ABOUT US

We are Groundspeak, Inc. (“Groundspeak”), the owner and operator of the following websites and mobile applications:

In addition, we work with developers (“Authorized Developers”) who create geocaching-related websites and applications that connect with our services using our software interface, known as an application programming interface or API.

For the purpose of this privacy policy, we refer to the above as our “services”. References in this privacy policy to “we”, “us,” or “our” are references to Groundspeak.

ABOUT THIS PRIVACY POLICY

When you use our services, we process your personal information. This privacy policy explains the ways that we process your personal information and our reasons for doing so. It is divided into sections to make it easier to read.

While we are based in the United States, we recognize that people in many different countries also use our services. Privacy laws vary depending on your location. As the majority of people who use our services are in the U.S. and Europe, we have based our privacy policy on U.S. law and the European Economic Area’s (EEA) privacy law, known as the General Data Protection Regulation (“GDPR”). When processing personal data (also “personal information” or “information” or “data”), we act as the controller within the meaning of GDPR.

CATEGORIES OF PERSONAL INFORMATION

We process the following categories of personal information about you in connection with our services.

Account and identity information Any information about you that we use to identify you in connection with your account and our services, such as your name, email address(es), passwords, and other identification information, e.g. your user ID for the account through which you are accessing our services.
Activity information Any information relating to your game-related activities on our services, such as your finds and related logs (including uploaded photos), hides, favorite points (awarded and received), trackable logs and ownership, game statistics, standing compared to other users on a leaderboard, the Adventures you own and have played, as well as the ratings and reviews you’ve added, and the date and time that you finished the various stages of an Adventure or logged a particular geocache or trackable item.
Browsing informationAny information on your browsing behavior while using our services, such as your IP address, time and date of access, and use of our services.
Community informationAny information you provide to us when interacting with our community, including, but not limited to, any content you post publicly when you use the public features of our services, such as when you participate in the discussion forums or when you write a note to another user on their cache page.
Contact informationAny information that can be used to communicate with you, including, but not limited to, your name, email address, and other contact details you provide, such as your phone number and address.
CorrespondenceAny information you provide to us through correspondence with us (e.g., by email or via our Help Center), such as any opinions you share with us, any survey responses, your comments and questions, and your feedback.
Device informationAny information related to your mobile phone or GPS device, including, but not limited to, the unique identifier for your device, such as UUIDs, mobile ad IDs, Apple and Android IDs, analytics app instance IDs, and install IDs, your device type, device specifications, and crash data, including crash traces and breakpad minidump formatted data, your IP network state (online/offline), which version of our applications you’re using, the name of the application you’re using if you’re using an application provided by one of the Authorized Developers, and whether or not you have enabled an Android developer option that enables override of your phone’s GPS coordinates.
Job application informationAny information you provide to us if you apply for a job with us, including information in your resume or application form.
Location informationAny information that allows us to determine or approximate your location. We may be able to determine your general location based on the IP address you use to access our services. We may also be able to detect, based on your mobile device settings, if you have enabled a feature that allows you to override your device’s GPS coordinates with mocked coordinates. We also collect your search data, including the latitude and longitude of any location-based search you perform either intentionally or via the automatic search of your current location that is performed when you open our applications. Additionally, in your account Settings, you have the option to add your general location to your public profile (allowing you to notify other users of where you are based), as well as a “Home Location” in your non-public-facing profile (allowing us to show you events and geocaches near you). While our applications do access your precise location while you are using them in order to enable your use of them, we do not store that information or process it for any additional purposes.
Membership informationAny information regarding your active membership, including whether you are Basic or Premium, the date you joined and last visited the site, and whether your account is validated.
MessagingMessages you send to or receive from other users through our Message Center.
Other account informationAny information, such as email address, name, and profile photo, that we need to collect in order to link your account to a third-party account (e.g. Apple, Facebook, Google) when you choose to link your account with us to that third-party account for log-in or if you decide to share your game activity directly to social media via a link we’ve provided through our services.
Preference informationAny information that indicates your preferences when using our services, whether provided by you or inferred by us. Such information includes, but is not limited to, information about how much time you spend on which pages, which links you choose to click, as well as files, listings, and content that you access, information about the pages you request, information that helps us better understand our visitors’ experience on our services in general, and your user experience, e.g. what you do and don’t like about our services.
Profile informationAny information that you provide to us in your profile such as your location, profile photo, cover photo, photo gallery and any other photo uploads, “about me” information, and Geocaching discussion forum title and signature.
Promotion informationAny information you provide when you participate in a promotion, such as a trackable giveaway. This information includes your contact information, username, and may include your age and answers to questions provided by us or the promotion sponsor.
Purchase informationAny information we use to complete a transaction with you to purchase a Premium membership or on Shop.Geocaching.com, including, but not limited to, your contact information, your shipping and billing address, the product you purchased, price, and payment method.
Review submissionsAny information used to assess whether your geocache meets the geocache hiding guidelines, such as your unpublished geocache page, correspondence with the community volunteer reviewers, your username, and any other content you include in your submission.

USE OF PERSONAL INFORMATION

The purposes for which we process your personal information are below, along with our legal bases for processing as required by GDPR. (See Article 6(1)(a)-(f) of GDPR if you’d like to know more about the specific legal bases for processing.)

