At Scoota, we take the interests of end users, clients, advertisers and publishers extremely seriously, especially in how information is collected and used. The following privacy notice describes how we collect and process information from our business activities.

This privacy notice governs Scoota’s online information collection and use practices and does not apply to any information a user may provide to Scoota or that Scoota may collect offline and/or through other means. Scoota reserves the right to change, modify, add or remove portions of this policy at any time and without notice. If we change our privacy policy, we will make every effort to post those changes in this area so that you are aware of what information we collect, how we use it, and under what circumstances we disclose it.

  
Scoota places brand-funded content – for example, display advertising – onto the internet for the benefit of the user. Brand-funded content allows the internet to offer broader areas of interest and content choices to the user. Advertising is the fundamental source of finance for a very large number of Internet companies and premium content providers. When an online advertisement (ad) is requested, the ad server receives information from the user’s browser which influences which ad is sent back. The registration, collection and use of this information are subject to stringent data protection regulations under the Data Protection Act 1998 and the GDPR 2018.

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Traditionally in online advertising, cookies are used to store an anonymous, unique ID in a user’s browser. In basic, direct ad serving, this ID was usually used to control the delivery of an individual ad and ensure that a single user wouldn’t receive the same ad too many times, which could cause annoyance and wouldn’t represent value for money for the advertiser. This practice is known as frequency capping.

More recently, programmatic advertising has taken advantage of advances in data processing technology to extend the uses to which the ID stored in the cookie may be put. In this case, the ID is often used to ascertain user preferences based on their browsing habits, interactions with content and so on. In this way, users can be placed into audience ‘segments’ – for example, ‘potential hatchback buyers’ or ‘showed interest in a Nintendo Switch’. Advertisers can then target these audience segments with advertising they think might be of interest to them.

​​At Scoota, we do not employ any of these techniques, and do not use cookies to create audience segments or build profiles of individual users based on a stored cookie ID. In fact, we do not set cookies at all in our advertising products. Our clients use our services to build advertising creative formats using our creative toolkit, and control their delivery through other systems, which we have no part in.
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We do store anonymous data from the ads that we deliver – this includes the fact that an ad has delivered, which website it was served to, and any interactions that have occurred within the ad. We need to collect this data so that we can provide evidence to the advertisers that the money they have spent has resulted in ads being delivered (ie that we are providing the service they are paying us for), and to provide them with analysis into the success of the advertising in terms of user engagement. We don’t attempt in any way to gather other data about the user from the surrounding page that we’ve delivered to – our interest is purely in the ads we serve. We will never attempt to gather or store any direct personal information about you, including your name, email, address, age, sex, sexual orientation, health status, religion or any similar information without your explicit consent – for example as part of a competition entry.
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Opting out of tracking

  
Scoota adheres to the EDAA principles to ensure end users retain control and transparency of how we use data gathered during the serving of our content. You can read more about the EDAA and its principles here:

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[http://www.edaa.eu/european-principles](http://www.edaa.eu/european-principles)

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Scoota does not tailor ads using an ad serving cookie, so there is no need to opt out of being targeted in this way.
 

Legitimate Interest Declaration

 

We are obliged to declare how we process certain data under the justification of legitimate interest. 

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The data that we process in this way is the user's IP address. We do not store the IP address permanently, but convert it via a hashing process into an entirely different value that can't be directly converted back to the original IP address value. If you'd like to know more about how hashing works, and how it can be a one-way conversion, there's some interesting discussion about it here:

https://security.stackexchange.com/questions/11717/why-are-hash-functions-one-way-if-i-know-the-algorithm-why-cant-i-calculate-t

 

We store these hash values and use them to test for fraudulent activity on our ads - one of the ways we do this is by testing for excessive activity from particular IP addresses. We do this because we're obliged to our clients to do all we can to ensure their advertising spend isn't being wasted on criminal activity. This technique is the best way to achieve this goal without requiring us to set cookies or store personally-identifiable information about users.

 

We don't use the hashed IP addresses for any other purpose, and never attempt to reverse the hashing process.

