TheBentBox Privacy Policy
Effective as of 01 May 2024
Introduction
Thanks for choosing TheBentBox!
At TheBentBox, we want to give you the best possible experience to ensure that you enjoy our service today, tomorrow, and in the future. To do this we need to understand your viewing and purchasing habits so we can deliver an exceptional and personalized service specifically for you. That said, your privacy and the security of your personal data is, and will always be, enormously important to us. So, we want to transparently explain how and why we gather, store, share and use your personal data - as well as outline the controls and choices you have around when and how you choose to share your personal data.
We collect as little information as possible about your activity and we only collect information that is strictly related to you using the TheBentBox service and perform functions such as logging in and viewing the content you have purchased. We don't collect information related to your activity on other sites and we don't process cookies for marketing or advertisement purposes.
We don't process or store any of your payment details. All payments are processed by our payment processors Paysafe, SecurionPay and Verotel and we don't have any visibility of your personal information.
Your information is, and never will be, shared with any third party for marketing, advertising or data collection purposes.
All analytics data is collected anonymously and it is never shared with any third party.
There are many different ways you can use our services – to search for and share information, to communicate with other people or to create new content. When you share information with us, for example by creating a TheBentBox Account, we can make those services even better – to show you more relevant search results, to help you connect with people or to make sharing with others quicker and easier. As you use our services, we want you to be clear how we’re using information and the ways in which you can protect your privacy.
Our Privacy Policy explains:
- What information we collect and why we collect it.
- How we use that information.
- The choices we offer, including how to access and update information.
- We’ve tried to keep it as simple as possible, but if you’re not familiar with terms like cookies, IP addresses, and browsers, then read about these key terms first. Your privacy matters to TheBentBox so whether you are new to TheBentBox or a long-time user, please do take the time to get to know our practices – and if you have any questions contact us.
That is our objective, and this Privacy Policy (“Policy”) will explain exactly what we mean in further detail below.
About this Policy
This Policy sets out the essential details relating to your personal data relationship with TheBentBox by Haas & Reed B.V.. The Policy applies to all TheBentBox services and any associated services (referred to as the ‘TheBentBox Service’). The terms governing your use of the TheBentBox Service are defined in our Terms and Conditions of Use (the “Terms and Conditions of Use”).
From time to time, we may develop new or offer additional services. If the introduction of these new or additional services results in any change to the way we collect or process your personal data we will provide you with more information and additional terms or policies. Unless stated otherwise when we introduce these new or additional services, they will be subject to this Policy.
The aim of this Policy is to:
- Ensure that you understand what personal data we collect about you, the reasons why we collect and use it, and who we share it with;
- Explain the way we use the personal data that you share with us in order to give you a great experience when you are using the TheBentBox Service; and
- Explain your rights and choices in relation to the personal data we collect and process about you and how we will protect your privacy.
We hope this helps you to understand our privacy commitments to you. For further clarification of the terms used in this Policy please visit our Privacy Center on thebentbox.com. For information on how to contact us if you ever have any questions or concerns, then please see the ‘How to Contact Us’ section 14 below. Alternatively, if you do not agree with the content of this Policy, then please remember it is your choice whether you want to use the TheBentBox Service.
Information we collect
We collect information to provide better services to all of our users – from figuring out basic stuff like your gender, to more complex things like which Boxes you like the most, the people who matter most to you online, or which type of content you might like.
We collect information in the following ways:
(a) Information you give us. For example, our services require you to sign up for a TheBentBox Account. When you do, we’ll ask for personal information, like your name and email address. To take full advantage of the marketplace features we offer, we automatically create a publicly visible TheBentBox Profile, which may include your name and photo uploaded by you.
(b) Information we get from your use of our services. We collect information about the services that you use and how you use them, like when you view a Box, send a message, or view and interact with other users. This information includes:
(c) Device information
We collect device-specific information. TheBentBox may associate your device identifiers with your TheBentBox Account.
(d) Log information
When you use our services or view content provided by TheBentBox, we automatically collect and store certain information in server logs. This includes:
- details of how you used our service, such as your search queries.
- Internet protocol address.
- device event information such as crashes, system activity, hardware settings, browser type, browser language, the date and time of your request and referral URL.
- cookies that may uniquely identify your browser or your TheBentBox Account for the purpose of providing you with the TheBentBox service.
How we use information we collect
We use the information we collect to provide, maintain, protect and improve our services, to develop new ones, and to protect TheBentBox and our users. We also use this information to offer you tailored content – like giving you more relevant search results and suggested Boxes.
