Your privacy is important to Be My Eyes. So we’ve developed a Privacy Policy that covers how we collect, use, disclose, transfer, and store your information.
Please take a moment to familiarize yourself with our privacy practices and let us know if you have any questions.
Effective Date: 18. May 2020
Introduction
This Privacy Policy sets out the terms under which Accessibly Inc., doing business as Be My Eyes (“us,” “we,” or “Be My Eyes”) will treat your personal information any time you come in contact with Be My Eyes or any Be My Eyes service (each a “Service” and together, the “Services”). We created this Privacy Policy (this “Policy”) to give you confidence as you visit and use the Services, and to demonstrate our commitment to fair information practices and the protection of privacy. This Policy is only applicable to the Services, and not to any other websites or services that you may be able to access from our Services, each of which may have data collection and use practices and policies that are different in important ways from this Policy.
Not a Service for Children
We understand and are committed to respecting the sensitive nature of children’s privacy online. We provide our Services for use by adults 17 years old and older and do not direct any of our content specifically at persons under 17 years of age. U.S. law has special rules for children under age 13. In order to comply with those laws, we will promptly delete any personal information in that user’s account if we suspect or learn that the user is under 13 years old. If you believe that we might have any information from or about a child under 13, please contact us at legal@bemyeyes.com. In addition, if we learn or have reason to suspect that a Services user is under age 17, we may exercise our right to terminate the account.
Where We Store Your Data
Be My Eyes provides Services from the United States of America. So when you use our Services, the information you enter will be sent to and stored in our servers in the United States.
If you are visiting our website or using our Services from anywhere outside of the United States, including any part of the European Union, please note that you are expressly agreeing and consenting that your information will be transferred to, processed in and stored in the United States, where we will always treat it as described in this Privacy Policy.
Things You Can Do to Protect Your Information Privacy
This Policy will explain how we collect and use information. But please keep in mind that Be My Eyes Services allow our users to connect directly to each other. Using our video stream features, blind and visually impaired users can send video and audio to sighted users, who send audio back.
You should always be aware of what information you are sharing on video streams and take care not to expose personal information. In addition, here are a few specific ways you can protect the privacy of your information when you are connecting to a volunteer:
If you are using Specialized Help, the information you share will be governed by the privacy policy of the company you reach out to. Some of the above suggestions may not apply, but you should always carefully consider what information you share using Be My Eyes.
Information We Collect
Be My Eyes may use registration, online surveys, and other online forms that ask you to provide your name, e-mail address, and other contact information. We will also ask if you are a visually impaired or sighted user. In the future, we may also ask for other information. But since we are asking, you will always know!
If you register with Be My Eyes through a third party account like Facebook or Google, then we will collect the information that you allow us to collect via the controls offered by your account with that provider.
We also collect and store data that we need to provide the Services to you and to improve those Services. This section will give you more information about the kinds of information we collect, but the specific information we collect will depend on whether your are using our app or visiting our website.
(a) Device and Traffic Data. Our servers automatically recognize and store your domain names, Internet Protocol (“IP”) addresses (the number assigned to your device when it accesses the Internet), device identifiers (small data files or similar data structures stored on or associated with your mobile device or wearable, which uniquely identify your device), and your device’s name, model, operating system and locale. The Services may also gather anonymous traffic data -- for example, the amount of data passing through our Services at any point in time -- that does not personally identify you but may be helpful for improving our business and how we serve you.
(b) Video Streams and Other User Content. Our Services allow visually impaired users to communicate with sighted users to get their assistance by using our video chat feature. We may also allow you to post data, graphics, video files, audio files or written messages.
Video streams and anything else you post to the Services or transmit through the Services are “User Content.” We collect and store User Content as part of the normal functioning of the Services.
(c) Cookies and Similar Technologies. From time to time, we may use the standard cookies feature of major browser applications, mobile device or wearable device you use to access our Services. We may also use similar technologies when you use our app. We do not set any personally identifiable information in cookies.
These technologies help us learn which areas of our Services are useful and which areas need improvement. You can choose whether to accept cookies and other web technologies by changing the settings on your browser. However, if you choose to disable these functions, your experience using our Services may be diminished and some features may not work as they were intended.