How do we use your personal information? What categories of personal information do we use? What is our legal basis for using your personal information?
To provide our services to you and to administer your account with us.
  • Account and identity information
  • Membership information
  • Profile information
  • Location information
  • Activity information
  • Other account information
 Performance of a contract with you, e.g.:
  • providing you with the correct membership level
  • administering our services
Pursuing our legitimate interests in:
  • making our services available to you
  • providing you with all features that you have requested
  • providing a more compelling game experience
To complete your purchase transactions, including authorizing, processing, and tracking payments through our service providers’ secure credit card and payment processing gateways.
  • Account and identity information
  • Contact information
  • Correspondence
  • Purchase information
 Performance of a contract with you, e.g.:
  • facilitating secure payment
  • providing you with the correct membership level
  • communicating with you about the status of your purchases
  • administering our services
To enable your Premium membership status and follow up with you in connection with your membership.
  • Account and identity information
  • Membership information
  • Contact information
  • Correspondence
Performance of a contract with you, e.g.:
  • providing you with the correct membership level
  • administering our services
  • providing you with non-marketing commercial communications relating to your Premium membership
Pursuing our legitimate interest in providing you with marketing communications relating to your Premium memberships, such as telling you about our services, products, or offers, if you have requested to receive these communications. Your consent, if requested and provided.
To allow you to communicate through any of our communications services.
  • Account and identity information
  • Membership information
  • Contact information
  • Messaging
 Performance of a contract with you by enabling you to send or receive messages through our communications services.
For our own internal business purposes related to our services and operations, including market research, website and mobile application optimization, to improve our products and services, for record-keeping, as evidence in connection with a potential legal issue, back-ups, and data storage.  
  • Account and identity information
  • Membership information
  • Profile information
  • Location information
  • Correspondence
  • Purchase information
  • Activity information
  • Community information
  • Preference information
  • Device information
  • Browsing information
 Pursuing our legitimate interest in:
  • improving our services
  • developing our business
  • maintaining our business records
  • ensuring that our services are secure and functioning properly
  • efficiently handling our business processes
Your consent, if requested and provided.
To enable Authorized Developers to provide related websites and applications that extend and enhance your experience of the game and our services.
  • Profile information
  • Activity information
  • Device information, specifically the name of the application you’re using if you’re using an application provided by one of the Authorized Developers and which version of the application you’re using.
Location information 		Pursuing our legitimate interest and those of our Authorized Developers to create websites and applications that extend your experience of the games and services beyond what we are able to provide. Your consent, if requested and provided.
To communicate with you about things we think might interest you such as our products and services and location-based entertainment-related activities.
  • Account and identity information
  • Membership information
  • Profile information
  • Contact information
  • Location information
  • Correspondence
  • Purchase information
  • Preference information
 Pursuing our legitimate interest in providing you with marketing communications, including telling you about our services, products, or offers relating to your membership or our services, if you have opted to receive these communications. Your consent, if requested and provided.
To verify your identity
  • Account and identity information
  • Other account information
Performance of a contract with you, e.g. authenticating your identity. Pursuing our legitimate interest in ensuring that our services are secure and only used by authenticated and authorized users.
To provide customer service and review issues with your account or your use of our services.
  • Account and identity information
  • Membership information
  • Contact information
  • Correspondence
  • Device information
 Performance of a contract with you, e.g.:
  • providing you with non-marketing commercial communications relating to your membership or our services that you use
  • answering questions that you have specifically directed to us, e.g. support queries or questions relating to your membership or our services
To allow you to share your experiences using our services with others.
  • Account and identity information
  • Membership information
  • Profile information
  • Location information
  • Activity information
  • Community information
  • Other account information
 Pursuing our legitimate interests in:
  • providing you with the public features of our services that you have requested
  • maintaining a historical record of game-related activity
  • enhancing the community-oriented nature of the game
  • allowing other users to interact with you and determine your credibility or engagement level with the game
Your consent, if requested and provided.
To update you on changes to our services, this Privacy Policy, or our Terms of Use and other administrative communications.
  • Account and identity information
  • Membership information
  • Contact information

Performance of a contract with you, e.g. providing you with relevant non-marketing commercial communications. Complying with our legal obligations.

To provide promotions with our partners, such as GeoTours, trackable promotions, and sponsored Adventures.
  • Account and identity information
  • Contact information
  • Activity information
 Pursuing our legitimate interest to develop our business. Your consent, if requested and provided.

To allow you to log in via Apple, Google, or Facebook.

 Other account information Performance of a contract with you, in particular:
  • providing our services to you
  • administering your account with us
To share information through a social network site account, such as Facebook and Twitter
  • Other account information
  • Activity information
 Your consent, if requested and provided.
To investigate any complaints, restrict access to our services, or communicate with users who have violated our Terms of Use or otherwise violated our rights or the rights of others
  • Account and identity information
  • Membership information
  • Contact information
  • Profile information
  • Location information
  • Correspondence
  • Review submissions
  • Activity information
  • Community information
  • Device information
  • Browsing information
  • Messaging

Pursuing our legitimate interests in:

  • ensuring appropriate conduct in connection with the use our services
  • enforcing our terms of use and other agreements that we have in place
  • protecting the rights and freedoms of our users and other third parties
To enable geocaching community volunteers and us to review geocaches prior to publication and to moderate our discussion forums. Review submissions Pursuing our legitimate interest in:
  • ensuring that your geocache meets the publishing guidelines
  • providing appropriate controls on forum discussions
To verify your location Location information Pursuing our legitimate interests in verifying your location when you participate in Adventure Lab activities and to ensure we are sending you information that is relevant for your location.

