Privacy Policy For Persona Identity Verification

Last Updated: September 15, 2023

This Persona Identities, Inc. (“Persona,” “we”, “us”, or “our”) Privacy Policy applies to individuals using the Persona identity verification service (the “Service”) who have a direct relationship with Persona including but not limited to individuals using the Persona Reusable Personas feature and individuals who are verifying their identities through LinkedIn’s partnership with Persona.

This Privacy Policy explains our collection, use, and disclosure of personal data as a data controller (or such similar term under applicable law) in connection with the Service. This Privacy Policy does not apply to personal data we process as a service provider or data processor on behalf of our other partners or business customers. Individuals using our services through a business customer or using our business services, can learn more here.

California residents can find specific disclosures, including “Notice at Collection” details, by clicking here.

LinkedIn‍

If you were directed to Persona via LinkedIn's website or app then this paragraph applies to you. In connection with the Service, Persona will ask you to submit a photo of your government issued identity document, together with a selfie to: (i) verify the authenticity of the identity document and, (ii) confirm that you are the individual pictured in the identity document. Persona may also request additional information to corroborate identity details via our global network of third-party data partners. The Service will generate a verification result for LinkedIn, but it is LinkedIn that ultimately decides how it uses the verification results provided to them. If you have any questions about the outcome of a verification check relating to you or your identity document, please contact LinkedIn. It’s important to note that we process your data in partnership with LinkedIn. This Privacy Policy does not apply to LinkedIn’s use of your personal data or its privacy practices and we encourage you to read LinkedIn’s privacy policy for further information on their use of your personal data.

1. Personal Data We Collect and Process

This section describes the personal data we collect and process in order to provide the Service to you. The personal data we collect depends on how you interact with the Service and the choices you make.

We collect information about you from different sources and in various ways when you use the Service, including information you provide directly, information collected automatically, information from third-party data sources, and data we infer or generate from other data.

Information that you provide directly

You may directly provide personal data to the Service, including the following:

Name;
Contact Information, including email address, postal address, and phone number;
Demographic Data, including nationality, birthdate and age;
Uploaded Content, including a photo or video of you (i.e. selfie) and a photo or video of your government issued identity document, such as driver’s license or passport, and any personal data contained on the document;
Government Identifiers, such as National ID numbers, and or Tax ID numbers ; and
Biometric Information, which we use for the purpose of uniquely identifying an individual.

Some of this information, such as Biometric Information when used to uniquely identify you, may be sensitive or afforded protected status under local laws (for example, “sensitive information” in California or “special category data” in the EU and the UK). For further details on our collection and processing of biometric information, see the section entitled “Facial Scan and Biometric Information” below.

Information we collect indirectly

We may indirectly collect personal data from the device via which you access the Service as well as information about your use of the Service, including the following:

Identifiers and Device Information: When you access our Service via a browser or an app, our web servers automatically log your Internet Protocol (IP) address and information about your device, including device identifiers (such as MAC address); device type; and your device’s operating system, browser, and other software including type, version, language, settings, and configuration.
Geolocation Data: Depending on your device and app settings, we collect geolocation data when you use the Service. We do not collect precise geolocation data. We infer your general geographic location (such as city, state, and country) based on your IP address.
Usage Data: We automatically log your activity on the Service, including how long it takes to complete the verification, access times, and other details about your use of and actions on the Service such as hesitation detection and copy and paste detection.

Some data that we collect indirectly is collected through automated means from your device when you use the Service, such as through cookies and similar technologies. See our Cookies Policy to learn more.

Information we obtain from third party sources

We may obtain personal data about you from our global network of trusted third-party data sources, including the following: publicly available sources (such as open government databases), government and national ID registries, consumer credit agencies, utility companies, mobile network providers and postal address databases. The types of this “Additional Identity Data” we obtain from these sources will vary depending on the verification checks available in the particular country.

We also use service providers to determine your device’s location based on its IP address and to generate device identifiers.

2. How We Use Personal Data and Our Legal Basis for Processing

We use the personal data we collect for purposes described in this section or as otherwise disclosed to you at the time of collection.

The following table provides details on our purposes for processing your personal information and the related legal bases on which we rely. Where we rely on legitimate interests, it will be in a way which is reasonable for you to expect as part of the running of our business and which does not materially affect your rights and freedoms. We will only use your personal data where we are permitted to do so by applicable law. Under EU and UK data protection law, the use of personal data must be justified under one of a number of legal grounds. For EU and UK users of the Service, the principal legal grounds that justify our use of your personal data are set out in the table below. In all other circumstances, where consent is required, we will rely on your consent.