(d) Log Files. When you access our Services, we may automatically record certain log file information, including your request, browser type (when you access our website), referring / exit pages and URLs, number of clicks and how you interact with links on the Service, domain names, landing pages, pages viewed, and other such information. We may also collect similar information from emails we send you to help us track which emails are opened and which links are clicked. The information we collect helps us achieve a better, more accurate understanding of how our Services are used, and how we can improve them.
(e) Metadata. Metadata is usually technical data that is associated with User Content. For example, Metadata can describe how, when and by whom a piece of User Content was collected, how that content is formatted, and where in the world that content was created.
(f) Analytics Data. We may use third-party analytics tools to help us measure traffic and usage trends for the Services. Those tools may employ pixels or web beacons that store a small piece of data on your device. These tools collect information sent by your device or our Services to assist us in improving the Service.
How We Use and Share Information
Our goal in using and sharing information is to create better services for blind and visually impaired people. That includes our Services, of course, but it can also mean, for example, helping other companies develop better image recognition technologies so that blind, visually impaired and sighted users can have more access to information and the world around them. It could also mean sharing information with advocacy and support organizations for the blind and visually impaired to give them a better window into the services they need to develop to support that community.
Here is how we use and share, or not share, the different kinds of information we collect.
(a) Personal Information. Personal information is information relating to an identified or identifiable natural person – in other words, information that can identify you, directly or indirectly. Except (i) as stated in this Policy, (ii) as necessary to provide you with our Services, or (iiii) as necessary to comply with the law, we will not share your personal information with any third parties without your consent.
We do not sell your personal information. Here is how we may use your personal information:
We may use your personal information to verify your identity, to check your qualifications, or to follow up with activities initiated on the Services. We may also use your contact information to stay in touch, send newsletters, inform you of any changes to the Services, or to send you additional information about Be My Eyes.
If we ever use a third party to help us provide our Services, our first choice will be to not provide that third party with access to any personal information. But if that third party needs access to your personal information in order to help us provide the Service, we will share the information with them only under an agreement that does not allow them to use it for any other purpose.
We may share your contact information with non-profit organizations that advocate for or support people who are visually impaired (“Support Organizations”) that may use the information to contact you or make you aware of the services they offer.
We also may share video streams, which may contain personal information, as explained below.
Finally, we share personal information slightly differently when you use Specialized Help to connect to customer support at one of the growing number of companies that use our services to provide better support to the visually impaired community. Please see the Specialized Help section of this policy, below, for a description of that service.
(b) Video Streams. We may analyze stored video streams to help us improve our Services and develop new products and services to help the blind and visually impaired community. We may also provide copies of video streams to Support Organizations or other companies that are working to develop products and services that may help the visually impaired or other members of the general public. For example, we may share video streams with companies working on image recognition technology that could help people to better navigate the real world and the Internet.
When we provide video streams to third parties we will anonymize them as much as possible. That means we will strip the file of any data that could be used to personally identify you. We cannot, however, strip or edit the content of the video stream. So if you film yourself, film your location (for example, if the Eiffel Tower is behind you), or verbally give your name or your location on the video stream, for example, that information may be shared.
If we share video streams with a third party for the purposes described above, we will share the video streams only under an agreement that requires the third party (i) to keep the video streams confidential, and (ii) to never provide the video streams to any other party.
(c) User Content. As just noted, if you disclose personal information in your video chats or other User Content, that personal information may become known to and accessible by Be My Eyes and any third party with which we share the video stream under this Policy. Obviously, the information will also become known to the other Be My Eyes user receiving the video stream.
Likewise, if you make a post that includes your name to a public area of the Services, or if you provide your name, location, or image of yourself to another user while using the Services, for example, you are choosing to disclose personal information and to make that information public. Be My Eyes is not responsible for the ways in which other users or third parties may share, disclose or handle information that you make available to them.
By disclosing personal information in your User Content you expressly give Be My Eyes permission to disclose that information (i) as part of the normal functioning of the Services and (ii) as described throughout this Privacy Policy.