If you have provided consent for us to use certain types of your personal information for specific purposes, you may withdraw it at any time, and we will stop using your information for those purposes moving forward. You may do this by “opting out” where we give you the opportunity to do so, by changing your account Settings, or by contacting us by one of the methods in the “How to contact us” section.

SHARING OF PERSONAL INFORMATION

Except as outlined below or otherwise described in this privacy policy, we do not share or sell personal information of our users. We only share your personal information with the categories of parties listed below for the following purposes and based on the corresponding legal bases:

Recipients Categories of personal information Our legal basis for sharing your personal information
Other users
  • Account and identity information: username
  • Membership information: membership type and date account was created
  • Profile information
  • Location information: only if you choose to make it public
  • Browsing information: if you participate in the discussion forums, your IP address may be shared with community volunteer forum moderators (who are registered Geocaching account holders) to help them provide appropriate controls on forum discussions
  • Review submissions: shared with community volunteer reviewers to allow them to assess whether your geocache meets the publishing guidelines
  • Activity information
 Pursuing our legitimate interest in:
  • providing you with the public features of our services that you have requested
  • maintaining a historical record of game-related activity
  • enhancing the community-oriented nature of the game
  • allowing other users to contact and interact with you and determine your engagement level with the game
  • ensuring appropriate conduct in connection with the use our services
  • enforcing our terms of use and other agreements that we have in place
  • protecting the rights and freedoms of our users and other third parties

Authorized Developers

(unless you opt out of sharing in your account Settings)

Note: Authorized Developers’ applications are not owned or operated by us. They have their own privacy policies in relation to personal information. We provide a list of our current Authorized Developers.
  • Account and identify information: username
  • Profile information
  • Activity information: geocache and trackable listings and logs (including photos), Adventure Lab listings and activity
  • Location information: only if you use the Authorized Developer application and consent to share

Pursuing our legitimate interests and those of our Authorized Developers in creating websites and applications that extend your and other account holders’ experience of the games and services beyond what we are able to provide Your consent, if requested and provided.

Promotion partners (only if you choose to participate in their promotion)

Our partners’ use of your information will be covered by their privacy policies.

  • Location information
  • Contact information
  • Activity information

Pursuing our legitimate interests and those of our partners in:

  • enabling your participation in the promotion
  • allowing the promotion sponsor to learn more about the general location of participants, e.g.to gauge whether the promotion was effective
Your consent to:
  • Sharing of contact information for purposes of marketing to you or prize fulfilment
Social media

Review the privacy policies of any social media with whom you choose to share to understand how they use your information.

Activity information: only if you choose to share your activities to Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter via buttons that may be available on our services

Your consent, if requested and provided.
Advertising networks We have ads on our site served by a third-party advertising network. Using browser cookies, these ad networks use your navigation history to serve you ads they predict will interest you. Learn more in the Cookies section.

Browser information

Your consent, if requested and provided.
Vendors and service providers, such as:
  • email services
  • commenting services
  • human resource related systems (e.g. applicant tracking, payroll, etc.)
  • customer relationship management

The information category varies depending on the services. Access to personal information is only as necessary for the specific function they were hired to perform. Other use is prohibited.

These vendors and service providers act as our processors (see Art 28(1) GDPR) and will only process your personal information according to our instructions.
Internal business providers, such as:
  • auditors
  • accounting service providers
  • lawyers
  • banks
  • tax consultants
  • May include personal information; the type varies depending on the nature of the internal business purposes
  • Access only as necessary for the internal business purposes
Necessary for the provision of our services Our legitimate interest in the proper operation of our business (Art 6(1)(f) GDPR)
Legal authorities, such as:
  • law enforcement
  • tax or other local authorities based in countries in which we operate
  • May include contact information, profile information, activity information, and location information; the type varies depending on the nature of the request
  • Access only as necessary for the purpose
If we are required to by law Our legitimate interest in combatting abuse; in prosecuting crimes; and in securing, establishing, and enforcing claims
Merger and acquisition partners

In the unlikely event that we wished to sell our business or reorganize our company, we may need to share your personal information with potential buyers or the new entity.

  • May include all categories of personal information
  • Shared in accordance with this privacy policy and applicable data protection law

Our legitimate interest in changing the corporate structure of our business

Third Party account providers, such as:
  • Apple
  • Google
  • Facebook

To allow you to log in to your Geocaching account via these providers (aka “Single Sign-on”)

  • Other account information

Performance of a contract with you, in particular:

  • providing our services to you
  • Administering your account with us
Map Providers

To enable map functionality
  • Location information (however, you are not identifiable – the information is not linked to your account)

Pursuing our legitimate interest in making our services available to you

Analytics Providers, such as:
  • Google
  • Hotjar
  • Microsoft

The information category varies depending on the services. Access to personal information is only as necessary for the specific function they were hired to perform. Other use is prohibited.

These vendors and service providers act as our processors (see Art 28(1) GDPR) and will only process your personal information according to our instructions.
Payment Processors, such as:
  • Vindicia
  • Chase Paymentech
  • Braintree

The information category varies depending on the services.

  • We use Braintree (a PayPal service) to process membership payments. PayPal is an independent controller for purposes of processing customer data. You can learn more by reviewing PayPal’s privacy statement available at www.paypal.com.
Access to personal information is only as necessary for the specific function they were hired to perform. Other use is prohibited. 		These vendors and service providers act as our processors (see Art 28(1) GDPR) and will only process your personal information according to our instructions.

Other services

We use YouTube API Services to display video uploaded to YouTube on our mobile applications. This use does not require access to your YouTube account data. YouTube’s API Services are governed by Google’s privacy policy.

