PRIVACY POLICY

3. WHAT PERSONAL INFORMATION DO WE COLLECT?

Kingston may collect the following categories of information across its Website(s) to provide you with services, to respond to requests and offer customer support, to fulfill legal and contractual obligations and to build and improve products and services. When we use the term “Information” we mean personal information that you provide to us, sensitive personal information, personal information we may automatically collect, and personal information we may receive from third parties. We collect some of this Information directly when it is provided by you or your representative, other Information we collect about you automatically when you visit our Website, and some Information we collect from other sources such as our service providers.

Information You Provide to Us Directly

We collect your Personal Information and other information when you directly provide it to us. For example, we collect Information when you make a purchase, use or register our products and services, take part in marketing campaigns, and contact our customer support.

Depending on how you interact with us, we collect the following personal Information about you:

• Individual identifiers. Your first and last name, email address, postal address, phone number, online identifier, and other similar contact data.
• Product Purchase and Registration Information. The type of product being registered, the serial number, date of purchase, or other product identifying information, as well as your debit or credit card number and other billing related information.
• Usage and Electronic Network Activity Information. Information about the product and features you use, including information about your hardware and software, information about your use of our Website(s), how our products perform, as well as your settings.
• Responses to Surveys and Promotional Events. Responses to questions and interactions with us on social media, competitions, and at events, or through surveys that we provide to you.
• Correspondence and Communications. Records of Information provided by you when you contact us with feedback, comments, questions or for any other reason. This includes audio, visual, and electronic Information, for example recordings of calls with our customer support service.
• Inferences Drawn from Other Information. Certain Information we collect from the above categories may be used to create a profile reflecting your preferences, tendencies, and the like.
• Additional Information. Information as otherwise described to you at the point of collection or pursuant to your consent.

Information We Collect About You Automatically Through Your Use of the Website(s)

When you use our Website(s), and interact with us through online media and advertisements, certain information about your visit is automatically logged though the use of various tools:

Cookies & Technologies Used to Collect Information About You

We and/or certain service providers operating on our behalf may collect Information about your activity, or activity on devices associated with you over time, on our sites and applications, and across non-affiliated websites or online applications. We may collect this Information by using certain technologies, such as cookies, web beacons, pixels, software developer kits, third-party libraries, and other similar technologies. Third-party service providers, advertisers, and/or partners may also view, edit, or set their own cookies or place web beacons. For additional information on the various cookies we use and the purposes for which we use them, please read our Cookie Policy.

• Cookies (or browser cookies). A cookie is a small file placed on the hard drive of your computer. You may refuse to accept browser cookies by activating the appropriate setting on your browser. However, if you select this setting, you may be unable to access certain parts of our Website(s). Unless you have adjusted your browser setting so that it will refuse cookies, our system will issue cookies when you direct your browser to our Website(s).
• Web Beacons. Website pages may contain small electronic files known as web beacons (also referred to as clear gifs, pixel tags, and single-pixel gifs) that permit us, for example, to count users who have visited those pages and for other related statistics (for example, recording the popularity of certain content and verifying system and server integrity). We also use these technical methods to analyze the traffic patterns, such as the frequency with which our users visit various parts of the Website(s). These technical methods may involve the transmission of Information either directly to us or to a third party authorized by us to collect Information on our behalf. Our Website(s) use retargeting pixels from Google, Facebook, and other ad networks. We also use web beacons in HTML emails that we send to determine whether the recipients have opened those emails and/or clicked on links in those emails.
• Analytics. Analytics are tools we may use, such as Google Analytics, to help provide us with information about traffic to our Website and use of our Website(s), which Google may share with other services and websites who use the collected data to contextualize and personalize the ads of its own advertising network. You can view Google’s Privacy Practices here: Privacy Policy – Privacy & Terms – Google.
• Mobile Application Technologies. If you access our Website through a mobile device, we may automatically collect Information about your device, and your physical location.

Our use of online tracking technologies may be considered a “sale” or “sharing” under certain laws. To the extent that these online tracking technologies are deemed to be a “sale” or “sharing” under certain laws, you can opt out of these online tracking technologies through the Cookie Settings or by broadcasting an opt-out preference signal, such as the Global Privacy Control (GPC). Please note that some features of our Website may not be available to you as a result of these choices. Please note further the Do Not Sell My Personal Information option in the footer of our website does not relate to any “sale” or “sharing” of personal information collected via cookies and related technologies.

