Privacy Policy
Effective date: February 21, 2023
Welcome to Read the Docs. At Read the Docs, we believe in protecting the privacy of our users, authors, and readers.
The short version
We collect your information only with your consent; we only collect the minimum amount of personal information that is necessary to fulfill the purpose of your interaction with us; we don’t sell it to third parties; and we only use it as this Privacy Policy describes.
Of course, the short version doesn’t tell you everything, so please read on for more details!
Our services
Read the Docs is made up of:
- readthedocs.org (“Read the Docs Community”)
This is a website aimed at documentation authors and project maintainers writing and distributing technical documentation. This Privacy Policy applies to this site in full without reservation.
- readthedocs.com (“Read the Docs for Business”)
This website is a commercial hosted offering for hosting private documentation for corporate clients. This Privacy Policy applies to this site in full without reservation.
- readthedocs.io, readthedocs-hosted.com, and other domains (“Documentation Sites”)
These websites are where Read the Docs hosts documentation (”User-Generated Content”) on behalf of documentation authors. A best effort is made to apply this Privacy Policy to these sites but the documentation may contain content and files created by documentation authors.
All use of Read the Docs is subject to this Privacy Policy, together with our Terms of service.
What information Read the Docs collects and why
Information from website browsers
If you’re just browsing the website, we collect the same basic information that most websites collect. We use common internet technologies, such as cookies and web server logs. We collect this basic information from everybody, whether they have an account or not.
The information we collect about all visitors to our website includes:
the visitor’s browser type
language preference
referring site
the date and time of each visitor request
We also collect potentially personally-identifying information like Internet Protocol (IP) addresses.
Why do we collect this?
We collect this information to better understand how our website visitors use Read the Docs, and to monitor and protect the security of the website.
Information from users with accounts
If you create an account, we require some basic information at the time of account creation. You will create your own user name and password, and we will ask you for a valid email account. You also have the option to give us more information if you want to, and this may include “User Personal Information.”
“User Personal Information” is any information about one of our users which could, alone or together with other information, personally identify him or her. Information such as a user name and password, an email address, a real name, and a photograph are examples of “User Personal Information.”
User Personal Information does not include aggregated, non-personally identifying information. We may use aggregated, non-personally identifying information to operate, improve, and optimize our website and service.
Why do we collect this information?
We need your User Personal Information to create your account, and to provide the services you request.
We use your User Personal Information, specifically your user name, to identify you on Read the Docs.
We use it to fill out your profile and share that profile with other users.
We will use your email address to communicate with you but it is not shared publicly.
We limit our use of your User Personal Information to the purposes listed in this Privacy Statement. If we need to use your User Personal Information for other purposes, we will ask your permission first. You can always see what information we have in your user account.
What information Read the Docs does not collect
We do not intentionally collect sensitive personal information, such as social security numbers, genetic data, health information, or religious information.
Documentation Sites hosted on Read the Docs are public, anyone (including us) may view their contents. If you have included private or sensitive information in your Documentation Site, such as email addresses, that information may be indexed by search engines or used by third parties.
Read the Docs for Business may host private projects which we treat as confidential and we only access them for support reasons, with your consent, or if required to for security reasons
If you’re a child under the age of 13, you may not have an account on Read the Docs. Read the Docs does not knowingly collect information from or direct any of our content specifically to children under 13. If we learn or have reason to suspect that you are a user who is under the age of 13, we will unfortunately have to close your account. We don’t want to discourage you from writing software documentation, but those are the rules.
How Read the Docs secures your information
Read the Docs takes all measures reasonably necessary to protect User Personal Information from unauthorized access, alteration, or destruction; maintain data accuracy; and help ensure the appropriate use of User Personal Information. We follow generally accepted industry standards to protect the personal information submitted to us, both during transmission and once we receive it.
No method of transmission, or method of electronic storage, is 100% secure. Therefore, we cannot guarantee its absolute security.
Read the Docs’ global privacy practices
Information that we collect will be stored and processed in the United States in accordance with this Privacy Policy. However, we understand that we have users from different countries and regions with different privacy expectations, and we try to meet those needs.
We provide the same standard of privacy protection to all our users around the world, regardless of their country of origin or location, Additionally, we require that if our vendors or affiliates have access to User Personal Information, they must comply with our privacy policies and with applicable data privacy laws.
In particular:
Read the Docs provides clear methods of unambiguous, informed consent at the time of data collection, when we do collect your personal data.
We collect only the minimum amount of personal data necessary, unless you choose to provide more. We encourage you to only give us the amount of data you are comfortable sharing.
We offer you simple methods of accessing, correcting, or deleting the data we have collected.
We also provide our users a method of recourse and enforcement.
Resolving complaints
If you have concerns about the way Read the Docs is handling your User Personal Information, please let us know immediately by emailing us at privacy@readthedocs.org.
How we respond to compelled disclosure
Read the Docs may disclose personally-identifying information or other information we collect about you to law enforcement in response to a valid subpoena, court order, warrant, or similar government order, or when we believe in good faith that disclosure is reasonably necessary to protect our property or rights, or those of third parties or the public at large.
In complying with court orders and similar legal processes, Read the Docs strives for transparency. When permitted, we will make a reasonable effort to notify users of any disclosure of their information, unless we are prohibited by law or court order from doing so, or in rare, exigent circumstances.
How you can access and control the information we collect
If you’re already a Read the Docs user, you may access, update, alter, or delete your basic user profile information by editing your user account.
Data retention and deletion
Read the Docs will retain User Personal Information for as long as your account is active or as needed to provide you services.
We may retain certain User Personal Information indefinitely, unless you delete it or request its deletion. For example, we don’t automatically delete inactive user accounts, so unless you choose to delete your account, we will retain your account information indefinitely.
If you would like to delete your User Personal Information, you may do so in your user account. We will retain and use your information as necessary to comply with our legal obligations, resolve disputes, and enforce our agreements, but barring legal requirements, we will delete your full profile.
Our web server logs for Read the Docs Community, Read the Docs for Business, and Documentation Sites are deleted after 10 days barring legal obligations.
Changes to our Privacy Policy
We reserve the right to revise this Privacy Policy at any time. If we change this Privacy Policy in the future, we will post the revised Privacy Policy and update the “Effective Date,” above, to reflect the date of the changes.
Contacting Read the Docs
Questions regarding Read the Docs’ Privacy Policy or information practices should be directed to privacy@readthedocs.org.