Samsung Mobile Ads Privacy Notice
Effective Date: January 7, 2020
Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. and its affiliates (collectively, “Samsung” or “we”) respect your concerns about privacy. This Privacy Notice applies to the personal information we collect use, disclose, transfer and store in the course of providing the Samsung Mobile Ads service (the “Service”).
This Privacy Notice should be read in conjunction with the Samsung Privacy Policy, which also applies to the information collected by the Service, and can be found at https://www.samsung.com/ca/info/privacy/.
In this Privacy Notice, we describe the Service, the types of information used to provide the Service, how we use the information, with whom we share the information, and the choices available to you regarding our use of the information. We also describe the measures we take to safeguard your personal information and tell you how to contact us about our privacy practices or exercise your rights.
By accepting the terms of this Privacy Notice, you consent to the collection, use, and disclosure of your personal information in the manner described and for the purposes set forth in this Privacy Notice.
What is the Service?
We endeavour to provide you with useful, interactive, and interest-based advertisements about products and services offered by Samsung and third parties (such as Samsung advertising partners).
How does the Service Work?
The Service provides advertisements based on your interests on Samsung and third party devices, websites and applications by collecting and analyzing information related to your use of your Samsung mobile device, including information gathered from the Customization Services option if you have enabled it, and combining that information with data from other sources.
How does Samsung collect, use and disclose the information needed to provide the Service?
1. Information is collected from your Samsung mobile device
The Service will collect certain information from your Samsung mobile device such as its make and model, IP address and Advertising ID.
The Advertising ID is a unique randomly generated number that identifies your Samsung mobile device, and that you may reset at
any time as we explain further in the section “Your Choices”, below.
If you have enabled the Customization Service option on your Samsung mobile device and the setting that permits Customization
Service data to be used for advertising, the Service will also use the data collected by the Customization Service
(e.g., general types of behaviors and preferences).
2. Information collected from your Samsung mobile device is received and analyzed by Samsung
In order to provide the Service, Samsung receives, stores and processes the information collected through your Samsung mobile device.
By analyzing the data received over time, Samsung’s system learns about what interests you and is able to recommend advertisements
that respond to those interests.
3. Information received from third party data sources is combined with Samsung mobile device data
Provided through your acceptance of this Privacy Notice and where permitted by law, in order to refine its understanding of your interests,
Samsung receives, stores and processes generalized geolocation data based on your IP address (“Geo-IP”), as well as behavioural and
demographic data, from third party data sources with whom you have agreed to share your information. Samsung Ads combines this
information with the information collected from your Samsung mobile device, and uses this information to provide advertisements that
may be of interest to you.
4. The Service exchanges information with advertising service providers with whom you have agreed to share your information
The Service is connected to several service providers that manage advertisements and advertising space made available on websites,
in apps, and in streamed audio and video content.
Advertising Space Service Providers
The Service receives requests from service providers to fill webpage, app, or content advertising space available. The Service matches
these requests with the interests that the Service has associated with, advertising IDs, or IP addresses in its own database. When the
Service finds a suitable match, it sends the service provider a response containing an advertisement than can then be sent onward to
the webpage, app, or content being displayed on the applicable device. For additional information, please see the sections below
entitled “Information We Obtain and Use” and “Information We Disclose”.
Interest-Based Advertisement Service Providers
Samsung endeavours to provide you with advertisements that may be of interest to you from its own advertising partners. However,
we recognize that there may be products and services of interest to you whose advertisements are provided by third parties. In order
to make these interest-based advertisements available to you, Samsung exchanges information with interest-based advertisement
service providers. When we do so, we supply information to the service provider such as the make and model of your device, its
IP address, advertising ID, and the application in which the advertisement will be shown.
5. The Service receives information from viewability and verification services, and discloses summary reports of that information to
advertisers
At the request of its advertising partners, Samsung may work with one or more third party service providers to verify that an advertisement was displayed. For each advertising campaign, the Service provides an anonymized statistical report summarizing such data to the applicable advertising partner.
Information We Obtain and Use
Below, we list the information we may obtain and use in the course of providing the Service, and the sources of such information:
From Samsung mobile devices
- device identifiers and device settings information (such as device manufacturer, model, OS version, IP address, Advertising IDs, device
connection status, language, carrier); - device usage and log information (such as types of installed apps and app usage statistics);
- for Customization Service users who have opted in to receive interest-based advertisements, the data collected by the
Customization Service (e.g., general types of behaviors and preferences).
From third party service providers with whom you have agreed to share your information (as and where permitted by law)
- Behavioral and Demographic Information about you or your devices, such as your generalized location;
- Information sent from the device requesting an advertisement, including IP Address, Geo-IP data, Advertising ID,
referrer URL, and the URL of page or name of app where ad is to be shown; - Information indicating the viewability of the ads served through the Service.
We also may collect other information about you, your devices and apps in ways that we describe to you at the time of collection or otherwise with your consent as permitted by applicable law.
Information We Disclose
In the course of providing the Service, when we interact with interest-based advertisement service providers we disclose information about your device, including device identifiers and device settings information (such as device manufacturer, model, OS version, IP address, Advertising IDs, device connection status, language, carrier), and name of the app where the ad is to be shown. When we interact with advertising space service providers to fulfil advertising requests, we disclose the URL for the advertisement and the URL for the advertiser’s website (the user will be directed to the URL if the user clicks on the advertisement) to the service providers, content providers and the devices receiving such advertisements.
