BOTIM Privacy Policy
Last updated 13 March 2023
BY ACCEPTING BOTIM'S TERMS AND CONDITIONS AND THIS PRIVACY POLICY THROUGH YOUR USE OF THE SERVICES, YOU GRANT CONSENT TO BOTIM TO COLLECT, STORE, USE AND SHARE YOUR PERSONAL DATA TO THE EXTENT PERMITTED BY THIS PRIVACY POLICY AND APPLICABLE LAWS. YOU CAN REVOKE THIS CONSENT AT ANY TIME BY EMAILING SUPPORT@BOTIM.ME
BOTIM (“BOTIM”) cares about the privacy of its customers, visitors and users. BOTIM Privacy Policy (“Privacy Policy”) explains how BOTIM collects, uses, discloses and protects information and data and the legal bases BOTIM has to process your data in relation to BOTIM Services (the “Services”), and your choices about the collection and use of your data and information. This Privacy Policy is incorporated into and is subject to the BOTIM Terms and Conditions of the Services (the “Terms”), which can be found at https://botim.me/terms/, and both documents should be read together. Your use of the Services and any personal information you provide to BOTIM to avail the Services remains subject to the terms of this Privacy Policy and the Terms.
The Privacy Policy also sets out how BOTIM uses your content, which is your communications with others using BOTIM Services and the files, photos, documents, audio, digital works, livestreams and videos that you upload, store, broadcast or share through the Services ("Your Content"). Where processing is based on consent and to the extent permitted by applicable law, by agreeing to the Terms you consent to BOTIM’s collection, use and disclosure of Your Content and personal information as described in the Privacy Policy. In availing certain Services, you may be asked for a separate consent as per Privacy Policy.
Your Content remains yours and BOTIM does not claim any rights over Your Content. You represent and warrant to BOTIM that Your Content shall not violate the applicable laws and is not causing BOTIM to be in breach of any data protection laws in the applicable jurisdiction. BOTIM shall not be responsible for the content that you share or receive from others. You understand and agree that Your Content that you share with others may be copied, reproduced, re-shared, modified, broadcast, transmitted and displayed by such third parties and BOTIM shall not be liable for Your Content that has been transmitted, shared or received by you or third parties with you. By sharing Your Content with third parties you accept the risks of doing so as described herein. BOTIM shall not be liable for any disclosure of Your Content in any way or form while using the Services.
To the extent necessary to provide the Services to you and others, to protect you and the Services, and to improve the Services, you grant to BOTIM a worldwide and royalty-free intellectual property license to use Your Content, for example, to make copies of, retain, transmit, reformat, display, and distribute via communication tools Your Content on the Services. BOTIM does not use what you say in email, chat, video calls or voice mail, or your documents, photos or other personal files, to target advertising to you.
Please note that any User Status Submissions, Direct Messages or other content posted at the direction or discretion of users of the Services becomes published content and is not considered personally identifiable information subject to this Privacy Policy. This Privacy Policy does not apply to the practices of companies of third parties that BOTIM does not own or control, or to individuals whom BOTIM does not employ or manage, including any of the third parties to which BOTIM may disclose user information as set forth in this Privacy Policy.
This Privacy Policy does not apply to the practices of companies of third parties that BOTIM does not own or control, or to individuals whom BOTIM does not employ or manage, including any of the third parties to which BOTIM may disclose user information as set forth in this Privacy Policy.
BOTIM may obtain the following types of information from or concerning you or your mobile phone device, which may include information that can be used to identify you as specified below:
(A) User Provided Information: You provide certain personally identifiable information, such as your mobile phone number, push notification name (if applicable) and mobile device information to BOTIM when choosing to participate in various uses of the Services, such as registering as a user, updating your status or requesting status for your contacts. In order to provide the Services, BOTIM will periodically access your address book or contact list on your mobile phone to locate the mobile phone numbers of other BOTIM users (in-network numbers), or otherwise categorize other mobile phone numbers as “out-network” numbers, which are stored as one-way irreversibly hashed values.
