Introduction
Our Commitment to Your Privacy
At Translation Commons, your privacy is paramount. As a non-profit organization dedicated to fostering a world without communication barriers, we understand the trust you place in us when you share your information. This Privacy Policy explains what data we collect, why we collect it, how we use and protect it, and your rights concerning your personal information. We are committed to transparency and to empowering you with control over your data.
Who We Are
Translation Commons is a US-based 501(c)(3) non-profit organization. We provide tools, resources, and a collaborative platform for linguists, technologists, and communities worldwide to digitize, preserve, and advance languages. We are not a language service provider and do not charge for work done with our resources.
We only collect information necessary to fulfill our mission and provide our services.
Information You Provide Directly:
- Account Registration: When you create a profile, you provide us with essential information such as your name, email address, country, professional background, and any other details you choose to add to your profile.
- Communications: Information you provide when contacting us through email, forms, or direct messages (e.g., support inquiries, feedback, participation in surveys).
- Contributions: Content you contribute to our platform (e.g., forum posts, project contributions, comments). While this content may be publicly visible, the personal data associated with your authorship is handled as described herein.
Information We Collect Automatically:
- Usage Data: Information about how you interact with our tools, website and services, such as pages visited, time spent, features used, and referring URLs. This helps us understand user behavior and improve our platform.
- Technical Data: Your IP address, browser type, operating system, device information, and access times. This is collected for security, troubleshooting, and administrative purposes.
- Cookies & Tracking Technologies: We use cookies and similar technologies (e.g., local storage) to enhance your experience, remember your preferences, and understand site usage. See our “Cookies & Tracking” section for details.
We use your personal information solely for the following purposes:
- To Provide and Maintain Our Services: To create and manage your account, facilitate access to our tools and resources, and ensure the functionality of our platform.
- To Communicate with You: To send you important updates, respond to your inquiries, provide support, and send relevant information about Translation Commons activities (e.g., newsletters, event invitations, if you’ve opted in).
- To Improve Our Platform: To analyze usage patterns, identify areas for improvement, and develop new features that better serve the language community.
- For Security and Fraud Prevention: To protect our services, users, and data from unauthorized access, fraud, or other malicious activities.
- For Legal Compliance: To comply with applicable laws, regulations, and legal processes.
We DO NOT sell or rent your personal information to any third parties for marketing purposes.
Limited Disclosure: We only disclose information in the following specific circumstances:
- With Your Explicit Consent: We will seek your explicit permission before sharing your identifiable information for any purpose not outlined in this policy.
- Legal Requirements: If legally required to do so by law, court order, or governmental regulation, we will comply with such requirements, generally after attempting to notify you, unless prohibited by law.
- Service Providers: We may share necessary information with trusted third-party service providers who assist us in operating our website, providing our services, or conducting our business (e.g., web hosting, email service providers, analytics providers). These providers are contractually bound to protect your information and use it only for the purposes for which we provide it.
- Impersonate any person or entity, or falsely state or otherwise misrepresent your affiliation with a person or entity.
You have significant rights regarding your personal data. We are committed to helping you exercise these rights:
- Right to Access: You have the right to request a copy of the personal data we hold about you.
- Right to Rectification: You can request that we correct any inaccurate or incomplete personal data we hold about you. You can often update your profile directly via your account settings.
- Right to Erasure (“Right to Be Forgotten”): You can request that we delete your personal data. Please note that certain information may remain in backup copies for a limited period or be retained if legally required.
- Right to Restriction of Processing: You can request that we limit the way we use your personal data in certain circumstances.
- Right to Data Portability: You have the right to receive your personal data in a structured, commonly used, and machine-readable format.
- Right to Object to Processing: You can object to our processing of your personal data in certain situations.
- Right to Withdraw Consent: Where we rely on your consent to process your personal data, you have the right to withdraw that consent at any time. This will not affect the lawfulness of processing based on consent before its withdrawal.
How to Exercise Your Rights: To exercise any of these rights, please contact us at krista@translationcommons.org or through your account settings where applicable. We will respond to your request in accordance with applicable laws.
We use cookies (small text files placed on your device) and similar technologies for various purposes, including:
- Essential Cookies: Necessary for the website’s basic functionality (e.g., logging in, maintaining session).
- Preference Cookies: To remember your settings and preferences (e.g., language choice).
- Analytics Cookies: To collect information about how visitors use our website, helping us improve its performance and content. We use anonymized data where possible.
Your Choices: Most web browsers are set to accept cookies by default. You can control and manage cookies through your browser settings. However, disabling certain cookies may affect the functionality of our website. For more detailed information on managing cookies, please refer to your browser’s help documentation.
Our website may contain links to third-party websites or services (e.g., external tools, partner sites). We are not responsible for the privacy practices or content of these external sites. We strongly recommend that you review the privacy policies of any third-party sites you visit.
We are committed to protecting your personal data. We implement reasonable and appropriate technical and organizational security measures to prevent unauthorized access, disclosure, alteration, or destruction of the information we collect and store. This includes data encryption, access controls, and regular security reviews.
We retain your personal data only for as long as necessary to fulfill the purposes for which it was collected, including for legal, accounting, or reporting requirements. When your data is no longer needed, we will securely delete or anonymize it.
Translation Commons is not intended for and may not be used by children under the age of 18. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 18. If we become aware that we have collected personal data from a child under 18, we will take immediate steps to delete such information and terminate the child’s account.
We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes in our practices or legal requirements. We will notify you of any significant changes by posting the new policy on this page and updating the “Last Updated” date at the top. We encourage you to review this policy periodically.
If you have any questions, concerns, or requests regarding this Privacy Policy or your personal data, please contact us:
Email:krista@translationcommons.org