Other ways we use the information we obtain
In addition to providing you with the Service, we may use the information we obtain through the Service to:
- improve and customize your experience with the Service;
- respond to your requests and enquiries;
- operate, evaluate, and improve our business (including developing new products; enhancing and improving our products and the services;
managing our communications; analyzing our products, customer base and services; conducting market research; performing data analytics;
and performing accounting, auditing and other internal functions); - protect against, identify, and prevent fraud and other criminal activity, claims, and other liabilities; and
- comply with and enforce applicable legal requirements, relevant industry standards, and our policies, including this Privacy Notice and
the Samsung Privacy Policy.
Information collected through the Service, including information collected from your device, may be disclosed to Samsung subsidiaries and affiliates in North America, Korea and other jurisdictions in order to provide the Service or for one or more of the other purposes listed above.
We also may use the information detailed in the section “Information We Obtain and Use” in other ways for which we provide specific notice at the time of collection or otherwise with your consent.
Information Sharing
We do not share personal information collected about you through the Service except as described in this Privacy Notice and the Samsung Privacy Policy. As explained in this Privacy Notice, we may share your personal information with our subsidiaries and affiliates, and we may share your personal information with trusted third-party service providers who perform services for us. We do not authorize our service providers to use or disclose the information except as necessary to perform services on our behalf and to comply with legal requirements.
Samsung, our subsidiaries and affiliates, and our third-party service providers may also disclose information about you (1) if we are required to do so by law or legal process (such as a court order or subpoena); (2) in response to requests by government agencies, such as law enforcement authorities; (3) to establish, exercise, or defend our legal rights; (4) when we believe disclosure is necessary or appropriate to prevent physical or other harm; (5) in connection with an investigation of suspected or actual illegal activity; (6) in the event we sell or transfer all or a portion of our business or assets (including in the event of a merger, acquisition, reorganization, dissolution or liquidation); or (7) otherwise with your consent.
Third Parties we receive information from and share information with
Please refer to the Samsung Privacy Policy, referenced above, for more information concerning third parties we receive and share information with.
Retention of Personal Information
Subject to the requirements of applicable law and criteria such as applicable rules on statute of limitations, personal information will be retained only for so long as reasonably necessary for the purposes set out in this Privacy Notice, and for at least the duration of your use of the Service.
Your Choices
We offer you certain choices in connection with the personal information we obtain about you, which may vary depending on the type of device you have and the wireless carrier you use.
How to Opt Out of Receiving Interest-Based Advertisements from the Service
You can opt out of receiving interest-based advertisements from the Service by selecting the “Opt out of Ads Personalization” option on your Samsung mobile device at Settings > Google > Ads.
Please note that the Advertising ID is a feature provided by Google as part of the Android operating system. When the Advertising ID setting is enabled, both the Service and third party apps may access and use the Advertising ID. Disabling the Advertising ID will affect both the Service and third party apps that use it. If you re-enable the Advertising ID for another purpose, such as receiving customized advertising through a third party app that makes use of the Advertising ID, the Service will again provide you with interest-based advertisements.
Customization Service
If you are a Customization Service user, you can opt out of the Service’s use of your Customization Service data by navigating on your Samsung mobile device to Settings > Cloud and accounts > Accounts > Samsung account > Privacy > Customization Service > Customized ads and direct marketing.
Please note that this action will change the Customization Service’s settings for all devices registered to your Samsung Account.
Please also note that if you disable the Customization Service but leave enabled the Advertising ID, the Service will continue to provide interest-based advertisements, but without the benefit of the data supplied by the Customization Service.
How to Reset your Advertising IDs
You can reset your Advertising ID by tapping on “Reset Advertising ID” on your Samsung mobile device at Settings > Google > Ads.
If you reset the Advertising ID on your Samsung mobile device, any data collected and associated with your previous Advertising ID will no longer be used by the Service to deliver interest-based advertisements to you. Please note that if you reset your Advertising ID, it may take some time for our systems to update your information due to technical reasons. Please also note that resetting your Advertising ID will not stop the delivery of interest-based advertisements to your Samsung mobile device. To opt out of receiving interest-based advertisements on your Samsung mobile device, please adjust the settings on your device as described in the “How to Opt Out of Receiving Interest-Based Advertisements from the Service” section of this Privacy Notice.
If you opt out of receiving interest-based advertisements, the Service will no longer use the information specified in this Privacy Notice to deliver interest-based advertisements to you. Please note, however, that opting out of interest-based advertisements provided by the Service will not prevent the delivery of generic advertisements from Samsung, and may not prevent tailored advertisements provided by other third party services. Similarly, if you have agreed to interest based advertising through a different Samsung device or service, please visit the settings menu on the applicable Samsung device or service for information on how to opt out of such advertisements, where such advertisements are not a condition of service.
How We Protect Personal Information
We maintain reasonable administrative, technical, and physical safeguards designed to protect the personal information we obtain through the Service against accidental, unlawful or unauthorized destruction, interference, loss, alteration, access, disclosure, or use.
Updates to our Privacy Notice
This Privacy Notice may be updated periodically to reflect changes in our personal information practices with respect to the Service, or changes in applicable law. As such it is important that you check back often for updates to this Privacy Notice. We will indicate at the top of this Privacy Notice when it was most recently updated and notify you and/or obtain consent when required by law.
How to Contact Us
If you have specific questions or information requests about Samsung Ads, please contact us by sending an email to ads.support@samsung.com.