(B) Cookies Information: When you visit the BOTIM Site, BOTIM may send one or more cookies – a small text file containing a string of alphanumeric characters – to your computer that uniquely identifies your browser. BOTIM uses both session cookies and persistent cookies. A persistent cookie remains after you close your browser. Persistent cookies may be used by your browser on subsequent visits to the site. Persistent cookies can be removed by following your web browser help file directions. A session cookie is temporary and disappears after you close your browser. You can reset your web browser to refuse all cookies or to indicate when a cookie is being sent. However, BOTIM Site may not function properly if the ability to accept cookies is disabled. Please note that if you disable all cookies using your browser, certain features of the Services or all of the Services may not be available.
(C) Log File Information: When you use the BOTIM Site, servers automatically record certain information that your web browser sends whenever you visit any website. These server logs may include information such as your web request, internet protocol (IP address), browser type, browser language, referring / exit pages and URLs, platform type, number of clicks, domain names, landing pages, pages viewed and the order of those pages, the amount of time spent on particular pages, the date and time of your request, one or more cookies that may uniquely identify your browser, your phone number, phone number you are requesting the status of and various status information. When you use the Services, BOTIM servers log certain general information that BOTIM application sends whenever a message is sent or received, or if you update or request any status information, including time and date stamps and the mobile phone numbers the messages were sent from and to.
(D) Payment Information: If you choose to make purchases through the Services (e.g. for BOTIM premium service), BOTIM processes your payments through a third-party application, such as the Apple App Store or Google Play App Store. The Apple App Store or Google Play App Store may collect certain financial information from you to process a payment on BOTIM’s behalf, including your name, email address, and other billing information. BOTIM shall not be responsible for collection, storing, retrieving and safe keeping any such data provided to third parties as it does not have access to such payment related data.
(E) Mobile Top-Up Information: In order to process your purchase, BOTIM needs to allow third party payment agencies to connect with you to obtain your personal data for payment processing and fraud detection companies. BOTIM will only use this data for the completion of the relevant Services. BOTIM will never sell your data to other parties.
BOTIM does not collect names, emails, addresses or other contact information from its users’ mobile address book or contact lists other than mobile phone numbers that BOTIM mobile application will associate whatever name the BOTIM user has assigned to the mobile telephone number in his/her mobile address book or contact list – and this occurs dynamically on the mobile device itself and not on BOTIM’s servers and is not transmitted to BOTIM. This means that if you have your friend’s mobile phone number associated with the name “Alice” in your mobile address book, that’s the name that will appear for that mobile phone number in your BOTIM contact list. BOTIM does not collect location data, but users may voluntarily share their location with other users via the Services.
The contents of messages that have been delivered by the Services are not copied, kept or archived by BOTIM in the normal course of business. The Services are meant to be a SMS replacement, using data service through a user’s phone (either via cell network or wi-fi). Users type their messages, which are sent via data service to BOTIM servers, and routed to the intended recipient (who must also be a BOTIM user), if that recipient is online. If the recipient is not online, the undelivered message is held in BOTIM’s server until it can be delivered. If the message is undelivered for seven (7) days, the undelivered message is deleted from the servers. Once a message has been delivered, it no longer resides on BOTIM servers. The contents of any delivered messages are not kept or retained by BOTIM – the only records of the content of any delivered messages reside directly on the sender’s and recipient’s mobile devices (and which may be deleted at the user’s option). Notwithstanding the above, BOTIM may retain date and time stamp information associated with successfully delivered messages and the mobile phone numbers involved in the messages, as well as any other information which BOTIM is legally compelled to collect. Files that are sent through the Services will reside on BOTIM servers after delivery for a short period of time but are deleted and stripped of any identifiable information within a short period of time in accordance with BOTIM general retention policies.
BOTIM does not collect age information from users. Once parental consent or authorization is granted, the account of the minor or person under custody is treated much like any other account. Parents or custodians can change or revoke the consent choices previously made and request the deletion of the personal data of minors or persons under custody for whom they provided consent or authorization.
If you submit personally identifiable information to us through the BOTIM Site, or the Services, then BOTIM will use your personal information to operate, maintain, and provide to you the features and functionality of the Services and offer customer support. In particular, your mobile phone number is essential to your use of the Services and will be retained. Should you elect not to provide your phone number, BOTIM is unable to provide the Services to you.
BOTIM will only process your personal information for a lawful purpose (as directly provided by yourself with your consent) for providing the Services to you. Where BOTIM relies on legitimate interests, this means that BOTIM uses personal information to run the business and to provide the Services BOTIM has been asked to provide, for marketing activities, included targeted marketing campaigns (“Additional Purpose”) and including providing functionality, analyze performance, fix errors, and improve the usability and effectiveness of the Services. BOTIM only collects information that has been supplied voluntarily, you do not have to provide BOTIM with personal information. If you do not provide BOTIM with information BOTIM needs or requires, BOTIM may not be able to offer you products and services. However, you may, at any time, object to sharing of your data for Additional Purpose.
