Privacy Policy

Last updated: July 31, 2020

This Privacy Policy describes how DigitalOcean, LLC and its affiliates ("DigitalOcean," "we," "our" or "us") collect, use, and share information in connection with your use of our websites (including www.digitalocean.com), services, and applications (collectively, the "Services"). This Privacy Policy (the "Privacy Policy") does not apply to information our customers may process when using our Services.

If you are looking for CCPA-specific information, check out our CCPA Privacy Notice as well, which is incorporated into this Privacy Policy.

We may collect and receive information about users of our Services ("users," "you," or "your") from various sources, including: (i) information you provide through your user account on the Services (your "Account") if you register for the Services; (ii) your use of the Services; and (iii) from third-party websites, services, and partners.

We recommend that you read this Privacy Policy in full, including the Additional Disclosures referenced at the bottom of this document, to ensure you are fully informed. If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy or DigitalOcean's data collection, use, and disclosure practices, please contact us at privacy@digitalocean.com.

1. Information We Collect

1. Information You Provide
   
   I. Account Registration. When you register for an Account, we may ask for your contact information, including items such as name, company name, address, email address, and telephone number. If you choose to refer a friend to our Services, we may also collect your friend’s email address so that we may send them a referral or promotional code to sign up for our Services.\
   
   II. Payment Information. When you add your financial account information to your Account, that information is directed to our third-party payment processor. We do not store your financial account information on our systems; however, we have access to, and may retain, subscriber information through our third-party payment processor.
   
   III. User Content. Our "Community" feature allows you to publicly post content on our Services. By registering for our Community, you agree that your profile information and the content you post may be viewed and used by other users and third parties we do not control.
   
   IV. Communications. If you contact us directly, we may receive additional information about you such as your name, email address, phone number, the contents of the message and/or attachments you may send us, and any other information you may choose to provide. We may also receive a confirmation when you open an email from us.
   
   The personal information that you are asked to provide, and the reasons why you are asked to provide it, will be made clear to you at the point we ask you to provide your personal information.
2. Information We Collect When You Use Our Services.
   
   I. Cookies and Other Tracking Technologies. As is true of most websites, we gather certain information automatically and store it in log files. In addition, when you use our Services, we may collect certain information automatically from your device. This information may include internet protocol (IP) addresses, browser type, internet service provider (ISP), referring/exit pages, operating system, date/time stamp, clickstream data, landing page, and referring URL. To collect this information, a cookie may be set on your computer or device when you visit our Services. Cookies contain a small amount of information that allows our web servers to recognize you. We store information that we collect through cookies, log files, and/or clear gifs to record your preferences. We may also automatically collect information about your use of features of our Services, about the functionality of our Services, frequency of visits, and other information related to your interactions with the Services. We may track your use across different websites and services. In some countries, including countries in the European Economic Area ("EEA"), the information referenced above in this paragraph may be considered personal information under applicable data protection laws.
   
   II. Usage of our Services. When you use our Services, we may collect information about your engagement with and utilization of our Services, such as processor and memory usage, storage capacity, navigation of our Services, and system-level metrics. We use this data to operate the Services, maintain and improve the performance and utilization of the Services, develop new features, protect the security and safety of our Services and our customers, and provide customer support. We also use this data to develop aggregate analysis and business intelligence that enable us to operate, protect, make informed decisions, and report on the performance of our business.
3. Information We Receive from Third Parties.
   
   I. Third-Party Accounts. If you choose to link our Services to a third-party account, we will receive information about that account, such as your authentication token from the third-party account, to authorize linking. If you wish to limit the information available to us, you should visit the privacy settings of your third-party accounts to learn about your options.

2. How We Use Information

We use the information we collect in various ways, including to:

• Provide, operate, and maintain our Services;
• Improve, personalize, and expand our Services;
• Understand and analyze how you use our Services;
• Develop new products, services, features, and functionality;
• Communicate with you, either directly or through one of our partners, including for customer service, to provide you with updates and other information relating to the Service, and for marketing and promotional purposes;
• Process your transactions;
• Send you text messages and push notifications;
• Find and prevent fraud; and
• For compliance purposes, including enforcing our Terms of Service, or other legal rights, or as may be required by applicable laws and regulations or requested by any judicial process or governmental agency.

3. How We Share Information

We may share the information we collect in various ways, including the following:

1. Vendors and Service Providers. We may share information with third-party vendors and service providers that provide services on our behalf, such as helping to provide our Services, for promotional and/or marketing purposes, and to provide you with information relevant to you such as product announcements, software updates, special offers, or other information.
2. Aggregate Information. Where legally permissible, we may use and share information about users with our partners in aggregated or de-identified form that can’t reasonably be used to identify you.
3. Advertising. We work with third-party advertising partners to show you ads that we think may interest you. These advertising partners may set and access their own cookies, pixel tags, and similar technologies on our Services, and they may otherwise collect or have access to information about you which they may collect over time and across different online services. Some of our advertising partners are members of the Network Advertising Initiative or the Digital Advertising Alliance. To learn more about these programs, or opt-out of personalized ads, visit the Digital Advertising Alliance’s Self-Regulatory program for Online Behavioral Advertising at www.aboutads.info, or the Network Advertising Initiative at www.networkadvertising.org.
4. Third-Party Partners. We also share information about users with third-party partners in order to receive additional publicly available information about you.
5. Information We Share When You Sign Up Through a Referral. If you sign up for our Services through a referral from a friend, we may share information with your referrer to let them know that you used their referral to sign up for our Services.
6. Analytics. We use analytics providers such as Google Analytics. Google Analytics uses cookies to collect non-identifying information. Google provides some additional privacy options regarding its Analytics cookies at http://www.google.com/policies/privacy/partners/.
7. Business Transfers. Information may be disclosed and otherwise transferred to any potential acquirer, successor, or assignee as part of any proposed merger, acquisition, debt financing, sale of assets, or similar transaction, or in the event of insolvency, bankruptcy, or receivership in which information is transferred to one or more third parties as one of our business assets.
8. As Required By Law and Similar Disclosures. We may also share information to (i) satisfy any applicable law, regulation, legal process, or governmental request; (ii) enforce this Privacy Policy and our Terms of Service, including investigation of potential violations hereof; (iii) detect, prevent, or otherwise address fraud, security, or technical issues; (iv) respond to your requests; or (v) protect our rights, property or safety, our users and the public. This includes exchanging information with other companies and organizations for fraud protection and spam/malware prevention.
9. With Your Consent. We may share information with your consent.