Vlingo Privacy Policy

Last update: 1/17/10

This document contains the privacy policy for Vlingo (the “Service”), a service of Vlingo corporation (“Vlingo” or “we”).

Vlingo will NEVER collect personally identifiable information from you, or disclose that information outside of Vlingo, without your express permission. We do collect personal information for the specific purposes described below.

Vlingo respects your privacy, and we take protecting it very seriously. We don’t like it when people use our own personal information or offer it to others without our permission, and we won’t do that to you. In fact, since our own employees are also Vlingo users, our own privacy is at stake just as much as yours is.

What personal data does Vlingo collect, and how do we use it?

If you request a link to download Vlingo from our web site, we collect your email address or phone number when you enter it. We use this information to send you the link you requested and to inform you of important product updates. We may also use this information to contact you electronically to inform you of product or other commercial opportunities. In any such communication, we will always provide a method to opt out of future communications.

We collect information that you speak or type into a Vlingo text box. This is turned into statistical information which Vlingo’s speech servers use to adapt to your individual voice in order to provide you with a better experience and for product improvement. We do not and cannot use the information we collect from you to identify you as an individual or to identify your device.

We collect names of individuals and companies that appear in your address book in order to provide a high quality service when you speak a contact name. We do not collect any other information associated with these names such as addresses or phone numbers. We will never use these names to contact anyone for any reason, and we have no way of associating these names with unique individuals or of linking them back to you.

If you have opted in to location based services, we collect and store the location of your handset only when you speak. We do not associate the handset’s location with your personal information. We do not know who you are when you use the location-awareness component of our service. We use this location information for research and development purposes and to improve your experience with the service.

When you use the “Send Feedback” feature, we collect your email address in order to be able to respond to your communication if you choose to allow us to do so.

When you fill out our technical support form, you may enter your name, email address, phone number, and information that allows us to identify your device and information pertaining to your usage of the application, including location-based information. When you submit this form, we collect this information only to be able to troubleshoot the issue you reported and communicate with you about it.

We may use any of the information listed above to help us troubleshoot problems that you voluntarily ask us to investigate.

We do not collect or use personal information for any purposes other than those described here.

Sharing personal information

We will not disclose your personal information outside of Vlingo and our contractors or subcontractors without your express consent.

We may disclose personal information if required by a court or other legal authority with valid jurisdiction, or to protect and defend Vlingo's rights such as enforcing customer agreements.

In all cases, access to personal data is handled on a ‘need to know’ basis.

Securing your personal information

Vlingo uses physical, technical, and procedural techniques to ensure the security of your personal information. Sensitive data is stored on servers that are physically located in controlled-access facilities, and that grant login access only to people with a bona fide need to know. We also review and update our security-related practices from time to time.

Any time you speak, there is the potential to be overheard by anyone nearby. It is your responsibility to guard any sensitive information against other people who might be listening to you.

What if I don’t want Vlingo to collect my information or to contact me?

Any speech recognition system is only as good as the data it uses to predict and understand what people might say. The information we collect for speech recognition purposes is necessary to provide a high quality service with the best possible recognition accuracy. You can instruct Vlingo not to collect your location by indicating your preference during the setup process, or at any time from within the Options screen. If you are uncomfortable with our products or services collecting other personal data as outlined in this document, the best option may be to not install or use Vlingo products on your phone.

Any time we communicate with you for commercial or marketing reasons, we will always include a way for you to tell us not to contact you with such communications in the future if that is your preference.

Changes to this privacy policy

We may occasionally update this privacy policy from time to time. Although the specific details may evolve, we will always continue to guard your privacy with as much care as if it were our own. Since Vlingo employees are also users, our own personal information is treated the same way that yours is.

When changes are made, the revised policy will be made available on our web site at http://Vlingo.com/privacy.jsp. We encourage you to review our policy periodically in order to keep informed about how we use and protect your information.

Questions or concerns regarding this privacy policy

If you have questions, comments, or other feedback on our privacy policy, please contact us.