Privacy Policy
Explains what information we collect and why, how we use it, and what choice you have
Last modified: 07/23/2024
We know that your privacy is important to you, and at DroneDeploy, your privacy is important to us, as well. So is being transparent about how we gather, use, and share information about you. This Privacy Policy is intended to help you understand:
- Personal Information that we collect
- How we use Personal Information
- When we share Personal Information
- Your rights and choices
- Third-Party services
- How we protect your Personal Information
- How we transfer the information that we collect internationally
- Privacy Shield notice
- Data retention
- LAANC data
- Children's privacy
- Updates to this Policy
- How to contact us
This Privacy Policy (this “Policy”) describes the information we collect about you when you use our products, services, or otherwise communicate with us. DroneDeploy, Inc. (“DroneDeploy,” “we,” or “us”) refers to DroneDeploy and our affiliates, including StructionSite, Inc. Our web services, mobile solution, and all related applications, widgets, software, tools, are referred to in this Policy as our “Services”.
This Policy also explains your choices about how we use your Personal Information, including how you can object to certain uses of the information, as well as how you can access or update certain information about you. If you do not agree with this Policy, please do not use our Services.
If you are a California resident, please also review our California Resident Privacy Notice for more information about the types of Personal Information we collect and disclose, as well as how to exercise your rights under California law.
“Personal Information” means any information relating to an identified or identifiable individual, such as an individual's name, address, telephone number, or e-mail address.
1. Personal Information that we collect
We collect information about you either when you provide it to us on our website or through the use of our Services, or in some cases, when other sources provide it to us.
A. Personal Information you provide to us
Registration and profile information. When you create a DroneDeploy account, we collect your name, company, address, e-mail address, telephone number and any additional information you choose to include in your profile.
Payment details. When you register for our paid services, we collect your name and contact information, as well as your payment details, such as your payment card information or bank account details. We do not store your payment details in our system and rely on our third-party payment processor to securely process payments.
User materials. When you engage with other users through our Services, post comments on our forums, or upload imagery, map data, video, sensor data, telemetry data, location data and other content using our interactive functionality (the “User Materials”), we collect your profile information and information about the User Materials you choose to share with us.
Event information. When you register to participate in a conference or event we organize, we may collect your name, contact information, and information about the event you attended.
Communications. If you contact us directly or participate in a survey, we may receive additional Personal Information about you. For example, when you contact our customer support team, we will receive your name, email address, the contents of a message or attachments that you may send to us, and other information you choose to provide. When you participate in a survey, we may also receive your contact details and your responses to our questions. When we send you emails, we may track whether you open, click on or forward them to learn how to deliver a better customer experience and improve our Services. When you subscribe to any of our newsletters or mailing lists, we will collect certain Personal Information from you, such as your email address.
Support information. When you request technical support services, we will process your contact information, such as name, email address, phone number and the country in which you are based as well as information on the reasons for your support request, and any additional information you may provide in that context.
If you do not provide your Personal Information when requested, you may not be able to use our Services if that Personal Information is necessary to provide you with our Services or if we are legally required to collect it. Where required by applicable law, we indicate whether and why you must provide us with your Personal Information, as well as the consequences of failing to do so.
B. Personal Information we collect automatically
Device information. We automatically receive Personal Information about the device and software you use to access our Services, such as your IP address, your web browser type, operating system version, the nature of the device from which you are visiting the Service (e.g., a personal computer or a mobile device), and the identifier for any handheld or mobile device that you may be using. Please see “Information we collect via Cookies” to learn more about our use of cookies.
Location information. Our Service collects geolocation information when you use our mobile application or a handheld camera. This information may include your physical location, such as street address, latitude, and longitude and GPS coordinates, and IP address, and the time of recording the location or the duration at that location. Please see “Information we collect via Cookies” to learn more about our use of cookies.
Usage information. When you use the Services, we automatically collect certain information about your use of the Services, including the actions you take on our Service, the website that you visited immediately prior to accessing any Web-based Service, and the content, features, and activities that you access in our Service. Please see “Information we collect via Cookies” to learn more about our use of cookies.
