Privacy Policy
Last Updated: September 16, 2020
This Privacy Policy explains how information about you is collected, used and disclosed by Descript, Inc. (“us”, “we”, or “our”) when you use and access our Descript media editing and transcription tool, which includes the Descript App for Mac, Windows, and Web (the “App”), the Descript website (the “Site”), and all related tools and services (collectively, the “Descript Service”).
We may change this Privacy Policy from time to time. If we make changes, we will notify you by revising the date at the top of the policy and, in some cases, we may provide you with additional notice (such as adding a statement to our homepage or sending you an email notification). We encourage you to review the Privacy Policy whenever you access the Descript Service to stay informed about our information practices and the ways you can help protect your privacy.
Information You Provide to Us. We collect information you provide directly to us. For example, we may collect information when you create an account with Descript, fill out a form, create a project, upload content, request support, send us an email, or otherwise communicate or interact with us. The types of information we collect may include your name, email address, postal address, password, demographic information, voice, image, and other information you choose to provide.
Information We Collect Automatically. When You Use the Descript Service. When you access or use the Descript Service, we may automatically collect information about you, including:
Log Information: We log information about your use of the Descript Service, including how you use the App, the type of browser you use, browser language, access times, pages viewed, duration of time for which you viewed a page, your IP address and the page you visited before navigating to the Descript Service.
Device Information: We collect information about the computer or mobile device you use to access the Descript Service, including the hardware model, operating system and version, unique device identifiers and mobile network information.
Information Collected by Cookies and Other Tracking Technologies: We use various technologies to collect information, and this may include sending cookies to your computer or mobile device. Cookies are small data files stored on your hard drive or in device memory that helps us to better understand how the Descript Service is used and improve the Descript Service and your experience. We may also collect information using web beacons (also known as “tracking pixels”). Web beacons are electronic images that
may be used in the Descript Service or emails and help deliver cookies, count visits, understand usage and campaign effectiveness and determine whether an email has been opened and acted upon. For more information about cookies, and how to disable them, please see “Your Choices” below.
We may use information we collect from you for various purposes, including to:
Provide, maintain, analyze, test, and improve the Descript Service and our technology;
Provide and deliver the services you request, and the services we provide to users of the Descript Service, and to process transactions and send you related information, including confirmations and invoices,
Send you technical notices, updates, security alerts and support and administrative messages;
Respond to your comments, questions and requests and provide customer service;
Communicate with you about products, services, offers, promotions, rewards, and events offered by us and others, and provide news and information we think will be of interest to you;
Monitor and analyze trends, usage, performance, and activities in connection with the Descript Service;
Detect, investigate and prevent fraudulent transactions and other illegal activities and protect our rights and property;
Personalize and improve the Descript Service and for research and development purposes;
Link or combine with information we get from others to help understand your needs and provide you with better service; and
Carry out the purposes for which the information was specifically collected or for which you provided consent.
Note with Respect to the Use of Project Information: Notwithstanding the foregoing, we protect the information contained in the Projects you create using the Descript Service (the “Projects’) as Confidential Information, and limit our use thereof, in accordance with the confidentiality obligations set forth in our Terms of Service. The Descript Service automatically processes your Projects, but it does not involve human access to your Projects unless: 1) you provide your consent (e.g., for the purpose of providing customer support); 2) you request our White Glove transcription service – which uses humans (who are subject to confidentiality obligations) to create the transcriptions; or 3) we are required to do so by law. If you use our White Glove Service or provide opt-in consent, we may also use your Projects to analyze and improve the quality of our service and our technology. If you provide us your consent and later change your mind, you are free to withdraw your consent at any time by emailing us at support@descript.com.
Note with Respect to Overdub Voice: When you use Overdub Voice, we record and use your voice in order to train our system and calibrate your voice and to otherwise operate the Descript Service. We may also use and store this training data as part of our research datasets to analyze, maintain, and improve our technology, including our voice technology, and for other research and development and data analysis purpose. However, before doing so, we anonymize the data so it is no longer associated with your account. In addition, we may have Descript employees and contractors listen to audio samples of your original and your Overdub Voice in order to test their quality, and Descript employees may use your Overdub Voice to create a series of non-defamatory utterances, solely for internal, quality assurance purposes. Other than as described above, only you, and people you explicitly share access with, will have access to generate audio using your Overdub Voice. Descript will not share audio of your original and your Overdub Voice with third parties except as expressly set forth in this privacy policy.