NOTICE OF RIGHTS FOR EEA, UK, AND SWITZERLAND

If you reside in the EEA, the UK, or Switzerland, our use of your personal information is governed by the GDPR or applicable EEA, UK, or Swiss national laws. These grant you the following rights:

YOUR RIGHTS AND CHOICES

You can choose how your information is shared by adjusting your account Settings or by opting out in the following circumstances:

Contacting us to exercise your rights

If you wish to exercise any of the above rights or need help doing so or have questions about them, please use one of the methods provided in the in the “How to Contact Us” section.

Personal information processed when you exercise your rights

We process the personal information provided by you when you exercise your rights under Art. 7(3) and Art. 15 through 22 GDPR, not only for the purpose of complying with these rights, but also so that we can demonstrate such compliance. This processing is based upon the legal basis of Art 6(1)(c) GDPR in conjunction with Art. 7(3) and Art. 15 through 22 GDPR.

Right to lodge a complaint with the competent data protection authority

If you live in the EEA, UK, or Switzerland, you have the right to complain to a data protection supervisory authority about our collection and use of your personal information. For more information, please contact your local data protection supervisory authority.

COMPLAINTS AND QUESTIONS

If you have any complaints or questions about how we use your personal information, you may contact us using the contact details set out in the “How to Contact Us” section. We will then get in touch with you to see how we can help.

If you have a complaint about how we use your personal information, we would always prefer you to contact us first. However, as stated above, you may also make a complaint to your data protection supervisory authority, if you wish to do so. If you would like more information about how to contact the relevant data protection supervisory authority, please email or otherwise contact us.

STORAGE OF YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION

We will keep your data only for as long as it is necessary for the specific purpose or purposes for which we have collected or used them in accordance with this privacy policy.

Account deletion

If you want to permanently delete your account or following your explicit request for deletion of any of your personal information, we will delete your account and/or help you to delete your personal information as requested. Due to the nature of the game and the way that users interact, you will need to take all steps necessary to facilitate the deletion, including adopting or removing any geocaches you own, deleting your logs, and disabling your account. We will then complete the deletion process as soon as possible. The way our systems are structured, in some cases, it may take up to 30 days for records to be deleted or overwritten. In some circumstances (set out below) we may keep your personal information for longer.

Because of the nature of the game, which requires a cellular data plan or GPS device and the ability to travel to geocache locations, our services are not directed toward anyone under the age of 16. If you are a parent or guardian and discover that your child under the age of 16 has an account not created and managed by you, then you may alert us via email or otherwise contact us and request that we delete that child’s personal information.

When you stop playing

If you stop playing or temporarily disable your account, without taking any further steps or asking us to permanently delete your account or personal information, we will keep your information as long as needed to ensure the integrity of the game and the enjoyment of other players. Your geocache and trackable logs and any images associated with them will remain as part of the historic record of the geocache or trackable with which they are associated unless you delete them. If you have provided personal information or content that other users need to use in relation to the services (for example, information about a particular geocache you have logged or placed; if you have moved or logged a particular trackable; or if you have left instructions or goals about a particular trackable), we may retain that information for as long as we need to provide the services to our other users, but you may always delete that information if you wish. We know that sometimes users take a break from the game and come back at a later time, which is why we don’t automatically permanently delete your account and personal information if you stop playing or temporarily disable your account. We may contact you if you have stopped playing or temporarily disabled your account to check if you would like us to permanently delete your information. However, after three years of inactivity, we may delete your account without contacting you, if you created an account and never took any other action in the game.

Please note that once your account and personal information has been deleted we cannot get it back. If you don’t ask us to permanently delete your account and personal information, except as provided above, we will keep it until you want to reactivate your account, and we will store it securely and in accordance with this privacy policy.

Information provided for a specific purpose

If you have provided us with personal information for a specific purpose, we will keep your personal information for as long as we need to fulfill that purpose. Specifically:

Where we have obtained personal information automatically about your use of our services (e.g. analytics), we will keep this information for as long as we feel it may be useful to us to improve and develop our business. We will delete it when it is no longer useful. This will normally be within 24 months of completion of the purpose for which it was originally collected.

In some cases, we may be required to store personal information beyond the period of time that we need it for the purposes for which we have collected it, taking into account factors including:

If a law requires us to hold onto your personal information, we will store your data for the amount of time required by that law. Further, we will store your personal information on the basis of our legitimate interest, such as the requirement to create proper documentation of our business operations.

PROTECTION OF YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION

We have implemented many security measures to protect against the loss, misuse, and alteration of your information. We protect your account information through the use of a password. To protect the confidentiality of your information, you MUST keep your password confidential and not disclose it to any other person. We and our payment card processors work to protect the security of your credit card information during transmission through the use of transport layer security (TLS), which encrypts the information you input.

TRANSFERS OF YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION 

  We are based in the United States (U.S.), and we process and store information in the U.S. Therefore, we
    and our non-EEA service providers will store and access your personal information in the U.S. This means that if
    you live outside of the U.S, your personal information will be transferred out of your home country to the U.S.
    for processing and storage by us and our service providers. Please note that the U.S. may not provide equivalent
    levels of data protection as enjoyed in your home jurisdiction. For example, there is currently no adequacy
    decision of the EU Commission that the U.S. can ensure an adequate level of data protection. Also, we could be
    required to disclose an individual’s personal information in response to a lawful request by public authorities,
    including to meet national security or law enforcement requirements.

