ClueTrust Privacy and Data Use Policy

ClueTrust takes your privacy seriously, and because of that we've chosen to disclose as much information as we can about how we use the information that we gather. We hope you will find these policies reasonable. If you do not, there are ways that you can opt out (or in many cases, you need to actually opt in). Once you've decided to opt in, there are ways to change your mind later in many cases. The key areas where we collect data are: key signup, crash and statistical data, bug reporting and support, and purchase. We'll cover each of these areas in detail here. If you have questions or issues with our privacy and data use policy, please contact us through the support link and let us know your concerns.

Evaluation Signup

The evaluation signup system is intended to provide users with the ability to gain access to the software for evaluation and testing purposes without the need to contact the company in person. It is also designed to preserve the company's investment in the software by enforcing certain rules about evaluation software. The key signup system requires that you enter a valid email address and requests that you also enter your name and your company name (if appropriate) in order to allow us to address you in a formal fashion when we send any correspondence. At the time of signup, you are also presented with an option to be included in our informational mailings about the product. If you do not elect to receive the mailings, then the only emails you receive from us will be related to the evaluation that you have requested (including notifications of expiration and renewal as well as the emails containing the access codes to for the key).

All the information gathered at this stage is only used for the purposes of key maintenance and (if you have elected to be included in our announcements) announcements about the product. If you decide at some future date that you are no longer interested in receiving updated information about the product (or if you elected not to receive the information and would like to receive it now), please proceed to the mailing list control page where you can change your mailing list status.

Crash and Statistical Data

Many of ClueTrust's products collect crash data from the operating system in order to report that information to support and engineering for the betterment of the product. When you run the program the first time after a crash, it will prompt you to send the crash information to ClueTrust. If you agree, the information (along with an identifier that we call the Host ID) will be sent to our systems. When you select Report a Bug from the Help menu, that Host ID will automatically be added to the form so that we can correlate the bug report to the crash log that was sent earlier.

If you don't agree to send the crash information to ClueTrust, but want to submit a bug report later, you can manually initiate sending of the log data by using the Send Logs item in the Help menu. This will send all outstanding logs to ClueTrust so that we can follow up as necessary.

Even if you choose not to send a bug report manually, please allow the software to send the crash and logging information to ClueTrust so that we can track down the problem as it might affect other users.

In addition to the crash logs, some ClueTrust programs keep track of certain usage data which is then used when planning features and upgrades in the future. All of this usage data is anonymous and contains no personally identifying information. Examples of this kind of information are what kind of file types are imported and whether certain analysis features are used. As with the crash logs, the Host ID is sent with this data in order to keep usage data accurate.

Host ID

The Host ID that is used by ClueTrust is randomly generated once for each computer the software is installed on. It is not related to the computer's serial number, email address, software serial number, key or Ethernet address and conforms to the specifications for random UUID creation.

Bug Reporting and Support

When reporting bugs to ClueTrust via any of our bug report or support mechanisms, we request that you use a valid email address so that we can correspond with you further about the issue of concern. We maintain these email addresses separately and only in our bug reporting database and will only use them to contact you about bugs that you have reported and issues related directly to them (such as notifying you that a new version of the software is available that we believe addresses the problem you have reported). These addresses are never used for marketing or sales purposes (unless, of course, you send us a question about marketing or sales).

ClueTrust is currently using Zendesk for our customer service and support tracking system, and so your support interactions are also subject to Zendesk's privacy copy, which is available from the Zendesk Privacy Page.

Purchase

Information that you use during the purchase process will be maintained and retained on a confidential basis for the purposes of credit, support and marketing. As with all of the rest of the information that you make available to us, we will never make this information available outside of the company and its financial providers for any purpose except those required by law and to track down financial problems with transactions. As is the case in many jurisdictions, we will maintain some of the purchase information in secure forms (discarding that which we are either required to discard or which we do not need for the purposes of the transaction). In the event that we provide at some point the ability to remember information on past purchases for the convenience of our users, that information will be kept in a secure form and will not be sent back to the user. Further, some information will be required from you in order to confirm the purchase information (usually in the form of a password or information from your credit card).

ClueTrust is currently using 2Checkout (formerly Avangate) for our purchase transactions and so your transactions are also subject to 2Checkout's privacy policy, which is available from the Privacy Policy link on the bottom of our checkout page. They also have an overall privacy policy on their site.

In the past, ClueTrust has also used Kagi for purchase transactions and so any of those transactions were also subject to Kagi's privacy policy, however, Kagi is no more, and the privacy policy is only available through the internet archive.

Email List Selling

We don't do it now, and we won't do it in the future. Any information gathered for the above purposes under these conditions will be kept under these conditions for the future as well. If the company changes hands, we commit to making sure that these provisions are a requirement for all data that is collected before the transaction (although we may not be able to control anything after). We don't foresee such an event, however it's one of those things that we—as privacy advocates—are concerned about, so we figured we'd be clear up front (both to potential suitors and to customers).

Legal Stuff

Of course, all of this is subject to the laws of the Commonwealth of Virginia and the United States, so if we're required to do something by law, you can expect us to do that.