Any personally identifiable information or status content that you voluntarily disclose on the Services becomes publicly available and may be collected and used by other users of the Services (unless such user is blocked by you). Your name (as it is saved in other user’s mobile phone address book or contact list) may be displayed to other users when you update your User Status Submissions through the Services and other users may contact you through the Services.
BOTIM does not use your mobile phone number or other personally identifiable information to send you directly commercial or marketing messages without your consent or except as part of a specific program or feature for which you will have the ability to opt-in or opt-out, however, third parties may advertise their services to the users within BOTIM Services. BOTIM may, however, use your mobile phone number (or email address, if provided) without further consent for non-marketing or administrative purposes (such as notifying you of major Services changes or for customer support purposes). BOTIM may use both your personally identifiable information and certain non-personally-identifiable information (such as anonymous user usage data, cookies, IP addresses, browser type, clickstream data, etc.) to improve the quality and design of the Services and to create new features, promotions, functionality and services by storing, tracking, and analysing user preferences and trends. BOTIM may use cookies and log file information to: (a) remember information so that you will not have to re-enter it during your visit or the next time you use the Services; (b) provide custom, personalized content and information; (c) monitor individual and aggregate metrics such as total number of visitors, pages viewed, etc.; and (d) track your entries, submissions, views and such.
BOTIM may conduct research on BOTIM users' demographics, interests, and behaviour. BOTIM does this in order to better understand and serve the users of the Services.
The information you provide may be confidential, and BOTIM will maintain such confidentiality and protect your information in accordance with this Privacy Policy, and applicable law. BOTIM does not sell, rent, distribute, or otherwise make, personal information commercially available to any third party.
Other users of the Services may see your User Status Submissions in a way that is consistent with the use of the Services. For example, a status of “Driving in car” set by a specific phone number will be available to every user of the Services who has that mobile phone number in their mobile phone’s address book or contact list, unless you have chosen to block such user. “Last seen” information is available and displayed to each user who has your mobile phone number in their mobile phone address book or contact book (and which you have not blocked) and reflects the last approximate time the BOTIM mobile application has been used or brought to the foreground on your mobile phone. “Last seen” information is reported to BOTIM when a user brings the mobile application to the foreground.
BOTIM may share your personally identifiable information with third party service providers, BOTIM’s subsidiaries, affiliates and vendors, to the extent that it is reasonably necessary to perform, improve or maintain the Services. BOTIM may share information with interested third-parties to assist them in understanding the usage patterns for certain content, services, advertisements, promotions, and/or functionality on the application. These parties will have access to personal information needed to perform the listed functions, but may not use it for other purposes. We work to protect the security of your personal information during transmission by using encryption protocols and software.
BOTIM may collect and release personally identifiable information and/or non-personally-identifiable information if required to do so by law, or in the good-faith belief that such action is necessary to comply with applicable law or respond to a court order, subpoena, or search warrant or equivalent, or where in BOTIM’s reasonable belief, an individual’s physical safety may be at risk or threatened. BOTIM also reserves the right to disclose personally identifiable information and/or non-personally-identifiable information that BOTIM believes, in good faith, is appropriate or necessary to enforce the Terms, take precautions against liability, to investigate and defend against any third-party claims or allegations, to assist government enforcement agencies, to protect the security or integrity of the BOTIM Services or the servers, and to protect the rights, property, or safety of BOTIM, its users or other parties. BOTIM may share your personal information with BOTIM employees and consultants who require it to perform their jobs, organizations that support the Services BOTIM provides to you or official bodies to detect and prevent criminal activity e.g. money laundering, theft, fraud, terrorism, cybercrime.
If you are a user accessing the BOTIM Services from the region with specific laws or regulations governing personal data collection, use, disclosure and transfer, please be advised that BOTIM uses global data storage facilities and through your continued use of the Services, which are governed by this Privacy Policy, your personal information may be stored in different countries and territories with different data protection laws and regulations and you expressly consent to this for the provision of the Services to you.
