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Last Updated: August 25, 2022

Privacy Policy for Citizen Services

Citizen’s mission is to keep you safe and informed.

At Citizen (as in sp0n, Inc., the company that operates the Citizen mobile app and www.citizen.com), we will only use and share your data for the limited purposes described in this Privacy Policy. We do not serve third-party advertisements in the app.

Citizen Privacy Practices

Our principles for protecting your data

  • We record the information we need to provide our services: informing you of incidents happening around you, and helping you get emergency assistance when you’re in need.  
  • The personal information we do collect we store for as short a duration as possible. And, where possible, we store only de-identified or aggregate data that is not tied to you.
  • We generally limit access to your data to a subset of the engineering team. We have specific systems to control data access, and all access is logged and regularly audited.
  • We take protecting your location data seriously. We need accurate, real-time location data to alert you of any emergencies and to help you get emergency assistance, but we lower the resolution of historical location data where possible.
  • We test the stability and security of our infrastructure, including annual penetration testing and review of our security systems and their configurations. We use an information security firm to provide these services under a strict non-disclosure agreement. 
  • Our services are designed to provide real-time notifications of incidents occurring near you, and to help you get assistance in the case of an emergency. We can only provide those services in certain areas, so if you are located outside of one of those areas, the services may not work for you. We only provide our service in the United States.

Public data

  • Content visible to any other user on the Citizen platform is considered public data (for example, publicly posted comments and videos). You have control over public data on Citizen tied to your account, and can delete comments and videos you have posted. You can also delete your account from the app or email support@citizen.com to request to delete your account.

Categories of Information Collected

Content not publicly accessible to other users on the platform is considered private data:

  • Contact information: We use your email address and phone number to set up and validate your user account and to prevent abuse of the platform. If another Citizen user shares their contacts with us, and you are one of those contacts, we may recommend you as a friend connection to them. We may collect your name if you send friend requests or if you subscribe to Citizen Premium (formerly known as Citizen Protect). We may also send you emails about Citizen – you can choose to opt out of any marketing emails by following the instructions at the bottom of the email, but we may still send you other important emails, such as to respond to a question, feedback, or request you have sent to us.
  • Payment information: We may request your payment card details and billing address if you subscribe to Citizen Premium or future paid features of the app.
  • Audio and video feed: If you use Citizen Premium, you may share an audio and video feed from your device with Citizen agents and your emergency contacts when you’re feeling unsafe. We may record your audio and video conversations and physical likeness for quality assurance and legal purposes.
  • User locations: We use your geolocation data to send you safety notifications for incidents reported near you, share your locations with friends you are connected to on the platform,  and to provide and improve our Services. If you sign up for Citizen Premium, we use your geolocation data to assist you and may in some cases share your geolocation data with your emergency contacts, Citizen agents, and first responders. You choose whether to share your location, and can always revoke Citizen’s access to your location data in your device settings, but the app will not properly function if the app can’t access location data.
  • User activity: We aggregate user activity data (like how you interact with Citizen, what times you use Citizen, what kind of device you have, etc.) for analysis to improve Citizen’s user experience. 
  • User contacts: You can choose to share your contacts with us to connect with them through the app, so we can suggest others as a connection to you, to inform your family and friends of incidents near you, and/or to invite family and friends to your subscription plan or designate them as emergency contacts. We may notify you about other relevant activities your contacts take on Citizen. Just as you can provide contact information about other users, they may share your information with us for the same purposes.
  • Content you capture through Citizen: If you use Citizen to capture a video or other content you wish to make publicly available, we collect and store that content and additional information about the content and device you used (like the metadata associated with the content, unique device identifier, wireless network, etc.).
  • Cookies: Like many online services, Citizen uses cookies to collect information on its website. We may use both session cookies (which expire once you close your web browser) and persistent cookies (which stay on your computer until you delete them) to tailor your experience with Citizen, and advertise Citizen on third-party websites and apps. We also work with Facebook, Google and other third-party ads integrations. These integrations allow us to track the efficacy of our own advertising campaigns across the web. We do not use these integrations to provide any manner of third-party advertising on the platform.

How we share your information

We may share your data with service providers, such as:

  • Branch: Branch allows us to attribute when content is shared from Citizen to the platform and source.
  • Twilio: Twilio allows us to send you an SMS message to validate your account, or to enable you to invite your contacts to the platform. If you’re a Citizen Premium user, Twilio also allows Citizen agents to connect with you by phone, SMS message, or video while using Citizen Premium.  
  • Google Cloud Services: We use Google to host our infrastructure. 

