Privacy Policy

 

 

 

Reviewed on March 6, 2023

 

PRIVACY POLICY 
Cobu’s mission is to power genuine communities. Communities are only possible when individuals feel empowered to come together and trust each other. That is why Cobu is committed to user privacy. In summary, a Cobu user owns their own data. We will not share or use your personal information outside of Cobu without your permission or as described in this privacy policy (the “Privacy Policy”). Whatever information is submitted into the Cobu app can be retrieved by the user upon request. This Privacy Policy describes the collection, use, and disclosure of information from both residents and property managers using our application and website (collectively, our “Services”). Beyond the Privacy Policy, your use of our Services is also subject to our Terms of Service.

Information We Collect

Information You Give Us
When you create an account with us, you provide your email address and phone number, which we use to authenticate you to your Cobu account and send you important updates about your account. You also provide your name and certain other limited personally identifiable information such as your address and your interests. This personal information is used to provide the Services to you. You can choose not to provide us with any or all of the information we specify or request, but then you may not be able to register with us or to take advantage of some or all of our features. Any other information you enter into Cobu such as unit number, building, interests, group participation, notes, and application preferences, are strictly for presentation and functionality purposes within the app (e.g. to display in your profile within the app). We reserve the right to aggregate this information to help us operate, provide, improve, understand, customize, and support our Services. Some of this information may be made available to other users of the app depending on your user preferences, which you control. We restrict use of the app to individuals age 18 and above, and do not knowingly seek or collect personal information from anyone under the age of 18.

Automatic Information we collect

Like many other websites, we also collect information through cookies and other automated means. Information of this sort includes:

  • Technical information about your browser and mobile device: This information is used in the aggregate to help us optimize the Services for common browsers and devices.
  • Usage information, such as the customized calendar, features, and emails from Cobu that you interact with: We collect and use this behavioral information and may use it in anonymized and aggregate forms to generate statistics about users and how the Services are being used and to facilitate targeted communications and advertisements but the information is not shared in any form that could be used to identify you personally. Please see “How we use and share the information we collect,” below, for further information and choices about sharing information with third parties.
  • Location-based data: We may access, collect, monitor, and/or remotely store “location data,” which may include GPS coordinates (e.g. latitude and/or longitude) or similar information regarding the location of your mobile device to provide certain features of the Services. You will always have the option to disable location-based services. However, the Services may not function properly if use or availability of location data is impaired or disabled.
  • IP address and log file information, web beacons, cookies, tokens and device identifiers: These are alphanumeric identifiers that help us to distinguish between unique browsers and devices in order to avoid showing you the same information twice, keep you logged into Cobu, prevent duplicate actions, prevent duplicate coupon redemptions and improve your experience. The information we collect from cookies may include your IP address, browser and device characteristics, referring URLs, and a record of your interactions with our Services. By using the Services, you are consenting to such use of cookies. Most Web browsers can be set to inform you when a cookie has been sent to you and provide you with the opportunity to refuse that cookie. We will respect your choices relating to online tracking, whether you choose to reject individual cookies or set your web browser to reject cookies and other tracking technology. However, refusing a cookie may, in some cases, preclude you from using, or negatively impact the display or function of, the Services or certain areas or features of the Services.
  • Crashes and error reports: If you encounter a crash or error while using our Services, we may generate a crash report that includes technical, usage and, if you are logged in, your account information so that we can diagnose and potentially prevent the problem in the future.

 

How We Use the Information We Collect

We use the information we collect to:

  • To provide, maintain, improve, and enhance our Services;
  • To personalize your experience on our Services such as by providing tailored content and recommendations;
  • To understand and analyze how you use our Services and develop new products, services, features, and functionality;
  • To communicate with you, provide you with updates and other information relating to our Services, provide information that you request, respond to comments and questions, and otherwise provide customer support;
  • To conduct sentiment analysis to better understand how our Services are being used;
  • For marketing and advertising purposes, such as developing and providing promotional and advertising materials that may be relevant, valuable or otherwise of interest to you;
  • To generate anonymized, aggregate data containing only de-identified, non-personal information that we may use to help us operate and improve our services;
  • To send you text messages and push notifications;
  • To find and prevent fraud and abuse, and respond to trust and safety issues that may arise;
  • For compliance purposes, including enforcing our Terms of Services or other legal rights, or as may be required by applicable laws and regulations or requested by any judicial process or governmental agency; and
  • For other purposes for which we provide specific notice at the time the information is collected.

How We Share the Information We Collect

Brand and business partners with whom we decide to work will never have access to your personalized information except as described herein.

Cobu may share certain personal information such as your email address and in some cases other information, with the following service providers, who help Cobu provide the Services to you.

  • Property management teams, associated with your apartment community, may receive information about you from Cobu in order to help manage RSVP lists for events, verify that you are a resident of their apartment community, and to help them understand how their residents participate with Cobu.
  • Intercom, and from time to time other email services Cobu may use, may receive email address in order to send transactional emails on behalf of Cobu. When you send an email to any @livecobu.com account, your email address is revealed in the "reply to" header of the email.
  • 3rd party survey tools, such as Survey Monkey and Coda.io, may receive your email address in order for Cobu to conduct surveys with you.
  • Mixpanel receives your email address in order to aggregate data on behalf of Cobu to help us improve how we power genuine community. Mixpanel may also access and store your IP address and location for aggregated event analytics, but will not use or share this information in a way that will identify you personally. Please see https://mixpanel.com/legal/privacy-policy/ for more detail.

