California Privacy Notice

Article author
Jason
  • Updated

LAST UPDATED: 31 October 2023

1.0 About the California Privacy Notice

Everand™, Scribd®, and Slideshare® are wholly-owned subsidiaries of Scribd, Inc (“the Company,” “We,” “Our,” or “Us”). This PRIVACY NOTICE FOR CALIFORNIA RESIDENTS (“California Privacy Notice”, or “Privacy Notice”) supplements Our Global Privacy Policy (https://scribd.com/privacy) and applies solely to visitors, Users, and other California residents (“Consumers” or “You”) when You visit Our Sites, download and use Our Apps, or subscribe to receive any products and Services that We provide. 

We adopt this notice to comply with the California Consumer Privacy Act of 2018 (“CCPA”), as amended as the California Privacy Rights Act of 2020 (“CPRA”). This Privacy Notice, and its associated policies and disclosures, are incorporated into, and are subject to, Our Global Terms of Use (https://scribd.com/terms). Unless otherwise defined in this Policy, all capitalized terms have the meaning given in the Global Terms of Use. Any terms defined in the CPRA have the same meaning when used in this Notice. This Privacy Notice does not reflect Our collection, use, or disclosure of California residents’ Personal Information, or Consumer privacy rights, where an exception under the CPRA applies.

2.0 The Information that We Collect

We collect information that identifies, relates to, describes, references, is capable of being associated with, or could reasonably be linked, directly or indirectly, with a particular Consumer or device. In particular, We have collected the following categories of Personal Information from Consumers within the last twelve (12) months:

Category Examples Does Scribd collect it?
Identifiers Name, Internet Protocol address, email address.  Yes
Personal information categories listed in the California Customer Records statute (Cal. Civ. Code § 1798.80(e)) Name, credit card number, debit card number, or any other financial information. Yes
Protected classification characteristics under California or federal law Age, ethnicity, citizenship, religion or creed, marital status, physical illness, mental illness or disabilities, gender, veteran status. No
Commercial information Transaction information, purchase history, financial details and payment information.  Yes, from subscribers only.
Biometrics Fingerprints, voice prints. No
Internet or other electronic network activity Browsing history, search history, online behavior, interest data, and interactions with Our and other websites, applications, systems and advertisements. Yes.
Geolocation data Device location, login location. Yes
Audio, electronic, visual and similar information Your profile photo. Yes
Professional or employment-related information Employer information. Yes, if You access Our services through an account administered by Your employer.
Non-public education information (per the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (20 U.S.C. Section 1232g, 34 C.F.R. Part 99)) Education level, school or university attended.  No
Inferences drawn from other Personal Information to create a profile Reading and listening history, search history, and saved items. Yes 

Personal Information does not include publicly available information from government records, De-identified (e.g. anonymized or aggregated) Consumer data, or any other information otherwise excluded from the CPRA’s scope.

3.0 The Information that We Use

These are the categories of Personal Information that We disclose to Service Providers and Third Parties for Our operational business purposes, where required by law, or to protect Our rights. Service Providers are businesses that provide Us with essential services. Our service providers are contractually obligated to protect Your Personal Information. Third Parties refer to businesses that provide voluntary, value-added services to You (e.g. share buttons to social media sites). Third Party websites and privacy practices may differ from Ours, and We do not endorse or make any representations about Third Party websites. Any Personal Information You choose to give to unrelated Third Parties is not covered by this Privacy Policy. If You suspect that any of Our Service Providers or Third Parties have compromised Your Personal Information through Our Services, then please notify Us immediately at privacy@scribd.com

