Understanding Privacy
In this section you will find some definitions that will help you understand the concepts related to privacy and data protection in the context of the advertising industry.
Adsquare is a German company and therefore, our definitions are based on the laws that apply in Germany, specifically the General Data Protection Regulation (EU) 2016/679 (“GDPR”).
As we offer our products and services in several countries, we also comply with the national laws about privacy that may be applicable to us.
- 1. Main Definitions
- 2. Glossary
1. Main Definitions
Privacy Policy
The Privacy Policy is a document that explains how Adsquare processes your Personal Data. It explains who controls the processing of Personal Data, what categories of Personal Data are collected and for which purposes, how your data is collected, and what are your rights to get more information, make changes or delete your personal data, among other topics.
Adsquare has a Website Privacy Policy, a Platform Privacy policy and a Cookie Policy.
Privacy and Data Protection
Privacy refers to every person’s right to self-determine when and within what limits private information should be shared with others.
Your right to Data Protection provides you with tools to control your Personal Data and how companies process your data. These rights are not absolute, which means that there can be limitations when other rights are in the balance.
Privacy and Data Protection laws establish limits to how companies can use your Personal Data and how you can exercise your rights.
GDPR and CCPA
Each country has its own laws defining how the rights to Privacy and Data Protection operate in their country.
The General Data Protection Regulation (“GDPR”) is a regulation in the European Union that covers the different areas related to the right to Data Protection that companies must apply when using your Personal Data.
In the US, each State regulates how companies can use the Personal Data of the consumers, the Californian Consumer Privacy Act (“CCPA”) regulates companies in California. Other states in the US such as Colorado (CPA), Connecticut (CTDPA) and Virginia (CDPA) have approved laws regarding Privacy that will be applicable starting 01 Jan 2023.
What is Personal Data or Personal Information?
In the context of our Privacy Policies, we follow the definition of Personal Data provided by the GDPR. We may use the words Personal Data or Personal Information interchangeably.
Personal Data is any information that refers to a natural person (this means a human being) that can be identified or is identifiable using that information.
Following the GDPR, for Adsquare a natural person can be identified, directly or indirectly from data such as:
- Name
- Identification number
- Online and device identifiers, including IP address, AAID (Android Advertising ID), IDFA (Apple ID for Advertising) as well as Cookie IDs and location data
- One or more factors specific to the physical, physiological, genetic, mental, economic, cultural, or social identity of that natural person
Special Categories of Data, Sensitive Data and Personal Data of Minors
In most countries where Adsquare offers its services, laws were introduced that describe Special Categories of Personal Data that have a strengthened protection due to the risks that the processing activities of these kinds of Personal Data could signify for the Data Subject (the person that is the subject of the information).
To avoid these risks Adsquare does not process Personal Data that is classified as a Special Category of Data or Sensitive Data.
We also require our data providers to exclude Personal Data that belongs to minors under the age of 16 and in all cases the data must have been obtained with their explicit consent. In markets where the minimum age is higher, we ask our data providers to comply with the local market regulation.
For Adsquare, the terms Sensitive Data or Special Categories of Personal Data include the following categories of data across all our markets:
- Data that reveals your racial or ethnic origin, immigration status or citizenship, political opinions, religious or philosophical beliefs
- Data that reveals if you are part of a trade union, professional or trade association
- Data concerning your health
- Data about your sex life or sexual orientation
- Data regarding your criminal convictions or records
- Genetic or biometric data to identify you
- Your identification issued by a governmental body (ID, driver’s licence, social security number, passport number, tax ID, etc)
- Account login information, financial accounts, debit card and credit card numbers in conjunction with security codes
- Content of mail and text messages
- Data concerning if you have been the victim of a crime
Who is a Data Subject?
A Data Subject is the natural person that is identifiable and is subject of the Processing Activities of the Personal Data.
What is Processing?
In the context of Data Protection, Processing Activities refer to any operation that can be performed on Personal Data, for example, collection, recording, storage, use, disclosure, transfer, etc.
