mails with Flattr-related news, products, offers, surveys or promotions. You may also receive notification e-mails from Flattr, which inform you of actions that have been performed on the site. If you do not want to receive e-mail from us, please visit http://flattr.com/support/contact and/or follow the instructions contained in the unwanted e-mail message. However, please note that in all cases you will continue to receive all system e-mails (e.g. those regarding forgotten user passwords) and legal notices (e.g. updates to our policies) from us.

Additionally, while we appreciate your feedback and other suggestions about the Flattr Site and Service, we are not responsible for maintaining the confidentiality of any such feedback that you provide us, and you agree that we may use your feedback at our discretion without compensation or liability to you.

Cookies

  • Once you become a Flattr User, we collect information about your activity on Flattr-enabled sites via cookies, in order to recognise you. We do this so you can avoid having to re-identify yourself manually when you visit the sites you have chosen to support. Once activated, the Flattr Button also keeps count of your visits in order to distribute your Flattr funds. We encode our cookies so that only we can interpret the information stored in them. You can decline our cookie if your browser permits, but doing so will interfere with the use of our service.
  • Cookies are alphanumeric identifiers that we transfer to your computer's hard drive through your Web browser to enable our systems to recognize your browser and tell us how and when pages in our website are visited and by how many people. Flattr cookies do not collect personal information, and we do not combine information collected through cookies with other personal information to tell us who you are or what your screen name or e-mail address is.
  • The "help" portion of the toolbar on the majority of browsers will direct you on how to prevent your browser from accepting new cookies, how to command the browser to tell you when you receive a new cookie, or how to fully disable cookies. We recommend that you leave the cookies activated because cookies allow you to use some of Flattr's coolest features.
  • Some of our business partners, like any advertisers, may use cookies on our website. We have no access to, or control over, these cookies.

Sharing Your Information

Because Flattr enables people to discover and share information with one another, information about the people who use Flattr is an integral part of the Flattr experience. Trust that we neither rent nor sell your personal information to anyone and that we will share your personal information only as described below.

  • Flattr Personnel: Flattr personnel and authorized consultants and/or contractors may have access to user information if necessary in the normal course of Flattr business.
  • Business Transfers: If Flattr, or substantially all of its assets, were acquired, user information might be one of the assets that is transferred.
  • Protection of Flattr and Others: We may release personal information when we believe in good faith that release is necessary to comply with a law; to enforce or apply our Terms of Use and other policies; or to protect the rights, property, or safety of Flattr, our employees, our users, or others. This includes exchanging information with other companies and organizations for fraud protection and credit risk reduction.
  • User Profile information: Information collected during registration and subsequent visits, such as your full name, may be displayed to other Flattr users in your User Profile.
  • Social sharing of data: Flattr allows other users to browse things that you have Flattred, submitted or commented on. This information is made available publicly via your User Profile, via the public API, or within the permalink URL of the website on which you performed the action. Flattr may choose to post this data on other site features.
  • API: Flattr will allow third parties access to all Flattr data this is already publicly available through the Flattr website. Flattr will keep private any passwords.
  • Syndication: Flattr allows for the RSS syndication of all of its public content within the Flattr website.
  • With Your Consent: Except as noted above, we will contact you when your personal information is shared with third parties or used for a purpose incompatible with the purpose(s) for which it was originally collected, and you will be able to opt out to prevent the sharing of this information.

Keeping Information Secure

  • Your Flattr account information is protected by a password for your privacy and security. Protect against unauthorized access to your password and to your computer by logging off once you have finished using a shared computer.
  • Only employees who need personal information to perform a specific job (for example, a customer service representative) are granted access to it. All of our employees are kept up to date on our privacy and security practices.
  • Personal information collected through the Flattr Site and/or the Service may be stored and processed in the United Kingdom or in any other country in which Flattr or its providers (or their affiliates or providers) maintain facilities. By using the Flattr Site and/or the Service, you consent to any such transfer and processing of information outside of your country.

Ways to Control Display and Use of Your Information

  • As stated previously, you can always opt not to disclose information, but then you may be unable to use certain features on our website, such as posting new links.
  • By visiting your User Profile, you can correct, amend, add or delete personal information on our website. When you update information, however, we often maintain a copy of the unrevised information in our records.
  • You may request deletion of your Flattr account here http://flattr.com/support/contact.
  • As explained earlier, the "help" portion of the toolbar on the majority of browsers will direct you on how to prevent your browser from accepting new cookies, how to command the browser to tell you when you receive a new cookie, or how to fully disable cookies. Please note, however, that if your browser does not accept cookies, you will not be able to take advantage of some of our attractive features.

For Site Owners:

  1. Flattr Button activity is publicly available: Please be aware that most information we collect through the Service related to a Site Owner and Flattr Buttons is available to the public on the Service. Except for the financial account information associated with each of your Buttons and your Flattr Account login information (user name and password), all other information about activity through the Service involving your Flattr Button(s) is publicly displayed to everyone with access to the Internet, whether or not they are a registered Flattr User. This includes all monies received by each of your Flattr Buttons, and from whom these monies (including amounts) are received (subject only to privacy constraints imposed by the Flattr Users). We only use this information for display and accounting purposes, and this information will not be used for any other purpose.
  2. Flattr Button activity remains publicly available even after suspension: Even after a Flattr Button is removed from your site and marked as “inactive” on the Flattr site, the history of that Flattr Button may remain in the Flattr system on an ongoing basis at Flattr’s discretion. This includes information about your site, traffic to your site, Flattr contributions to your site accrued prior to its removal from your site, and other information relating to your site in connection with the Service, as part of the Service, including for use for historical financial tracking purposes, as well as for publicly displaying the contribution history of Flattr Users and the revenue history of Site Owners.

Conditions of Use

If you decide to visit Flattr website, your visit and any possible dispute over privacy is subject to this Privacy Policy and our Terms of Use, including limitations on damages, arbitration of disputes, and application of the laws of England and Wales.

Date of Last Revision: 20 May 2010 14:30 BST