Permissions Explorer Research Study Privacy Statement

Effective Date: December 1, 2025
Last Updated: December 18, 2025

This privacy statement (“Privacy Statement”) explains the data privacy practices of the Permissions Explorer Research Study App (“App”) and the Permissions Explorer Research Study Website (“Website”) (collectively the “Services”) offered by President and Fellows of Harvard College (“Harvard”, “we”, “us”), acting by and through the Applied Social Media Lab at the Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society. This Privacy Statement applies only to the Services, and does not necessarily describe the data collection or processing practices of any other Harvard school or unit. We may update this Privacy Statement from time to time and will post any changes on this page. We encourage you to check our website frequently to review the most up-to-date version.  

PERSONAL INFORMATION WE COLLECT 

The personal information we collect may depend on how you interact with us, our Services, and the requirements of applicable law. We collect information that you provide to us, information we obtain automatically when you use our Services, and information from other sources such as third-party services and organizations, as described below. 

  1. Information You Provide to Us Directly 

We may collect the following personal information that you provide to us. 

  • Your Communications with Us. We may collect personal information, such as email address, phone number, or mailing address when you request information about our Services, request customer or technical support, or otherwise communicate with us. 
  • Surveys. We may contact you to participate in surveys. If you decide to participate, you may be asked to provide certain information, which may include personal information.
  1. Information Collected Automatically 

We may collect personal information automatically when you use our Services: 

  • Automatic Data Collection. If you use our Website and our App, we may collect certain information automatically when you use our Services, such as your internet protocol (IP) address, user settings, MAC address, cookie identifiers, mobile carrier, and other unique identifiers, browser or device information, location information (including approximate location derived from IP address), and internet service provider. We may also automatically collect information regarding your use of our Services, such as the frequency and duration of your activities, and other information about how you use our Services. 
  • Cookies, Pixel Tags/Web Beacons, and Other Technologies. We, as well as third parties that provide content or functionality to us or on our Services, may use cookies, pixel tags, local storage, and other technologies (“Technologies”) to automatically collect information through your use of our Services. Our uses of these Technologies fall into the following general categories: 
  • Operationally Necessary. This includes Technologies that allow you access to our Services, applications and tools that are required to identify irregular website behavior, detect fraudulent activity and improve security, or that allow you to make use of our functionality; 
  • Functionality-Related. We may use Technologies that allow us to offer you enhanced functionality when accessing or using our Services. This may include identifying you when you sign into our Services or keeping track of your  session; 

See Your Privacy Choices below to understand your choices regarding these Technologies. 

  1. Information Collected from Other Sources 

Other sources, such as third-party services and organizations which you use or are affiliated with, may share information about you with us. For example, if you access our Services through a third-party application, such as an app store, a third-party login service, or a social networking site, that third-party application may provide us with information about you. Your use of such third-party services and the services’ collection, use, and processing of your information, may be subject to additional terms, conditions, and policies between you and such services.  

HOW WE USE YOUR INFORMATION

We use your information to provide our Services, for administrative purposes, as described below.

  1. Provide Our Services 

We use your information to provide you with our Services, such as: 

  • Managing your session; 
  • Providing access to certain areas, functionalities, and features of our Services; 
  • Answering requests for technical support; 
  • Communicating with you about your session , activities on our Services;
  1. Administrative Purposes

We may use your information for various administrative purposes, such as: 

  • Pursuing our legitimate interests such as research and development , network and information security, and fraud detection; 
  • Detecting security incidents, and protecting against malicious, deceptive, fraudulent or illegal activity; 
  • Improving, upgrading, or enhancing our Services; 
  • Developing new products and services; 
  • Ensuring internal quality control; 
  • Debugging to identify and repair errors with our Services; 
  • Auditing relating to interactions, transactions, and other compliance activities; 
  • Enforcing our agreements, policies, and legal rights; and 
  • Complying with our legal obligations.
  1. Other Purposes 

We also use your information for other purposes as requested by you or as permitted by applicable law, including as described below. 

  • Consent.  We may use personal information for other purposes that are clearly disclosed to you at the time you provide personal information or with your consent. 
  • De-identified or Aggregated Information. We may use personal information and other information about you to create de-identified and/or aggregated information, such as de-identified demographic information, de-identified location information, information about the device from which you access our Services, or other analyses we create. 

