Privacy Policy

Sqoop, Inc. (the “Company”) is committed to maintaining robust privacy protections for its users. Our Privacy Policy (“Privacy Policy”) is designed to help you understand how we collect, use and safeguard the information you provide to us and to assist you in making informed decisions when using our Service. The Privacy Policy also incorporates and relies on Washington’s News Media Shield Law (RCW 5.68.010) (“Washington’s Shield Law”) and a recent Washington appellate decision to let users assert the maximum protection allowed by law against the disclosure of your information to third parties.

For purposes of this Agreement, “Service” refers to the Company’s search engine which can be accessed via our website at sqoop.com (the “Site”) or via our email alerts. The terms “we,” “us,” and “our” refer to the Company. “You” refers to you, as a user of Service. By accepting our Privacy Policy and Terms of Use, you consent to our collection, storage, use and disclosure of your Personal Information as described in this Privacy Policy.

Washington’s Shield Law

Washington’s Shield Law is intended to protect against efforts to “obtain information that would tend to identify a source of news or information” held by “news media” and to protect non-news media transactions with news media that could also identify a source. RCW 5.68.010(1)(a). “News media” includes “any entity that is in the regular business of news gathering and disseminating news or information to the public by any means” (such as Sqoop) and journalists. RCW 5.68.010(5). The law works by: (1) letting news media or journalists assert the statute’s protections; and also (2) by requiring third parties holding information of news media or journalists who get requests or subpoenas for such information to give notice to the affected news media or journalists of the efforts to get that information so the affected media or journalists can assert their privacy rights and seek court protection from the party seeking the protected information.

The Washington Court of Appeals applied the Shield Law in early 2016 and affirmed that the statute’s language is “very broad. It protects against disclosure of the identity of a source of any news or information. It also protects against the disclosure of any information that would tend to identify a source.” Republic of Kazakhstan v. Does 1-100 (Wa. Ct. App. No.73391-5-I, Feb. 22, 2016), ¶ 36. Based on that broad protection, the appeals court reversed the trial court’s issuance of a subpoena directed at a website operator. The Republic of Kazakhastan was trying to obtain a journalist’s identity from the website operator in order to locate an alleged hacker of government computers. In short, the appeal decision shows the law has teeth and will be applied even against a subpoena which was initially authorized in a federal court, to be applied by a Washington court.

The full decision of the case can be read here and the full text of the Shield Law can be read here.

Information We Collect

We collect “Non-Personal Information” and “Personal Information.” Non-Personal Information includes information that cannot be used to personally identify you, such as anonymous usage data, general demographic information we may collect, referring/exit pages and URLs, platform types, preferences you submit and preferences that are generated based on the data you submit and number of clicks. Personal Information includes your email, your name, the outlet you work for, your beat, and other information which you submit to us through the registration process at the Site. Additionally, your alert settings and search history are associated with you. To the extent such non-personal information might disclose the identity of a source, it should be protected by the Shield Law.

Information collected via technology:

To use the Service you do not need to submit any Personal Information at this time. But after a certain number of searches, or to use some parts of the Service thereafter, such as search and Docket Watch Alerts, you need to submit Personal Information to create your unique Journalist User account.

In an effort to improve the quality of the Service, we track information provided to us by your browser or by our software application when you view or use the Service, such as the website you came from (known as the “referring URL”), the type of browser you use, the device from which you connected to the Service, the time and date of access, and other information that does not personally identify you. We track this information using cookies, or small text files which include an anonymous unique identifier. Cookies are sent to a user’s browser from our servers and are stored on the user’s computer hard drive. Sending a cookie to a user’s browser enables us to collect Non-Personal information about that user and keep a record of the user’s preferences when utilizing our services, both on an individual and aggregate basis. For example, the Company may use cookies to collect the following information:

To remember your Journalist User or user name and login information on a given device;
To track various analytics (such as Google Analytics and Twitter Analytics) to help us improve and understand how people use the Service; and
To remember information about your browser and your preferences.

The Company may use both persistent and session cookies; persistent cookies remain on your computer after you close your session and until you delete them, while session cookies expire when you close your browser. We do not set any third-party tracking cookies for items such as advertisement delivery.

Information you provide us by registering for a Journalist User account:

In addition to the information provided automatically by your browser when you visit the Site, to become a Journalist Subscriber to the Service you will need to create a personal profile. You can create a profile by registering with the Service and entering your email address, and creating a Journalist User name and a password. By registering, you are authorizing us to collect, store and use your email address in accordance with this Privacy Policy and Washington law.

Information you provide us by using the Service:

You have the ability to post information through the Service, such as feedback or other comments and opinions. Please be advised that any personal information that you voluntarily post to any public forum or to any area where third parties may legally access it, will NOT be considered confidential in any way, and the Company will not have any obligation to protect it in a secured system or obtain your consent to its disclosure, as you will have made the decision to publicly post it. However, at your request, we will be happy to change it, remove it, or restrict access to it (subject to technical feasibility) in order to protect the integrity of the Personal Information.

We may also collect individual user information you provide to us offline. When you contact us offline, you will be asked to provide consent to the collection of Personal Information if your Personal Information will help us deliver the information, products, or services you require.

Personal information:

Except as otherwise stated in this Privacy Policy, we do not sell, trade, rent or otherwise share for marketing or other purposes your Personal Information with third parties without your consent. We are not in the business of selling your information to media databases or others who are interested in press contact or other information. We do share some Personal Information such as your email address with vendors who are performing services for the Company, such as the servers for our email communications who are provided access to users’ email address for purposes of sending emails from us. Those vendors use your Personal Information only at our direction and in accordance with our Privacy Policy.

