Privacy Policy

Last Updated: AUG 28, 2020

1. Introduction

Welcome to the BugSquad website (“Site”). (“BugSquad”, “we”, “us”, and/or “our”) operates this Site to provide our users (“you” and “your”) with information about BugSquad and its platform.

BugSquad is used by professional freelancers (“Freelancers”) who wish to offer their development, engineering and other services (“Services”) and clients who need the Services (“Clients”). Freelancers that have passed our screening process and are admitted to our network of professional Freelancers (“Network”) are referred to as “Talent”. For purposes of this policy the term “Freelancers” is broader in scope and includes both Talent and Freelancers who are not Talent. The Personal Data we receive from Freelancers and Clients and how we handle it differs, so we explain our data practices for Freelancers and Clients in two distinct sections below. Click on the one that applies to you: Freelancers; Clients.

2. Scope

This Privacy Policy sets out how BugSquad collects, retains, and uses information, including personal data (“Personal Data”), about Freelancers, Clients, other Site visitors and individuals, including our vendors, partners, blog readers, and job applicants. This Privacy Policy also covers data that BugSquad collects in-person, for instance at business conferences and trade shows.

3. Freelancers

3.1 Information We Collect

A. Information That You Provide To Us

When you apply as a Freelancer on the Site, you are asking to be admitted to our Network. In order to admit you to the Network and match your qualifications with our Client’s needs, we need to perform a screening process, which evaluates your language skills, personality, domain-specific knowledge, competence and professionalism. We may also need to screen potential Freelancers for specific technical skills, as required by our Clients. In this context, you will be asked to provide information about yourself, which includes:

your name
contact information
address
location
work experience
education
photo
social network information
family information
billing information

Our provider of background check services may collect additional data about you (including information about criminal convictions or offences) if and when we undertake vetting / background checks. If applicable to you, your consent to the collection of such additional data will be solicited at such time, pursuant to applicable laws.

When you participate in the community of BugSquad’s experts on our Site, we will collect the information that you elect to share in that context.

We will use certain of your Personal Data to enable you to create a profile to be displayed within the Services; this profile is searchable and may be viewed by Clients seeking Freelancers.

Once you are admitted to the Network and you are matched with a Client, we will receive from our Clients information regarding the performance of your services to that Client, as necessary for maintaining standards of integrity and excellence in our Network.

B. Automatically Collected Data

When you interact with BugSquad through the Site or services, we collect automatically certain information. Please read the “Site Visitors” section below for more information.

3.2. How We Use the Information

A. To Provide The Service And Respond To Requests

BugSquad uses the Personal Data you provide in a manner that is consistent with this Privacy Policy. If you provide Personal Data for a certain reason, we will use the Personal Data in connection with the reason for which it was provided.

In particular, we use data that you provide to us (described above) in order to process your request to become a Freelancer and administer our contract with you once you become a member of the Network. For individuals in the EU, our use of Personal Data that you provide to us is necessary in order to implement your request to become a Freelancer prior to entering into a contract with us and, once you are admitted to our Network, to perform our contract with you.

B. As Necessary For Certain Legitimate Interests

We use your Personal Data for the legitimate interests described below:

To send administrative information to you, for example, information regarding the Site and changes to our terms, conditions, and policies.
To conduct analytics on how the Site and our Service are being used by you for our internal purposes, namely for providing, maintaining, benchmarking and improving our offerings, and identifying usage trends.
We use data relating to your use of and interaction with the Site and the Services, including use of product features by you and information that we obtain through cookies and other technologies, to better understand your needs and interests in order to personalize your experience with our Services.
To market our services and showcase Freelancers (in particular, we can feature certain profiles of Freelancers to drive traffic from potential Clients).
To prevent fraud or criminal activity, misuses of our products or services, and ensure the security of our IT systems, architecture and networks.
To (a) comply with legal obligations and legal process, (b) respond to requests from public and government authorities including public and government authorities outside your country of residence; (c) enforce our terms and conditions; (d) to protect our operations; (e) protect our rights, privacy, safety or property, and/or that of you or others; and (f) allow us to pursue available remedies or limit the damages that we may sustain.
If you ask us to delete your data and we are required to fulfill your request, to keep basic data to identify you and prevent further unwanted processing.
For individuals in the EU, please see the “EU Individuals” section below for information on our legitimate interests and your rights.

