Privacy Policy Terms of Use FAQ

For children under 13, please see our Children's Privacy Policy

Last Revised: July 30, 2015

This privacy policy ("Policy") explains how personal information is collected, used, and disclosed by ToyTalk, Inc. ("ToyTalk" "we," or "us") in connection with your use of the applications, web sites, and online services of ToyTalk which link to this Policy (collectively the "Service") so you can make an informed decision about using the Service or allowing others to use the Service. By using any Service, you consent to ToyTalk's collection, use and/or disclosure of your personal information as described in this Policy. By allowing other people to use the Service via your account, you are confirming that you have the right to consent on their behalf to ToyTalk's collection, use and disclosure of their personal information as described below.

We may change this Policy from time to time. If we make changes, we will notify you by revising the date at the top of the Policy and, in some cases (such as for material changes), we will provide you with additional notice (such as adding a statement to our websites' homepages or sending you a notification) and/or obtain your consent or the consent of a parent or legal guardian. We encourage you to review the Policy whenever you access the Service to stay informed about our information practices and the ways you can help protect your privacy.

Privacy Practices for Children Under 13

The Service is intended for families and users of all ages. This may include children under 13, and we recognize the need to provide additional privacy protections for such children who use the Service. Therefore, with respect to children under 13, our privacy practices are set forth below in our Children's Privacy Policy section. This Children's Privacy Policy will control over any conflicting provisions in our general Privacy Policy.

What Information Do We Collect?

Active Collection: We collect information in various ways when the Service is being used. For example, we collect parental email in order to obtain parental consent and create a parent account, which allows you to access a separate online Parental Controls feature located on our website. We may also collect other information you directly provide to us, such as when you send us an email, fill out a form, provide or request information, or otherwise submit information to or through the Service. Such information may include personal information such as your name, email, and telephone number. In addition, from time to time we may collect demographic and personal information you provide in connection with your participation in surveys, sweepstakes, contests, games, offers, and other activities in connection with the Service. Failure to provide necessary information at the time of registration for, or use of the Service, may result in certain portions or features of the Service not being available. Please see the "Audio Capture" section below for information on how audio is captured when you use the Service.

Passive Collection: When the Service is being used, some information is also automatically collected. For example, we may automatically collect certain information such as device model and name, operating system and version, the browser type, mobile network information, preferred language, time zone, and activity on the Service. We may also automatically collect certain logistical information in server logs, including information about how various features of our service are used and information about the number, frequency and length of each session. We treat this information as personal information under this Policy if we use it to identify a user over time or across online services. Otherwise, it is used in the aggregate only and it is not treated as personal information under this Policy. For products other than The Winston Show, SpeakaZoo, SpeakaLegend and SpeakorTreat (the "Legacy Products"), we may also collect certain identifiers, including advertising identifiers such as Apple’s IDFA or the Android Advertising ID, which may be considered personal information under the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act ("COPPA"). These identifiers are used to help us maintain and analyze the functioning of the Service, to provide contextual advertising and to otherwise support the internal operation of the Service.

On our web site, we may also automatically collect certain information through the use of "cookies." Cookies are small data files stored on your hard drive at the request of a website. Among other things, cookies help us improve our Service and the experience of our users. If we link cookies to any personally identifying information, we will treat this information as personal information. If you wish to block, erase, or be warned of cookies, please refer to your browser manufacturer to learn about these functions. However, if you choose to remove or reject cookies, this could affect certain features of the Service. We may use Web beacons or similar technology in connection with the Service. Web beacons are small, invisible graphic images that may be used in the Service or in emails relating to the Service to collect certain information and monitor user activity on the Service, such as to count visits, understand usage and effectiveness and to tell if an email has been opened and acted upon.

Third-Party Websites: We may also obtain information from other sources and combine that with information we collect through our Service. For example, if you create or log into your parent account through a third-party social networking site, or if content is submitted to a third-party site in connection with the Service we may be provided access to certain information from that site (such as your name, account info and friends), in accordance with the authorization procedures determined by such third-party social networking site.