We may share videos posted publicly on the Citizen platform with news outlets in select circumstances.

If you decide to provide us with your phone number and/or contact list, we may share some of your personal information, including your use of the Citizen app, with others to invite them to connect with you in the app or to suggest you as a connection to other users.

If you use certain Citizen Premium features, we may share some of your personal information with first responders and your emergency contacts in the event that you are experiencing an emergency and request assistance. 

We may share personal information (a) with law enforcement as we’ve explained in the Information for Law Enforcement Authorities; (b) as otherwise required by law; (c) to enforce the terms and conditions that govern the platform and protection our rights; and (d) to protect, investigate, and deter against fraudulent, harmful, unauthorized, unethical, or illegal activity.

How long we retain your data

We retain personal information for the period necessary to fulfill the purposes outlined in this Privacy Policy, unless a longer retention period is required or permitted by law, or an individual requests that we delete information about them.

How we protect your data

Citizen uses reasonable organizational, technical, and administrative measures designed to protect against unauthorized access, misuse, loss, disclosure, alteration, and destruction of personal information we maintain. Unfortunately, data transmission over the Internet cannot be guaranteed as completely secure. Therefore, while Citizen strives to protect your personal information, we cannot guarantee the security of personal information. In the event that Citizen is required to notify you about a situation involving your data, we may do so by email or telephone to the extent permitted by law.

What choices you have regarding your data

You can make the following choices regarding your personal information:

  • Cookies. If you decide at any time that you no longer wish to accept cookies from Citizen for any of the purposes described above, then you can instruct your browser, by changing its settings, to stop accepting cookies or to prompt you before accepting a cookie from the websites you visit. Consult your browser for technical information. If you do not accept cookies, however, you may not be able to use all or portions of Citizen’s services or functionality. If you have any questions about how to disable or modify cookies, please let Citizen know at the contact information provided below.
  • Application. You can stop all collection of information by the Citizen application by uninstalling the application. You may use the standard uninstall processes as may be available as part of your mobile device or via the relevant mobile application marketplace or network.
  • Do-Not-Track. Some web browsers transmit “do not track” signals to the websites and other online services with which your web browser communicates. There is currently no standard that governs what, if anything, websites should do when they receive these signals. Citizen currently does not take action in response to these signals. If and when a standard is established, Citizen may revise its policy on responding to these signals.
  • Accessing or correcting your information. You may request to review and update the information Citizen maintains about you by submitting a request to support@citizen.com.
  • Opting out of location tracking. If you initially consented to the collection of geo-location information through Citizen, you can subsequently stop the collection of this information at any time by changing the preferences on your mobile device. Please note, however, that if you withdraw consent to Citizen’s collection of location information, you may no longer be able to use some features of the app.

Notice to California users

You may have rights under the California Consumer Privacy Act of 2018 (“CCPA”) to provide to California residents an explanation of how we collect, use and share their personal Information, and of the rights and choices we offer California residents regarding our handling of their personal information. 

This notice and the privacy rights it describes do not apply to information related to our business contacts, job applicants, or employees. 

Personal information that we collect, use and share

We describe below how we currently collect, use and share personal information, and how we have collected used and shared personal information over the past 12 months. 

We do not sell personal information. We engage in: 

  • Online tracking. As we explain above, we use cookies and other tracking technologies to analyze website traffic and facilitate our own advertising across the web. If you would like to learn how you may opt out of our use of cookies and other tracking technologies, then you can instruct your browser, by changing its settings, to stop accepting cookies or to prompt you before accepting a cookie from the websites you visit.
  • Directed disclosures. Because Citizen is a network of users, when you share your contacts with us, you direct us to let your friends know that you have joined Citizen, so they may connect with you. In addition, when you use Citizen Premium, you direct us to share some of your information with the friends and family members you designate, with your emergency contacts, and with first responders in order to assist you in the event of an emergency.