Category Examples Does Scribd disclose it? To whom?
Identifiers Name, username, Internet Protocol address, email address.  Yes Service providers and Third Parties.
Personal information categories listed in the California Customer Records statute (Cal. Civ. Code § 1798.80(e)) Name, credit card number, debit card number, or any other financial information. Yes Service providers only.
Protected classification characteristics under California or federal law Age, ethnicity, citizenship, religion or creed, marital status, physical illness, mental illness or disabilities, gender, veteran status. No  
Commercial information Transaction information, purchase history, financial details and payment information.  Yes Service providers only.
Biometrics Fingerprints, voice prints. No  
Internet or other electronic network activity Browsing history, search history, online behavior, interest data, and interactions with Our and other websites, applications, systems and advertisements. Yes Service providers only.
Geolocation data Device location, login location. Yes Service providers only.
Audio, electronic, visual and similar information Your profile photo. Yes Service providers only.
Professional or employment-related information Occupation, employer information, work history. Yes Service providers only, if You access Our services through an account administered by Your employer.
Non-public education information (per the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (20 U.S.C. Section 1232g, 34 C.F.R. Part 99)) Education level, school or university attended.  No  
Inferences drawn from other Personal Information to create a profile Reading and listening history, search history, and saved items. Yes. Service providers only.

Our Services may contain links to Third Party websites that are not owned or operated by Us. Third Party websites and privacy practices may differ from Ours, and We do not endorse or make any representations about Third Party websites. Any Personal Information You choose to give to unrelated Third Parties is not covered by this Privacy Policy. We encourage You to review all relevant privacy policies before providing Your Personal Information to anyone. Some Third Parties may choose to share their users’ Personal Information with Us; that sharing is governed by that company’s privacy policy, not this Privacy Policy.

3.1 Our Purposes for Using or Disclosing Your Personal Information

We may use or disclose this Personal Information for the following business purposes:

  • To provide You with the Services that You have requested;
  • To provide You with notifications, alerts, and other communications concerning Our Services;
  • As described to You when collecting Your Personal Information; 
  • As necessary to or appropriate to protect the rights, property, or safety of the Company, Our employees, Our clients, or others; 
  • As otherwise described in the Global Privacy Policy;
  • To operate, manage, and maintain Our business;
  • To comply with applicable laws, legal processes, governmental regulations, and internal policies;
  • To maintain necessary records for audits, investigation, and regulatory review;
  • To respond to law enforcement requests, and as required by subpoena, court order, warrant, or injunction;
  • To conduct such research and analysis as necessary to develop and improve the Services;
  • To undertake quality assurance testing as necessary to develop and improve the Services;
  • To develop and improve the Services;
  • To detect and prevent security incidents;
  • To exercise and defend legal claims;
  • To protect against malicious, deceptive, fraudulent or illegal activity; and
  • To evaluate or conduct a merger, divestiture, restructuring, reorganization, dissolution, or other sale or transfer of some or all of our assets, whether as a going concern or as part of bankruptcy, liquidation, or similar proceeding, in which personal information held by Us is among the assets transferred.

We will not connect additional categories of Personal Information or use Your Personal Information for materially different, unrelated, or incompatible purposes without providing You with notice.

4.0 Your Consumer Rights

The CPRA provides You (a California Consumer) with specific rights regarding Personal Information. We may, in our sole discretion, choose to voluntarily extend those rights to individuals across the United States and elsewhere. California residents have the right not to receive discriminatory treatment by Us for the exercise of the rights conferred by the CPRA. Scribd does not offer financial incentives or price or service differences to consumers in exchange for the retention or sale of Your Personal Information.

4.1 Privacy Rights Request Form

We provide a web form through which You can exercise your rights to delete or access your Personal Information (“Privacy Rights Request form”), among other rights, at https://support.scribd.com/hc/articles/360038016931-Privacy-Rights-Request-Form. If the form is insufficient to handle your particular request, then please contact Us at privacy@scribd.com

5.0 Access Your Personal Information

You (a California Consumer) have the right to request that We disclose to the most recent twelve (12) months of data related to:

  • The categories of Personal Information We collect about You;
  • The categories of sources from which the Personal Information is collected;
  • The specific pieces of Personal Information We collect;
  • Our business or commercial purpose for collecting information about You; and
  • The categories of Personal Information about You that We shared or disclosed and the categories of third parties with whom We shared or to whom We disclosed such information in the preceding 12 months.

6.0 Delete Your Personal Information

You (a California Consumer) have the right to request that We delete any Personal Information that We collected from You and retained, subject to certain exceptions. Once We receive and confirm Your verifiable consumer request, We will delete (and direct Our service providers to delete) Your Personal Information from Our records, unless an exception applies. 

