Effective Date: July 1, 2024
Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. and its affiliates (referred to as “Samsung Electronics”, “Samsung”, or “we” in this Privacy Policy) know how important privacy is to our customers. This Privacy Policy applies to all of our Samsung devices and services where we process personal information, from mobile phones, tablets, TVs and home appliances, to the customer services and online services we provide on our Samsung website. We will refer to these devices and services as the “Services” in this Privacy Policy.
It is important that you check back often for updates to the Privacy Policy. We may update this Privacy Policy periodically to reflect changes in our personal information practices with respect to the Services or changes in applicable law. We will post a notice on our website or on your device to notify you in advance of material changes to our Privacy Policy and indicate at the top of the Privacy Policy when it was most recently updated. The most current version of the Privacy Policy will always be available here: https://www.samsung.com/us/account/privacy-policy.
In addition to this Privacy Policy, Samsung also provides specific privacy notices related to certain products and services, or specific jurisdictions. Where you have a Samsung Account, the Samsung Account Privacy Notice tells you how Samsung uses your personal information, which you can access here: https://account.samsung.com/membership/policy/privacy. You will be given further specific privacy notices before using Services for which Samsung uses your personal information. In the event of any deviation between the terms of this Privacy Policy and a specific privacy notice, you should refer to the specific privacy notice for details on how Samsung uses your personal information.
- • WHAT INFORMATION DO WE COLLECT?
- • HOW DO WE USE YOUR INFORMATION?
- • WHO DO WE SHARE YOUR INFORMATION WITH?
- • HOW DO WE KEEP YOUR INFORMATION SECURE?
- • WHERE DO WE SEND YOUR DATA?
- • WHAT ARE YOUR RIGHTS?
- • HOW LONG DO WE KEEP YOUR INFORMATION?
- • WHAT THIRD-PARTY SERVICES DO WE USE?
- • COOKIES, BEACONS, AND SIMILAR TECHNOLOGIES
- • CONTACT US
Some Services enable you to provide us information directly. For example:
- When you create an account or profile with us, we ask for information such as your name, date of birth, or contact information such as phone number and email address.
- If you order a product or paid service from us, we also ask for your name, address, contact information, and shipping and payment information such as card number, expiration date, and security code to process your order. You can also choose to save your payment information with us so you can check out more easily next time.
- To provide responses when you contact Customer Service, we ask for certain information to verify your identity, the Service you are inquiring about (including repair history), and information related to your consultation (including recordings of your voice and chat or communication transcripts).
- Demographic data (such as gender and age).
- Information you provide when you apply for credit or financing, such as your social security number.
- If you share your contacts, we will collect their phone numbers and other contact information to facilitate file sharing and messaging. You can turn off or restrict these features in the Settings on your devices.
In addition to the information you provide, we collect information about your use of our Services through software on your devices and by other means. This information includes:
1. Device information: Your device information, including connected devices (such as the model and manufacturer) and software information (such as the operating system and software versions), IMEI number and other unique device identifiers (such as the mobile country code, mobile network code, MAC address, IP address, serial number, device unique IDs, advertising ID (e.g. for mobile devices, Google AD ID and Android ID, and for Samsung visual display devices, including Samsung Smart TVs, Personalized Service ID and Tizen Identifier for Advertising)), phone number, sales code, access recording, cookies, pixels and similar technologies (as described below in “Cookies, beacons and similar technologies”), subscription information, and settings of the devices you use to access the Services.
2. Usage and Log information: Diagnostic, technical, error, and usage information such as the time and duration of your use of the Services, Services installed on your devices, search query terms when you enter search terms into your device in connection with a particular Service, information stored in cookies that we have set on your devices, and error reports and dump logs.
3. Location information: Information about nearby Wi-Fi access points, cell towers, and, with your separate consent, precise geolocation, may be transmitted to us when you use certain Services. In addition, for certain Services, zip codes or postal codes and inferred locations using IP addresses may be transmitted to us when you use such Services.
4. Voice information: Recordings of your voice that we make and collect on our servers when you enable this function and use voice commands. We also collect and store recordings of your voice when you contact our Customer Service team. Note that if we work with a third party service rovider that provides speech-to-text conversion services or call center services on our behalf, this provider may also receive and store certain voice commands in accordance with the contract concluded between us and the trusted third-party service provider.