If you live in the EEA, UK, or Switzerland, whenever we transfer your personal information outside of the EEA, UK, or Switzerland, we will ensure that at least one of the following safeguards is in place:

You can request further details about the safeguards that we have implemented by contacting us using the contact details set out in the “How to Contact Us” section.

HOW WE USE COOKIES

  A cookie is a small text file that is downloaded and stored onto your computer, mobile phone, or similar
    device when you use our websites. We use cookies and other similar data collection technologies on our websites
    and – to a more limited extent – on our applications when you access mobile responsive page on our websites.

The cookies we currently use are available to review in the Cookies section of your account Settings on the website and at https://www.geocaching.com/account/documents/cookies.

Information we collect using cookies

  We collect the following information from you:

Disabling cookies

Depending on the laws in your location, you may have the ability to choose which types of cookies you wish to accept through the tools we provide. You may also use the tools in your browser to decline, disable, or delete cookies. Declining or deleting certain cookies may limit functionality of our services. As an example, you will still be able to log on as a member if you decline or delete our cookie that enables automatic recognition. However, many important features of our websites will not be available (e.g. you will not be able to log a geocache if persistent cookies have been disabled). If you disable the session cookie for our websites, you may remain on the site, but you will not be able to use Shop Geocaching and access certain other content. On some user profile pages and geocache details pages, account holders have used links to third-party sites to display content. In some cases, these third-party links may have associated cookies. Due to the volume of such content, we may be unable to identify all of these cookies or provide the ability for you to disable them. Please consider browser-based cookie blocking if you wish to block these types of cookies.

Types of cookies that we use

Strictly necessary cookies

Strictly necessary cookies help make our websites usable by enabling basic functions like page navigation and access to secure areas of the websites. The websites cannot function properly without these cookies.

Preference cookies

Preference cookies enable our websites to remember information that changes the way the websites behave or look, like your preferred language or the region that you are in.

Statistics cookies

Statistics cookies help us to understand how visitors interact with our websites by collecting and reporting information about interactions with our websites.

Advertising Cookies

Advertising cookies are used by third parties to track visitors across websites. The purpose is to display ads that are relevant and engaging for the individual user and therefor more valuable for publishers and third-party advertisers.

For users in the EEA, UK, and Switzerland

For users in the EEA, UK or Switzerland, the legal basis for using strictly necessary cookies is Article 6(1)(b) GDPR. For all other cookies, including the third-party applications listed below, we use cookies on the basis of your consent (Article 6(1)(a) GDPR).

To the extent that we use cookies based on your consent, you have the right to withdraw your consent at any time, which will take effect moving forward (but not retroactively). You can withdraw your consent by changing your cookie settings in your account Settings on our websites or as outlined below for specific third-party applications.

Please note that even if you withdraw your consent, some cookies might not be blocked. Content that other account holders place on our websites (e.g., on their cache pages) in some cases includes links that trigger advertising cookies from third-party sites. Because of the volume of this content, we are not able to identify all of these cookies. Please consider browser-based blocking instead.

Google Services

We use the services, described below, of Google LLC, 1600 Amphitheater Pkwy Mountain View, California 94043, U.S. (“Google”). Your information is processed by Google in the U.S. Basic information concerning your personal information, as processed by Google, can be found here: https://policies.google.com/privacy?hl=en.

Google also provides you with the following settings options:

Google Analytics

We use Google Analytics (including Google Analytics for Firebase), an analytics service. Google Analytics uses cookies and collects information from you concerning your use of our services, including your truncated IP address. The information generated by the cookies regarding your use our services (including your truncated IP address) are transferred to, and stored on, Google servers. Additionally, we enable Google Analytics’ User-ID feature to better understand how users interact with our services over an extended period of time, from different devices and multiple sessions, so we can continue to improve our services and provide the best experience for our users. User ID helps identify unique users across multiple devices and browsers. When you log-in to use our services, your User ID is sent to Google. We use Google Analytics to collect both predefined events, such as the page you came from, and custom events, such as whether you clicked on a particular link/button, to understand how you use our websites and mobile applications. Google will use this information to help us evaluate your use of our services, to compile activity reports for us, and to generate further analyses and evaluations in connection with your internet use and use of our services. Google can also link this information with other information such as your search history, your personal account, the usage information of other devices, and additional information that Google has stored regarding you. Where applicable, Google will also transfer this information to third parties to the extent required by law (such as by government authorities) or to the extent that third parties process such data on behalf of Google.

The information logged with Google Analytics is stored for two years. Once this time period has lapsed, only aggregated statistics will be retained by Google Analytics.

You can deactivate Google Analytics on our websites through an opt-out browser add-on.

Google Firebase

We use Google Firebase, a cloud-based platform that provides certain backend services for mobile applications, such as in-app messaging, notifications, analytics, performance monitoring, A/B testing, dynamic links (links that take you to a particular location in our applications), crash reporting, remote configuration (allows customization of our applications), and predictions (applies machine learning to analytics information to help us predict the behavior of users in our app). Our use of Firebase requires us to share certain information with Google for purposes of providing the Firebase services above. This information includes installation IDs and UUIDs, mobile ad IDs, Apple and Android IDs, analytics app instance IDs, mobile ad IDs, IP addresses, device specifications, and crash data, including crash traces and breakpad minidump formatted data.

The information obtained using Firebase is stored for up to 14 months.