4. Clients

4.1. Information We Collect

A. Information that you provide to us

We collect Personal Data from our prospective Clients when we receive a request for hiring our Freelancers. This includes names and contact information of prospective Client’s representatives, and any information relating to the Client’s needs. We also collect Personal Data that is entered on our Site or sent to us electronically, for example when you complete a web form to give Personal Data to us directly (such as on our “Contact Us” page), when you voluntarily provide such information such as when you register for access to the platform (for example, your name and mailing address), contact us with inquiries or respond to one of our surveys. Wherever BugSquad collects Personal Data we make an effort to provide a link to this Privacy Policy.

B. Information Obtained From Third Parties

We may supplement the information that we collected from you (such as your email address) with additional information about you and your company obtained from publicly available and third-party databases or services that provide information about business people and companies (including an individual’s name, job title, business contact information, and company information).

C. Automatically Collected Data

When you interact with BugSquad through the Site or services, we collect automatically certain information. Please read the “Site Visitors” section below for more information.

4.2. How We Use the Information

A. To Provide The Services And Respond To Requests

BugSquad uses the Personal Data you provide in a manner that is consistent with this Privacy Policy. If you provide Personal Data for a certain reason, we may use the Personal Data in connection with the reason for which it was provided. For instance, if you contact us by email, we will use the Personal Data you provide to answer your question or resolve your problem. Also, if you provide Personal Data in order to obtain access to the Services, we will use your Personal Data to provide you with access to such Services, maintain your account, contact you regarding your use of the Services and/or the Site or to notify you of important changes to the Services and/or the Site, and to monitor your use of such services. For individuals in the EU, such use is necessary to respond to or implement your request and for the performance of the contract between you and us.

B. For Marketing Purposes

We may use your contact details to tell you about services we believe will be of interest to you, upcoming events or other promotions. If we do so, each marketing communication we send you will contain instructions permitting you to “opt out” of receiving future marketing communications. Note however that as user of our services you cannot opt out of some administrative communications that are reasonably necessary to the services, such as billing or service notifications. In addition, if at any time you wish not to receive any future marketing communications or you wish to have your name deleted from our mailing lists, please contact us as indicated below.

Where required by applicable law (for example, if you are an individual in the EU), we will only send you marketing information by email if you consent to us doing so at the time you provide us with your Personal Data. When you provide us with your consent to be contacted for marketing purposes, you have the right to withdraw your consent at any time by following the instructions to “opt-out” of receiving marketing communication in each marketing email we send you or by contacting us as indicated below.

C. As Necessary For Certain Legitimate Interests
We use your Personal Data for the legitimate interests described below:

To send administrative information to you, for example, information regarding the Site and changes to our terms, conditions, and policies.
To respond to your inquiries and fulfill your requests, such as to send you requested materials and newsletters, as well as information and materials regarding our products and services.
To conduct analytics on how the Site and our Service are being used by you for our internal purposes (namely for providing, maintaining, benchmarking and improving our offerings, identifying usage trends and determining the effectiveness of our promotional campaigns) and to inform our marketing strategy and personalize our communications with you (including providing information on our features and other marketing and service-related announcements relevant to the content and features you engage with).
To supplement the information that we collected from you with information obtained from third parties (described above) in order to update, expand and analyze our records, identify new Clients, and provide products and services that may be of interest to you.
To prevent fraud or criminal activity, misuses of our products or services, and ensure the security of our IT systems, architecture and networks.
To (a) comply with legal obligations and legal process, (b) respond to requests from public and government authorities including public and government authorities outside your country of residence; (c) enforce our terms and conditions; (d) protect our operations; (e) protect our rights, privacy, safety or property, and/or that of you or others; and (f) allow us to pursue available remedies or limit the damages that we may sustain.
If you ask us to delete your data and we are required to fulfill your request, to keep basic data to identify you and prevent further unwanted processing.

For individuals in the EU, please see the “EU Individuals” section below for information on our legitimate interests and your rights.

If BugSquad intends on using any Personal Data in any manner that is not consistent with this Privacy Policy, you will be informed of such anticipated use prior to or at the time at which the Personal Data is collected and pursuant to the applicable law.