Privacy Policy

You have legitimate concerns about privacy and therefore we expressly describe all processing of personal data done by us. We want you to understand what limited information we collect and what may happen to that information when you use HotBot (gethotbot.com or www.hotbot.com).

This document (hereinafter, the “Privacy Policy” or “Policy”) explains the privacy rules applicable to all information collected or submitted when you access, install or use HotBot at gethotbot.com.

Customer data security is a priority for us. We process only minimal user data – only as much as is absolutely necessary to maintain and offer our services.

By visiting the HotBot website, also by accessing or using HotBot Search services you confirm that you have read and agree to be bound by this Privacy Policy and that you enter into a legally binding relationship with HotBot, a Canadian Corporation (hereinafter, "HotBot", "we" or "us"). The data controller of your personal data, as described in this Privacy Policy, is HotBot.

This policy applies to information we collect:

  • When you use or interact with our services
  • In your emails, texts and other electronic messages with us.
  • Through our mobile and desktop websites and applications.

Please read this Policy carefully to understand our policies and practices regarding your information, how we use it and how we will treat it. If you disagree with the rules of this Policy, please do not use HotBot services. If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy or your privacy, please contact us here.

Data Collected

From Visitors

  • We collect and store in server logs Device Identified Information, including but not limited to browser type, anonymized IP address, operating system, the date and time of visits, the pages visited on the site, time spent viewing the site, and return visits to the site.
  • We use Google Analytics, a service that records Device Identified Information such as the referral web domain, type of operating system/browser used, date and time of visit, and other information relating to activities on our website to understand its usage better, analyze trends, and optimize the website experience.
  • If Visitors provide us their Personally Identified Information such as contact information to submit a question, comment or complaint. Please note, you may choose not to disclose any Personally Identified Information to the NAI when submitting a question, comment, or complaint. However, we may be unable to respond or take appropriate action if some information is incomplete.

Email address

We may ask for your email address to communicate with you via contact forms.

Device Information

We collect information from your devices (computers, mobile phones, tablets, etc.), including information about how you interact with our Services and those of our third-party partners and information that allows us to recognize and associate your activity across devices and Services. This information includes device specific identifiers and information such as IP address, cookie information, mobile device and advertising identifiers, browser version, operating system type and version, mobile network information, device settings, and software data. We may recognize your devices to provide you with personalized experiences and advertising across the devices you use.

Location Information

We collect location information from a variety of sources. You can learn more about and manage your location permissions by visiting the location settings tool on your devices.

Server load information

We monitor all server performance in order to recommend the most suitable servers to our customers.

Customer service information

HotBot stores inquiries and communications with users through the Contact Us form and Customer Service software used. This data includes email addresses and other information you provide.

Processing of your data

HotBot processes user data only to a very limited scope – as much as it is absolutely required for provision of HotBot services and functioning of the HotBot website and mobile applications.

Personal data is processed by HotBot automatically and manually. Unless expressly noted otherwise, HotBot or a designated subsidiary in your country shall act as the responsible personal data controller for any data processed. HotBot uses third-party data processors only for customer service, marketing and basic website and app analytics.

Targeted Advertising

We may partner with third party advertising networks that collect unique device identifiers (UDIDs), anonymized IP addresses,  browser type, operating system, time zone, country, referring pages, and other information through the use of cookies, and pixel tags on Hotbot websites, apps, emails and on third party websites and emails.

We use this information to provide you with advertisements that are customized to your preferences, including for companies that are not affiliated with us. You may see these advertisements on Hotbot Websites and third party apps and websites, across different devices you use. We may use this process to help us manage and improve the effectiveness of our marketing efforts. If you would like to learn more about the third party advertisers that may be aware of the fact you visit HotBot websites or use our apps, and to understand your opt-out choices, please visit the website of the National Advertising Initiative. Please note this does not opt you out of being served advertising. You may still receive generic ads.

Please understand that Hotbot does not control third party cookies, and you should check the privacy policies of third party advertising networks to see whether and how they use cookies.

Data of underage persons

Persons younger than 13 shall not use HotBot services and provide any personal data to us without the supervision of parents or guardians. Based on the above, it is presumed that any person using HotBot services and supplying personal data to us is at least 13 years of age. If a person younger than 13 years of age or a person supplying wrongful data become known to HotBot, such person and all their data may be immediately and without any notice withdrawn by suspending their access to HotBot services. ​

If you’re a parent or legal guardian, and you allow your child to use the services on Hotbot.com, then these terms apply to you and you’re responsible for your child’s activities.