Purpose	Type of data (See Personal Data We Collect and Process for definitions)	Our legal justifications (each called a ‘legal basis’) under data protection law, for each purpose
Providing and delivering the Service to you, including operating and troubleshooting the Service	Name Contact Information Uploaded Content Government Identifiers Biometric Information Demographic Data Additional Identity Data Geolocation Data Identifiers and Device Information Usage Data	To perform our contract with you for use of the Service and to fulfill our obligations under applicable terms of service. Necessary for our legitimate interests to operate, provide and improve the Service. Consent (to process your Biometric Information in order to identify you).
Promoting Security of the Service and detecting fraudulent acts by bad actors including verifying that the individual using the Service is the individual they purport to be.	Name Contact Information Uploaded Content Government Identifiers Biometric Information Demographic Data Geolocation Data Identifiers and Device Information Usage Data	Necessary for our legitimate interests to detect or prevent illegal activities (e.g., fraud prevention); and/or to manage the security of our IT infrastructure, and the safety and security of our customers and users.
To improve the Service, develop new features, and conduct research. For example: We use uploaded images of identity documents to train the Service to accurately verify identity documents (e.g. by learning to distinguish what passports look like in different countries). We use uploaded images of identity documents and your selfie to identify improvements in the Service (e.g. to determine the best types of image captured to ensure the most accurate image recognition and to assess sufficient image clarity to aid with the verification process)	Uploaded Content Geolocation Data Identifiers and Device Information Usage Data	Necessary for our legitimate interests to improve the Service and use insights to develop new features.
To provide customer support and respond to your questions.	This depends on the nature of support requested and/or your question but may include the following: Name Contact Information Uploaded Content Government Identifiers Demographic Data Geolocation Data Identifiers and Device Information Usage Data	Necessary for our legitimate interests to operate, provide and improve the Service.

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3. How We Disclose Personal Data

Disclosure to LinkedIn

If you are a LinkedIn member and are using the Service in connection with verifying your identity for LinkedIn, then the following applies to you. Where we have your consent to do so, we will disclose the following personal data to LinkedIn:

An identifier generated by Persona
Your full name (first, middle and last);
Identity document type and issuing authority; and
NFC check result (i.e., the result of the verification of the personal data extracted from the NFC chip in the identity document compared to the information of the face of the document), if the document contains an NFC chip;

We provide LinkedIn with this information to allow LinkedIn to determine whether to confirm verification of your identity.

Use of Reusable Persona

The following does not apply to LinkedIn member verification. If you have consented to the creation of a Reusable Persona then the following applies to you. We will store personal data in the “Reusable Persona” which will include: Contact Information, Demographic Data, Uploaded Content and Government Identifiers. In addition, we may store separately from the Reusable Persona information associated with the Reusable Persona such as device identifiers and device information, IP addresses and non-precise geolocation of devices permitted access to the Reusable Persona, as well as usage information such as when the Reusable Persona was accessed, to which business customer the information was provided, from which IP address, and how often it was accessed for fraud prevention purposes.

Use of the Reusable Persona is controlled by you. The personal data stored in the Reusable Persona is not readable by Persona in its encrypted form, and can only be unencrypted when you successfully authenticate to access the encryption key stored on your device for the purpose of identity verification on behalf of Persona’s business customer’s.

If you consent to share your personal data with a business customer, please note that the business customer is an independent controller of any copy of your Reusable Persona personal data provided to that business customer, and the business customer’s use of such data is subject to the business customer’s privacy policy. Once such personal data has been provided to the Business Customer, any additional processing on behalf of the business customer will be done by us as a processor to that business customer under that business customer’s instructions.

Other Disclosures

In addition, we may disclose some or all of the categories of personal data described in “Personal Data We Collect and Process” above, to the types of third parties described below, for the following business purposes:

Service providers. We provide personal data to vendors or agents working on our behalf for the purposes described in this statement. For example, companies we’ve hired to provide customer service support or assist in protecting and securing our systems and services may need access to personal data to provide those functions.
Affiliates. We enable access to personal data across our subsidiaries, affiliates, and related companies, for example, where we share common data systems or where access helps us to provide our services and operate our business.
Corporate transactions. We may disclose personal data as part of a corporate transaction or proceeding such as a merger, financing, acquisition, bankruptcy, dissolution, or a transfer, divestiture, or sale of all or a portion of our business or assets.
Legal and law enforcement. We will access, disclose, and preserve personal data when we believe doing so is necessary to comply with applicable law or respond to valid legal process, including from law enforcement, national security, or other government agencies.
Security, safety, and protecting rights. We will disclose personal data if we believe it is necessary to:

protect our customers and others, for example to prevent spam or attempts to commit fraud, or to help prevent the loss of life or serious injury of anyone;
operate and maintain the security of our services, including to prevent or stop an attack on our computer systems or networks; or protect the rights or property of ourselves or others, including enforcing our agreements, terms, and policies.

