Considerations round knowledge privateness have been on the rise lately — and for good cause. As customers in a technology-driven world, our data has grow to be a brand new type of foreign money. Client-oriented companies accumulate knowledge to create profiles that may, amongst different issues, energy extra personalised advertising campaigns and introduce individuals to merchandise which might be extra related to their wants and pursuits.
As a privacy-first firm, ZoomInfo is conscious of rising issues surrounding knowledge assortment, processing, and utilization. In an effort to advertise transparency, we’re pulling again the curtain right here to share our rigorous method and dedication to privateness.
Let’s unpack a few of the commonest myths surrounding ZoomInfo’s enterprise knowledge assortment processes and stroll by our dedication to privateness.
Fantasy #1: ZoomInfo collects delicate data.
Reality: ZoomInfo is barely fascinated by gathering non-sensitive, business-related knowledge.
ZoomInfo is barely fascinated by gathering business-related knowledge about corporations and their workers. We’re not fascinated by delicate private knowledge.
Delicate private knowledge is knowledge that a person would hardly ever, if ever, share publicly, comparable to bank card data or social safety numbers. It may additionally embody details about their non-public life and behaviors, comparable to non secular or political beliefs, gender or sexual orientation, or well being or monetary data.
ZoomInfo doesn’t accumulate such a private knowledge.
The data ZoomInfo collects is business-related. Enterprise-related knowledge has to do with a person’s skilled standing, comparable to the place they work, their work e mail addresses and telephone numbers, the place their workplace is positioned, whom they report back to, their training and employment historical past, and different work-related data.
We’re solely fascinated by serving to businesspeople converse to different businesspeople about enterprise. We accumulate enterprise data to assist organizations and the individuals who work at them, to attach on gross sales, advertising, and expertise recruiting efforts.
Fantasy #2: ZoomInfo doesn’t notify me after I’m added to its database.
Reality: People are despatched notification emails earlier than or shortly after their knowledge first seems in our database.
ZoomInfo is dedicated to supplying you with management over your knowledge. We proactively notify knowledge topics, with clear directions on learn how to modify or delete their knowledge that we’ve collected. We do that earlier than or shortly after including their data to our database. We additionally take steps to make sure that anybody who has eliminated their data from our database won’t have their data re-added.
Our sturdy e mail notification course of alerts people when their data is first added to our database. It is a world course of, so people all over the world obtain notification when their data is added to ZoomInfo’s database, no matter whether or not native legal guidelines require us to offer this discover or not.
ZoomInfo sends out tens of hundreds of thousands of notification emails yearly, as a part of a course of that we put in place again in 2017. Our devoted e mail administration staff is all the time bettering this course of to make sure that not solely are these emails being despatched, but in addition that they arrive efficiently within the particular person’s inbox.
Fantasy #3: ZoomInfo makes it unimaginable to choose out.
Reality: There are 3 ways to choose out of ZoomInfo’s database.
ZoomInfo respects the person’s proper to choose out of our database at any time. You possibly can simply opt-out of ZoomInfo’s database in certainly one of 3 ways:
1. Click on on the “Handle your Profile” tab inside our Privateness Heart to evaluation your profile, see what knowledge has been collected, and replace or take away your profile.
2. E-mail us at privateness@zoominfo.com and request elimination.
3. Name (833) 901-0859 and request elimination.
Fantasy #4: ZoomInfo is attempting to profile me.
Reality: ZoomInfo makes use of enterprise knowledge to create business-focused profiles to attach businesspeople with each other.
Our groups accumulate knowledge that’s related for enterprise professionals to attach with each other. The profiles created inside our database are business-focused and never in depth. They’re what you’d anticipate finding on a enterprise card or a resume.
We search for key knowledge that may assist the suitable individuals interact with each other on the proper time to conduct enterprise. We don’t search to find different points of a contact’s private life.
Fantasy #5: ZoomInfo ignores privateness rules all over the world.
Reality: ZoomInfo works diligently to adjust to all relevant privateness rules, together with the GDPR and CCPA, and can be ISO 27701 licensed.
Even earlier than GDPR was enacted in 2018, we carried out quite a few inside processes that aligned with compliance rules within the US and Europe. For instance, our International Notification Plan ensures that we proactively notify contacts when they’re added to our database and supply them with the power to choose out of our database at any time. This aligns with Article 14 of the GDPR, which requires a notification course of for knowledge assortment, processing, and storing.
In early 2022, we employed our first Chief Compliance Officer, Simon McDougall, a world-renowned privateness knowledgeable. McDougall beforehand labored as a privateness regulator for the Info Commissioner’s Workplace (ICO), the UK’s impartial authority set as much as uphold data rights within the public curiosity, selling openness by public our bodies and knowledge privateness for people.