5. Samsung Keyboard information: The words that you type when you enable “Predictive text”. This feature may be offered in connection with your Samsung account to synchronize the data for use on your other Samsung mobile devices. You can clear the data by going to the “Predictive text” settings.
We sometimes gather publicly or commercially available information, including information from social networks you use, and combine this with other information about you so that we can better understand your needs, interests, and preferences.
Information received from Third PartiesWe obtain information, including personal information, from third parties and sources other than our Services, such as our business customers and partners. If we combine or associate information from other sources with personal information that we collect through our Services, we will treat the combined information as personal information in accordance with this Privacy Policy.
Other Information We CollectWe also collect other information about you, your devices, or your use of Services that you choose to send us.
Third Party AnalyticsThrough certain Services, we collect personal information about your online activities on websites and connected devices over time and across third-party websites, devices, apps, and other online features and services through cookies and similar technologies. We use third-party analytics services on our Services, such as those of Google Analytics, Firebase Analytics, and Adobe Analytics. The service providers that administer these analytics services help us to analyze your use of the Services and to improve the Services. The information we obtain may be disclosed to or collected directly by these providers and other relevant third parties who use the information, for example, to evaluate use of the Services, help administer the Services, and diagnose technical issues. To learn more about Google Analytics, please visit https://www.google.com/analytics/learn/privacy.htmland https://www.google.com/policies/privacy/partners/.To learn more about Firebase Analytics, please visit https://firebase.google.com/policies/analytics.
HOW DO WE USE YOUR INFORMATION?We use the information we collect for the following purposes.
• to help you or your device register for our Services;• to provide a Service or feature you request;
• to provide customized content and personalized services based on your past activities on our Services;
• to provide personalized and/or generalized advertising and direct marketing communications, promotions, and offers that might interest you relating to Samsung’s and our partners’ products and Services, on our Services, websites, third-party websites, and online platforms such as social media sites (in accordance with applicable law). We will only send you personalized advertising, promotions, and offers when you have provided your consent to receive marketing communications from Samsung, where required by applicable laws;
• to send you direct marketing communications via e-mail for products and services similar to those you have previously purchased;
• to operate, evaluate, and improve our business, including developing and improving new and existing products and services, managing and improving our communications, analyzing our Services and customer base (including conducting market research, asking for your opinions on our products and services, and carrying out customer surveys, with your separate consent if required) and aggregating and anonymizing data;
• to provide software updates, maintenance services, and support for your devices;
• to provide customer support to you when your devices are in warranty;
• to ensure product safety and to prevent fraud when your products are out of warranty (in such cases, we will collect your IMEI and serial number);
• to verify your device for repairs;
• to protect the legal rights and interests, property, or safety of Samsung Electronics, or any of our affiliates, business partners, or customers, including protecting against, identifying, and preventing fraud and other criminal activity, claims, and other liabilities;
• to respond to your requests and queries, including about your personal information;
• to comply with and enforce applicable legal requirements, relevant industry standards, and our policies, including the Samsung Privacy Policy; and
• to analyze a defective device that is returned to Samsung. Samsung takes measures to ensure that all defective devices are wiped of personal information before such devices are analyzed.
We use and combine the information we collect about you from our Services, devices, or other sources for the purposes described above. For example, you can save payment information you used to make a purchase on our website so that you can check out faster next time you make a purchase. We also use the information you provide directly or through other sources as described above to provide content you may like or that you have personalized.
For European Economic Area (EEA), UK and Swiss residents onlySamsung processes personal information for the purposes described above. Samsung’s legal basis to process personal information includes processing:
(i) So that we can keep our promises to you (performance of contract), such as providing you with a Service.(ii) To promote our business interests (legitimate interest) (for example, to manage our relationship with you, improve your customer service experience, and provide generic ads), including communications on our website, third party websites, and online platforms.
(iii) To comply with the law and legal processes.
(iv) With your consent, for example, to send you personalized advertising and marketing communications, also from Samsung partners operating in different sectors. When we ask for your consent, we will give you information about what information we are using, and how you can revoke your consent.
WHO DO WE SHARE YOUR INFORMATION WITH?
As you use our Services, we share the types of information we collect (as described in the WHAT INFORMATION DO WE COLLECT? section above) to the following entities, for the purposes described above.