Audio Capture: The Service involves characters that interact with you and your children, and when users interact with ToyTalk, we may capture audio recordings of such interactions. We use these recordings for limited purposes, such as to provide the Service and for research and development to improve our Service. Please see "How Do We Use the Personal Information We Collect?" for more information on how this information is used by ToyTalk and "What Information Do We Share With Third Parties?" for information on how this information may be shared with third parties.

How Do We Use the Personal Information We Collect?

We use personal information collected through our Service for the purposes described in this Policy or as specifically described in the Service. For example, we may use personal information we collect:

to obtain parental consent and create a parent account;
to provide and maintain the Service and to process and complete any transactions in connection therewith;
respond to your communications and requests, provide customer service, request feedback, and otherwise contact you about your use of the Service;
to monitor and analyze usage and trends and demographic information, and to personalize and improve the Service, our technology and our users' experiences;
to provide you with news and information about our events, activities, offers, promotions, products, and services we think will be of interest to you (with your consent where prior consent is required by applicable law);
to send you confirmations, updates, product announcements, security alerts, and support and administrative messages and otherwise facilitate your use of, and our administration and operation of, the Service;
to notify you about important changes to our Service and our terms and policies;
to develop, test or improve speech recognition technology and artificial intelligence algorithms and for other research and development or data analysis purposes; and
for any other purpose for which the information was collected, as identified at the time of collection.

We use the audio recordings that are captured when you use the Service (the "Recordings") only for limited purposes. We may use, process, transcribe, convert, store and review the Recordings in order to provide, maintain, and analyze the functioning of the Service, to develop, test or improve speech recognition technology and artificial intelligence algorithms, and for other research and development purposes. If any Recordings are stored, they will be made available to parents through their parent account, and parents may review or delete such Recordings as they wish or may choose to share such Recordings with third parties. We may periodically contact parents to inform them when a child recording is available under their account. Parents can choose to not receive these notification via the Settings page when logged in to ToyTalk's website. We do not use the content of the Recordings to contact children or for advertising purposes.

We may store and process personal information in the United States and other countries.

What Information Do We Share With Third Parties?

We will not share the personal information we collect through the Service with third parties, except as described in this Policy. For example, we may share personal information as follows:

with vendors, consultants, and other service providers ("Service Providers") who need access to such information to carry out their work for us, such as vendors who assist us in providing the Service, in developing, testing and improving speech recognition technology and artificial intelligence algorithms or in conducting research and development;
when you give us your consent to do so, including if we notify you in connection with the Service that the information you provide will be shared in a particular manner and you provide such information;
when we believe in good faith that we are lawfully authorized or required to do so or that doing so is reasonably necessary or appropriate to (a) comply with any law or legal processes or respond to lawful requests or legal authorities, including responding to lawful subpoenas, warrants, or court orders; or (b) protect the rights, property, or safety of ToyTalk, our users, our employees, copyright owners, third parties or the public, to enforce or apply this Policy, our Terms of Use, or our other policies or agreements; and
in connection with, or during negotiations of, any merger, sale of company assets, financing or acquisition, or in any other situation where personal information may be disclosed or transferred as one of the business assets of ToyTalk.

We may also share aggregated or anonymized information that does not identify you. For example, we may share aggregate information about users’ activities on our Service that do not contain any personal information with parties we partner with, such as Mattel.

We may share Recordings with Service Providers who assist us in providing the Service, developing, testing and improving speech recognition technology and artificial intelligence algorithms, or otherwise conducting research and development. For example, for our Services that use the Bing Voice Recognition API to provide voice recognition services, Recordings and other performance data associated with the speech functionality will be sent to Microsoft, as our Service Provider. We may also share transcripts and feature extracted data that are created from Recordings, but which no longer contain a child’s real voice, with Service Providers or other third parties for their use in providing the Service and in developing, testing and improving speech recognition technology and artificial intelligence algorithms and for research and development purposes. These Service Providers are not authorized to use the Recordings or their content to contact or advertise to users of the Service.