UAV and camera information. When you operate an unmanned ground or aerial vehicle (“UAV”) via the Service, we automatically collect information about the flight or traversal, such as information identifying the vehicle, traversal or flight path, traversal or flight logs, location data, telemetry data and sensor data, where applicable. We automatically collect the make, model and serial number of any handheld camera you may use.
Images and video. When you operate a UAV or handheld camera via the Service, we also collect imagery, map data and video taken during the traversal or flight.
C. Information we collect via Cookies
When you use our Services, we may automatically collect Personal Information about your use of the Services, including via cookies, beacons, invisible tags, and similar technologies, in your browser and on emails sent to you. Cookies are small text files containing a string of alphanumeric characters. We may use both session cookies and persistent cookies. A session cookie disappears after you close your browser. A persistent cookie remains after you close your browser and may be used by your browser on subsequent visits to our Services. The below references to “Cookies” include both cookies and similar technologies.
The information collected via Cookies may include Personal Information, such as your IP address, web browser, device type, and the web pages that you visit just before or just after you use the Services, as well as information about your interactions with the Services, such as the date and time of your visit, and where you have clicked.
Essential Cookies. Some Cookies are essential to make our Services available to you, for example, to conduct security activities, debugging, authentication, and fraud prevention. We may also use essential Cookies to provide you with information related to products/services you have used or purchased. We cannot provide you with the Services without this type of Cookie. We may use our own strictly necessary Cookies or use third-party Cookies.
Analytics Cookies. We also use Cookies for website and app analytics purposes in order to operate, maintain, and improve our Services. We may use our own analytics Cookies or use third-party analytics providers to collect and process certain analytics data on our behalf. In particular, we use Google Analytics to collect and process certain analytics data on our behalf. Google Analytics helps us understand how you engage with our Services. You can learn about Google’s practices by going to https://www.google.com/policies/privacy/partners/ and opt out by downloading the Google Analytics opt-out browser add-on, available at https://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout or via Google’s Ads Settings or Ad Settings for mobile apps.
Behavioral Advertising Cookies. We and our third-party partners use behavioral advertising Cookies to help us and our advertisers show you relevant advertising, as well as to present ads to you on sites that are not owned or operated by us to promote our services, articles or events. The cookies are used to make advertising messages more relevant to you and your interests. They also perform functions like preventing the same ad from continuously re-appearing. Behavioral advertising Cookies include those added by social media services to enable you to share your content with your friends and networks. They are capable of tracking your browser across other sites and building up a profile of your interests.
Where required under applicable law, we obtain your consent prior to using Cookies. Please see the “Your rights and choices” section of this Policy to learn about your Cookie choices.
Our third-party partners, such as analytics partners, may use these technologies to collect Personal Information about your online activities over time and across different services.
D. Personal Information from other sources
We may receive information about you, including Personal Information, from third parties, and sources other than our Services, such as our business customers and partners. In addition, we use third-party Software Development Kits (“SDKs”) in order to connect with third-party service providers, through which we may exchange data in order to enable the functionality of our Services.
If we combine or associate information from other sources with Personal Information that we collect through our Services, we will treat the combined information as Personal Information in accordance with this Policy.
2. How we use Personal Information
We will only process your Personal Information based on a valid legal ground, which may vary depending on the country where you are located.
Providing and Improving the Services
We use your Personal Information to provide, maintain, improve and update our Services, for instance to control the UAV during a traverse or flight, to provide you with analyses of the images you have captured using the UAV, and for product development purposes.
Legal ground for processing:
- You give us consent to do se
- The processing is necessary for entering into, or performance of a contract to which you are a part
- We, or a third party, have a legitimate interest in using your Personal Information for the purpose of developing, hosting, and maintaining the Services
Support
We may use your Personal Information to provide technical support, including diagnosing and resolving any issues you report.
Legal ground for processing:
- You give us consent to do so
- The processing is necessary for entering into, or performance of a contract to which you are a party
- We, or a third party, have a legitimate interest in using your Personal Information for the purpose of providing support
Communicating with you
We may use your Personal Information to contact you, including by email, phone and text message, for administrative purposes such as to provide information that you request, to respond to comments and questions, or to ask you to provide feedback and complete surveys.