If you have a TheBentBox Account, we may display your Profile name, Profile photo, and actions you take on TheBentBox (such as likes, comments you write and comments you post). We will respect the choices you make to limit sharing or visibility settings in your TheBentBox Account.
When you contact TheBentBox, we keep a record of your communication to help solve any issues you might be facing. We may use your email address to inform you about our services, such as letting you know about upcoming changes or improvements.
We use information collected from cookies and other technologies, to improve your user experience and the overall quality of our services.
We will ask for your consent before using information for a purpose other than those that are set out in this Privacy Policy.
TheBentBox processes personal information on our servers. We may process your personal information on a server located outside the country where you live.
Transparency and choice
People have different privacy concerns. Our goal is to be clear about what information we collect, so that you can make meaningful choices about how it is used. For example, you can:
- Review and control certain types of information tied to your TheBentBox Account by using TheBentBox Account Settings.
- Adjust how the Profile associated with your TheBentBox Account appears to others.
- Control who you share information with through your TheBentBox Account.
- Take information associated with your TheBentBox Account.
Information you share
Our services let you share information with others. Remember that when you share information publicly, it may be indexable by search engines, including Google. Our services provide you with the option of removing your content.
Accessing and updating your personal information
Whenever you use our services, we aim to provide you with access to your personal information. If that information is wrong, we strive to give you ways to update it quickly or to delete it – unless we have to keep that information for legitimate business or legal purposes. When updating your personal information, we may ask you to verify your identity before we can act on your request.
We may reject requests that are unreasonably repetitive, require disproportionate technical effort (for example, developing a new system or fundamentally changing an existing practice), risk the privacy of others, or would be extremely impractical (for instance, requests concerning information residing on backup systems).
Where we can provide information access and correction, we will do so for free, except where it would require a disproportionate effort. We aim to maintain our services in a manner that protects information from accidental or malicious destruction. Because of this, after you delete information from our services, we may not immediately delete residual copies from our active servers and may not remove information from our backup systems.
Information we share
We do not share personal information with companies, organizations and individuals outside of TheBentBox unless one of the following circumstances applies:
(a) With your consent
(b) We will share personal information with companies, organizations or individuals outside of TheBentBox when we have your consent to do so. We require opt-in consent for the sharing of any sensitive personal information.
(c) With domain administrators
If your TheBentBox Account is managed for you by a domain administrator then your domain administrator and resellers who provide user support to your organization will have access to your TheBentBox Account information (including your email and other data). Your domain administrator may be able to:
- view statistics regarding your account.
- change your account password.
- suspend or terminate your account access.
- access or retain information stored as part of your account.
- receive your account information in order to satisfy applicable law, regulation, legal process or enforceable governmental request.
- restrict your ability to delete or edit information or privacy settings.
- Please refer to your domain administrator’s privacy policy for more information.
(d) For external processing
(e) We provide personal information to our affiliates or other trusted businesses or persons to process it for us, based on our instructions and in compliance with our Privacy Policy and any other appropriate confidentiality and security measures.
(f) For legal reasons
We will share personal information with companies, organizations or individuals outside of TheBentBox if we have a good-faith belief that access, use, preservation or disclosure of the information is reasonably necessary to:
- meet any applicable law, regulation, legal process or enforceable governmental request.
- enforce applicable Terms of Service, including investigation of potential violations.
- detect, prevent, or otherwise address fraud, security or technical issues.
- protect against harm to the rights, property or safety of TheBentBox, our users or the public as required or permitted by law.
- We may share non-personally identifiable information publicly and with our partners – like publishers, advertisers or connected sites. For example, we may share information publicly to show trends about the general use of our services.
If TheBentBox is involved in a merger, acquisition or asset sale, we will continue to ensure the confidentiality of any personal information and give affected users notice before personal information is transferred or becomes subject to a different privacy policy.
Information security
We work hard to protect TheBentBox and our users from unauthorized access to or unauthorized alteration, disclosure or destruction of information we hold. In particular:
(a) We encrypt all of our services using SSL.
(b) We review our information collection, storage and processing practices, including physical security measures, to guard against unauthorized access to systems.
(c) We restrict access to personal information to TheBentBox employees, contractors and agents who need to know that information in order to process it for us, and who are subject to strict contractual confidentiality obligations and may be disciplined or terminated if they fail to meet these obligations.
When this Privacy Policy applies
Our Privacy Policy does not cover the information practices of other companies and organizations who advertise our services.
Compliance and cooperation with regulatory authorities
We regularly review our compliance with our Privacy Policy. We also adhere to several self regulatory frameworks. When we receive formal written complaints, we will contact the person who made the complaint to follow up. We work with the appropriate regulatory authorities, including local data protection authorities, to resolve any complaints regarding the transfer of personal data that we cannot resolve with our users directly.