We may deny Your deletion request if retaining the information is necessary for Us or Our service providers to:

  1. Complete the transaction for which We collected the Personal Information, provide a good or service that You requested, take actions reasonably anticipated within the context of Our ongoing business relationship with You, or otherwise perform Our contract with You;
  2. Detect security incidents, protect against malicious, deceptive, fraudulent, or illegal activity, or prosecute those responsible for such activities;
  3. Debug products to identify and repair errors that impair existing intended functionality; 
  4. Exercise free speech, ensure the right of Consumers to exercise their free speech rights, or exercise another right provided for by law;
  5. Comply with the California Electronic Communications Privacy Act (Cal. Penal Code § 1546 seq.);
  6. Engage in public or peer-reviewed scientific, historical, or statistical research in the public interest that adheres to all other applicable ethics and privacy laws, when the  deletion of Personal Information may likely render impossible or seriously impair the research's achievement, if You previously provided informed consent;
  7. Enable solely internal uses that are reasonably aligned with consumer expectations based on Your relationship with us;
  8. Maintain necessary records for audits, investigation, and regulatory review;
  9. Comply with a legal obligation; and/or
  10. Make other internal and lawful uses of that information that are compatible with the context in which You provided it.

7.0 Right to Opt Out of the Selling or Sharing Of Personal Information

Under CPRA, “selling” and “sharing” means the sharing of Personal Information, either with or without financial compensation, with another party who is not acting as Our Service Provider or who is otherwise not restricted from using data only on Our behalf or pursuant to an applicable CPRA exception. We may share elements of Your Personal Information in order to provide You with promotions and opportunities that may be of interest to You, which may be considered a “sale” under the CPRA. Under the CPRA, “sale” may also include allowing others to “collect” certain information, such as IP address, and/or browsing behavior, through cookies and similar technologies, to deliver targeted advertising. You can adjust your cookie consent preferences at 

We do not knowingly sell the Personal Information of Minors without affirmative authorization as required by applicable law. We do not have actual knowledge that We sell the Personal Information of Minors.

You may opt-out of Our use of Your information for such purposes that are considered a “sale” under the CPRA through the Privacy Rights Request form

8.0 California “Shine the Light” Disclosure

California law requires Us to provide a mechanism by which Consumers can opt-out of Our sharing of Personal Information (as defined in California Civil Code § 1798.83, the “Shine the Light” law of 2003) with third parties for their direct marketing purposes (e.g., to send offers and information that may be of interest to You). If You (a California Consumer) would like to opt-out of sharing pursuant to this law, please use the Privacy Rights Request form

9.0 Exercising Your California Rights

Only You (a California Consumer) or a person registered with the California Secretary of State that You authorize to act on Your behalf, may make a verifiable consumer request related to Your Personal Information. You may also make a verifiable consumer request on behalf of Your minor child. You can exercise your California rights through Our Privacy Rights Request form. You may only make a verifiable Consumer request for access or data portability twice within a 12-month period. 

10.0 Changes to this Notice

We may occasionally update this Notice. If We make material changes to this Notice, We will notify You as required by applicable laws. We encourage You to review this Notice periodically to remain informed as to how We are using and protecting Your information and to keep Yourself aware of any changes to the Notice. Changes to this Notice will take effect immediately after We post it to https://scribd.com/privacy. You can determine when We last changed this Notice by referring to the “LAST UPDATED” legend above.  Your use of the Site following changes to this Notice will constitute Your acceptance of those changes; provided, however, any material change to this Notice shall not apply retroactively to any claim or dispute between You and Us in connection with this Notice that arose prior to the “LAST UPDATED” date applicable to that version of this Notice. This Notice may not reflect pending or recent legislation.

11.0 How to Contact Us

We welcome Your questions about Our policies and practices by email at privacy@scribd.com or by post at: Scribd, Inc. 460 Bryant Street, Suite 300, San Francisco, CA 94107-2594. We respond to all inquiries within 30 days.




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