Information We Collect About You from Other Sources

We may collect additional Information about you from third-party websites (such as payment processing services), social media platforms and/or sources providing publicly available information (e.g., from the U.S. postal service) to help us provide services to you, help prevent fraud, and for marketing and advertising purposes.

This Privacy Policy only applies to Personal Information collected by our Website(s). We are not responsible for the privacy and security practices of those other websites or Social Media Platforms or the Information they may collect (which may include IP address). You should contact such third parties directly to determine their respective privacy policies. Links to any other websites or content do not constitute or imply an endorsement or recommendation by us of the linked website, Social Media Platform, and/or content.

Categories of Personal Information Sold

We may sell the below categories of personal Information. For purposes of this Privacy Policy, “sell”, “sold” or “sale” means the disclosure of personal Information for monetary or other valuable consideration but does not include, for example, the transfer of personal Information as an asset that is part of a merger, bankruptcy, or other disposition of all or any portion of our business.

8. WHERE WE STORE YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION

Kingston is a global organization with its headquarters in the United States. As such, your information, including your Information, may be transferred to or, stored in, entities affiliated with us and other third parties located in countries which do not have the same level of data protection laws as those in the country where you are located. By visiting the Website(s) and submitting any Information, you consent to the transfer of such personal Information to the United States or another country outside your country of origin.

9. SECURITY

We take commercially reasonable and appropriate administrative, physical, and technical security measures to provide our services and safeguard your Information. For example, where appropriate, we may:

• Use Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) technology when collecting or transferring sensitive Information, which is designed to make the data unreadable by anyone but us;
• Take steps to limit access to your Information to employees who require that Information to operate, develop, or improve our products, services, and the Website(s); and
• Put in place physical, electronic, and organizational safeguards to protect the Information and other information that we have collected.

However, no data transmitted over the Internet or stored or maintained by us or our third-party service providers can be 100% secure. Therefore, we do not promise or guarantee, and you should not expect, that your Information or private communications will always remain private or secure. We do not guarantee that your personal Information will not be misused by third parties. We are not responsible for the circumvention of any privacy settings or security features. You agree that we will not have any liability for misuse, access, acquisition, deletion, or disclosure of your Information.

If you believe that your Information has been accessed or acquired by an unauthorized person, you should promptly contact us so that necessary measures can quickly be taken.

16. NOTICE TO CERTAIN RESIDENTS OF DATA SUBJECT RIGHTS

A. Notice to Individuals in the European Economic Area, Switzerland, and the UK

This Section applies only to individuals accessing and using our Website(s) from within the European Union (EU), the European Economic Area (EEA), Switzerland, and the UK, and only if we collect through the Website(s) any Information that is subject to the GDPR and the UK Data Protection Act 2018. This section of the Privacy Policy specifically summarizes our lawful basis for processing your Information, how we may transfer your Information, your rights related to your Information, and how you can contact us.

Grounds for Processing Your Personal Information

As described in Section 3, Section 4, and Section 5 of this Privacy Policy, we process your Information. The legal grounds for us processing your Information are:

Your Rights Related to Your Personal Information

The GDPR provides you with certain rights related to the collection, processing, and transfer of your personal Information. You can exercise these rights by contacting us using the information below in the “Contact Information for Users Based in the UK, EU/EEA or Switzerland” section. You may be asked to provide some proof of identification so that we can verify that it is you making the request.

Specifically, you have the following rights:

Right to Access: You have the right to know we collect certain personal Information about you and to ask us for copies of your personal Information.

Right to Rectification: You have the right to request that we correct Information you think is inaccurate or incomplete.

Right to Object to Processing: You have the right to object to processing in some circumstances, including where we are using your personal Information for our legitimate interests and for direct marketing purposes. 

The GDPR provides a right to object to the processing of personal Information by an individual when an organization is using the Information: (1) for a task carried out in the public interest; (2) for its legitimate interests; (3) for scientific or historical research, or statistical purposes; or (4) for direct marketing.

Right to Erasure:

You have the right to request that we erase the personal Information we have collected about you in certain circumstances.