By using the Services, you share your information with third parties as you use and communicate through the Services. The use of the Services and sharing your information in this way is absolutely optional to you. Please do remember that third parties may disclose, share, broadcast and use your personal data that you do share using the Services.
You may at any time decline to submit personally identifiable information to BOTIM, in which case, BOTIM will not be able to provide the Services to you. If you take issue with the Privacy Policy or do not agree to the Terms, please delete your account, uninstall the BOTIM mobile application and discontinue use of the Services. Your continued usage of the Services will signify your assent to and acceptance of the Terms, which use is subject to the terms of the Privacy Policy. To protect your privacy and security, BOTIM may take steps (such as SMS authentication in certain cases) to verify your identity before registering your mobile phone number and granting you access to the Services.
The special clauses below, applicable to certain jurisdictions are additional and supplementary to the Privacy Policy.
Europe: For the purposes of personal information protected under The General Data Protection Regulation (EU 2016/679) (“GDPR”), BOTIM acts as a data controller and will only process your personal information for a lawful purpose (as directly provided by yourself with your consent) for providing the Services to you. Persons under the jurisdiction of the GDPR may have certain rights, which subject to limitations and/or restrictions, include the right to: (i) request access to and rectification or erasure of their personal data; (ii) obtain restriction of processing or to object to processing of their personal data; and (iii) data portability. If you wish to exercise one of the above-mentioned rights, please contact BOTIM at legal@botim.me.
USA, California: Residents of California, United States have additional rights under the California Consumer Privacy Act of 2018 ("CCPA") Should you wish to exercise your rights under the CCPA to access the personal information that BOTIM has collected about you during the past 12 months or to request that BOTIM deletes the personal information that BOTIM has collected, please contact BOTIM at legal@botim.me.
Brazil: The Brazilian General Data Protection Law (Law 13.709/2018)(“LGPD”) applies to processing of Brazilian residents’ personal data. Should you wish to exercise any of the rights under LGPD in relation to your data, how to access, rectify, ease the data or object to processing (if relevant), please contact BOTIM, who is acting as a data controller under the LGPD at legal@botim.me.
Should you have any further queries about your personal information, your consent or your opt-in or opt-out choices or you wish to correct any incorrect personal information that BOTIM holds or to delete this personal information, please contact BOTIM at: legal@botim.me. BOTIM would like to remind you that BOTIM may need you to verify you before BOTIM can address any requests that relate to your personal information. BOTIM does not discriminate anyone for exercising their rights to access or delete personal information.
BOTIM uses commercially reasonable physical, managerial, and technical safeguards to preserve the integrity and security of your personal information. However, BOTIM cannot guarantee that unauthorized third parties will never be able to defeat BOTIM security measures or use your personal information for improper purposes. You acknowledge that you provide your personal information at your own risk. Once BOTIM receives your transmission of information, BOTIM makes commercially reasonable efforts to ensure the security of its systems. However, please note that this is not a guarantee that such information may not be accessed, disclosed, altered, or destroyed by breach of any of physical, technical, or managerial safeguards. If BOTIM learns of a security systems breach, then BOTIM may attempt to notify you so that you can take appropriate protective steps. BOTIM may post a notice on the BOTIM’s Services, if a security breach occurs.
PLEASE REMEMBER THAT NO DATA TRANSMISSION OVER THE INTERNET CAN BE GUARANTEED TO BE 100% SECURE. AS A RESULT, WHILE BOTIM STRIVES TO PROTECT YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION, BOTIM CANNOT ENSURE OR WARRANT THE SECURITY OF ANY INFORMATION YOU TRANSMIT AND YOU DO SO AT YOUR OWN RISK. ONCE BOTIM RECEIVES YOUR TRANSMISSION, BOTIM MAKES ITS BEST EFFORT TO ENSURE ITS SECURITY ON ITS SYSTEMS.
In the event that BOTIM is acquired by or merged with a third-party entity, BOTIM reserves the right to transfer or assign the information BOTIM have collected from its users as part of such merger, acquisition, sale, or other change of control. In the unlikely event of BOTIM bankruptcy, insolvency, reorganization, receivership, or assignment for the benefit of creditors, or the application of laws or equitable principles affecting creditors’ rights generally, BOTIM may not be able to control how your personal information is treated, transferred, or used.
This Privacy Policy will be revised periodically. You can keep yourself up to date by visiting this page to stay aware of any changes.
