Issues round knowledge privateness have been on the rise in recent times — and for good purpose. As shoppers in a technology-driven world, our info has grow to be a brand new type of forex. Shopper-oriented companies acquire knowledge to create profiles that may, amongst different issues, energy extra customized advertising and marketing campaigns and introduce individuals to merchandise which are extra related to their wants and pursuits.
As a privacy-first firm, ZoomInfo is conscious of rising considerations surrounding knowledge assortment, processing, and utilization. In an effort to advertise transparency, we’re pulling again the curtain right here to share our rigorous strategy and dedication to privateness.
Let’s unpack a few of the most typical myths surrounding ZoomInfo’s enterprise knowledge assortment processes and stroll by means of our dedication to privateness.
Delusion #1: ZoomInfo collects delicate info.
Reality: ZoomInfo is barely all in favour of gathering non-sensitive, business-related knowledge.
ZoomInfo is barely all in favour of gathering business-related knowledge about corporations and their workers. We’re not all in favour of delicate private knowledge.
Delicate private knowledge is knowledge that a person would not often, if ever, share publicly, akin to bank card info or social safety numbers. It might additionally embrace details about their non-public life and behaviors, akin to non secular or political beliefs, gender or sexual orientation, or well being or monetary info.
ZoomInfo doesn’t acquire this sort of private knowledge.
The data ZoomInfo collects is business-related. Enterprise-related knowledge has to do with a person’s skilled standing, akin to the place they work, their work electronic mail addresses and telephone numbers, the place their workplace is positioned, whom they report back to, their schooling and employment historical past, and different work-related info.
We’re solely all in favour of serving to businesspeople converse to different businesspeople about enterprise. We acquire enterprise info to assist organizations and the individuals who work at them, to attach on gross sales, advertising and marketing, and expertise recruiting efforts.
Delusion #2: ZoomInfo doesn’t notify me once 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 info to our database. We additionally take steps to make sure that anybody who has eliminated their info from our database is not going to have their info re-added.
Our sturdy electronic mail notification course of alerts people when their info is first added to our database. It is a international course of, so people world wide obtain notification when their info is added to ZoomInfo’s database, no matter whether or not native legal guidelines require us to supply 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 electronic mail administration crew is all the time bettering this course of to make sure that not solely are these emails being despatched, but additionally that they arrive efficiently within the particular person’s inbox.
Delusion #3: ZoomInfo makes it unattainable 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’ll be able to simply opt-out of ZoomInfo’s database in one in every of 3 ways:
- Click on on the “Handle your Profile” tab inside our Privateness Middle to overview your profile, see what knowledge has been collected, and replace or take away your profile.
- E-mail us at privateness@zoominfo.com and request removing.
- Name (833) 901-0859 and request removing.
Delusion #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 acquire 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 precise individuals have interaction with each other on the proper time to conduct enterprise. We don’t search to find different facets of a contact’s private life.
Delusion #5: ZoomInfo ignores privateness laws world wide.
Reality: ZoomInfo works diligently to adjust to all relevant privateness laws, together with the GDPR and CCPA, and can also be ISO 27701 licensed.
Even earlier than GDPR was enacted in 2018, we carried out plenty of inside processes that aligned with compliance laws 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 flexibility 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 Data Commissioner’s Workplace (ICO), the UK’s unbiased authority set as much as uphold info rights within the public curiosity, selling openness by public our bodies and knowledge privateness for people.
At ZoomInfo, we keep an lively privateness compliance technique. We now have 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 laws.
Delusion #6: The CPPA and GDPR require consent for knowledge processing. ZoomInfo isn’t compliant with these statutes.
Reality: It’s a frequent false impression that consent is required to course of knowledge beneath the GDPR and the CCPA. The 2 regimes differ, however consent isn’t required in both.
The GDPR lays out six authorized bases of processing, all of that are of equal standing. With a view to lawfully course of knowledge beneath the GDPR, corporations should make the most of one of many six authorized bases. One authorized foundation exists the place the information topic has supplied consent. One other foundation exists for functions of the “authentic pursuits” pursued by the corporate or a 3rd social gathering, besides the place overridden by the pursuits or basic rights and freedoms of the information topic. ZoomInfo depends upon the authentic curiosity authorized foundation for the processing of information topic to the GDPR.
We expect it’s clear that ZoomInfo’s authentic curiosity in processing enterprise contact knowledge, to arrange and make it out there to our prospects for B2B gross sales, advertising and marketing, and recruiting functions, isn’t outweighed by the elemental rights and freedoms of the information topics given the restricted impression of this knowledge on a person’s non-public life, the truth that people would moderately count on their enterprise contact info to be shared for these functions, and that this info 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, akin to when a enterprise enrolls a person right into a monetary incentive program (e.g., loyalty packages). Nevertheless, consent isn’t required to be able to acquire, course of, or promote private knowledge. ZoomInfo respects the relevant necessities of the CCPA, together with the precise for shoppers to request to opt-out of the sale of their private knowledge.
Delusion #7: ZoomInfo permits telephone spammers.
Reality: ZoomInfo helps 9 “Do Not Name” lists.
We consider that each enterprise name must be pertinent to all events concerned. We acquire work telephone numbers and, in some instances, cell phone numbers, to assist salespeople, entrepreneurs, and expertise managers join with the precise 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 and marketing.
To additional assist particular person privateness, our SalesOS platform helps the suppression of telephone numbers on 9 international “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 is not going to be included in any of the gross sales and advertising and marketing search outcomes inside our database. When salespeople or entrepreneurs attempt to entry one in every of these contacts, a pop-up will seem with a message explaining that the contact has registered for a Do Not Name listing and that their telephone quantity is being suppressed from the search outcomes.
Be aware: Some Do Not Name lists have B2B exemptions. This varies on a country-by-country foundation.
Delusion #8: Group Version is studying my emails.
Reality: Group Version solely appears to be like in electronic mail headers, signature blocks, and electronic mail contact books for contact info.
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 without spending a dime entry to Group Version, Group Version subscribers assist populate the ZoomInfo database with the knowledge contained in electronic mail headers, signature blocks, and electronic mail contact books, akin to title, job title, firm, electronic mail handle, and telephone quantity.
We now have no visibility into, nor curiosity in, the precise content material of subscriber emails. Subscribers run a program, in their very own surroundings, that extracts solely the e-mail addresses within the header of the incoming emails (i.e., to/from/cc) and the contact info contained in electronic mail signature blocks and electronic mail handle books.
This electronic mail handle knowledge is then despatched to ZoomInfo to match towards current contact info in our database. Our refined Privateness Parser ensures that solely business-related contact info 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. When you have any extra questions on ZoomInfo’s knowledge privateness practices and insurance policies, please take a look at our newly refreshed Privateness Middle for extra info.
Please notice that the above is supplied for informational functions solely. ZoomInfo isn’t certified to and doesn’t intend to supply authorized recommendation of any sort. The data supplied by ZoomInfo ought to by no means be relied upon as an alternative choice to unbiased authorized recommendation.
