Sefaria, Inc. Privacy Policy – Last Updated On: July 19, 2023
1. General Information
This website and application (the “Website”) is owned and operated by Sefaria, Inc. (“Sefaria,” “we,” or “us.”). We respect and are committed to protecting your privacy, and want you to understand what information we gather about you, how we use that information, and the safeguards we have in place to protect that information.
This Privacy Policy applies to information collected through the Website and otherwise (i.e., when you call us); however, it does not cover personal information that may be collected through other websites or in other venues. For example, the Website may link to external sites, such as GitHub. Anytime you follow a link to a third-party site, information collected from you is governed by the privacy policy and/or terms of use for that third party’s website.
Your use of our Website and our services is subject to this Privacy Policy as well as the Website’s Terms of Use and all of its dispute resolution provisions, including limitation on damages and choice of law. Sefaria reserves the right to amend this Privacy Policy at any time and without prior notice, though we will notify about material changes to the Privacy Policy using the e-mail address you have provided during registration if you are a registered user of the Website. Because this Privacy Policy may be updated periodically to reflect changes to how we collect, use, and/or share information, you should periodically review this Privacy Policy, which will reflect the date it was last updated. After accepting this Privacy Policy, your continued use of the Website indicates your continued consent to the terms of this Privacy Policy, including any changes that may be made from time to time. All capitalized terms herein have the same meaning as in the Website’s Terms of Use, which is located at http://www.sefaria.org/terms.
If you reside outside of the United States and would like to use our Website, including registering for an account, you authorize Sefaria to transfer any personal information that we may collect across national borders and to the United States, where Sefaria operates. For more information, see “Visiting our Websites from Outside the United States” below.
2. Collection, Use, and Disclosure of Information
Collection of Information from Website Browsers
If you are just browsing the Website but are not a registered user, we collect some basic information about your navigation of the Website that helps improve your experience on our Website. For example, we may install cookies (a small text file that is stored on a user’s computer for record keeping purposes) on your computer or in your browser as you browse the Website. When you visit our Website, we may assign your computer one or more cookies to facilitate access to our Website, personalize your online experience and record information about your visit. We may also collect information on which web pages you visited, the links or advertisements you click on and other actions you take while on our Website. The cookies do not store any personal information. If you prefer, you can modify your browser setting to decline cookies but doing so may cause some features and services of our Website not to work properly. We may also collect information such as your browser type, language preference, referring site, and the date and time of your visit. In addition, we may collect an Internet Protocol (IP) address when you browse our site, which may be considered personal information under certain laws.
Collection of Information from Registered Users
We may obtain various types of information from you when you register your account, including both personal information and non-personal information. Personal information means information that can be used to personally identify you, such as your name, phone number or address, and any other information that would allow someone to personally identify you. We may also collect information that does not personally identify you such as demographic data and data about your online activity. You give your consent to Sefaria to collect and use any personal information you provide as part of the user registration process in accordance with this Privacy Policy by (i) registering for a user account on the Website and (ii) voluntarily providing us with any of your personal information.
To register, we require you to supply us with your first and last name and email address. Following registration, we may also collect other information from you on a voluntary basis, such as title, institution, or other personal information. You are not required to provide us with this information when you register and we will collect it only when voluntarily submitted, and by such submission you consent to Sefaria’s use of that information in accordance with the terms of this Privacy Policy. We generally keep a copy of your name and email address(es) for our records, and may keep multiple email addresses in our file if you have provided us with more than one. You may update and modify any inaccuracies in the first and last name and email address you have provided at registration by emailing privacy@sefaria.org. You may update your other information at any time by visiting your “Profile” by clicking on the “Account” link (appearing like the silhouette of a person) at the top right corner of each page.
You may also choose not to register for a user account or enter any additional personal information beyond what is required to register for an account; however, if you do not provide a first and last name and email address in the Account Registration Form, you will not be able to register, post or edit content, save notes, view reading history, save source sheets as developed via the Source Sheet Builder, or create groups.
Do Not Track Policy
California law requires that operators of website and online services disclose how they respond to a Do Not Track signal and whether other third parties may collect personal information about an individual’s online activities from their site or service.
Some browsers have incorporated “Do Not Track” features that, when turned on, send a signal or preference to the website or online service that a user visits, indicating that the user wishes to opt-out of third-party tracking for purposes of behavior advertising. Sefaria does not currently respond to Do Not Track signals.
Retention of Your Information
Sefaria, consistent with its commitment to minimizing the data retention of its users, adopts the policy of retaining the least amount of information consistent with maintenance of its services, with its privacy policy, or as required by state or federal legal provisions under United States law. Sefaria retains all content submitted by users.