Analytics and Advertising Services

For products other than our Legacy Products, we may use third parties to provide analytics services and advertising services. We may use, and allow these third parties to use, cookies, web beacons and other technologies to collect information about your use of the Services, including pages viewed, time spent on pages, links clicked, conversion information and other end user traffic data. This information may be used by ToyTalk and others to, among other things, analyze data, maintain and analyze the functioning of the Service (including to determine the popularity of certain content and better understand the use of the Service) and to serve contextual ads. This information will not be used for any behavioral advertising.

Links to and Sharing with Other Websites

The Service may offer social sharing features and may otherwise allow a parent to share Recordings and other content through third-party websites, such as Facebook, YouTube and Twitter (collectively the "Third-Party Sites"). Such sharing is not automatic, but it must be initiated by the parent user. Any personal information you provide to these Third-Party Sites in connection with such submission is provided directly to that third party and is subject to that third party's privacy policy. This Policy does not apply to such Third-Party Sites, and we are not responsible for the content or privacy and security practices and policies of these Third-Party Sites. We encourage you to learn about their privacy and security practices and policies before sharing information or content to a Third-Party Site or using a social sharing feature.

International Users

ToyTalk is based in the United States and the information we collect is governed by U.S. law. By accessing or using the Service or otherwise providing information to us, you consent to the processing and transfer of information in and to the U.S. and other countries. If information is shared in accordance with this privacy policy, it may be disclosed to overseas recipients located in outside of the European Economic Area, including countries that do not have laws that protect personal information in the same manner as countries within the European Economic Area.

U.S./EU and U.S./Switzerland Safe Harbor Certification

ToyTalk participates in the Safe Harbor program developed by the U.S. Department of Commerce and the European Union. We have certified that we adhere to the Safe Harbor Privacy Principles of Notice, Choice, Onward Transfer, Security, Data Integrity, Access and Enforcement with respect to personal data transferred from the EU to the U.S. For more information about the Safe Harbor program and to view our certification, please visit the U.S. Department of Commerce's Safe Harbor website. If you have concerns about our compliance with the Safe Harbor program, you should contact us at privacy@toytalk.com or at the contact information set forth below. If you are unable to resolve your concern or dispute with us, you may submit complaints to JAMS for mediation pursuant to the JAMS International Mediation Rules.

What Steps Do We Take To Protect Your Information Online?

We take reasonable measures to protect personal information in an effort to prevent loss, misuse, and unauthorized access, disclosure, alteration, and destruction. Please be aware, however, that despite our efforts, no security measures are perfect or impenetrable and no method of data transmission that can be guaranteed against any interception or other type of misuse.

What Choices Do You Have Regarding the Use of Your Information?

You may choose to permanently delete your ToyTalk account via ToyTalk's website. We will delete all personal information connected with your account when you close your account in this manner. However, cached copies may exist for a certain period of time after the account is deleted. Under applicable privacy legislation you may have rights of access to and correction of the personal information held by us. You can review and update your personal information and review and delete any Recordings that have been captured by ToyTalk by logging into the ToyTalk website. We do not however have control over any other Third Party Sites with whom you have shared Recordings, and you will need to contact them directly regarding any Recordings you have shared to Third-Party Sites.

In order for the Service to function, ToyTalk must share Recordings with our Service Providers as described in this policy. If you no longer wish for Recordings to be shared in this manner, you may delete your account as described above, in which case no further information will be shared with third parties.

You may "opt out" of receiving marketing or promotional emails from us by following the unsubscribe instructions in those emails. Where required by applicable law, we will get your consent prior to sending you such emails.

Questions or Concerns?