(d) Anonymous Information. We sometimes collect and use anonymous information to analyze our Services traffic. In addition, we may use anonymous information to help diagnose problems with our server, to administer our Services, or to display content according to your preferences. We may also strip your personal information from data about your use of the Services to create anonymized data that we aggregate with anonymized data of other users (for example, to determine the number of sighted users we have in a particular region). We may use anonymous and anonymized information for any legal purpose.
(e) Use of Cookies and Similar Technologies. We may use cookies or other similar technologies to deliver content specific to your interests, to save your username so you don’t have to re-enter it each time you use our Services, or for other purposes.
(f) Required Disclosure of Personal Information. We may disclose personal information if required to do so by law or in the good-faith belief that such action is necessary to (1) conform to the law or comply with legal process served on Be My Eyes or any parent company, subsidiaries or affiliates, (2) protect and defend the rights or property of Be My Eyes or the users of the Services, or (3) act under exigent circumstances to protect the safety of the public or users of the Services.
(g) Third Party Log-Ins. If you log into our Services using a third-party account like Facebook or Google, any information you provide that third party is subject to their terms of use and privacy policies. Be My Eyes is not responsible for how your information is collected or used by such third parties.
(g) Sale of Be My Eyes. As businesses grow and evolve, another company can buy them (or some part of them). If Be My Eyes or substantially all of its assets are acquired, user information, including personal information, will be one of the assets transferred to the acquirer. If a company that acquires Be My Eyes gets access to your information, it will be bound by this Privacy Policy in its treatment of all such information.
Specialized Help
Specialized Help is our Service that allows you to connect to customer support for a company that has committed to providing better product and service support to visually impaired customers. The company receiving your call will not receive any personal information about you from Be My Eyes.
When you are using Specialized Help, you can think of Be My Eyes like you do your phone company. We connect you to the company you are calling and maintain the connection, but those are our only roles. You are free to share, or not share, any information you want with the company you call. Be My Eyes does not have access to, record, store or control that information. All the information that you provide the company you call will be subject to their policies. In some cases, before we connect your Specialized Help call, you will be able to review and accept a privacy policy from the company you are calling.
Unless a Specialized Help Company asks us to, Be My Eyes does not record or store video streams for Specialized Help calls. If we are asked to record video streams, we will not treat them as described above under the heading How We Use and Share Your Information. Instead, the recorded video stream will only be available to the company you called, and the use and treatment of those video streams will be governed by that company’s privacy policy.
Access to and Deletion of Your Information
If you would like to review or request changes to or deletion of the information that we collect about you, please contact us at legal@bemyeyes.com.
Data Security
The Services have security measures in place to prevent the loss, misuse, and alteration of the information that we obtain from you, but we make no assurances about our ability to absolutely prevent any such loss or misuse to you or to any third party.
Areas We Do Not or Can Not Control
There are some parts of our Services where we either cannot or do not control the flow of information.
(a) Third Party Services, The Services may contain links to other websites and services, and you may use other services to register for or log into Be My Eyes. If you choose to visit or use other websites or services, we are not responsible for their privacy practices or content. It is your responsibility to review the applicable privacy policies to confirm that you understand and agree with them.
(b) Video Streams. Be My Eyes does not actively monitor and has no control over the content of video streams. The Terms of Use for our Services that you agreed to prohibit using the video streams for certain purposes -- no nudity, for one example. Please do not use video streams for purposes that are not permitted. Please also exercise caution in choosing what images you share, what you say, and what information you disclose while chatting with another user on a video stream.
How to Contact Us
If you have any questions about this Policy, our practices related to this Services, or if you would like to have us remove your information from our database please feel free to contact us at legal@bemyeyes.com.
Updates and Changes
From time to time, we may add to, change, update, or modify this Policy. If we change the Policy in a way that affects how your data will be used or the permissions you grant to Be My Eyes, we will notify you and ask that you review the new Policy. At that time, you can elect to accept the new policy and continue using our Services, or you can stop using our Services. We may not notify you of changes that do not affect how your data will be used or the permission you grant us. We ask that you review this Policy from time to time to ensure that you continue to agree with all of its terms, and your continued use of the Services after a change will constitute your agreement to the new terms.