1. Subsidiaries and Affiliates: Samsung branded and non-branded subsidiaries and affiliates which we control or own.
2. Business Partners: Partners who we work together with. For example, we may share your information with wireless carriers or financing partners when you apply for and use credit or financing programs. These business partners control and manage your personal information. This kind of sharing may be considered a “Sale” or “Sharing” under certain United States privacy laws.
3. Service Providers: Carefully selected companies that provide services for or on behalf of us, such as companies that help us with repairs, customer contact centers, customer care activities, advertising (including personalized advertising on our websites, third-party websites, online platforms, and social media platforms), conducting customer satisfaction surveys, billing, or that send emails on our behalf. These providers are also committed to protecting your information.
4. Other Parties When Required by Law or as Necessary to Protect Our Services: For example, it may be necessary by law, legal process, or court order from governmental authorities to disclose your information. They may also seek your information from us for the purposes of law enforcement, national security, anti-terrorism, or other issues that are related to public security.
5. Other Parties in Connection with Corporate Transactions: We may disclose your information to a third party as part of a merger or transfer, acquisition or sale, or in the event of a bankruptcy.
6. Other Parties with Your Consent or at Your Direction: In addition to the disclosures described in this Privacy Policy, we share information about you with third parties when you separately consent to or request such sharing.
We take data protection seriously. We have put in place physical and technical safeguards to keep your information secure. However, please note that although we take reasonable steps to protect your information, no website, Internet transmission, computer system, or wireless connection is completely secure.
WHERE DO WE SEND YOUR DATA?Your use of our Services will involve the transfer, storage, and processing of your personal information within and outside of your country of residence where necessary. In particular, your personal information will be transferred to the Republic of Korea.
Please note that the data protection laws and other laws of countries to which your information may be transferred might not be as comprehensive as those in your country. We take appropriate measures, in compliance with applicable law, to ensure that your personal information remains protected.
For European Economic Area (EEA), UK and Swiss residents only:We will comply with applicable European data protection law when transferring your personal information outside of Europe. We may transfer your personal information to countries which have been found to provide adequate protection of personal information by the relevant data protection authority, including the Republic of Korea.
The measures we take to safeguard the transfer of your information include the use of standard contractual clauses as approved by the relevant data protection authority. To request more information or to obtain a copy of the standard contractual clauses we rely on, contact us. See the CONTACT US section.
WHAT ARE YOUR RIGHTS?Your personal information belongs to you. You have the right to ask us to provide details about what we have collected and to provide your personal information to you in a structured, commonly used and machine-readable format, to delete it, or correct any inaccuracies.
However, requesting the deletion of your personal information may also result in a loss of access to Services we provide. We will not delete certain data that we are required to keep according to law.
For European Economic Area (EEA), UK and Swiss residents onlyYou also have the following additional rights.
You can ask us to restrict or limit processing, sharing or the transfer of your personal information. You can object to our processing of your personal information where we rely on our legitimate business interests to process it, or where it is used for marketing purposes, including profiling. You have the right to data portability, which means you can ask us to provide your personal information to you or a third party in a machine-readable format.
If you have provided your consent to Samsung processing your personal information, you can withdraw your consent at any time. We will apply your preferences going forward and this will not affect the lawfulness of the processing before you withdrew your consent.
You may exercise these rights by contacting us using the contact details at the end of this Privacy Policy. Please note that there are legal exceptions and limitations to each of these rights, and we may need to retain information for backups, archiving, prevention of fraud and abuse, compliance with legal obligations, or where we otherwise have a legitimate and legal reason to do so.
You can lodge a complaint with the relevant supervisory authority if you believe that our processing of your personal information infringes data protection laws. You can find the contact details for all EEA supervisory authorities at https://edpb.europa.eu/about-edpb/board/members_en, for the UK at https://ico.org.uk/global/contact-us/and in Switzerland, at https://www.edoeb.admin.ch/edoeb/en/home/deredoeb/kontakt.html
HOW LONG DO WE KEEP YOUR INFORMATION?We will not keep your personal information for longer than is necessary for the purpose for which it was collected. This means that information will be destroyed or erased from our systems when it is no longer required. In some cases, your personal information will be anonymized which means you can no longer be identified from the information.