Google Marketing Platform

We use the Google Marketing Platform (formerly “Google DoubleClick”). This cookie platform enables Google and its partners to serve ads to you based on your visit to our websites and/or other sites on the internet. Google receives the information that you have called up the corresponding part of our website or clicked on an ad from us. If you have a Google account, Google may assign the visit to your Google account. Even if you do not have a Google account or have not logged in to your Google account, Google may connect this information to your IP address.

Additionally, the Google Marketing Platform enables us to understand whether you perform certain actions on our websites after you have called up one of our ads on Google or on another platform or clicked on it (conversion tracking).

For more information on the Google Marketing Platform, please visit https://marketingplatform.google.com/. Please visit Google and use "Ads Settings" to set your preferences. The website http://optout.aboutads.info/ offers a single place to turn off targeted ad serving from any of its members.

Hotjar

We use Hotjar of Hotjar Ltd., Dragonara Business Centre, 5th Floor, Dragonara Road, Paceville St Julian’s STJ 3141, Malta (“Hotjar“).

Your information is processed by Hotjar in the U.S. Hotjar is a technology service that helps us better understand our users’ experience (e.g. how much time they spend on which pages, which links they choose to click, what users do and don’t like, etc.) and this enables us to build and maintain our service with user feedback. Hotjar uses cookies and other technologies to collect information on our users’ behavior and their devices (in particular IP address, device screen size, device type, unique device identifiers, browser information, geographic location (country only), preferred language used to display our website). Hotjar stores this information in a pseudonymized user profile. Neither Hotjar nor we will match this information with further information on an individual user. For additional details, please see the information provided by Hotjar.

The information collected is stored for up to 365 days.

You can opt-out of the creation of a user profile, Hotjar’s storing of personal information about your usage of our websites, and Hotjar’s use of tracking cookies on other websites on the HotJar website.

You can prevent Hotjar from collecting your information generated by the cookie and related to your use of the website, as well as the processing of this information by following Hotjar’s guide here: https://www.hotjar.com/legal/policies/do-not-track/.

Microsoft Azure Application Insights

We use the service Microsoft Azure Application Insights of Microsoft Corporation, One Microsoft Way, Redmond, WA 98052-6399, U.S. Your information is processed by Microsoft in the U.S.

Microsoft Azure Application Insights collects mobile application performance data, and in some cases usernames, to help us diagnose problems and understand how you are using our apps.

The information collected are stored for up to 30 days.

Facebook pixel

Facebook may use information collected through Facebook pixel to customize ads on Facebook and other sites. You can learn more by visiting Facebook’s Data Policy and can control the information shared about you by changing your Facebook ad preferences.

CHANGES TO THIS PRIVACY POLICY

We may amend this privacy policy from time to time. When we post changes to this privacy policy, we will revise the “last updated” date at the top of this page. Please review this privacy policy periodically to be informed of how we use and protect your information. If we have your email address, we may also email you with information on those changes.

PRIVACY SHIELD POLICY

This Privacy Shield Policy (“Policy”) applies to all personal data transferred to Groundspeak, Inc. (“Groundspeak”, “we”, “our”, or “us”) from the European Economic Area (EEA) (which includes the member states of the European Union (EU) plus Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway) and Switzerland. This Policy sets out our practices for collecting, using, maintaining, protecting and disclosing that personal data.

Privacy Shield is no longer a legal mechanism for transfers outside of the EEA. As a result, we rely on one of the other legal mechanisms for transfer identified above in “Transfers of Your Personal Information.” We maintain our Privacy Shield certification for the purpose of providing you with a means to enforce your rights through the US government in addition to whatever means you may have through your local supervisory authority. Continuing to certify to Privacy Shield also provides you with clarity about the standards we uphold.

Definitions

For purposes of this Policy, the following definitions apply:

“Agent” means any third party that collects or uses personal data under the instructions of, and solely for, Groundspeak or to which Groundspeak discloses personal data for use on Groundspeak’s behalf.

“Groundspeak” means Groundspeak, Inc., which does business as Geocaching and Geocaching HQ, and any predecessors and successors in the United States.

“Personal data” means any data or set of data that identifies or could be used by or on behalf of Groundspeak to identify (together with other data) a living individual. Personal data does not include data that is anonymized or aggregated.

“Sensitive data” means any personal data that reveals race, ethnic origin, political opinions, religious or philosophical beliefs, trade union membership, genetic data, biometric data for the purpose of uniquely identifying a natural person, data that concerns health or sex life, or data about criminal or administrative proceedings and sanctions.

EU-U.S. and Swiss-U.S. Privacy Shield

Groundspeak complies with the EU-U.S. Privacy Shield Framework as set forth by the U.S. Department of Commerce regarding the collection, use, and retention of personal information transferred from the EU/Switzerland to the U.S., respectively. We also comply with the Swiss-U.S. Privacy Shield frameworks (collectively, “Frameworks”).

Groundspeak has certified to the U.S. Department of Commerce that it adheres to the Privacy Shield Principles of Notice; Choice; Accountability for Onward Transfer; Security; Data Integrity and Purpose Limitation; Access; and Recourse, Enforcement and Liability (“the Privacy Shield Principles”) which are the basis for the principles of this Policy. If there is any conflict between the terms in this Policy and the Privacy Shield Principles, the Privacy Shield Principles shall govern. To learn more about the Privacy Shield program, and to view our certification, please visit https://www.privacyshield.gov/.