User Content: Our Services are a social service in which you can find, enjoy, and share content. Your name, user name, and other profile information will always be viewable and searchable by other users. The content you post to the Services will be displayed on the Services and viewable by other users by default. Although this content is public by default, below in the “Your Choices” section of this Privacy Policy, we describe the controls that you can use, along with other relevant settings associated with your account, to limit the sharing of certain information. We are not responsible for the other users’ use of available information, so you should carefully consider whether and what to post or how you identify yourself on the Services. Note, content posted by residents and later hidden or deleted may still be viewable by property managers.

Analytics Partners: We use analytics services such as Google Analytics to collect and process certain analytics data. These services may also collect information about your use of other websites, apps, and online resources. You can learn more about Google’s practices by visiting https://www.google.com/policies/privacy/partners/. 

As Required By Law and Similar Disclosures: We may access, preserve, and disclose your information if we believe doing so is required or appropriate to: (a) comply with law enforcement requests and legal process, such as a court order or subpoena; (b) respond to your requests; or (c) protect your, our, or others’ rights, property, or safety. For the avoidance of doubt, the disclosure of your information may occur if you post any objectionable content on or through our Services.

Merger, Sale, or Other Asset Transfers: We may transfer your information to service providers, advisors, potential transactional partners, or other third parties in connection with the consideration, negotiation, or completion of a corporate transaction in which we are acquired by or merged with another company or we sell, liquidate, or transfer all or a portion of our assets. The use of your information following any of these events will be governed by the provisions of this Privacy Policy in effect at the time the applicable information was collected.

Consent: We may also disclose your information with your permission.

Third-Party Services and Links to Other Websites
The Cobu app may contain links to other websites including those of our service partners and other service providers, many of which have their own privacy policies. Be sure to review the privacy policy on any site you are visiting, whether directly or through the Services.

 Additionally, we may integrate third-party services into our Services in order to personalize your experience. This policy only covers the use of cookies by Cobu. Cookies placed by third-party services are governed by the third-party terms and privacy policies applicable to those services (which we encourage you to read).

Using the Services from outside the United States
The hosting facilities, servers, and central database for the Services are located in the United States. If you are accessing the Services from outside the United States, please be aware that your information may be transferred to, stored, and processed in the United States by us as data controller and as data processor. By signing up for and using the Services you agree to this transfer. Please be assured that we seek to take reasonable steps to ensure that your privacy is protected.

How We Store and Protect the Information We Collect
Your password is hashed with bcrypt and the original is never stored. Your connection to Cobu is encrypted with TLS v1.2.
Please keep the following points in mind:

  • Cobu is software running on the Internet, and while we do our best to keep it secure, getting hacked is not outside the realm of possibility.
  • Cobu runs on servers at Amazon Web Services, so someone there or someone who infiltrates their networks could have access to your data. The data entered into Cobu is hosted in the United States.
  • Cobu sends emails through Intercom, SurveyMonkey, Coda.io so someone there or someone who receives emails from Cobu will have access to any information placed into an email.
  • Twilio, and from time to time other messaging services Cobu may use, may receive phone numbers in order to send SMS or MMS messages on behalf of Cobu. Cobu may use SMS or MMS messages from time to time to send surveys, requests for reviews, and transactional messages.
  • Cobu stores data in Mixpanel, so someone there or someone who infiltrates their networks could have access to your data.

Your Rights Regarding the Information We Collect
You have the right to:

  • Update and correct your personal information and user settings
  • Object to the processing of your personal information
  • Request to view your usage data or have your personal information or usage data deleted or restricted from our Services
  • Request for portability of your personal information
  • Cancel your account
To do any of these, simply notify us of this decision by one of these methods:
  • Click on or select “Contact Us” in the Cobu application
  • Follow the unsubscribe link in any marketing email or following the directions included in any other promotional material received from Cobu
  • Contact our Privacy Officer at the address below or send an email to us at feedback@livecobu.com.

Data Retention
We will retain your profile information and usage data for as long as your account is active or as needed to provide our Services, comply with our legal obligations, resolve disputes, and enforce our agreements. If you close your account, we may still retain certain information associated with your account for analytical purposes and record-keeping integrity, as well as to prevent fraud, enforce our Terms of Service, take actions we deem necessary to protect the integrity of our website, our application or our users, or take other actions otherwise permitted by law. Deactivating your account does not automatically delete your account or usage data from our database, but regardless of any retention policy we will make reasonable efforts to enable you to delete your profile information from our database upon request. However, if certain information has already been provided to third parties, retention of that information will be subject to those third parties' policies. Additionally, if you have posted your information to other websites or otherwise made it available to the public, you may not be able to remove or edit your information from some internet databases.

Your Choices

  • Sharing Preferences:
    • We provide you with settings to allow you to set your sharing preferences for content you post to the Services.
    • To change whether certain information is publicly viewable, you can adjust the settings in your account.
  • Location Information: You can prevent your device from sharing precise location information at any time through your device’s operating system settings.
  • Marketing Communications: You can unsubscribe from our promotional emails via the link provided in the emails. Even if you opt out of receiving promotional messages from us, you will continue to receive administrative messages from us.
  • Do Not Track: There is no accepted standard on how to respond to Do Not Track signals, and we do not respond to such signals
Update Your Information
You can update your account and profile information or close your account through your profile settings.

 Changes to this Privacy Policy

We will post any adjustments to the Privacy Policy on this page, and the revised version will be effective when it is posted. If we materially change the ways in which we use or disclose personal information previously collected from you through the Services, we will notify you through the Services, by email, or other communication. 

 CONTACT

If you have any questions regarding our Privacy Policy, please contact our Privacy Officer at:

Cobu
182 Summer Street, Unit #211
Kingston, MA 02364
Email: support@livecobu.com