If you have any questions about this Policy or any concerns about your privacy, please email us at privacy@toytalk.com or contact us at:

ToyTalk, Inc.
Attn: Chief Privacy Office
77 Maiden Lane
San Francisco, CA 94108
Tel. 415-890-4446

Children's Privacy Policy

This Children's Privacy Policy applies to children's use of any applications, web sites, and online services of ToyTalk which link to this Children's Privacy Policy (collectively the "Service"). The Service is intended for families and users of all ages. Use of the Service may involve the collection of audio recordings containing the voices of children under 13 (collectively the "Recordings"),which Recordings constitute personal information under the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act ("COPPA"). In addition, for products other than The Winston Show, SpeakaZoo, SpeakaLegend and SpeakorTreat (the "Legacy Products"), we may also collect certain identifiers that may be considered to be personal information under COPPA. As a result, additional information about the collection of personal information from children under 13 and our privacy practices regarding such information is set forth in this Children's Privacy Policy. This Children's Privacy Policy will control over any conflicting provisions in our general Privacy Policy as set forth above. All references to "children" or "child" in this Children's Privacy Policy shall mean children under 13 years of age, and all references to the term "parent" shall include legal guardians.

Who should you contact with questions or concerns about our Children's Privacy Policy or privacy issues regarding children?

The operator of this service is ToyTalk, Inc., If you have questions, comments or concerns about privacy issues or our Children's Privacy Policy, please send us an e-mail at privacy@toytalk.com or contact us at:

ToyTalk, Inc.
Attn: Chief Privacy Office
77 Maiden Lane
San Francisco, CA 94108
Tel. 415-890-4446

What personal information do we collect from children?

We collect a parent's email so that we may obtain consent to the use of the Service. The Service involves characters that interact with you and your children, and Recordings of children under 13 may be automatically captured when children interact with the Service depending upon the particular application being used. For products other than the Legacy Products, we also may collect certain identifiers, including advertising identifiers such as Apple’s IDFA or the Android Advertising ID, which may be considered personal information under COPPA.

In addition, as we do not control what children say when interacting with ToyTalk, it is possible for children to provide additional personal information in connection with such interactions, which may be captured in Recordings. In such event, it is our policy to delete such information where we become aware of it and we contractually require our Service Providers to do the same.

Does the Service enable children to make personal information publicly available?

Although parents may share Recordings created through their parent account on Third-Party Sites, children under 13 are not permitted to be account holders. Therefore, we do not knowingly allow children under 13 to share Recordings on Third-Party Sites or otherwise make any personal information publicly available.

How do we use personal information collected from children?

We may use, store, process, convert, transcribe and review Recordings in order to provide, maintain, and analyze the functioning of the Service, to develop, test or improve speech recognition technology and artificial intelligence algorithms, and for other research and development and data analysis purposes. We do not use the Recordings or their content, including any personal information that may be captured therein, to contact children or to advertise to them.

For products other than Legacy Products, we may use the IDFA and other identifiers for contextual advertising, to maintain and analyze the functioning of the Service (including to determine the popularity of certain content and to better understand how the Service is used), and for otherwise providing support for the internal operations of the Service. Such identifiers will not be used for behavioral advertising.

Disclosure practices regarding personal information obtained from children

We may share Recordings and other personal information with Service Providers who assist us in providing and maintaining the Service, developing, testing and improving speech recognition technology and artificial intelligence algorithms, or conducting research and development or who otherwise provide support for the internal operations of the Service. Such Service Providers are not authorized to use any personal information they receive from us for their own purposes (i.e. for purposes not related to providing, maintaining, testing, developing or improving the services and technology being provided to ToyTalk). We may, however, share transcripts and feature extracted data and transcripts that are created from the Recordings, but which no longer contain a child's real voice, with Service Providers or other third parties, which they may use for their own research and development purposes, including developing, testing and improving speech recognition technology and artificial intelligence algorithms not related to the services or technology being provided to ToyTalk. In no event will these Service Providers or other third parties be authorized to use any Recordings, feature extracted data, transcripts or any content contained therein to contact or advertise to children.

Other Important information

Parents have the right to review or have deleted any personal information collected from their child that is retained by ToyTalk and to refuse to permit further collection or use of their child's personal information. You may do this via the Settings page when you log in to ToyTalk's website.