(Last updated on September 23, 2012)
Viber Media, Inc. ("Viber" or "we" or "us" or "our" or other similar pronouns) takes your privacy matters very seriously. Please read the following to learn more about our Privacy Policy ("Policy"). This Policy details how we receive, collect and use information in connection with our website located at Viber.com (the "Site"), the Viber VoIP software ("Viber App"), and other products and services provided on the Viber.com website (all of the foregoing, collectively, the "Services").
1. Collection and Use of Information
Viber Application
When you install the Viber App and register on the Site, you will be asked to provide us with your phone number and to allow us access to your mobile device's address book (collectively, "Personal Information"). A copy of the phone numbers and names in your address book (but not emails, notes or any other personal information in your address book) will be stored on our servers and will only be used to:
(a) notify you when your contacts become active on Viber,
(b) indicate which of your contacts is already a Viber user,
(c) correctly display the name of each contact as it appears in your address book when a call is received.
In addition, we may also create a function in the future that will use this data to synchronize your address book across your multiple devices.
The copy of your address book (names and phones) is stored on a live database. This database does not have a "historical backup". If you delete the address book from our servers (more about this below), it will be deleted instantly and permanently.
Your phone number, which will be verified via a text message that will be sent to you, will be used for identification purposes as your Viber user ID.
Viber also maintains a Call Detail Record (CDR - see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Call_detail_record) for each call conducted on the system. These are industry standard records used by all phone companies. We maintain this information in order to better understand network behavior and trends (numbers of calls made by users, typical destinations, call lengths, network type, etc.), detect potential outages and technical issues (this helps us notice things like a drop in call volume in a certain geography, a shift in call length, a change in typical networks, etc.) and for public safety reasons. All log analysis is done in an anonymous, aggregate, non-personally identifiable manner. We may look into a specific Call Detail Record in response to a customer support request. We maintain CDRs for a period of no more than 30 months.
Audio calls by users are transmitted either directly from user to user or, if direct transmission is not possible (due to, for example, firewalls), Viber servers are used to transmit the call. In the latter scenario, the information transmitted is stored briefly in volatile memory (RAM) solely to enable the transmission of the call to the other user. WE DO NOT RECORD ANY PART OF YOUR CALL.
Viber may interact with your phone's SMS inbox, placing incoming messages in your inbox or reading the contents of the activation SMS sent to you by Viber. WE WILL NOT ACCESS THE CONTENTS OF ANY OTHER SMS.
Location Information
Viber allows you to attach your location information to messages you send to other users. If you choose to share your location with a specific user or group of users your location will be retrieved from your device and sent to Viber together with your message. Viber will only use this location for this particular purpose and delete it from its servers once the message is deleted. For the avoidance of doubt, Viber will not share your location information and will not use it for any purpose except the one specifically requested by you.
Other Services
In the event we make message boards and forums available to you (collectively, "Forums"), you will be solely responsible for the information and any other content you post on and through these Forums and should be aware that when you voluntarily disclose personal information (e.g., name, e-mail address, telephone number) on or through these Forums, such information is generally accessible to, and may be collected and used by, other users. This may result in unsolicited messages from third parties, and such messages are beyond our control. We do not exercise control over any users or Site visitors, and in no way are we responsible, and have any liability whatsoever, for any collection or use of information you may disclose through the Forums. This Policy does not cover such disclosure of information. You are encouraged to exercise discretion when providing personal information about yourself in and through Forums. Please do not post any personal information on this Site that you expect to keep private.
Cookies, Clear GIFs and Other Automatically Collected Data
If you have permitted your computer to accept cookies, we may use cookies on the Site. Cookies are pieces of information that a website transfers to an individual's hard drive for record-keeping purposes. Cookies make web-surfing easier by saving preferences and browsing patterns while you are at the Site. Cookies may be used to analyze the Site usage, improve content, customize the Site's content and layout and for other customer service purposes. A cookie may enable us to relate your use of our Site to other information about you, including your Personal Information. All of these purposes serve to improve and personalize your experience on our Site. Most Web browsers can be set to inform you when a cookie has been sent to you and provide you with the opportunity to refuse that cookie. Additionally, if you have a Flash player installed on your computer, your Flash player can be set to reject or delete Flash cookies. However, refusing a cookie may, in some cases, preclude you from using, or negatively impact the display or function of, the Site or certain areas or features of the Site.
We may use "clear GIFs" (aka "Web beacons" or "pixel tags") or similar technologies, in the Site and/or in our communications with you to enable us to evaluate Site usage information about visitors to the Site, target campaigns, upgrade visitor information, and know whether you have visited a Web page or received a message. A clear GIF is typically a one-pixel, transparent image (although it can be a visible image as well), located on a Web page or in an e-mail or other type of message, which is retrieved from a remote site on the Internet enabling the verification of an individual's viewing or receipt of a Web page or message. A clear gif may enable us to relate your viewing or receipt of a Web page or message to other information about you, including your Personal Information.
Our servers may automatically collect data about your Internet address when you visit us. This information, known as an Internet Protocol address, or IP Address, is a number that is automatically assigned to your computer by your Internet service provider whenever you are on the Internet. When you request pages from our Site, our servers may log your IP Address and, if applicable, your domain name. Your IP Address is used to help identify you and to gather demographic information about our members and users as a whole, but does not include personally identifiable information. Our server may also record the referring page that linked you to us (e.g., another web site or a search engine); the pages you visit on this Site; the web site you visit after this Site; the ads you see and/or click on; other information about the type of Web browser, computer, platform, related software and settings you are using; any search terms you have entered on this Site or a referral site; and other Web usage activity and data logged by our servers. We use this information for internal system administration, to help diagnose problems with our servers, and to administer our Services. Such information may also be used to gather demographic information, such as country of origin and Internet Service Provider.
We will not link any Personal Information, including e-mail addresses, with aggregate data of our users.
Any or all of these activities with regard to Site usage information may be performed on our behalf by our services providers, including, for example, our analytics vendor(s) and our e-mail management partner(s).
Third-Party Sites and Privacy Practices
You may arrive at our Site and/or download the Viber App from another website. In addition, our Site may contain links that will let you leave our Site and access another website. Websites linked to or from our Site are not under the control of Viber and it is possible that these websites have a different privacy policy. Our Policy applies solely to Personal Information that is acquired on the Site or through your use of our Services, and/or your relationship with Viber. We urge you to be careful when you enter any personal information online. We accept no responsibility or liability for these other websites.
Analytics Collection
Viber uses Google Analytics to help us anonymously track and report user/visitor behavior information and users’ standard log information to the Site and the App. This information (including but not limited to: IP address, data storage, maintenance services, database management, web analytics and information processing) helps us analyze and evaluate how the App and Site are used as part of our ongoing efforts to improve the Site and App’s features and services. No personally identifying data is included in this type of reporting. Google Analytics may have access to your information only for the purposes of performing these tasks and on behalf of Viber and under obligation similar in those in this Privacy Policy. For more information about the terms that govern Google Analytics, please visit the Google Analytics terms of service.
We will never (and will not allow any third party to) use the statistical analytics tool to