Busuu

Busuu is a language learning platform that allows communication with native speakers.

5.1/10

How we calculate ratings →

Handling

Does the policy allow personally-targeted or behavioral marketing? Yes, but you may opt-out

4/10

Does the service allow you to permanently delete your personal data? Yes, by contacting someone

3/5

Does the service allow third-party access to private personal data? No

10/10

This may come in the form of outright data sharing or by using local third-party analytics software (such as Google Analytics, which collects a plethora of user information).

Note that whether the policy allows sharing aggregated user data does not affect this question.

If the personal data is encrypted when it passes through the third-party, it does not count as third-party access (as the data is inaccessible to that party).

If personal data has been made public by, for example, posting it to a blog, it does not count as private personal information (and is therefore not considered by this question).

Score

Yes

The policy allows sharing personal data with third parties (not just critical service providers), and does not explicitly list the third parties.

Yes, all parties specified (including non-critical service providers such as advertisers)

30%

Yes, not all parties specified (but only to critical service providers)

70%

Yes, all parties specified (only to critical service providers)

80%

100%

Citation

We do not allow our third-party service providers to use your personal data for their own purposes and only permit them to process your personal data for specified purposes and in accordance with our instructions.

When does the policy allow law enforcement access to personal data? When reasonably requested

3/5

Score

Always

This includes cases in which law enforcement either runs the service or has a known backdoor into (or relationship with) the service.

Not specified

When reasonably requested

60%

Only when required by a court order or subpoena

80%

N/A (no personal data to share)

The service would have no personal data to share with law enforcement.

100%

Never (special legal jurisdiction)

The service operates in a jurisdiction in which sharing data with law enforcement is never required.

100%

Citation

Busuu does not rent, sell, or share personal information about you with third parties except to provide products or services you've requested, when we have your permission, or in the following circumstances:

where Busuu is responding to a subpoena, court order, or legal process, or to establish or exercise our legal rights or to defend ourselves against legal claims;
where Busuu believes it is necessary to share information in order to investigate, prevent, or take action regarding illegal activities, suspected fraud, situations involving potential threats to the physical safety of any person, violations of Busuu's Terms of Service, or as otherwise required by law;
where you are using a Paid Service (including a Premium membership) in your capacity as a student or an employee or other third party using the Paid Service, we may in such circumstances share your personal information with your educational establishment, your employer or any third party paying for the Service on your behalf (as the case may be) to allow them to monitor your use of the Paid Service;
where Busuu transfers information about you if Busuu is acquired by or merged with another company. If this happens, Busuu will notify you before information about you is transferred and becomes subject to a different privacy policy.

Transparency

Does the policy outline the service's general security practices? Somewhat

1/3

Score

Somewhat

The policy provides only a very vague overview of its security practices.

30%

Yes

60%

Yes, including audits

"Reviews," "monitoring," etc. also count as audits.

80%

Yes, including independent audits

Independent "reviews," "monitoring," etc. also count as independent audits.

100%

N/A

The service doesn't collect any personal information.

100%

Citation

Your personal data is password protected and, other as set out in this Privacy Policy, can only be seen by you and us. You agree to keep your password(s) confidential and not to disclose them to anyone else, or allow them to be disclosed.

Busuu limits access to personal information about you to employees who Busuu reasonably believes need to come into contact with that information, to provide products or the Service to you, or in order to do their jobs.

Busuu has physical, electronic, and procedural safeguards that comply with regulations to protect personal information about you. However, data transmissions over the internet cannot be guaranteed to be 100% secure. Consequently, Busuu cannot ensure or warrant the security of information you transmit to Busuu.

Is the policy's history made available? Only the date it was last modified

3/5

Does the policy require users to be notified in case of a data breach? Not necessarily

0/7

Will affected users be notified when the policy is meaningfully changed? No

0/5

Collection

Does the service collect personal data from third parties? Yes

0/10

Is it clear why the service collects the personal data that it does? Mostly

7/10

Score

Somewhat

30%

Mostly

70%

Yes

100%

N/A

The service doesn't collect any personal information.

100%

Citation

When you register for a Busuu account, Busuu collects personal data that you submit such as your username, email address, spoken and studied languages and any other personal or preference information that you optionally enter into the Service, as well as your profile picture.

Busuu also collects and generates a number of other areas of usage information automatically which includes; services metadata, log data, device information, IP addresses, third-party data and cookie information.

Notes

Lots of fluff is in this paragraph such as things they don't collect, how they secure their data, and other information.

Does the service allow the user to control whether personal data is collected or used for non-critical purposes? On an opt-out basis, for all non-critical data/uses

6/10

Does the policy list the personal data it collects? Yes, exhaustively

10/10

Score

The policy does not claim to not collect personal data, but it also doesn't provide any meaningful insight into the types of personal data it collects.

Only summarily

The policy uses overly vague language to provide a summary of the types of collected personal data.

30%

Yes, generally

All general categories of collected personal data are listed, though not all types of personal data are explicitly mentioned (for example, the list might use a phrase like 'such as' when listing types of personal data).

70%

Yes, exhaustively

All types of collected personal data are listed specifically

100%

N/A (no personal data is collected)

100%

Citation

We also collect, use and share Aggregated Data such as statistical or demographic data for any purpose. Aggregated Data may be derived from your personal data but is not considered personal data in law as this data does not directly or indirectly reveal your identity. For example, we may aggregate your Usage Data to calculate the percentage of users accessing a specific website feature. However, if we combine or connect Aggregated Data with your personal data so that it can directly or indirectly identify you, we treat the combined data as personal data which will be used in accordance with this privacy notice. We do not collect any Special Categories of Personal Data about you (this includes details about your race or ethnicity, religious or philosophical beliefs, sexual orientation, political opinions, trade union membership, information about your health and genetic and biometric data). Nor do we collect any information about criminal convictions and offences.

Last Updated

May 26, 2021

Sources

Source #1 ↗

Contributors

doamatto