4. Facial Scan and Biometrics Information

This section describes how Persona treats scans of facial geometry extracted from the uploaded images of your identity documents and your selfie.

Biometric information is generally understood to be unique physical characteristics or behavior (e.g. your face or fingerprints) through which you can be identified or recognized. We will only process biometric information for the purpose of uniquely identifying you where we have your consent to do so.

Persona, in providing the Service:

compares the data from a scan of facial geometry extracted from the government identification document that you upload to the data from a scan of facial geometry extracted from the photos of your face that you upload (“Scan Data”), in order to help verify your identity (“Verification”); and
may also use your information, including Scan Data, to detect and prevent fraud (“Fraud Prevention”).

The uploaded images and Scan Data, are collected, used and stored directly by Persona.

Persona stores all uploaded images and Scan Data in an encrypted format. Persona’s third party vendors may have access to the Scan Data to provide some or all of the analysis, to store the data, to maintain backup copies, and to service the systems on which such data is stored. Persona will permanently destroy Scan Data upon completion of Verification or within three years of your last interaction with Persona, unless Persona is otherwise required by law or legal process to retain the data.

Persona uses the reasonable standards of care within its industry to store, transmit, and protect from disclosure Scan Data in a manner that is the same as or more protective than the manner in which it stores, transmits, and protects other confidential and sensitive information. Persona will not sell, lease, trade, or, other than to provide the Verification and Fraud Prevention services to LinkedIn described in this policy, otherwise benefit from data from scans of facial geometry extracted from the photos of your face that you upload. Other than as set forth herein, Persona will not disclose, redisclose, or otherwise disseminate data from scans of facial geometry extracted from the photos of your face that you upload unless doing so:

Completes a transaction requested and authorized by you or your legally authorized representative;
Is required by state or federal law, or municipal ordinance;
Is required pursuant to a warrant or subpoena issued by a court of competent jurisdiction; or
Is expressly consented to by you.

5. Data Retention

We retain personal data for as long as necessary to provide the Service and fulfill the verification you have requested.

We may retain certain personal data for a longer period in order to comply with our legal obligations, resolve disputes, enforce our agreements, and other legitimate and lawful business purposes. Because these needs can vary for different data types in the context of different services, actual retention periods will vary based on criteria such as the amount, nature, and sensitivity of the personal data, the potential risk of harm from unauthorized use or disclosure of your personal data, the purposes for which we use your personal data and our legal or contractual obligations.

When we have no ongoing legitimate business need to process your personal data, we will either delete or anonymize it or, if this is not possible, then we will securely store your personal data and isolate it from any further processing until deletion is possible.

6. Your Rights and Choices

We provide a variety of ways for you to control the personal data we hold about you, including choices about how we use that data. In some jurisdictions, these controls and choices may be enforceable as rights under applicable law. We respond to all requests we receive from individuals in accordance with applicable laws.

Depending on where you are located and subject to applicable privacy laws, you may have the following privacy rights:

You may access, correct, update or request deletion of your personal data.
You can object to processing of your personal data, ask us to restrict processing of your personal data or request portability of your personal data (i.e., your data to be transferred in a readable and standardised format).
If we have collected and processed your personal data with your consent, then you can withdraw consent at any time. Withdrawing your consent will not affect the lawfulness of any processing we conducted prior to your withdrawal, nor will it affect processing of your personal data conducted in reliance on lawful processing grounds other than consent.

You also have the right to lodge a complaint with your local supervisory authority, but we encourage you to first contact us with any questions or concerns. For more information, please contact your local supervisory authority.

If you wish to exercise any of your privacy rights, you may email [email protected] to make your request.

Residents of California may have certain additional privacy rights. Please refer to the section entitled “California Privacy Rights” below for more information.

Choices for Cookies and Similar Technologies. For information about how you can control cookies and other similar tracking technologies we use on the Service, please see our Cookie Policy.

6.1 California Privacy Rights

If you are a California resident and the processing of personal data about you is subject to the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA), you have certain rights with respect to that information.

Notice at Collection. At or before the time of collection, you have a right to receive notice of our practices, including the categories of personal data, the purposes for which such information is collected or used, whether such information is sold or shared, and how long such information is retained. You can find those details in this policy by clicking on the above links.