Use of Your Information
We use the information we collect to:
Sefaria will not use or disclose your personal information for a purpose other than that for which it was originally collected without your prior consent. We reserve the right to make full use of information that is not personal information.
Sharing Your Information
Sefaria will not sell, share, or rent your information to others except as provided in this Privacy Policy.
3. E-Mail Communications
After your registration, you may receive periodic e-mail correspondence from us. Subscribers wishing to unsubscribe from our e-mails can do so by clicking the “unsubscribe” link or following the instructions contained within any email received from us. Alternatively, you may: (1) e-mail us at hello@sefaria.org or (2) mail your written opt-out instructions to us and address to, Sefaria, Inc. 228 Park Ave. S, New York, NY 10003-1502. Even if you opt-out of such e-mails, we still may e-mail you any notices or other communications in connection with your use of the Website; for example, we may correspond with you about technical problems with content you have posted or edited or in the unlikely instance that our Website’s security has been compromised.
No email subscription information stored on our database is shared or sold to any third party, except to certain service providers to help deliver the e-mails to you. We do not otherwise sell your personal information to third parties for commercial purposes.
4. Contributions and Edits
All texts, translations, and annotations submitted to Sefaria or edited by users are recorded in a history page. Contributions and edits you make will be publicly attributed to you using your name and may link to a page summarizing your contributions and including any other personal information you have volunteered to provide. Users may delete notes, links, and source sheets, though a copy of any such notes or links, as well as any other user-submitted texts, translations, and annotations submitted or edited will remain recorded in the history page. Only source sheets may be deleted entirely from the Website by the user who created them. If a user would like to have any of their contributions deleted from the Website, please contact hello@sefaria.org.
For the purpose of investigating abuse or vandalism as outlined in our Terms of Use, Sefaria may store, in conjunction with each edit or contribution, the IP address associated with the contribution. This IP address will never intentionally be made public and will be accessible only to Sefaria employees or consultants.
5. Third Party Links and Policies
The Website may contain links to other websites owned and operated by third parties. These third parties may collect information from you. These third parties and their computer servers may be located in the United States or in other countries. We do not control, and are not responsible for, the privacy and security practices of any third parties. We strongly recommend that you review the privacy and security policies of all third parties to determine how they handle information they may collect about you. To the extent their privacy policies conflict with this Privacy Policy, their privacy policies shall control.
Sefaria’s use and transfer to any other app of information received from Google APIs will adhere to Google API Services User Data Policy, including the Limited Use requirements.
6. Special Notice to California Residents
If you are a California resident the following will apply: We do not share any personal information about you with our affiliates and/or Vendors for direct marketing purposes. Even though we do not share your personal information for purposes of direct marketing, if you would like to affirmatively opt-out of any such sharing of your information, you can do so by emailing a request to privacy@sefaria.org.
7. Security
We use reasonable security measures (including physical, electronic and procedural measures) to help safeguard your personal information from unauthorized access, use and disclosure. However, no system can be completely secure. Therefore, although we take reasonable steps to secure your personal information, we cannot promise or guarantee you that there will never be a breach of security. Please refer to the Federal Trade Commission’s website for information about how to protect yourself against identity theft.
Visiting our Websites from Outside the United States
This Privacy Policy is intended to cover collection of information on the Website from residents of the United States. If you reside outside the United States, please be aware that your information may be transferred to, stored and processed in the United States where our computer servers are located and our database is operated. The data protection and other laws of the United States may not be as comprehensive as those in your country.
If you live in the European Union, you have certain rights relating to your personal information, including the right to request access to that information, the right to correct inaccuracies in your personal information, the right to request we delete your personal information and the right to suspend the use or processing of your personal information. You may also withdraw the consent you have provided us to collect, use and process your information at any time, and object to the use of your data in connection with certain activities, such as direct marketing purposes. You may reach us at privacy@sefaria.org with respect to any of the requests described above.
If you live in a country outside of the United States, you may have certain rights pursuant to local law in your country. Sefaria attempts to comply with all applicable laws. If you have requests or questions, please contact us at privacy@sefaria.org.
Protecting Children’s Privacy
We do not knowingly collect information from children under the age of 13. Please do not allow children under the age of 13 to provide any information, including but not limited to PII, through the Website. If we learn that a child under the age of 13 has provided information in violation of our Privacy Policy, we will delete that information as soon as practical. If you learn that a child under the age of 13 has provided information to us, please send us an email at privacy@sefaria.org so we can delete this information.
8. How to Contact Us
If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy or our information handling procedures, or you would like to request information about our disclosure of personal information to third parties for their direct marketing purposes, please contact us by e-mail or U.S. postal mail at: privacy@sefaria.org or send your comments to:
Sefaria, Inc.
228 Park Ave S.
Suite 79262
New York, New York 10003-1502