Legal ground for processing:
- You give us consent to do so
- The processing is necessary for entering into, or performance of a contract to which you are a party
- We, or a third party, have a legitimate interest in using your Personal Information for the purpose of communicating with you
Fraud and incident prevention
We may use your Personal Information to detect security incidents and respond to trust and safety issues, protect against malicious, deceptive, fraudulent, or illegal activity, and prosecute those responsible for that activity.
Legal ground for processing:
- The processing is necessary for entering into, or performance of a contract to which you are a party
- We need it to comply with a legal obligation, for instance to comply with a court order
- We, or a third party, have a legitimate interest in using your Personal Information for the purpose of protecting against and preventing fraud
Marketing
We may process your Personal Information for marketing and advertising purposes, such as to develop and provide promotional materials and advertisements that may be relevant, valuable or otherwise of interest to you.
Legal ground for processing:
- You give us consent to do so
- We, or a third party, have a legitimate interest in using your Personal Information for the purpose of delivering marketing and advertising materials on our behalf
Understanding usage and improving the Services
We may use your Personal Information that we collect through the Services to understand and analyze the usage trends and preferences of our users, to improve and repair errors in the Services, and to develop new products, services, features, and functionalities.
Legal ground for processing:
- You give us consent to do so
- We, or a third party, have a legitimate interest in using your Personal Information for the purpose of evaluating and improving our products or services
Auditing interactions
We may use your Personal Information for auditing related to a current interaction with you and concurrent transactions, including, but not limited to, counting ad impressions to unique visitors, verifying positioning and quality of ad impressions, and auditing compliance with this specification and other standards.
Legal ground for processing:
- You give us consent to do so
- We, or a third party, have a legitimate interest in using your Personal Information for the purpose of auditing interactions with our Service
Administrative and legal purposes
We may use your Personal Information to address any administrative or legal issues pertaining to DroneDeploy, including but not limited to intellectual property infringement, defamation, rights of privacy issues, to enforce our Terms of Service or other legal rights, facilitating transactions and payments, or as may be required by applicable laws and regulations or requested by any judicial process or governmental agency.
Legal ground for processing:
- The processing is necessary for entering into, or performance of a contract to which you are a party
- We need it to comply with a legal obligation, for instance to comply with a court order
- We, or a third party, have a legitimate interest in using your Personal Information for the purpose of addressing administrative and legal issues
De-identification and aggregation
We may aggregate or otherwise de-identify Personal Information and use the resulting information for other business purposes, as permitted by applicable law.
Legal ground for processing:
- You give us consent to do so
- We, or a third party, have a legitimate interest in using your Personal Information for the purpose of aggregating and de-identifying the data
Job Applications
We may use your Personal Information to process your job application.
Legal ground for processing:
- You give us consent to do so
- We, or a third party, have a legitimate interest in using your Personal Information for the purpose of processing your job application
Other purposes
If we intend to use your Personal Information for other purposes, we will provide specific notice at the time the Personal Information is collected.
Legal ground for processing:
- Please consult the relevant specific notice
We only rely on our or a third party’s legitimate interests to process your Personal Information when these interests are not overridden by your rights and interests. When we are using your information because we or a third party have a legitimate interest to do so, you may have the right to object to that use.
3. When we share Personal Information
We may disclose information to third parties if you consent to us doing so, as well as in the following circumstances:
To our third-party service providers who provide services such as website hosting, data analysis, information technology and related infrastructure provision, customer service, email delivery, auditing, payments processing and other services. We limit the Personal Information provided to these service providers to that which is reasonably necessary for them to perform their functions, and we require them to agree to maintain the confidentiality of such Personal Information. We do not share mobile information, or text messaging originator opt-in data and consents, that we collect from you with third parties or affiliates for their independent marketing or promotional purposes
To other users of our Services, where you choose to share User Materials with other users or in public areas of our Service (e.g., content that you post on https://forum.dronedeploy.com/). We are not responsible for the other users’ use of available information, so you should carefully consider whether and what to share with others using our Services.
If required to do so by law or in the good-faith belief that such action is necessary to comply with applicable laws, in response to a court order, judicial or other government subpoena or warrant, or to otherwise cooperate with law enforcement or other governmental agencies.
