Privacy Policy

I. Introduction 

Pressbooks is committed to ensuring that your privacy is protected.

This privacy policy sets out how Pressbooks uses any personal information that you give us when you use the https://oer.pressbooks.pub website.

To make it easier to find which policies apply to you, this document is divided into sections applicable to (1) all visitors of the https://oer.pressbooks.pub website, (2) visitors of public books on https://oer.pressbooks.pub, and (3) registered users of https://oer.pressbooks.pub. Depending on the case, more than one section may apply to you.

Please note that the present Privacy Policy does not cover the content and metadata in books you create on Pressbooks, nor the content in comments you leave on a Pressbooks book. For policies related to the handling of Book or Comment content, please consult our Terms of Service.

Pressbooks may change this policy from time to time by updating this page. You should check this page from time to time to ensure that you are happy with any changes. This policy is effective from Aug. 8, 2019.

Who we are

A Pressbooks network (https://oer.pressbooks.pub) is a book and OER creation and sharing platform operated by Book Oven Inc., a company registered in Montreal, Canada (hereafter “Pressbooks”, “we” or “us”). For questions about our privacy policy, email support@pressbooks.com

Pressbooks is the data controller for the personal data listed in this document. 

II. Data collection

1. https://oer.pressbooks.pub Site Visitor Data

This section applies to you if you visit any of the web pages located under https://oer.pressbooks.pub

A. Personal data 

  • Information you provide to us voluntarily: You may choose to provide personal data via forms on our website, such as the email subscription form, the contact form or the blog comment form. Depending on the form, you may be asked to provide your email address, name, and/or other information.
     
  • Product usage and marketing analytics data: We automatically collect anonymized analytics data on your interactions with our website, such as which pages you visited, when you visited these pages, which part of the world you are connecting from, the browser or operating system you use, as well as anonymized demographic data. We may also automatically collect data on how you interact with our marketing material, including email and social media campaigns. 

If you opt in to our marketing communications, we collect data about how you interact with our marketing emails, such as opens and clicks. By opting into our mailing lists, you consent to the collection, processing, and usage of this data.

  • Log data: When you use Pressbooks, our server logs and other applications may automatically collect your IP address.

B. Use of the personal data

  • To operate and manage our website and ensure its optimal operation and maintain security.
  • To communicate with you for marketing purposes, and optimize our marketing messages.
  • To respond to your online inquiries and manage follow-ups to these inquiries. 
  • To better understand how our visitors use our website and interact with our marketing material, optimize them, and compile statistics on website usage.
  • To carry out other legitimate and lawful business purposes. 

C. Cookies and tracking

We use first-party cookies (such as the Google Analytics cookies) and may use third-party cookies (such as the DoubleClick cookie) or other third-party identifiers together to compile data regarding user interactions with our website, with ad impressions, and for other ad service functions as they relate to our website.

D. Third-party services

Pressbooks uses third-party software providers for certain tasks. The third-party software providers we use are listed below. We do not share your personal information with other third parties unless compelled to do so by law. 

Each of these providers has their own privacy policy, which you can find at the links below. These privacy policies provides more details on the personal information collected by each service on behalf of Pressbooks. We are not responsible for the privacy policies of these third-party providers. 