Principles

Notice

Groundspeak receives personal data about individuals in the EU and Switzerland collected by Groundspeak and partners who promote geocaching and/or use geocaching to promote their products or locations in those countries. Groundspeak uses this personal data to provide services enabling individuals to participate in location-based play and customer support, information updates and purchases related to such services and in geocaching-related promotions. This data also facilitates our partners’ participation in geocaching-related marketing and promotions and enables partners to develop other geocaching services.

Choice

Groundspeak will offer individuals the opportunity to choose (opt-out) whether their data is to be used for a purpose other than the purpose for which it was originally collected or subsequently authorized by the individual. An individual may opt-out of such uses of their personal data by contacting us in the “How to Contact Us” section or by using our web form.

Groundspeak will not use sensitive personal data for a purpose other than the purpose for which it was originally collected, or subsequently authorized by the individual, without first receiving the individual’s affirmative and explicit consent (opt-in). Groundspeak will treat as sensitive any personal data received from a third party where the third party identifies and treats it as sensitive.

Accountability for Onward Transfer

Groundspeak may employ third parties to manage its IT infrastructure, provide credit card processing and customer support, perform analytics, and manage its email service. These entities may have access to personal information if needed to perform their functions for Groundspeak.

Groundspeak may also disclose personal data – such as profile information, geocaches and Adventure Labs and associated logs – to non-agent third parties by licensing its application program interface (API) to partners who use it to develop other geocaching-related applications and services. If you wish to opt-out of transfers to such non-agent third parties, please contact us in the “How to Contact Us” section or by using our web form or change your authorizations in account Settings to stop such sharing of data.

Groundspeak may be required to disclose an individual’s personal information in response to a lawful request by public authorities, including to meet national security or law enforcement requirements.

For data received under one of the Frameworks, Groundspeak will obtain appropriate assurances from its agents that they will safeguard personal data consistent with this Policy. Examples of appropriate assurances that may be provided by agents include the following: a contract obligating the agent to provide at least the same level of protection as is required by the Privacy Shield, its own Privacy Shield certification, or another European Commission adequacy finding.

Groundspeak’s accountability for personal data that it receives under the Privacy Shield and subsequently transfers to a third party is described in the Privacy Shield Principles. In particular, Groundspeak remains responsible and liable under the Privacy Shield Principles if third-party agents that it engages to process the personal data on its behalf do so in a manner inconsistent with the Principles, unless Groundspeak proves that it is not responsible for the event giving rise to the damage.

Security

Groundspeak will take reasonable and appropriate precautions to protect personal data in its possession from loss, misuse and unauthorized access, disclosure, alteration, and destruction.

Data Integrity and Purpose Limitation

Groundspeak will use personal data only in ways that are compatible with the purposes for which it was collected or subsequently authorized by the individual. Groundspeak will take reasonable steps to ensure that personal data is relevant to its intended use, accurate, complete, and current.

Access

Upon request, Groundspeak will grant individuals reasonable access to personal data that it holds about them. Groundspeak will take reasonable steps to permit individuals to correct, amend, or delete personal data that is demonstrated to be inaccurate or incomplete. An individual may request access to their data, or otherwise correct, amend, or delete their personal data by contacting us in the “How to Contact Us” section or by using our web form or by making changes to their Account Settings.

Recourse, Enforcement, and Liability

In compliance with the applicable Framework, Groundspeak commits to resolve complaints about privacy and personal data collection or use. EU or Swiss individuals with inquiries or complaints regarding this Policy should first contact us in the “How to Contact Us” section or by using our web form. Groundspeak will investigate and attempt to resolve such complaints by reference to the principles contained in this Policy.

Groundspeak has further committed to refer unresolved privacy complaints under the Privacy Shield Principles to an independent dispute resolution mechanism, the BBB EU PRIVACY SHIELD, operated by BBB National Programs. If you do not receive timely acknowledgment of your complaint, or if your complaint is not satisfactorily addressed, please visit https://bbbprograms.org/privacy-shield-complaints/ for more information and to file a complaint. This service is provided free of charge to you.

Please note that if your complaint is not resolved through these channels, under limited circumstances, a binding arbitration option may be available before a Privacy Shield Panel.

Groundspeak is subject to the investigatory and enforcement powers of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC).

Groundspeak will conduct compliance audits of its relevant privacy practices to verify adherence to this Policy. Any employee that Groundspeak determines is in violation of this policy may be subject to disciplinary action.

Limitations

Groundspeak may also be required to disclose an individual’s personal data in response to a lawful request by public authorities or in connection with a legal obligation. Adherence by Groundspeak to these Privacy Shield Principles may also be limited to the extent necessary to meet national security, public interest or law enforcement obligations, and to the extent expressly permitted by an applicable law, rule or regulation.

CALIFORNIA PRIVACY NOTICE

The California Consumer Privacy Act (“CCPA”) provides California residents with rights to receive certain disclosures regarding the collection, use, and sharing of “Personal Information,” as well as rights to access and control Personal Information. The CCPA defines “Personal Information” to mean “information that identifies, relates to, describes, is capable of being associated with, or could reasonably be linked, directly or indirectly, with a particular consumer or household.” Certain information we collect may be exempt from the CCPA because it is considered public information (i.e., it is made available by a government entity) or covered by a federal privacy law, such as the Gramm–Leach–Bliley Act, the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, or the Fair Credit Reporting Act.

To the extent that we collect Personal Information that is subject to the CCPA, that information, our practices, and your rights are described below.

Right to Access Information

You have the right to request access to Personal Information collected about you and information regarding the source of that information, the purposes for which we collect it, and the third parties and service providers with whom we share it. To protect our customers’ Personal Information, we are required to verify your identity before we can act on your request.