Where we believe, in good faith, that disclosing your Personal Information is appropriate or necessary to take precautions against liability; protect ourselves or others from fraudulent, abusive, or unlawful uses or activity; investigate and defend ourselves against any third-party claims or allegations; protect the security or integrity of our Services and any facilities or equipment used to make our Services available; or protect our property or other legal rights including, but not limited to, enforcement of our agreements, or the rights, property, or safety of others.
To an acquirer, successor or assignee as part of any merger, acquisition, debt financing, sale of assets, or similar transaction, as well as in the event of an insolvency, bankruptcy, or receivership in which information is transferred to one or more third parties as one of our business assets.
To our affiliates, subsidiaries, and branch offices for the above-mentioned purposes.
4. Your rights and choices
You have certain rights regarding the Personal Information we maintain about you and certain choices about what Personal Information we collect from you, how we use it, and how we communicate with you.
You may decline to share certain Personal Information with us, in which case we may not be able to provide to you some of the features and functionality of our Services. You may access and update many categories of Personal Information that are collected as part of the Services offering by logging in to your account and accessing your account settings. Moreover, if you wish to access, amend, or delete any other Personal Information we hold about you, you may contact us using the contact details at the end of this Policy. Please note that while any changes you make will be reflected in active user databases instantly or within a reasonable period of time, we may retain all information you submit for backups, archiving, prevention of fraud and abuse, analytics, satisfaction of legal obligations, or where we otherwise reasonably believe that we have a legitimate reason to do so, to the extent permitted under applicable data protection law.
If you receive commercial email from us, you may unsubscribe at any time by following the instructions contained within the email. You may also opt out from receiving commercial email from us and any other promotional communications that we may send to you from time to time, by contacting us using the contact details at the end of this Policy.
Please be aware that if you opt out of receiving commercial email from us or otherwise modify the nature or frequency of promotional communications you receive from us, it may take up to ten business days for us to process your request and you may receive promotional communications from us that you have opted out from during that period, to the extent permitted by applicable law. Additionally, even after you opt out from receiving commercial messages from us, you will continue to receive administrative messages from us regarding our Services.
Depending on the country in which you are located, you may have additional rights as described below.
You may request access to and receive information about the Personal Information we maintain about you, update and correct inaccuracies in your Personal Information, restrict or object to the processing of your Personal Information, have the information anonymized or deleted, as appropriate, or exercise your right to data portability to easily transfer your Personal Information to another company. In addition, you may also have the right to lodge a complaint with a supervisory authority, including in your country of residence, place of work, or where an incident took place.
You may withdraw any consent you previously provided to us regarding the processing of your Personal Information, at any time, and free of charge. We will apply your preferences going forward and this will not affect the lawfulness of the processing before you withdrew your consent.
You may exercise these rights by contacting us using the contact details at the end of this Policy. Please note that there are exceptions and limitations to each of these rights, and that while any changes you make will be reflected in active user databases instantly or within a reasonable period of time, we may retain information for backups, archiving, prevention of fraud and abuse, analytics, satisfaction of legal obligations, or where we otherwise reasonably believe that we have a legitimate reason to do so, to the extent permitted by applicable law.
Your Cookie choices
Depending on the country in which you are located, you may be able to allow or reject Cookies and similar technologies which are not strictly necessary for providing our Services when you first access our websites or apps.
In addition, you have the following choices with regard to the use of Cookies and similar technologies.
Browser settings. Many web browsers allow you to manage your preferences relating to Cookies. You can set your browser to refuse Cookies or delete certain Cookies. You may be able to manage other technologies in the same way that you manage Cookies using your browser’s preferences. Please note that if you choose to block Cookies, doing so may impair the use of our Services.
Opt-out. To opt-out from third parties, Google’s, and other vendors’ use of information collected on the Services through Cookies for advertising purposes, you may visit Google’s Ads Preferences Manager, TRUSTe's Preference Manager, or the Network Advertising Initiative opt-out page.
Do-Not-Track Signals and Global Privacy Control. There is no accepted standard on how to respond to Do-Not-Track signals, and we do not respond to such signals. In addition, depending on your location, you may also opt out of the sale or sharing (for cross-context behavioral advertising purposes) of your Personal Information by turning on the Global Privacy Control (GPC).