  • Akismet (privacy policy)
    • We may use Akismet to identify spam in blog comments. 
  • Groove (privacy policy)
    • We use Groove to manage our email requests. If you contact us by email or via the contact form on our websites, Groove will collect contact and browsing information to help us better respond to support requests. 
    • We also use Groove to manage our Knowledge Base. If you browse our Knowledge Base, Groove will collect analytics data such as pageviews and search terms. 
  • Airtable (privacy policy)
    • We use Airtable as a CRM to collect information on requests related to enterprise services we provide. If you contact us about our EDU hosting services, we may ask you to provide additional information to complete your client profile.
  • Google Analytics (privacy policy)
    • We use Google Analytics to collect information on how our users use our website. We have implemented the following:
      • Google Display Network Impression Reporting
      • Demographics and Interests Reporting
      • Remarketing with Google Analytics
      • Integrated services that require Google Analytics to collect data via advertising cookies and anonymous identifiers
    • YouTube
      • We may sometimes embed YouTube videos in our web pages or our various user guide pages. If you interact with the embedded YouTube videos, YouTube will automatically collect analytics data on these interactions. 
    • Google Search Console (privacy policy)
      • We use Google Search Console to collect information on how our users use our website. 
  • Facebook 
    • We may work with Facebook to collect user data through our website for purposes of conversion tracking and serving ads targeted to users’ interests. You may opt out of some of these interest-based ads by using the Do Not Track functionality in your Web browser or through such other methods that Facebook may specify at https://www.facebook.com/help/568137493302217.
  • Twitter 
    • We may work with Twitter to collect user data through our website for purposes of conversion tracking and serving ads targeted to users’ interests. You may opt out of some of these interest-based ads by using the Do Not Track functionality in your Web browser or through such other methods that Twitter may specify at https://support.twitter.com/articles/20170405.

2. https://oer.pressbooks.pub book sites Visitor Data

In addition to section 1 above, this section applies you, whether you are a registered user or not, if you visit the public web pages of books hosted on https://oer.pressbooks.pub

https://oer.pressbooks.pub is a platform that enables individuals to create their own content and share it publicly on the web. 

Thus, in addition to the data collected by Pressbooks and listed under point 1.A above, book authors may embed content such as videos, images, documents, interactive elements, etc. from external websites or activate third-party plugins. 

It is the responsibility of the book author(s) to inform you of privacy implications of third-party content on their book. 

A. Personal Data 

In addition to section 1 above, we collect: 

Commenter information: If you leave a comment on a page where comments are enabled, you must provide a user name, email address and, optionally, a website. We also collect your IP address and browser user agent string.

B. Use of the personal data 

The commenter information is used to identify you publicly as the author of the public comment and to help us automatically identify spam comments. 

C. Cookies and tracking 

If you leave a comment on our site you may opt-in to saving your name, email address, and website in cookies. These are for your convenience so that you do not have to fill in your details again when you leave another comment. These cookies will last for one year.

D. Third-party content and services

Embedded content

Embedded content from other websites behaves in the exact same way as if you visited the other website.

These websites may collect data about you, use cookies, embed additional third-party tracking, and monitor your interaction with that embedded content, including tracing your interaction with the embedded content if you have an account and are logged in to that website.

Although Pressbooks tries to limit the type of embedded content that may pose security risks, we are not responsible for the behaviour of content that our users embed into their books.

Links to Other Websites

Our website may contain links to other websites. We do not have any control over other websites and cannot be responsible for the protection and privacy of any information which you provide whilst visiting such sites. You should exercise caution and look at the privacy statement applicable to the website in question.<

Plugins

Some third-party plugins may also be active on books hosted by Pressbooks: 

Pressbooks does not share personal information with these plugins. However, these plugins may collect personal information from you directly if you use them, e.g. by logging into your Hypothes.is account. You can consult their privacy policies or other documentation by clicking on the links above. 

Although Pressbooks tries to limit the third-party plugins available on our platform, we are not responsible for the behaviour of third-party plugins that book authors enable on their books.

Comments

If you leave a comment, an anonymized string created from your email address (also called a hash) may be provided to the Gravatar service to generate a profile picture. 

3. https://oer.pressbooks.pub Registered User Data

In addition to the 2 sections above, this section applies you if you are a registered user on https://oer.pressbooks.pub

A. Personal data

  • Registration information: In order to use Pressbooks, you need to register an account on the https://oer.pressbooks.pub website. You will need to provide a username, password, and email address

The collection of this data is necessary in order to grant access to users eligible for such access under our service contract to your institution.

  • Profile information: If you choose to complete your user profile on Pressbooks, you may provide additional personal information such as your first and last names, profile picture or other biographical information. This information is provided on a voluntary basis and may be displayed publicly. If you contact us for customer support, we may collect profile information associated with your email, such as first and last names, profile picture, and social media accounts.