We take appropriate steps to ensure that we process and retain information about you based on the following logic:
- At least the duration for which the information is used to provide you with a service;
- As required under law, a contract, or with regard to our statutory obligations;
- Only for as long as is necessary for the purpose for which it was collected, is processed, or for longer if required under any contract, by applicable law, or for statistical purposes, subject to appropriate safeguards.
Some of the content, advertising, and functionality in our Services is provided by third parties. These third parties may use cookies, beacons, tracking pixels, and other tools to collect information about your use of these Services. These third parties are not controlled directly by Samsung, so we recommend that you check their privacy policies to understand how they use your data.
For some apps and services, including social networks, we receive and store sign-in information, as well as other information that you allow us to receive when you connect with these apps and services.
COOKIES, BEACONS, AND SIMILAR TECHNOLOGIESWe, along with certain third parties such as content providers and advertisers, use technologies called cookies, beacons, or pixels, as well as other tools (collectively known as “technologies”) that communicate information from your device to a server, including those owned by third parties. These technologies can be embedded in online content, videos, and advertisements. They allow a server to read certain types of information from your device, know when you have viewed particular content or a particular advertisement, and determine the time and date on which you viewed the content as well as information about your device, including the IP address of your device. Among other purposes, these technologies help us to do the following:
(1) remember your information so you will not have to re-enter it(2) track and understand how you use and interact with the Services
(3) personalize the Services to your preferences
(4) manage and measure the usability of the Services
(5) understand the effectiveness of our communications
(6) improve our Services
CONTACT US
Data Controller
Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd.
129, Samsung-ro, Yeongtong-gu,
Suwon-si, Gyeonggi-do 16677, Republic of Korea
Some of our Samsung subsidiaries also process your personal information. In some situations, they will act as a data controller, including for customer service and some marketing activities. You can refer to the supplement to this Privacy Policy for details on how your data is also processed locally, where the processing is additional to the information we provide in this Privacy Policy.
For European Economic Area (EEA), UK and Swiss residents onlyWe have appointed a Data Protection Officer, who can be contacted by reached via the Privacy Support Page at https://www.samsung.com/request-deskor via postal mail at:
European Data Protection Officer
Samsung Electronics (UK) Limited
Samsung House, 2000 Hillswood Drive, Chertsey, Surrey KT16 0RS, United Kingdom
Effective Date: July 1, 2024
This US Supplement to the Samsung Privacy Policy (“US Supplement”) describes additional personal information practices concerning United States residents and should be read in conjunction with the Samsung Privacy Policy. In the event of any conflict between the terms of the Samsung Privacy Policy and this US Supplement, the terms of this US Supplement shall apply.
Additional Uses of Your InformationIn addition to the purposes described above in the HOW DO WE USE YOUR INFORMATION SECTION? we may also use personal information about United States residents for other purposes, such as to develop and train our artificial intelligence algorithms and models.
Biometric Data Stored on Your Device Not Accessible by SamsungIn addition to the categories of personal information Samsung may obtain described above, certain Services may use your biometric data that is stored on your device to provide product or service functionality (e.g. use your fingerprint data to unlock your device or grant you access to certain Services, or your voiceprint data to create a customized Bixby Voice wake-up command). Samsung also may generate certain biometric data automatically when certain Services are used (e.g., Samsung’s face-clustering technology may group together images of the same face from different photographs stored on your device (“Face-Clustering Data”)).
This biometric data remains on your device and is not transferred to or accessed or obtained by Samsung. Samsung does not share this biometric data with third parties. Face-Clustering Data will remain on your device unless you clear the cache in your system settings, reset your device to its factory setting, or delete the relevant photos from your device. You can delete your registered biometric data or your Bixby Voice wake-up command from your device at any time in the applicable settings. Because Samsung does not have access to this data, Samsung cannot delete it for you.
Online Tracking And Personalized AdvertisingThrough certain Services, both we and various third parties may collect information about your online activities to provide you with advertising about products and services tailored to your individual interests.
Samsung Ads
Our Samsung Ads service is designed to serve advertisements that are personalized to users’ interests on Samsung and third-party platforms, devices, websites, and apps. Samsung Ads may deliver personalized ads based on your demographic characteristics, preferences, choices, and interests by collecting certain information about your online activities.