Grounds for data processing

Your personal data is processed for the purpose of providing you the best HotBot service under the legal basis of performance of the contract between you and HotBot, as provided in our Terms of Service. HotBot may process your personal data (email address) for direct marketing purposes in the following cases: when we obtain your consent to such processing (the legal basis for processing, in this case, is your consent) or when applicable law permits us to contact you without a separate consent (under the legal basis of a legitimate interest).

Hotbot may share your data with third-parties and partners as outlined in this policy.

Sharing Your Personal Data

We will not share your personal data with any third-parties except as expressed in this Privacy Policy.

Service providers. We use third-party service providers to help us with various platform operations, such as payments, automation of emails, Websites and app diagnostics, analytics, and others. As a result, some of our service providers may process personal data.

Some of our main service provider include:

  • Live chat and customer service platform, e.g., Zendesk (provided by Zendesk Inc.)
  • Marketing, application analytics and diagnostics, e.g., Google Analytics, Google Ads (provided by Google)
  • Some of our products and Services may include advertisements from Microsoft. To learn more about information collected by Microsoft, please click here. You can opt-out of Microsoft’s personalized advertising services by following the instructions found here.

HotBot partners

Sometimes our partners will be independent data controllers of your personal data. In such cases, the policies established by them (e.g., terms of service and privacy policies) will apply to those relationships. In other cases we may work with partners as joint controllers, which means that we jointly define the purpose and means of data processing with them. Both joint controllers are then responsible for the data processing and its compliance with applicable privacy laws.

Our search partner is Microsoft Bing and users should also refer to the Microsoft Privacy Statement for more information.

We also partner with third parties to display advertising on our Websites or to manage our advertising on other sites, including social media. These ad partners help us deliver more relevant advertisements and promotional messages to you, which may include behavioral, contextual, and generic advertising. We and our advertising partners may process certain personal data to help us understand your preferences so that we can deliver advertisements that are more relevant to you.

Your personal data may be processed in any country in which we engage service providers and partners. When you use our Services and Websites, you understand and acknowledge that your personal data may be transferred outside of the country where you reside.

Your personal data protection rights

You may request us to inform you about the personal data that we have collected about you, to request any changes or correction of inaccurate information, to object to certain processing of personal data (e.g. for marketing purposes), to provide you with a copy of your personal data in a structured, commonly used and machine-readable format, to transmit (if technically feasible) your personal data to another controller, or to erase your personal data. You also may request to restrict the processing of your personal data (if required by a law in your jurisdiction such as the General Data Protection Regulation (the “GDPR”)), the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) or others.

Please note that we do not log users’ browsing history, traffic information, or IP addresses used to access the internet via our services. This means that we are not able to link IP addresses to an individual user or otherwise individual users. Therefore, even if we were to receive a rightfully served request, it might be impossible for us to identify a specific person or provide any identifying information related to that person. In cases where, following an appropriate legal process, we are obligated to comply with a request and we are able to identify a specific person, we will provide the limited data we process as per our Privacy Policy given it falls within the scope of the request.

In cases where your personal data is processed on a separate consent basis, you have the right at any time to withdraw your consent to the processing of your personal data by contacting us here. If you disagree with your data processing by HotBot, you are free not to use the HotBot Service, and to discontinue using it at any time.

If requests to see said personal data are made more than once per three month period and the minimum amount as required under the GDPR, CCPA or other statute, then we can refuse or charge you a reasonable fee for compliance. In complying with the foregoing, we may request proof of your identity. We will take no longer than 30 days, the maximum amount of time allowed under the GDPR to provide this data to you. We never collect any biometric data (as defined in the GDPR), under any circumstances.

Opt-out

If you wish to unsubscribe from our communication, you can opt out at any time by clicking the “unsubscribe” link at the bottom of each email or contacting us here.

You can control the use of cookies at the individual browser level on your device. To disable cookies, follow your browser’s instructions on how to block or clear cookies.

You may request us to discontinue processing of your personal data, in which case your data will be processed only as much as it is necessary to effect the discontinuation of your use of HotBot services (e.g., final settlement, or deleting all personal data based on your email address), or finalizing HotBot’s legal relationship with you (e.g. accounting, invoicing, processing refunds). Due to technical reasons (such as backup copies of the databases) your personal data may be finally deleted only within 60 days or longer if it is mandated by statutory requirements. If you wish to use HotBot services again, you will have to accept and agree to this Privacy Policy anew.

To raise any other questions, concerns, or complaints about our privacy practices or about our processing of your personal data, please contact us as provided on our website.

Term for storing data

HotBot will retain your Personal Data only for as long as is necessary for the purposes set out in this Privacy Policy. We will retain and use your Personal Data to the extent necessary to comply with our legal obligations (for example, if we are required to retain your data to comply with applicable laws), resolve disputes and enforce our legal agreements and policies.