    By providing this information in your user profile, you consent to our collection and processing of the data for the purposes outlined in this document.
  • Contact information: If you contact us by email, your email address and associated profile information may be collected by our email software.

By contacting us, you consent to the collection, processing and use of this information. This information is also necessary for us to respond to your requests, in order to fulfill our service contract to you.

  • Billing information: Institutions which purchase access to this shared network will need to provide payment and billing information, such as credit card information and billing address.

The collection of this data is necessary in order to fulfill our service contract to the institution.

  • Marketing analytics data (collected through 3rd party services): If you opt in to our communications newsletters, we collect data about how you interact with our marketing emails, such as opens and clicks. By opting into our mailing lists, you consent to the collection, processing, and usage of this data.

B. Use of the personal data

We require the above information to understand your needs and provide you with a better service, and in particular for the following reasons:

  • To bill and collect money: We use a third party (Stripe) to process credit card payments. Stripe must collect your credit card and billing information to properly process the payment. We also send you confirmation emails following these transactions. 
  • To enforce our Terms of Use and applicable laws
    • Copyright: If there is a copyright claim on content you made public through https://oer.pressbooks.pub, we inform you via email of the claim made and actions taken. 
    • Spam: We may use your email or IP address to detect spam books. Pressbooks employees may review book content in order to verify that it complies with our Terms of Use. 
  • To communicate with you about service updates, send promotional offers or contact you for market research purposes: If you opted-in to receive our newsletters, we may send you updates on Pressbooks features, system downtimes, as well as periodic discounts or promotions, or other offerings that may be of interest to you. 
    • To provide network support: We use a third party (Groove) to handle support requests. Groove may automatically collect profile information included in support emails, as well as contextual information that may be useful to help with support issues, such as browser and operating system information, when available. 
  • For network usage analysis: Data about the user roles you hold, the books you belong to, your revision history, the date you register, and other details about your status on the network may be compiled for informational purposes. The information will only be visible to Pressbooks staff. 
  • For internal record keeping, including legal and financial records.

C. Cookies and tracking

Cookies set by Pressbooks are used in the following cases:

  • If you have an account and you log in to this site, we will set a temporary cookie to determine if your browser accepts cookies. This cookie contains no personal data and is discarded when you close your browser.
  • When you log in, we will also set up several cookies to save your login information and your screen display choices. Login cookies last for two days, and screen options cookies last for a year. If you select “Remember Me”, your login will persist for two weeks. If you log out of your account, the login cookies will be removed.
  • If you edit or publish an article, an additional cookie will be saved in your browser. This cookie includes no personal data and simply indicates the post ID of the article you just edited. It expires after 1 day.

D. Third-party services

Pressbooks uses third-party software providers for certain tasks. These software providers may collect your data and/or use cookies, monitor your interactions, or embed additional third-party tracking. The third-party software providers we use in the course of business are listed below. We do not share your personal information with other third parties unless compelled to do so by law. 

Each of these providers has their own privacy policy, which you can find at the links below. These privacy policies provides more details on the personal information collected by each service on behalf of Pressbooks. We are not responsible for the privacy policies of these third-party providers. 

  • Groove (privacy policy)
    • We use Groove to manage our technical support requests and our Knowledge Base. If you contact us at support@pressbooks.com or if you use our Knowledge Base, Groove will collect contact and browsing information to help us better respond to support requests. 
  • Mailchimp (privacy policy)
    • We use Mailchimp for email communications with our user base. These communications includes service updates, new feature announcements, and marketing and promotions. We will only email you via Mailchimp if you have given us express permission to do so. You can unsubscribe from these mailing lists at any time via the “Unsubscribe” link at the bottom of the emails.

      If you no longer wish to receive occasional email communications from Pressbooks (with the exception of the account administration emails detailed above), you may let us know by emailing us at support@pressbooks.com.
  • Mailgun (privacy policy)
    • We use Mailgun for automated transactional emails, for example, to confirm the purchase of upgrades. These emails are only sent in the context of a transaction and cannot be turned off.