Your rights and your preferences: Giving you choice and control
You may be aware that a new European Union law, called the General Data Protection Regulation or "GDPR" gives certain rights to individuals in relation to their personal data. Accordingly, we have implemented additional transparency and access controls in our Privacy Settings to help users take advantage of those rights. As available and except as limited under applicable law, the rights afforded to individuals are:
- Right of Access - the right to be informed of and request access to the personal data we process about you;
- Right to Rectification - the right to request that we amend or update your personal data where it is inaccurate or incomplete;
- Right to Erasure - the right to request that we delete your personal data;
- Right to Restrict - the right to request that we temporarily or permanently stop processing all or some of your personal data;
- Right to Object -
- the right, at any time, to object to us processing your personal data on grounds relating to your particular situation;
- the right to object to your personal data being processed for direct marketing purposes;
- Right to Data Portability - the right to request a copy of your personal data in electronic format and the right to transmit that personal data for use in another party’s service; and
- Right not to be subject to Automated Decision-making - the right to not be subject to a decision based solely on automated decision making, including profiling, where the decision would have a legal effect on you or produce a similarly significant effect.
In order to enable you to exercise these rights with ease and to record your preferences in relation to how TheBentBox uses your personal data, we provide you with access to the following settings via your Account Settings page:
- Privacy Settings - allows you to control some of the categories of personal data we process about you, enables you to access your personal data via a ‘Download my Data’ button, and includes a link to the Privacy Center on thebentbox.com where you can find out more information about how TheBentBox uses your personal data and what your rights are; and,
- Account Settings - allows you to choose which communications you receive from TheBentBox, manage your publicly available personal data, and set your sharing preferences.
The Privacy Center puts you in control of how TheBentBox processes your personal data. It provides you with information about what happens if you adjust your settings on your Account Settings page and how to opt out of receiving certain messages from TheBentBox. If we send you electronic marketing messages based on your consent or as otherwise permitted by applicable law, you may, at any time, respectively withdraw such consent or declare your objection (“opt-out”) at no cost. The electronic marketing messages you receive from TheBentBox (e.g. those sent via email) also will also include an opt-out mechanism within the message itself (e.g. an unsubscribe link in the emails we send to you).
You can find out more about the GDPR rights described above and the controls we provide to all TheBentBox users with respect to these rights in the ‘Your Rights’ section contained in the Privacy Center. If you have any questions about your privacy, your rights, or how to exercise them, please contact our Data Protection Officer using the ‘Contact Us’ form on the Privacy Center. We will respond to your request within a reasonable period of time upon verification of your identity.
How do we collect your personal data?
We collect your personal data in the following ways:
- When you sign up for the TheBentBox Service - when you sign up to the TheBentBox Service, we collect certain personal data so you can use the TheBentBox Service such as your email address.
- Through your use of the TheBentBox Service - when you use the TheBentBox Service, we collect personal data about your use of the TheBentBox Service, such as what content you have viewed, what content you have uploaded, what collections you have created and what messages you have sent.
- Personal data collected that enables us to provide you with additional features/functionality - from time to time, you also may also provide us with additional personal data or give us your permission to collect additional personal data e.g. to provide you with more features or functionality. As described further below (see Voluntary Data), we will not collect precise mobile device location, voice data, or contacts from your device without your prior consent. You always will have the option to change your mind and withdraw your consent at any time.
- From third parties - we will receive personal data about you and your activity from third parties, including analytics services and partners we work with in order to provide you with the TheBentBox Service (please see ‘Sharing your personal data’ Section 7 below). We will use this personal data either where you have provided your consent to the third party or to TheBentBox to that data sharing taking place or where TheBentBox has a legitimate interest to use the personal data in order to provide you with the TheBentBox Service.
We use anonymised and aggregated information for purposes that include testing our IT systems, research, data analysis, creating marketing and promotion models, improving the TheBentBox Service, and developing new features and functionality within the TheBentBox Service.
What personal data do we collect from you?
We have set out in the tables below the categories of personal data we collect and use about you:
Personal data collected when you sign up for the TheBentBox Service
| Categories of personal data | Description of category |
|---|---|
| Account Registration Data | This is the personal data that is provided by you or collected by us to enable you to sign up for and use the TheBentBox Service. This includes your email address.
Some of the personal data we will ask you to provide is required in order to create your account. You also have the option to provide us with some additional personal data in order to make your account more personalized. The exact personal data we will collect depends on the type of TheBentBox Service plan you sign up for. |