Right to Know. You have a right to request that we disclose to you the personal data we have collected about you. You also have a right to request additional information about our collection, use, disclosure, or sale of such personal data. Note that we have provided much of this information in this privacy policy. You may make such a “request to know” by emailing us at [email protected].

Rights to Request Correction or Deletion. You also have rights to request that we correct inaccurate Personal Data and that we delete personal data under certain circumstances, subject to a number of exceptions. To make a request to correct or delete, email us at [email protected].

Right to Opt-Out / “Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information”. You have a right to opt-out from future “sales” or “sharing” of personal data as those terms are defined by the CCPA. Note that we do not “sell” or “share” personal information subject to this privacy policy as defined by the CCPA and have not done so in the past 12 months.

Right to Limit Use and Disclosure of Sensitive Personal Information. You have a right to limit our use of sensitive personal data for any purposes other than to provide the services or goods you request or as otherwise permitted by law. Note that we do not use sensitive personal data for any such additional purposes.

You may designate, in writing or through a power of attorney, an authorized agent to make requests on your behalf to exercise your rights under the CCPA. Before accepting such a request from an agent, we will require the agent to provide proof you have authorized it to act on your behalf, and we may need you to verify your identity directly with us.

Further, to provide, correct, or delete specific pieces of personal data will need to verify your identity to the degree of certainty required by law. We will verify your request by asking you to send it from the email address associated with your account or requiring you to provide information necessary to verify your account. For some types of personal data we may have, there may be no reasonable method by which we can verify your identity as the person to whom that data relates.

Finally, you have a right to not be discriminated against for exercising these rights set out in the CCPA.

Additionally, under California Civil Code section 1798.83, also known as the “Shine the Light” law, California residents who have provided personal data to a business with which the individual has established a business relationship for personal, family, or household purposes (“California Customers”) may request information about whether the business has disclosed personal data to any third parties for the third parties’ direct marketing purposes.

Please be aware that we do not disclose personal data to any third parties for their direct marketing purposes as defined by this law.

California Customers may request further information about our compliance with this law by e-mailing [email protected]. Please note that businesses are required to respond to one request per California Customer each year and may not be required to respond to requests made by means other than through the designated e-mail address.

7. Processing Locations and Data Transfers

Persona is headquartered in the United States, with offices in San Francisco and New York City as well as employees globally.

The personal data we collect may be stored and processed in your country or region, or in any other country where we or our affiliates, subsidiaries, service providers or third-party data sources process data. This means that we may process your personal data in and transfer your personal data to countries outside of the country in which you are based. These countries may have data protection laws that are different to the laws of your country (and, in some cases, may not be as protective). We take steps designed to ensure that personal data is processed and protected as described in this policy and in accordance with applicable law wherever the data is located.

Currently, we primarily use data centers in the United States and Germany to host your personal data. The storage location(s) are chosen to operate efficiently and improve performance.

We transfer personal data from the European Economic Area (EEA), United Kingdom (UK), and Switzerland to other countries, some of which have not been determined by the European Commission to have an adequate level of data protection. When we do so, we use legal mechanisms, including the European Commission’s Standard Contractual Clauses (and similar measures in the UK and Switzerland) or other available transfer mechanisms, to help ensure your rights and protections.

8. Security

We take reasonable and appropriate technical and organization measures to protect personal data that we collect and process about you. The measures are designed to provide a level of security appropriate to the risk of processing your personal data.

9. Does Persona undertake automated decision making?

Automated decision making means that a significant decision concerning you is made automatically based on a computer determination (using software algorithms), without human review.

Persona itself does not undertake automated decision making. In the case of LinkedIn, the Service will generate a verification result for LinkedIn, but it is LinkedIn that ultimately decides how it uses the verification results provided to them (for example, whether to confirm your identity verification on your LinkedIn profile). If you have any questions about the outcome of a verification check relating to you or your identity document, please contact LinkedIn.

10. Changes to the Privacy Policy

We will update this Privacy Policy when necessary to reflect changes in our services, how we use personal data, or the applicable law. When we post changes to the Privacy Policy, we will revise the “Last Updated” date at the top of the Privacy Policy. If we make material changes to the Privacy Policy, we will provide additional notice regarding such changes if required by law.

11. Contact us

If you have a privacy concern, complaint, or a question for Persona, please feel free to contact us at [email protected].

Our postal address is Persona Identities, Inc., 981 Mission Street #95, San Francisco, CA 94103, United States.

To contact our data protection office (DPO) please feel free to contact them at [email protected].

Our data protection representative for the European Economic Area and Switzerland is George Barry, 4 St Christopher's Rd, Montenotte, Cork, T23 E9TR, Ireland. To make an inquiry to George Barry, please contact [email protected].

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