Privacy Policy

Welcome to Photella (“Photella,” “we,” “us” or “our”). Photella creates crowd-sources photo stories of places and events around the world.

  • Our Privacy Policy explains how we and some of the companies we work with collect, use, share and protect information in relation to our mobile services, web site, and any software provided on or in connection with Photella services (collectively, the “Service“), and your choices about the collection and use of your information.
  • By using our Service you understand and agree that we are providing a platform for you to post content, including photos, comments and other materials (“User Content“), to the Service and to share User Content publicly. This means that other Users may search for, see, use, or share any of your User Content that you make publicly available through the Service, consistent with the terms and conditions of this Privacy Policy and our Terms of Use.
  • Our Policy applies to all visitors, users, and others who access the Service (“Users“).

1. INFORMATION WE COLLECT

We collect the following types of information.

Information you provide us directly:

  • Your age and birth year when you first use Photella.
  • User Content (e.g., photos, comments, and other materials) that you post to the Service.
  • Communications between you and Photella. For example, we may send you Service-related alerts (e.g. changes/updates to features of the Service, technical and security notices).

Device identifiers:

  • When you use a mobile device like a tablet or phone to access our Service, we may access, collect, monitor, store on your device, and/or remotely store one or more “device identifiers.” Device identifiers are small data files or similar data structures stored on or associated with your mobile device, which uniquely identify your mobile device. A device identifier may be data stored in connection with the device hardware, data stored in connection with the device’s operating system or other software, or data sent to the device by Photella.
  • A device identifier may deliver information to us about how you browse and use the Service and may help us provide reports or personalized content and ads.

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 and how that content is formatted.
  • Users can add or may have Metadata added to their User Content including a hashtag (e.g., to mark keywords when you post a photo), comments or other data.

2. HOW WE USE YOUR INFORMATION

In addition to some of the specific uses of information we describe in this Privacy Policy, we may use information that we receive to: 

  • help you efficiently access your information
  • remember information so you will not have to re-enter it during your visit or the next time you visit the Service;
  • provide personalized content and information to you and others, which could include online ads or other forms of marketing
  • provide, improve, test, and monitor the effectiveness of our Service
  • develop and test new products and features
  • monitor metrics such as total number of visitors, traffic, and demographic patterns
  • diagnose or fix technology problems
  • automatically update the Photella application on your device

3. SHARING OF YOUR INFORMATION

We will not rent or sell your information to third parties outside Photella (or the group of companies of which Photella is a part). 

Parties with whom we may share your information:

  • We may share User Content and your information (including but not limited to, information from cookies, log files, device identifiers, location data, and usage data) with businesses that are legally part of the same group of companies that Photella is part of, or that become part of that group (“Affiliates”).

Parties with whom you may choose to share your User Content:

  • Any information or content that you voluntarily disclose for posting to the Service, such as User Content, becomes available to the public. Once you have shared User Content or made it public, that User Content may be re-shared by others.
  • If you remove information that you posted to the Service, copies may remain viewable in cached and archived pages of the Service, or if other Users or third parties have copied or saved that information.

What happens in the event of a change of control:

  • If we sell or otherwise transfer part or the whole of Photella or our assets to another organization (e.g., in the course of a transaction like a merger, acquisition, bankruptcy, dissolution, liquidation), your information such as User Content and any other information collected through the Service may be among the items sold or transferred. You will continue to own your User Content. The buyer or transferee will have to honor the commitments we have made in this Privacy Policy.

Responding to legal requests and preventing harm:

  • We may access, preserve and share your information in response to a legal request (like a search warrant, court order or subpoena) if we have a good faith belief that the law requires us to do so. This may include responding to legal requests from jurisdictions outside of the United States where we have a good faith belief that the response is required by law in that jurisdiction, affects users in that jurisdiction, and is consistent with internationally recognized standards. We may also access, preserve and share information when we have a good faith belief it is necessary to: detect, prevent and address fraud and other illegal activity; to protect ourselves, you and others, including as part of investigations; and to prevent death or imminent bodily harm. Information we receive about you may be accessed, processed and retained for an extended period of time when it is the subject of a legal request or obligation, governmental investigation, or investigations concerning possible violations of our terms or policies, or otherwise to prevent harm.

4. HOW WE STORE YOUR INFORMATION

Storage and Processing:

  • Your information collected through the Service may be stored and processed in the United States or any other country in which Photella, its Affiliates or Service Providers maintain facilities.
  • Photella, its Affiliates, or Service Providers may transfer information that we collect about you, including personal information across borders and from your country or jurisdiction to other countries or jurisdictions around the world. If you are located in the European Union or other regions with laws governing data collection and use that may differ from U.S. law, please note that we may transfer information, including personal information, to a country and jurisdiction that does not have the same data protection laws as your jurisdiction.
  • By using the Service you consent to the transfer of information to the U.S. or to any other country in which Photella, its Affiliates or Service Providers maintain facilities and the use and disclosure of information about you as described in this Privacy Policy.
  • We use commercially reasonable safeguards to help keep the information collected through the Service secure. However, Photella cannot ensure the security of any information you transmit to Photella or guarantee that information on the Service may not be accessed, disclosed, altered, or destroyed.

5. HOW TO CONTACT US

If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy or the Service, please find the appropriate support channel in the Help Center at which to contact us.

6. CHANGES TO OUR PRIVACY POLICY

It may be necessary for Photella to modify or update this Privacy Policy from time to time, for example to reflect updates to the Service or where required by law. We will notify you before we make changes to this Privacy Policy and give you the opportunity to review the revised Privacy Policy before continuing to use the Service. Your continued use of Photella or the Service after any modification to this Privacy Policy will constitute your acceptance of such modification.