      If you do not wish to receive transactional and legal notices from us, you may close your account by emailing support@pressbooks.com
  • Stripe (privacy policy)
    • We use Stripe to process most of our transactions. If you upgrade to one of our paid plans, Stipe will collect contact and credit card information in order to process the transaction. 
  • Freshbooks (privacy policy)
    • We use Freshbooks for accounting purposes. Your contact information will only be entered in Freshbooks if you request us to produce an invoice for you for accounting, purchasing, or other purposes. 
  • Paypal (privacy policy)
    • If you request a transaction through manual invoicing, the transaction may be processed by Paypal, who will collect your contact and payment information. 
  • Gravatar
    • You may use Gravatar to manage the public profile picture of your user account. 
  • Hypothes.is
    • Hypothes.is is an annotation plugin that you can enable on Pressbooks. 
  • Akismet We may use Akismet to identify spam in blog comments. 

Pressbooks does not share personal information with these plugins. However, these plugins may collect personal information from you directly if you use them, e.g. by logging into your Hypothes.is or Akismet account. You can consult their privacy policies by clicking on the links above. If you use third-party plugins on your book, it is your responsibility to inform your users of privacy implications. 

III. Other data processing topics

Data collected from third-party sources

We may collect data from third-party sources in order to identify potential clients for our enterprise services. This data may be collected from, among others, publicly available sources, social media, or through our attendance or sponsorship of community events. 

Such information may include name, email address, phone number, job title, and institution. 

Cookie opt-out

You can choose to accept or decline cookies. Most web browsers automatically accept cookies, but you can usually modify your browser setting to decline cookies if you prefer. This may prevent you from taking full advantage of the website.

Users can set preferences for how Google advertises to you using the Google Ad Settings page. Alternatively, you can opt out by visiting the Network Advertising initiative opt out page or permanently using the Google Analytics Opt Out Browser add on. You can find that here: https://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout/

Our users can opt-out of the collection and use of information for ad targeting at www.aboutads.info/choices.

Automated Decision-making

Pressbooks uses personal information such as username and email addresses in order to automatically identify spam content in books and comments. 

Access of personal data by Book Oven staff

Book Oven employees may access the hosted Pressbooks network and the personal data hosted thereon for technical support and quality assurance purposes. 

International transfers of your personal data

Our servers are located on AWS secure databases in Montreal, Canada. Data transferred to third-party services may be hosted elsewhere. Please check the privacy policies of third party services under the “third-party services” subsections above.

Data retention

Personal data collected automatically and data you provide to Pressbooks when you register to create a book or leave a comment is retained indefinitely, or until we have no business or legal need to do so. 

Your rights

If you are a registered user, you may access and modify your personal information (except your username) at any time from your user profile page. 

As a registered user, you can request to receive an exported file of the personal data we hold about you, including any data you have provided to us. You can also request that we erase any personal data we hold about you. This does not include any data we are obliged to keep for administrative, legal, or security purposes, or anonymized data collected by our analytics providers.

If you no longer wish to receive occasional promotional email communications from Pressbooks (with the exception of the account administration emails), you may let us know by emailing us at support@pressbooks.com.

If you are a resident of the EEA, 

  • you can object to processing of your Personal Information or request us to restrict processing of your Personal Information. Such requests may be made by writing to support@pressbooks.com
  • you have the right to complain to a data protection authority about our collection and use of your Personal Information

Personal Data of Children 

Our website is targeted to users over the age of 13. No one under this age may register on our website, according to our terms of service. 

Legal basis for data processing

In addition to the cases outlined above, we may process your personal information as a data controller, where such processing is in our legitimate interests and not overridden by your data protection interests or fundamental rights and freedoms. Our legitimate interests typically include: improving, maintaining, providing, securing, and enhancing our products and services.

Additional information

We are committed to ensuring that your information is secure. In order to prevent unauthorised access or disclosure, we have put in place suitable physical, electronic, and managerial procedures to safeguard and secure the information we collect online. All user traffic is sent over HTTPS and we ensure strict security on our servers to prevent unauthorized access.