5. Third-party services
The Service may contain features or links to websites and services provided by third parties. For example, you may use our app store to integrate with other data analytics or data storage providers that may then collect Personal Information from you. Any information you provide on third-party sites or services is provided directly to the operators of such services and is subject to those operators’ policies, if any, governing privacy and security, even if accessed through the Services. We are not responsible for the content or privacy and security practices and policies of third-party sites or services to which links or access are provided through the Services. We encourage you to learn about third parties’ privacy and security policies before providing them with information.
6. How we protect your Personal Information
We implement reasonable security measures to secure and protect your Personal Information. Our services incorporate privacy by design, including minimizing the data collected from customers, and technical and organizational measures to ensure we are providing the confidentiality and integrity which your data deserves. If we experience a data breach compromising Personal Information, we will notify you as quickly as possible, as required by regulatory requirements.
7. How we transfer information we collect internationally
Except to the extent that we have expressly agreed to store and process your data in one of our local data centers to support data residency requirements in your particular region, our Services are generally hosted in the United States. Even in the case of locally-hosted data, our support and business operations are located in the United States, and your data may be accessed by our personnel based there. The following discussion assumes that your data is stored and processed in the United States. Please contact a member of our Sales team if you wish to inquire about options for hosting your data outside the United States.
If you choose to use our Services from regions of the world with laws governing data collection and use that may differ from U.S. law, then please note that you are transferring your Personal Information outside of those regions to the United States for storage and processing. When we transfer your Personal Information to the United States, we take steps to comply with applicable data protection law, in particular legal requirements regarding adequate protection for data transfers. By providing any information, including Personal Information, on or to the Services, you agree with such transfer, storage, and processing.
If you are located in the European Economic Area or the United Kingdom, we will comply with applicable data protection laws when transferring your Personal Information outside of your jurisdiction. We may transfer your Personal Information to countries that have been found to provide adequate protection by the European Commission or other competent authorities (e.g., see list of countries for which the European Commission has issued an adequacy decision here), use contractual protections for the transfer of Personal Information, or transfer to recipients who have adopted Binding Corporate Rules or pursuant to the EU-U.S. DPF, described below.
In the case of data transfers from the EEA, the United Kingdom or Switzerland to the United States, our Master Services Agreement automatically applies the protections of the EU and UK Standard Contractual Clauses to all customers sharing data from the EEA, the United Kingdom or Switzerland whose subscription is governed by such agreement. For more information about how we transfer Personal Information outside of the EEA the United Kingdom or Switzerland, or to obtain a copy of the contractual safeguards we use for such transfers, you may contact us as specified below.
8. Data Privacy Framework notice
DroneDeploy complies with the EU-U.S. Data Privacy Framework (“EU-U.S. DPF”), the UK Extension to the EU-U.S. DPF, and the Swiss-U.S. Data Privacy Framework (“Swiss-U.S. DPF”) as set forth by the U.S. Department of Commerce. DroneDeploy has certified to the U.S. Department of Commerce that it adheres to the EU-U.S. Data Privacy Framework Principles (“EU-U.S. DPF Principles”) with regard to the processing of personal data received from the European Union in reliance on the EU-U.S. DPF and from the United Kingdom (and Gibraltar) in reliance on the UK Extension to the EU-U.S. DPF. DroneDeploy has certified to the U.S. Department of Commerce that it adheres to the Swiss-U.S. Data Privacy Framework Principles (“Swiss-U.S. DPF Principles” and together with the EU-U.S. DPF Principles, the “Data Privacy Framework Principles”) with regard to the processing of personal data received from Switzerland in reliance on the Swiss-U.S. DPF. If there is any conflict between the terms in this privacy policy and the EU-U.S. DPF Principles and/or the Swiss-U.S. DPF Principles, the Principles shall govern. To learn more about the Data Privacy Framework (DPF) program, and to view our certification, please visit https://www.dataprivacyframework.gov/.