Please note the right to erasure is not absolute, and only applies in the following circumstances:

• We no longer need your personal Information to carry out the purpose that we collected it for.
• You have withdrawn your consent to our use of your personal Information.
• You have objected to our use of your personal Information and your interests outweigh our interests in using it.
• You believe we have processed your personal Information unlawfully.
• We have a legal obligation to erase your data.
• The personal Information you are seeking erasure of was submitted by a child under 16, or equivalent minimum age depending on jurisdiction, at the time of submission.

Upon receiving a request from you to erase your personal Information for any of the above reasons, we will endeavor to remove as much Information as is legally allowable. The applicable law provides several exceptions and permits us to object to your request. If we are unable to comply with your request to erase personal Information, we shall tell you in writing what personal Information we have continued to retain, the reasons for retaining it and how long we expect to retain it for.

Right to Restrict Processing:

You have the right to ask us to restrict the processing of your personal Information in certain circumstances.

You can request that we temporarily limit the use of your personal Information when we are reviewing:

• A challenge you have to the accuracy of your personal Information.
• An objection you have made to our use of your personal Information.

You can also request that we limit the use of your personal Information rather than delete it if:

• You believe we processed your personal Information unlawfully, but you do not want us to delete it.
• We no longer need your personal Information, but you want us to keep it to create, exercise, or defend legal claims.

Contact Information for Users Based in the EU or Switzerland

If you wish to request any EU-specific information, or have any questions regarding this Privacy Policy, or its implementation, you may email us at [email protected]. You may also write to us at:

Kingston Technology Europe Co. LLP (or Kingston Digital Europe Co. LLP)
Attention: GDPR Compliance
Kingston Court, Brooklands Close, Sunbury-on-Thames, Middlesex TW16 7EP UK

EU data subjects may also contact our Lead Supervisory Authority, the Information Commissioner’s Office of the United Kingdom, with any questions about our privacy practices.

Retention

We will retain your personal Information for as long as needed for the purposes described in this Privacy Policy. More specifically, the time we maintain your personal Information depends on the following factors:

• Whether we need the personal Information to provide the services. We will maintain any data needed to provide you with the services, such as contact information and payment or transaction information, for as long as needed for us to provide you with the services, respond to your questions and requests, and/or administer your account (if applicable).
• Whether we need the personal Information to comply with our legal obligations. We may have legal obligations to maintain your personal Information where a legal or regulatory body may ask for it in the future, for example in response to a data subject request or complaint. This Information may include contact information and location information.
• Whether we need the Information for a legitimate business interest. We may store personal Information like contact information, cookies, and location information to perform analytics, troubleshoot errors, or improve our Website(s). In any event, we delete the personal Information when it is no longer needed for our legitimate interest.

Regardless of our reason for retaining your Information, we delete all personal Information in accordance with our routine record keeping policies.

C. Notice of Privacy Rights for Residents of Certain U.S. States

Residents of certain U.S. states may have rights and choices regarding their Personal Information. These rights may apply in the following states: California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Maryland, Minnesota, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Oregon, Rhode Island, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, and Virginia.

To the extent any data protection law applies to our collection of your Personal Information, this supplemental section of our Privacy Policy outlines the individual rights you may be entitled to and how to exercise those rights.

Depending on where you live and subject to certain exceptions, you may have some or all of the following rights.

Right to know and access specific information.

You may have the right to request that we disclose certain information to you about our collection and use of your Personal Information. Once we receive and confirm a verifiable consumer request from you, we will disclose to you, to the extent permitted by law:

• The categories of Personal Information we collected about you, and whether we sell and/or share your information with third parties.
• The specific pieces of Personal Information we hold about you.
• The categories of Personal Information sold within the last 12 (twelve) months.
• The categories of sources from which Personal Information about you is collected.
• Our business or commercial purpose for collecting, selling or sharing your Personal Information.
• The categories of third parties with whom your Personal Information is sold, shared or disclosed for a business purpose.

You have the right to request that the Personal Information described above be provided to you in a portable and readily useable format, to the extent technically feasible (“data portability”).

Right to Data Portability. You may have the right to request that the Personal Information described above be provided to you in a portable and readily useable format, to the extent technically feasible (“data portability”).