In general, the Personal Information you provide to us is used to help us communicate with you. For example, we use Personal Information to solicit feedback from users, provide technical support, and inform users about promotional offers including messages from advertisers and publicists. We will also use the personally identifiable information directly submitted by you for the purpose which you have provided it, for example, to respond for a request for information or answer questions you might have about the Service. We provide your information to third parties only for the purposes to which you have consented, and we require such third parties to keep your information confidential.

Non-Personal information:

In general, we use Non-Personal Information to help us improve the Service and customize the user experience. We also aggregate Non-Personal Information in order to track trends and analyze use patterns on the Site. This Privacy Policy does not limit in any way our use or disclosure of Non-Personal Information and we reserve the right to use and disclose such Non-Personal Information to our partners, advertisers and other third parties at our discretion; except that any use and disclosure will be in aggregate form of many users and in such form confidential news sources cannot be identified, so that the Non-Personal Information as to each individual should still be protected for purposes of Washington’s Shield Law .

As a general rule, we will not disclose any of your personally identifiable information except under the following circumstances: we have your permission; we determine in good faith that it is legally required to be revealed by any relevant statute, regulation, ordinance, rule, administrative or court order, decree, or subpoena; information revealed during the course of the Company’s enforcement of the policies and procedures of the Site [or mobile application]; information that we determine must be disclosed to correct what we believe to be false or misleading information or to address activities that we believe to be manipulative, deceptive or otherwise a violation of law; where you are otherwise notified at the time we collect the data; where we need to share your information to provide the product or service you have requested; when disclosed to an affiliate of the Company or when such disclosure is made subject to confidentiality restrictions in connection with a sale, merger, transfer, exchange, or other disposition (whether of assets, stock, or otherwise) of all or a portion of the business conducted by the Site to which the Company privacy policy applies. We may share the non-personally identifiable information that the Company gathers, in aggregate form only, with advertisers and other partners.

In the event we undergo a business transaction such as a merger, acquisition by another company, or sale of all or a portion of our assets, your Personal Information may be among the assets transferred. You acknowledge and consent that such transfers may occur and are permitted by this Privacy Policy, and that any acquirer of our assets may continue to process your Personal Information as set forth in this Privacy Policy. If our information practices change at any time in the future, we will post the policy changes to the Site so that you may opt out of the new information practices. We suggest that you check the Site periodically if you are concerned about how your information is used.

How We Protect Information

We implement security measures designed to protect your information from unauthorized access. Your account is protected by your account password and we urge you to take steps to keep your Personal Information safe by not disclosing your password and by logging out of your account after each use. We further protect your information from potential security breaches by implementing certain technological security measures including encryption and firewalls. However, these measures do not guarantee that your information will not be accessed, disclosed, altered or destroyed by breach of such firewalls and secure server software. By using our Service, you acknowledge that you understand and agree to assume these risks.

Your Rights Regarding the Use of Your Personal Information

You have the right at any time to prevent us from contacting you for marketing purposes. When we send a promotional communication to a user, the user can opt out of further promotional communications by following the unsubscribe instructions provided in each promotional e-mail. You can also indicate that you do not wish to receive marketing communications from us in the “Settings” section of the Site. Please note that notwithstanding the promotional preferences you indicate by either unsubscribing or opting out in the Settings section of the Site, we may continue to send you administrative emails including, for example, periodic updates to our Privacy Policy.

A situation may arise where you desire to have all of your Personal Information that is contained in the Company’s records deleted or destroyed. If this is what you wish, please contact our Privacy Officer, who will take care of removing your Personal Information from all of the Company’s records. However, there may be situations where we are obligated to retain one archival copy of your information to allow us to comply with laws or respond to legal processes. We will inform you of all such situations, and will only use your retained Personal Information to the limited extent necessary to comply with such laws or respond to legal processes.

Links to Other Websites

As part of the Service, we may provide links to or compatibility with other websites or applications. However, we are not responsible for the privacy practices employed by those websites or the information or content they contain. This Privacy Policy applies solely to information collected by us through the Site and the Service. Therefore, this Privacy Policy does not apply to your use of a third party website accessed by selecting a link on our Site or via our Service. To the extent that you access or use the Service through or on another website or application, then the privacy policy of that other website or application will apply to your access or use of that site or application. We encourage our users to read the privacy statements of other websites before proceeding to use them.

Children’s Policy

The Company does not knowingly collect personally identifiable information from children under 13. In the event that we learn that we have collected any Personal Information from a child under the age of 13 without verification of parental consent, we will delete that information from our database.

International Usage

If you are located outside of the United States, please note that the information you provide to us will be transferred to the United States and subject to the laws of the United States and Washington State. By using this Service, you consent to this transfer.

Changes to Our Privacy Policy

The Company reserves the right to change this policy and our Terms of Service at any time. If you are a registered user of the Service, we will notify you of significant changes to our Privacy Policy by sending a notice to the primary email address specified in your account or by placing a prominent notice on our site. Significant changes will go into effect 30 days following such notification. Non-material changes or clarifications will take effect immediately. If you are not a registered Journalist User, you should periodically check the Site and this privacy page for updates.

Contact Us

If you have any questions regarding this Privacy Policy or the practices of this Site, please contact our Privacy Officer by sending an email to info@sqoop.com.

Last Updated: August 4, 2016