In compliance with the Data Privacy Framework Principles, DroneDeploy commits to resolve complaints about our collection or use of your Personal Information. EU, UK and Swiss individuals with inquiries or complaints regarding our Privacy Shield policy should first contact us using the contact details at the end of this Policy.
In compliance with the Data Privacy Framework Principles, we will give you an opportunity to choose whether your Personal Information may be used for a purpose that is materially different from the purposes for which it was originally collected or subsequently authorized by you, or if we intend to disclose it to a third party acting as a data controller that we have not previously disclosed to you. In such circumstances, we will notify you and offer you the opportunity to opt-out of such uses and/or disclosures where non-sensitive Personal Information is involved, and to opt-in where sensitive Personal Information is involved. To request to limit the use and disclosure of your Personal Information, please submit a written request using the contact details at the end of this Policy.
Where DroneDeploy shares Personal Information subject to the Data Privacy Framework Principles with third parties, DroneDeploy shall remain liable under the Data Privacy Framework Principles if its agent processes such Personal Information in a manner inconsistent with the Data Privacy Framework Principles unless DroneDeploy proves that it is not responsible for the event giving rise to the damage.
In compliance with the Data Privacy Framework Principles, DroneDeploy commits to resolve complaints about our collection or use of your Personal Information. EU and Swiss individuals with inquiries or complaints regarding our Data Privacy Framework Principles should first contact DroneDeploy using the contact details at the end of this Policy. DroneDeploy has further committed to cooperate with the panel established by the EU data protection authorities (DPAs) and the Swiss Federal Data Protection and Information Commissioner (FDPIC) with regard to unresolved DPF complaints concerning data transferred from the EU, United Kingdom and Switzerland.
DroneDeploy is subject to the investigatory and enforcement powers of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). Under certain conditions, individuals may be able to invoke binding arbitration.
9. Data retention
We will retain Personal Information for the period necessary to fulfill the purposes for which we process it, as described in this Privacy Policy and our Master Services Agreement, unless we are required by law to keep this information for a longer period. When determining the specific retention period, we take into account various criteria, such as the type and sensitivity of the Personal Information, the type of services provided to you, the impact on our ability to provide you with certain features of our Services, and mandatory retention periods provided by law and the statute of limitations.
10. LAANC data
We offer LAANC services as a Supplemental Data Service Provider (SDSP) in accordance with the applicable provisions of the Federal Aviation Administration's (FAA) LAANC USS Performance Rules Version 8.1 dated March 1, 2024, as amended from time to time (Performance Rules). In accordance with the Performance Rules, we have adopted a Data Protection Plan (DPP) that governs our collection, sharing, retention and use of LAANC Data (as defined in the DPP). Pursuant to the DPP, we and Airspace Link, as our UAS Service Supplier (USS), may share LAANC Data with the FAA pursuant to law, federal regulation, the LAANC Memorandum of Agreement, or the Performance Rules. The DPP also provides further information on how UAS operators can access or request a copy of their LAANC Data or request its destruction. If you are a DroneDeploy customer, you can request a copy of our Data Protection Plan by emailing [email protected].
11. Children’s privacy
Children’s safety is important to us, and we encourage parents and guardians to take an active interest in the online activities of their children. Our Services are not directed to children under the age of 16, and we do not knowingly collect Personal Information from children under the age of 16. If we learn that we have collected Personal Information from a child under the age of 16 on our Service, we will delete that information as quickly as possible. If you believe that we may have collected any such Personal Information on our Service, please notify us at [email protected].
12. Updates to this Policy
We occasionally update this Policy. When we do, we will also revise the “last modified” date at the beginning of the Policy. Your continued use of our Service after such changes will be subject to the then-current policy. We encourage you to periodically review this Policy to stay informed about how we collect, use, and disclose your information.
13. How to contact us
Unless otherwise indicated, DroneDeploy is the entity responsible for processing your Personal Information as described in this Policy. If you wish to contact us to exercise your data rights, or have questions about this Policy or about DroneDeploy, please contact us by email at [email protected], or at:
DroneDeploy, Inc.
548 Market St. #34583
San Francisco, California 94104
If you’re based in the EU/EEA or in the United Kingdom and wish to contact us via our GDPR Representative, DataRep, you may do so by following the steps set out here.