Deletion Request Rights. You may have the right to request that we delete the Personal Information that we collected from you, subject to certain exceptions. To the extent that we can delete your Personal Information, once we receive and confirm your verifiable consumer request, we will delete (and direct our service providers to delete) your Personal Information, unless an exception applies.

Right to Correct Inaccurate Information.  To the extent that we may maintain inaccurate Personal Information, you may have the right to request that we correct such inaccurate Personal Information taking into account the nature of the Personal Information and the purposes of the processing of the Personal Information. Once we receive and verify your verifiable consumer request, we will use commercially reasonable efforts to correct your Personal Information.

Right to Object. You may have the right to object to the processing of your Personal Information on grounds related to your particular situation.

Right to Opt Out of the Sale and Sharing of Personal Information.  You may have the right to opt out of the processing of your Personal Information for the following purposes:

• Sale of your Personal Information..
• Sharing of your Personal Information for cross-context behavioural advertising..

The use of online tracking technologies may be considered a “sale” or “sharing” under applicable U.S. state privacy law. To the extent that these online tracking technologies are deemed to be a “sale” or “sharing” under applicable U.S. state privacy law, you may opt out of these online tracking technologies by submitting a request or by broadcasting an opt-out preference signal, such as the Global Privacy Control (GPC).

Right to Opt Out of the Use of Personal Information for Targeted Advertising and Profiling. To the extent that we use your Personal Information for targeted advertising and/or profiling (as those terms are defined under applicable U.S. state privacy law), you may have the right to opt out of the processing of your Personal Information for purposes of targeted advertising or profiling in furtherance of decisions that produce legal or similarly significant effects concerning you.

Right to limit use and disclosure of sensitive personal information. You may have the right to request that we limit the ways we use and disclose your sensitive personal Information (as defined by applicable U.S. state privacy law) to uses which are necessary for us to perform the services, or deliver the goods reasonably expected by you, or and as authorized by law.

Right to Non-Discrimination. You may have a right not to be discriminated against in the services or quality of services you receive from us for exercising your rights. We may not, and will not, treat you differently because of your data subject request activity. As a result of your data subject request activity, we may not and will not deny goods or services to you, charge different rates for goods or services, provide a different level quality of goods or services, or suggest that we would treat you differently because of your data subject request activity.

Right to Disclosure of Third-Parties. You may have a right to know the categories and names/addresses of third parties that we have disclosed your Personal Information to under this Privacy Policy.

Right to Disclosure of Direct Marketers. You have a right to the categories and names/addresses of third parties that have received personal Information for their direct marketing purposes upon simple request and free of charge.

Right to Appeal. You may have the right to appeal our denial of any request you make under this section. To exercise your right to appeal, please submit an appeal request via the information in the Exercising your rights section below. Within the certain timeframe of receipt of your appeal, as proscribed by the applicable law, we will inform you in writing of any action taken or not taken in response to your appeal, including a written explanation of the reasons for the decisions. If we deny your appeal, you may contact the Attorney General or another authority which we will help you identify.

To learn more about whether you are provided with certain rights, or to submit a request to exercise your rights, please contact us via the information provided in the Exercising your rights section below.

Authorized Agent

You may use an authorised agent to submit verifiable consumer requests on your behalf provided that the authorised agent is a natural person or a business entity that you have authorised to act on your behalf. If you use an authorised agent, we will require: (1) proof of written permission for the authorised agent to make requests on your behalf, and identity verification from you; or (2) proof of power of attorney pursuant to California Probate Code sections 4000 to 4665. We may deny a request from an authorised agent that does not submit proper verification proof.

Notice of Financial Incentive

As an incentive for providing us with your Personal Information, you may receive a financial benefit in the form of an email or text coupon, discount, promotions or other similar reward that will be sent to you. This discount may constitute a financial incentive under the applicable U.S. state privacy laws (“Financial Incentive”). The categories of Personal Information required for us to provide the Financial Incentives include personal identifiers such as full name and contact information including email address, as well as personal and demographic information that you choose to provide.

To offer these discounts, we may track your Personal Information, such as purchase history and other demographic data. You have the right to withdraw from the Financial Incentive at any time by submitting a request to [email protected]. Please note that if you request deletion of part or all your personal Information, that could affect your ability to qualify for the discount.

Additional Information

To the extent permitted by applicable law, we may charge a reasonable fee to comply with your request.