Note with Respect to YouTube API Services: We use YouTube's API Services in connection with the Descript Service to provide certain features. Such use is subject to Google’s Privacy Policy located at http://www.google.com/policies/privacy/ and the YouTube Terms of Service located at https://www.youtube.com/t/terms. In addition to our normal procedures for managing and deleting stored data, you can manage and revoke access to your YouTube API data via the Google security settings page at https://security.google.com/settings/security/permissions
Transfer of Information to the U.S. and Other Countries
Descript is based in the United States and we process and store information in the U.S. Therefore, we and our service providers may transfer your information to, or store or access it in, jurisdictions that may not provide equivalent levels of data protection as your home jurisdiction. We will take steps to ensure that your personal data receives an adequate level of protection in the jurisdictions in which we process it.
As a general rule, we limit the circumstances in which we disclose your information to third parties. However, in certain limited circumstances, as described in this privacy policy, we need to do so to run our business, to provide and improve The Descript Service, and to comply with legal requirements. Remember that there is no human access to your Projects, except as explicitly described above, and any sharing is subject to the confidentiality obligations set forth in our Terms of Service.
We may share information as follows:
With vendors, consultants and other service providers who need access to such information to carry out work on our behalf, including, but not limited to, third-party payment processors and vendors who assist us in providing, developing, testing and improving the Descript Service and our technology;
In response to a request for information if we believe disclosure is in accordance with any applicable law, regulation or legal process, or as otherwise required by any applicable law, rule or regulation;
If we believe your actions are inconsistent with the spirit or language of our user agreements or policies, or to protect the rights, property and safety of us or others;
In connection with, or during negotiations of, any merger, sale of company assets, financing or acquisition of all or a portion of our business to another company (provided that your Projects will remain subject to the confidentiality obligations); and
With your consent or at your direction, including if we notify you through the Descript Service or otherwise that the information you provide will be shared in a particular manner and you choose to provide such information.
We may also share aggregated or anonymized information that does not directly identify you. Please note that any Projects that are designated as “public” or any other information you post in a public area of the Descript Service may be publicly viewable, including any information about you that may be contained in such Project, and will no longer be treated as confidential.
We may allow others to provide analytics services and serve advertisements on our behalf across the Internet and in applications. These entities may use cookies, web beacons, device identifiers and other technologies to collect information about your use of the Descript Service and other websites and applications, including your IP address, web browser, mobile network information, pages viewed, time spent on pages or in apps, links clicked and conversion information. This information may be used by us and others to, among other things, analyze and track data, determine the popularity of certain content, deliver advertising and content targeted to your interests on the Descript Service and other websites and better understand your online activity. For more information about interest-based ads, or to opt out of having your web browsing information used for behavioral advertising purposes, please visit https://optout.aboutads.info/?c=2&lang=EN or visit http://www.youronlinechoices.eu/ if you are a resident of the EEA.. Your device may also include a feature (“Limit Ad Tracking” on iOS or “Opt Out of Interest-Based Ads” on Android) that allows you to opt out of having certain information collected through apps used for behavioral advertising purposes.
We take reasonable measures to help protect information about you from loss, theft, misuse and unauthorized access, disclosure, alteration and destruction.
Account Information. You may update, correct or delete information provided to us in connection with the Descript Service at any time by contacting us at support@descript.com. If you wish to delete or deactivate your account, contact support@descript.com, but note that we may retain certain information as required by law or for legitimate business purposes. We may also retain cached or archived copies of information about you for a certain period of time. Cookies. Most web browsers are set to accept cookies by default. If you prefer, you can usually choose to set your browser to remove or reject browser cookies. Removing or rejecting browser cookies does not necessarily affect third party flash cookies used in connection with the Descript Service. Promotional Communications. You may opt out of receiving promotional emails from us by following the instructions in those emails. If you opt out, we may still send you non-promotional communications, such as those about your account or our ongoing business relations.
If you are in the European Economic Area (“EEA”), you have certain rights and protections under the law regarding the processing of your personal data.
If you are in the EEA, when we process your personal data we will only do so in the following situations:
We need to use information about you to perform our responsibilities under our contract with you such as to process your transcriptions and provide the Services you have requested;
We have a legitimate interest in processing information about you. For example, we may process information about you to send you marketing communications, to communicate with you about changes to our Services, and to provide, secure, and improve our Sites and Services;
We need to process information about you to comply with our legal obligations;
We may process information about you with your consent, which you may revoke at any time (see the “Your Choices” section above).
If you are in the EEA, you have the right to access personal data we hold about you and to ask that your personal data be corrected, erased, or transferred. You may also have the right to object to, or request that we restrict, certain processing. If you would like to exercise any of these rights, you may contact us as indicated below.
If you are in the EEA and have a concern about our processing of personal data that we are not able to resolve, you have the right to lodge a complaint with the data privacy authority where you reside. For contact details of your local Data Protection Authority, please see: http://ec.europa.eu/justice/data-protection/article-29/structure/data-protection-authorities/index_en.htm
If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy, please contact us at support@descript.com.