At ZoomInfo, we preserve an energetic privateness compliance technique. We have now additionally been increasing our group globally, welcoming greater than 500 extra workers outdoors of the US. As we proceed to develop into new markets, our groups work diligently to stay agile and refine compliance measures in accordance with evolving privateness rules.
Fantasy #6: The CPPA and GDPR require consent for knowledge processing. ZoomInfo shouldn’t be compliant with these statutes.
Reality: It’s a widespread false impression that consent is required to course of knowledge underneath the GDPR and the CCPA. The 2 regimes differ, however consent shouldn’t be required in both.
The GDPR lays out six authorized bases of processing, all of that are of equal standing. As a way to lawfully course of knowledge underneath the GDPR, corporations should make the most of one of many six authorized bases. One authorized foundation exists the place the info topic has offered consent. One other foundation exists for functions of the “reliable pursuits” pursued by the corporate or a 3rd get together, besides the place overridden by the pursuits or elementary rights and freedoms of the info topic. ZoomInfo depends upon the reliable curiosity authorized foundation for the processing of knowledge topic to the GDPR.
We expect it’s clear that ZoomInfo’s reliable curiosity in processing enterprise contact knowledge, to prepare and make it obtainable to our clients for B2B gross sales, advertising, and recruiting functions, shouldn’t be outweighed by the basic rights and freedoms of the info topics given the restricted affect of this knowledge on a person’s non-public life, the truth that people would moderately count on their enterprise contact data to be shared for these functions, and that this data is extensively disclosed.
In contrast to the GDPR, the CCPA doesn’t require a authorized foundation for processing private knowledge. Consent is required solely in restricted circumstances, comparable to when a enterprise enrolls a person right into a monetary incentive program (e.g., loyalty packages). Nonetheless, consent shouldn’t be required so as to accumulate, course of, or promote private knowledge. ZoomInfo respects the relevant necessities of the CCPA, together with the suitable for customers to request to opt-out of the sale of their private knowledge.
Fantasy #7: ZoomInfo allows telephone spammers.
Reality: ZoomInfo helps 9 “Do Not Name” lists.
We imagine that each enterprise name ought to be pertinent to all events concerned. We accumulate work telephone numbers and, in some instances, cell phone numbers, to assist salespeople, entrepreneurs, and expertise managers join with the suitable individuals to have productive, significant conversations. ZoomInfo buyer contracts additionally require that companies solely use our knowledge to contact people for the needs of B2B gross sales or advertising.
To additional assist particular person privateness, our SalesOS platform helps the suppression of telephone numbers on 9 world “Do Not Name” lists. When the Do Not Name suppression toggle is enabled in ZoomInfo’s platform, the telephone numbers of people who’ve registered with a number of of those 9 lists won’t be included in any of the gross sales and advertising search outcomes inside our database. When salespeople or entrepreneurs attempt to entry certainly one of these contacts, a pop-up will seem with a message explaining that the contact has registered for a Do Not Name checklist and that their telephone quantity is being suppressed from the search outcomes.
Notice: Some Do Not Name lists have B2B exemptions. This varies on a country-by-country foundation.
Fantasy #8: Group Version is studying my emails.
Reality: Group Version solely seems in e mail headers, signature blocks, and e mail contact books for contact data.
ZoomInfo’s Group Version opens the door for a lot of small companies to entry our platform and knowledge with out tapping into their budgets. In change free of charge entry to Group Version, Group Version subscribers assist populate the ZoomInfo database with the data contained in e mail headers, signature blocks, and e mail contact books, comparable to identify, job title, firm, e mail tackle, and telephone quantity.
We have now no visibility into, nor curiosity in, the precise content material of subscriber emails. Subscribers run a program, in their very own setting, that extracts solely the e-mail addresses within the header of the incoming emails (i.e., to/from/cc) and the contact data contained in e mail signature blocks and e mail tackle books.
This e mail tackle knowledge is then despatched to ZoomInfo to match in opposition to present contact data in our database. Our refined Privateness Parser ensures that solely business-related contact data is collected throughout this course of.
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As a privacy-first firm, we’ll all the time work to assist enterprise conversations with out compromising the privateness and safety of people. If in case you have any extra questions on ZoomInfo’s knowledge privateness practices and insurance policies, please try our newly refreshed Privateness Heart for extra data.
Please be aware that the above is offered for informational functions solely. ZoomInfo shouldn’t be certified to and doesn’t intend to offer authorized recommendation of any type. The data offered by ZoomInfo ought to by no means be relied upon as an alternative to impartial authorized recommendation.