Right to Request Deletion of Information

You have the right to request in certain circumstances that we delete any Personal Information that we have collected directly from you. To protect our customers’ Personal Information, we are required to verify your identity before we can act on your request. We may have a reason under the law why we do not have to comply with your request, or why we may comply with it in a more limited way than you anticipated. If we do, we will explain that to you in our response.

Right to Opt Out of Sale of Personal Information to Third Parties

You have the right to opt out of any sale of your personal information by Groundspeak to third parties. If you are a California resident, to exercise this right, please visit our “Do Not Sell My Personal Information” page on the Geocaching.com website or in our mobile application settings. Please note that your right to opt out does not apply to our sharing of personal information with service providers, who are parties we engage to perform a function on our behalf and are contractually obligated to use the personal information only for that function.

Your California Privacy Rights

Residents of the State of California also have the right to request information regarding third parties to whom we have disclosed certain categories of Personal Information during the preceding year for the third parties’ direct marketing purposes.

How to Submit a Request

To make a request to opt out of such disclosure, please contact us at the address in the “How to Contact Us” section or by using our web form.

You must include the applicable services as the subject line, and your full name, the email address associated with your Geocaching account, if applicable, and postal address in your message.

Data We Collect

The following is a description of our data collection practices, including the personal information we collect, the sources of that information, the purposes for which we collect information, and whether we disclose that information to external parties. We may use any and all of the information for any of the purposes described in the Privacy Policy, unless limitations are listed. The categories we use to describe the information are those enumerated in the CCPA.

Data Sharing

We may share any of the above-listed information with service providers, which are external parties that we engage for business purposes. Service providers are prohibited from using Personal Information for any purpose that is not related to our engagement. The categories of service providers with whom we share information and the services they provide are described in the section above called “Sharing of Personal Information”. On certain occasions, our sharing of information with third parties may be considered a “sale”, as the term is defined under California law. Such sharing may be considered a sale because the purpose of sharing is not an enumerated business purpose under California law or because our contract does not prohibit them from using Personal Information for other purposes. To “sell” information means to disclose it to an external party for monetary or other benefit. We sell the following information:

Personal Identifiers. We provide your IP address and Device ID to our advertising partners. We also provide certain geocaching information to our Authorized Developers, as provided in our privacy policy, for the purpose of creating geocaching applications and websites. This information includes your username, your avatar pictures, images, geocache and trackable logs. You can opt out of sharing your information with Authorized Developers in your account Settings.

Inferences drawn to create a profile about a consumer reflecting the consumer’s preferences or characteristics. Cookies dropped on your browser may collect observations about you that are shared to our advertising partners. You can opt out of advertising cookies using the tools on our site or by visiting Google and using “Ads Settings” to set your preferences. The website http://optout.aboutads.info/ offers a single place to turn off targeted ads serving from any of its members.

NEVADA PRIVACY NOTICE

If you reside in Nevada, our use of your information is governed by Nevada law. This section applies only to Nevada residents.

Personal Information Collected and Purposes of Use

We collect certain personal information of Nevada consumers as identified in the section above called: “Categories of Personal Information”. We collect this personal information for the purposes identified in the section above called “Use of Personal Information”.

Your Privacy Rights

You have the right to access and correct your personal information or opt-out of the sale of personal information. If you would like to review, correct, or update your personal information, you or your authorized representative may submit your request via email. We will respond to your verified request as soon as reasonably practicable, but no later than sixty (60) days after receipt.

If circumstances cause any delay in our response, you will be promptly notified and provided a date for our response.

We generally do not disclose or share personal information for profit. Under Nevada law, you have the right to direct us to not sell or license your personal information to third parties. To exercise this right, if applicable, you or your authorized representative may submit a request via email. We will respond to your verified request as soon as reasonably practicable, but no later than sixty (60) days after receipt. If circumstances cause any delay in our response, you will be promptly notified and provided a date for our response.

HOW TO CONTACT US

If you have any privacy questions, the best and fastest way to contact us is through our Help Center form. You may also contact us by any of the means provided on our contact page, including writing to us at: Geocaching HQ, 837 N. 34th Street, Suite 300, Seattle, WA 98103. For specific requests to remove or change your profile information on Shop Geocaching (shop.geocaching.com), please email Shop Geocaching directly.

We will to respond to all legitimate requests within one month and will contact you if we need additional information from you in order to honor your request, e.g. we may request you to provide us with information necessary to confirm your identity.

If you live in the EU: We are located in the U.S. However, we have an EU-based data protection officer and EU-based representative who you may contact as follows:

Our EU Data Protection Officer:
Email: [email protected]
Address: Data Protection Officer, Geocaching, Innere Kanalstr. 15 50823 Cologne, Germany

Our EU-based representative:
Email: [email protected]
Address: MCF Legal Technology Solutions Limited, ATTN: Groundspeak, Inc. DBA Geocaching EU Representative,
Riverside One, Sir John Rogerson’s Quay, Dublin 2, D02 X576

If you live in the UK: We are not located in the United Kingdom, so we have appointed a UK-based representative to serve as a direct contact on our behalf, who can be contacted at:

Email: [email protected]
Address: MCF Legal Technology Solutions (UK) Limited, Tower 42 Level 38C, 25 Old Broad St, Cornhill, London EC2N 1HQ, United Kingdom.

If you live in California: If you would like to exercise your rights under the CCPA, you may contact us at the address above or use our web form.