HotBot will also retain Usage Data for internal analysis purposes. Usage Data is generally retained for a shorter period of time, except when this data is used to strengthen the security or to improve the functionality of our Service, or we are legally obligated to retain this data for longer periods.

HotBot stores limited personal data for the whole period during which HotBot services are used and for no longer than necessary and in no case more than 2 years after last use of the app and/or the services.You may contact us at any time and request that you be provided with a detailed list of the personal data that has been collected for you.

Cookies

Please view our Cookie Policy in its entirety here.

Other Terms

If the data is processed by a designated subsidiary, agent, or supplier in your country, then the domestic law of your country may be applicable at our discretion. HotBot would like to remind you that you are responsible for the security of your data. We ask you to be careful when using and storing personal data containing files on your devices, as well as when using the devices themselves. Please ensure that nobody accesses and uses your devices without your consent.You shall be extra careful to not disclose your personal information to unrelated third-parties, since such information may be used in different ways and against your interests, including activities such as fraud, invasion of privacy, identity theft, etc.In order to ensure security of personal data, HotBot employs various administrative, technical and physical security measures. However, it is your responsibility to exercise caution and reason when using HotBot services. You will be personally responsible if such action violates any third-party’s privacy or any other rights, or any applicable law. Under no circumstances will HotBot be liable for the consequences of your unlawful activities, your willful and negligent activities violating applicable laws or third-party rights, as well as any circumstances, which may not have been reasonably controlled or foreseen.

Disclosure for Law Enforcement

Under certain circumstances, HotBot may be required to disclose your Personal Data if required to do so by law or in response to valid requests by public authorities (e.g. a court or a government agency).

Legal Requirements

HotBot may disclose your Personal Data in the good faith belief that such action is necessary to:

  • To comply with a legal obligation
  • To protect and defend the rights or property of HotBot
  • To prevent or investigate possible wrongdoing in connection with the Service
  • To protect the personal safety of users of the Service or the public
  • To protect against legal liability

Links to Other Sites

Our Service may contain links to other sites that are not operated by us. If you click a third party link, you will be directed to that third party's site. We strongly advise you to review the Privacy Policy of every site you visit.

We have no control over and assume no responsibility for the content, privacy policies or practices of any third party sites or services.

Service Providers

We may employ third party companies and individuals to facilitate our Service ("Service Providers"), provide the Service on our behalf, perform Service-related services or assist us in analyzing how our Service is used.

These third parties have access to your Personal Data only to perform these tasks on our behalf and are obligated not to disclose or use it for any other purpose.

Analytics

We may use third-party Service Providers to monitor and analyze the use of our Service.

  • Google Analytics
    Google Analytics is a web analytics service offered by Google that tracks and reports website traffic. Note we anonymize IP addresses so they are not sent to Google. Google uses the data collected to track and monitor the use of our Service. This data is shared with other Google services. Google may use the collected data to contextualize and personalize the ads of its own advertising network.
    You can opt-out of having made your activity on the Service available to Google Analytics by installing the Google Analytics opt-out browser add-on. The add-on prevents the Google Analytics JavaScript (ga.js, analytics.js and dc.js) from sharing information with Google Analytics about visits activity.
    For more information on the privacy practices of Google, please visit the Google Privacy & Terms web page: https://policies.google.com/privacy?hl=en

Advertising

We may use third-party Service Providers to show advertisements to you to help support and maintain our Service.

  • Google AdSense & DoubleClick Cookie
    Google, as a third party vendor, uses cookies to serve ads on our Service. Google's use of the DoubleClick cookie enables it and its partners to serve ads to our users based on their visit to our Service or other websites on the Internet.
    You may opt out of the use of the DoubleClick Cookie for interest-based advertising by visiting the Google Ads Settings web page: http://www.google.com/ads/preferences/

Updates to the Privacy Policy.

We develop our Services and Websites introducing new features or modifying current ones constantly. Therefore, we may need to amend the Privacy Policy from time to time. If the amendments to the Privacy Policy materially affect the activities of our processing of your personal data, we will notify you in advance of such changes by reasonable means (e.g., notification through the respective applications, our Websites, or via email), and we will always indicate the date of the last update. Unless it is stated by us otherwise, each update of the Privacy Policy comes into force as of the moment when the amended Privacy Policy is published on this Website. You are expected to check this Privacy Policy regularly so that you are familiar with the most current wording of the Privacy Policy. Your continued use of the Services and Websites will be deemed acceptance thereof.

Contact Information

If you have any questions or concerns about this Policy or would like to submit a request please contact us here or via mail to our office:

HotBot Limited
1785 Turner Rd
Suite 104
Windsor, Ontario
N8W 3J9
Canada