What is a Data Controller?
A Data Controller can be a natural person, a company (legal person) or a public authority that determines the purposes and the way Personal Data is processed.
What is a Data Processor?
A Data Processor is the natural person or company (legal person) that processes data on behalf of a Data Controller. The Data Processor can only process the Personal Data on the Data Controller’s request.
What is Privacy by Design?
Privacy should be built into new products and features from the very beginning, including appropriate technical and organisational measures in order to meet all GDPR requirements. To ensure this, Adsquare trains its different teams on privacy, so everyone is aware of the data protection principles that we apply when designing our products.
2. Glossary
Other relevant terms to understand Personal Data and Data Processing in the context of marketing and advertising:
Term | Explanation |
---|---|
API | An Application Program Interface (“API”) is a set of routines, protocols and tools that allows platforms to communicate with each other. Typically, an API offers a service based on an input signal to clients. |
Audience Insights | Aggregated analysis of audience characteristics and behaviour of user groups to get a better understanding of clients, prospects or users that have previously interacted with advertising campaigns. |
Audience Segments | Audience segments are created by dividing a population of people into subgroups based on defined criteria such as demographics, preferences, interests, behaviour, media usage etc. It is the process of organising groups of users into meaningful and manageable segments that enable tailored communication messages. |
Cookie | A cookie is a small text file that is stored on your computer or mobile device when accessing websites. Cookies allow a website to recognise user’s browser and to remember preferences and interests. |
Cross-Device Targeting | Cross-Device Targeting includes different ways to reach users across their smartphone, tablet, desktop computer or other electronic devices. It enables storytelling and a limitation of exposures also known as frequency capping. |
Data Exchange Platform | A platform that acts as a neutral marketplace and connects users of data (e.g. advertisers) and owners of data (e.g. publishers). Data exchanges usually consolidate data in any format from different sources. |
Footfall Analysis | Analysis of the effectiveness of location-based advertising to derive whether certain advertising campaigns lead to higher footfall for specific retail locations. |
Interest-Based Advertising | Interest-Based Advertising includes the collection of data across multiple digital sources to create Audience Segments and delivering advertising based on preferences or interests known or inferred from the data collected and the collection of data about a user’s activity on one digital source for the purpose of creating Audience Segments and delivering advertising based on that data on a different digital property. |
IP Address | The IP Address is based upon the Internet Protocol system, that is used for several computers to communicate via the internet and identifies a computer or network. In combination with specific databases, an IP Address can be used to locate a user’s device or its access point. |
Location Data | Any information about the location of a smartphone or other device, indicating the geographical position of a user, including data relating to the latitude, longitude or altitude of the device, the direction of travel of the user and time the location data was recorded. |
Location Insights Reports | Analysis of audience characteristics and behaviour of user groups that visit certain locations such as retailers. These aggregated statistics could be used for retail analyses, analysing audience characteristics throughout the day and week etc. to offer more personalised services. |
Mobile Advertising ID | A Mobile Advertising ID (“MAID”) is a user-specific, unique, resettable identifier for advertising. Through the identifier provided by the mobile device’s operating system, MAIDs help developers identify users that use their app. Some of the formats of mobile advertising identifiers include Google’s Android Advertising Identifier (“AAID”) and Apple’s Identifier for Advertising (“IDFA”). |
Online Behavioural Advertising | Online Behavioural Advertising (“OBA”) is a form of personalised and targeted advertising based on the collection and use of user data such as web browsing activity, pages visited, ads clicked, and products purchased or shown an interest in etc. OBA also includes retargeting whereby a product viewed on a retail website is subsequently advertised on other websites visited by the same browser. |
Send us your privacy request
We encourage you to explore our Privacy Centre to fully understand how Adsquare manages your Personal Data and to reach out with any questions you have using the below contact form or by email to privacy@adsquare.com. If you reside in the U.S., please refer to our US Privacy Supplement.