HOW WE DISCLOSE YOUR INFORMATION 

We disclose your information to third parties for a variety of business purposes, including to provide our Services, or to protect us or others, or in the event of a major business transaction such as a merger, sale, or asset transfer, as described below. We may disclose aggregated statistical information about our users and information that does not identify any individual or device without restriction.

  1. Disclosures to Provide our Services 

The categories of third parties with whom we may share your information are described below. 

  • Service Providers. We may share your personal information with our third-party service providers who use that information to help us provide our Services, to researchers affiliated with the Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society and the Permissions Explorer Research study; 
  • to fulfill the purpose for which you provide it.  For any other purpose disclosed by us when you provide the information; and/or with your consent.  
  • Affiliates. We may share your personal information with our affiliated entities.
  1. Disclosures to Protect Us or Others 

We may access, preserve, and disclose any information we store associated with you to external parties if we, in good faith, believe doing so is required or appropriate to: comply with law enforcement or national security requests or legal process, such as a court order or subpoena; protect your, our, or others’ rights, property, or safety; enforce our policies or contracts; collect amounts owed to us; or assist with an investigation or prosecution of suspected or actual illegal activity. 

  1. Disclosure in the Event of Merger, Sale, or Other Asset Transfers 

If we are involved in a merger, acquisition, purchase or sale of assets, or transition of service to another provider, your information may be sold or transferred as part of such a transaction, as permitted by law and/or contract. 

YOUR PRIVACY CHOICES  

The privacy choices you may have about your personal information are determined by applicable law. If you receive an unwanted email from us, you can use the unsubscribe link found at the bottom of the email to opt out of receiving future emails. Note that you will continue to receive transaction-related emails regarding products or Services you are using or have requested. We may also send you certain non-promotional communications regarding us and our Services, and you will not be able to opt out of those communications (e.g., communications regarding our Services or updates to our Website or this Privacy Statement). 

SECURITY OF YOUR INFORMATION 

The Services have security measures in place to protect against the loss, misuse, and alteration of the information under our control. Unfortunately, due to the nature of internet communications, no data transmission over the internet can be guaranteed to be completely secure. While we remain committed to protecting the privacy of our users, we cannot ensure or warrant the security of any information you transmit to us, and you do so at your own risk. To the fullest extent permitted by applicable law, we do not accept liability for any unauthorized disclosure. 

RETENTION OF PERSONAL INFORMATION 

We store the personal information we collect as described in this Privacy Statement for as long as you use our Services or as necessary to fulfill the purpose(s) for which it was collected, provide our Services, resolve disputes, conduct audits, pursue legitimate business purposes, enforce our agreements, and comply with applicable laws.  

CHILDREN’S INFORMATION 

The Services are not directed to children under 18 (or other age as required by applicable law), and we do not knowingly collect personal information from children. If we become aware that a child has provided us with personal information in violation of applicable law, we will take steps to delete any such personal information we have collected, unless we have a legal obligation to keep it, and terminate the child’s account, if any. 

OTHER PROVISIONS 

Third-Party Websites/Applications. The Services may contain links to other websites/applications and other websites/applications may reference or link to our Services. These third-party services are not controlled by us. We encourage our users to read the privacy policies of each website and application with which they interact. We do not endorse, screen, or approve, and are not responsible for, the privacy practices or content of such other websites or applications. If you provide personal information to third-party websites or applications, you do so at your own risk. 

Users located outside the United States of America. If you are located in a country outside of the United States which has enacted a personal data protection law, please review additional privacy disclosures that may apply to you. 

CHANGES TO OUR PRIVACY STATEMENT

We may revise this Privacy Statement from time to time in our sole discretion. You understand and agree that you will be deemed to have accepted the updated Privacy Statement if you continue to use our Services after the new Privacy Statement takes effect. 

CONTACT US  

If you have any questions about our privacy practices or this Privacy Statement, please contact us at: 

Applied Social Media Lab
Berkman Klein Center at Harvard University
1557 Massachusetts Avenue
Cambridge, MA 02138