Ad networks
Because Samsung participates in various advertising networks, you may also see our ads on other websites or mobile apps. Ad networks allow us to target our messaging to users considering demographic data, users’ inferred interests, and browsing context. These networks can track users’ online activities over time by collecting information through automated means, including through the use of browser cookies, web beacons, pixels, device identifiers, server logs, and other similar technologies. The networks use this information to show ads that may be tailored to individuals’ interests, to track users’ browsers or devices across multiple websites and apps, and to build a profile of users’ online browsing and app usage activities. The information our ad networks may collect includes data about users’ visits to websites and apps that participate in the relevant ad networks, such as the pages or ads viewed and the actions taken on the websites or apps. This data collection takes place both on certain Services and on third-party websites and apps that participate in the ad networks. This process also helps us track the effectiveness of our marketing efforts. To learn how to opt out of ad network interest-based advertising in the U.S., please visit www.aboutads.info/choices and http://www.networkadvertising.org/choices/.
To serve interest-based ads, we may share your personal information by allowing certain third parties (such as online advertising services) to collect your personal information via automated technologies and server-to-server connections on the Services. This kind of sharing may be considered a “sale” of personal information or the use of personal information to serve “targeted advertising” under certain privacy laws.
State Law Privacy RightsIn addition to the rights available to you as described in the What Are Your Rights? section of the Privacy Policy, you may also, subject to applicable law, request to opt out of the (1) sale of your personal information, (2) sharing of your personal information for cross-context behavioral advertising purposes, (3) processing of your personal information for targeted advertising purposes, (4) collection or processing of your sensitive data, or (5) collection of your personal information through the operation of a voice recognition feature. In addition, you may, subject to applicable law, request a list of specific third parties to whom we have disclosed personal data.
How to Submit a Request:To submit an access, deletion or correction request, or to opt out of the (a) sale of your personal information, (b) sharing of your personal information for cross-context behavioral advertising purposes, or (c) processing of your personal information for targeted advertising purposes, click here or call us at 1-800-SAMSUNG (1-800-726-7864). You may also choose to opt-out of targeted advertising on Samsung.com by turning on an opt-out preference signal through your browser. You will need to turn it on for each browser and each device you use. We use an automated solution to process opt-out signals. We do not respond to browser-based signals that do not meet applicable state law requirements, which may include older Do Not Track signals.
To opt out of the collection and processing of your sensitive personal information, you can withdraw your consent in the applicable app settings where you have given your consent, if applicable delete your Samsung Account, or call us at the number above. To opt out of the collection of personal information collected through the operation of a voice recognition feature, you can stop using the feature or leave the applicable app or service that provides the feature in the settings.
To submit a request as an authorized agent on an individual’s behalf, please click here.
Subject to applicable law, you may appeal our decision with respect to a request you have submitted by clicking here.
California ResidentsIf you are a California consumer, for more information about your privacy rights, please see our California Consumer Privacy Statement at https://www.samsung.com/us/account/privacy-policy/california/.
Washington ResidentsIf you are a Washington consumer, for more information about your privacy rights, please see our Washington Privacy Statement at https://www.samsung.com/us/privacy-policy/washington-privacy-notice/.
Nevada ResidentsIf you are a Nevada consumer, for more information about your privacy rights, please see our Nevada Privacy Statement at https://www.samsung.com/us/privacy-policy/nevada-privacy-notice/.
Children’s Personal InformationUnless otherwise specified, the Services are designed for a general audience and are not directed to children. In connection with the Services, we do not knowingly solicit or collect personal information online from children under the age of 13 without parental consent. If we learn that we have collected personal information online from a child under age 13 without parental consent, we will either seek parental consent or promptly delete that information. If you believe that a child under age 13 may have provided us with personal information without parental consent, please contact us as specified in the Contact Us section of this US Supplement.
Contact UsIf you would like to make a privacy request, update your preferences, or have a privacy concern, you may contact the Samsung Privacy Office by using our webform, at https://privacypost.sea.samsung.com/ccpa/privacy-inquiries.
Privacy Office
Samsung Electronics America, Inc.
85 Challenger Road
Ridgefield Park, NJ 07660 https://privacypost.sea.samsung.com/ccpa/privacy-inquiries