Personal information we collect

Email address & phone number:

  • CCPA-defined categories of personal information (definitions are available here): Identifiers
  • Sources of personal information: Citizen users
  • Business / commercial purposes for which we may collect and use personal information: to register user accounts, to provide our services, to send you marketing and promotional materials about Citizen
  • Data sharing: directed disclosures to (a) your contacts and other Citizen users to facilitate in-app connections; (b) first responders in the case of an emergency

Location information:

  • Geolocation data
  • Sources of personal information: Citizen users, automatically collected
  • Business / commercial purposes for which we may collect and use personal information: to provide our services
  • Data sharing: directed disclosures to (a) family members and friends in a user’s network to safeguard the user; (b) first responders and emergency contacts in the case of an emergency

Heart rate, walking pace, medical history and conditions:

  • Biometric information, protected classification characteristics
  • Sources of personal information: Citizen users, automatically collected
  • Business / commercial purposes for which we may collect and use personal information: to provide our services
  • Data sharing: directed disclosures to (a) family members and friends in a user’s network to safeguard the user; (b) first responders in the case of an emergency

Audio and video feed:

  • Sensory data
  • Sources of personal information: Citizen users
  • Business / commercial purposes for which we may collect and use personal information: to provide our services
  • Data sharing: directed disclosures to (a) family members and friends in a user’s network to safeguard the user; (b) first responders and emergency contacts in the case of an emergency

Payment information: to provide our services, for Citizen Premium subscribers

Personal information listed in the California Customer Records statute (Cal. Civ. Code § 1798.80(e)):

  • Sources of personal information: Citizen users
  • Business / commercial purposes for which we may collect and use personal information: to register users for paid subscription services
  • Data sharing: N/A

Email interconnectivity, mobile devices, web logs, online activity:

  • CCPA-defined categories of personal information (definitions are available here): online identifiers, Internet or network information, geolocation data
  • Sources of personal information: automatically collected
  • Business / commercial purposes for which we may collect and use personal information: to provide our services, to identify you when you visit our app or website
  • Data sharing: collected directly by third-party tracking companies to conduct analytics

Feedback/support:

  • Identifiers
  • Sources of personal information: Citizen users
  • Business / commercial purposes for which we may collect and use personal information: to provide our services, to respond to your inquiries, to conduct analytics, for internal administrative purposes
  • Data sharing: N/A

Please note that we may also disclose personal information with service providers, and in connection with corporate transactions or legal compliance.

California Residents’ Privacy Rights 

The CCPA grants California residents the following rights:  

  • Information. You can request information about how we have collected, used and shared your personal information during the past 12 months. We have made this information available to California residents without having to request it by including it in the above section.
  • Access. You can request a copy of the personal information that we have collected about you. 
  • Deletion. You can ask us to delete the personal information that we maintain about you.

How to Submit a Request

  • To request access to or deletion of personal information: Attn: sp0n, Inc., PO Box 55071 #92726, Boston, MA, 02205-5071, US. Email: support@citizen.com
  • Identity verification. We will need to confirm your identity and California residency to process your requests to exercise your information, access or deletion rights. We cannot process your request if you do not provide us with sufficient detail to allow us to understand and respond to it. 
  • Authorized agents.  California residents can empower an “authorized agent” to submit requests on their behalf. We will require the authorized agent to have a written authorization confirming that authority.

Children

Citizen is not directed towards individuals under the age of 13, and Citizen does not intentionally gather personal information about visitors who are under the age of 13. Furthermore, Citizen does not intentionally allow visitors under the age of 18 to register for the app. If a child under 13 submits personal information to Citizen and Citizen learns that the personal information is the information of a child under 13, Citizen will attempt to delete the information as soon as possible. If you believe that Citizen might have any personal information from a child under 13, please contact Citizen at: Attn: sp0n, Inc., PO Box 55071 #92726, Boston, MA, 02205-5071, US.

Job Applicants

When you visit the “Careers” portion of our website, we collect the information that you provide to us in connection with your job application. This includes business and personal contact information, professional credentials and skills, educational and work history, and other information of the type that may be included in a resume. This may also include diversity information that you voluntarily provide. We use this information to facilitate our recruitment activities and process employment applications, such as by evaluating a job candidate for an employment activity, and monitoring recruitment statistics. We may also use this information to provide improved administration of the website, and as otherwise necessary (a) to comply with relevant laws or to respond to subpoenas or warrants served on Citizen; (b) to protect and defend the rights or property of Citizen or others; (c) in connection with a legal investigation; and/or (d) to investigate or assist in preventing any violation or potential violation of the law, this Privacy Policy, or Citizen’s Terms of Use.

Privacy Policy Updates

This Privacy Policy is subject to occasional revision. Citizen will notify you of any material changes in its collection, use, or disclosure of your personal information by posting a notice on the Citizen website and/or within the application.

Contact Us

Feel free to contact us with your questions, requests, comments, or concerns at support@citizen.com.