 

 

Promotions and Personal Data

If you intentionally provide us with personal information such as your name and email address, as part of a Promotion then Scoota will treat this information appropriately and only for the purposes of collection on behalf of the Promoter. The privacy policy associated with the collection of the data in that case will be clearly provided at the point of data capture, and you will not be able to submit your data without explicitly confirming your acceptance of that policy.
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Promotion:  This means any prize draw, competition or promotion that you choose to enter into by clicking a link, submitting your name and/or email address via direct message or email or leaving a comment on a twitter post. This Privacy Policy will apply equally to all these Promotions.

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Promoter:  The Promoter will be clearly stated in the terms and conditions of the Promotion. Scoota will only collect your data on behalf of the Promoter and Scoota is registered in the United Kingdom under the UK Data Protection Act 1998 (registration number: Z3662912).

 

Personal Data:  Means the information you provide to take part in the Promotion, which is described as Personal Data in the UK Data Protection Act 1998. This is explained more clearly in the section below: “The personal data collected about you”.

The personal data collected about you  

When you enter a Promotion, we as the Promoter will collect the following Personal Data from you:  
(a) Name (first name and surname); and  
(b) Email address.

If any Promotion also needs other personal data to be provided about you also, this will be made clear by the entry fields you need to compete to enter into the Promotion. If you are a winner, we may also collect additional personal data from you that you provide to us that we will provide to the Promoter to enable them to make any prize available to you (for example your bank details, where the prize is paid by bank transfer).

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How will we use the personal data about you

 
We will use your personal data for each of the purposes set out here in this section:

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(a) Entry into the Promotion: The Promoter and/or third parties assisting it with the Promotion, will collect the personal data you provide to enter into the Promotion, to allow it to process your entry into the Promotion. The Promoter and any third parties involved in collection of data will named in the Promotion terms and conditions.​

 

(b) Ongoing Communications in connection with the Promotion: This personal data may also be used by the Promoter and/or third parties assisting it with providing the Promotion, to communicate with you on any matter relating the Promotion and to administer prizes.

 

How we protect your personal data  

We restrict access to your personal data to those Promoters, employees, and third parties who need to know and use that personal data for Promotion related purposes.
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Children’s Privacy Statement

  
This children’s privacy statement explains Scoota’s practices with respect to the online collection and use of personal information from children under the age of 13, and provides important information regarding their legal rights to such information. This site is not directed to children under the age of 13 and we do not knowingly collect personally identifiable information from children under the age of 13 as part of the Site. We screen users who wish to provide personal information in order to prevent users under the age of 13 from providing such information. If we become aware that we have inadvertently received personally identifiable information from a user under the age of 13 as part of the Site, we will promptly delete such information from our records. Because we do not collect or maintain any personally identifiable information from children under the age of 13 via the Site, we also do not knowingly distribute such information to third parties. We do not knowingly allow children under the age of 13 to publicly post or otherwise distribute personally identifiable contact information through the Site. Because we do not collect any personally identifiable information from children under the age of 13 via the Site, we do not condition the participation of a child under 13 in the Site’s online activities on providing personally identifiable information.

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Storage of Information

  
All information we gather on our Site is stored within a database to which only we and our hosting services provider are provided access. Scoota make every reasonable effort to ensure data security on our systems to protect against unauthorized access to or unauthorized alteration, disclosure or destruction of data. However, no data transmissions over the Internet can be guaranteed to be secure. As a result, we cannot ensure or warrant the security of any information you transmit to us and you do so at your own risk.

 

Transfer of Data

  
All of the data Scoota has collected (both personally identifiable and non-personally identifiable) may be transferred to another entity in the context of a financing, sale or other disposition of Scoota. All data collected by Scoota is encrypted and kept with the EEA. We do not transfer personally-identifiable information outside of this area.

  
You have the right to receive information about the personal data we hold about you. If you would like to use your access right, please get in touch by emailing us at [info@scoota.com](mailto:info@scoota.com)

The aim of this policy is to provide you, the user, with a clear understanding of our privacy practices. If you have any questions about this privacy policy or Scoota’s privacy practices, we would be happy to hear from you and to clarify any aspect of the policy. If you wish to contact us, please write to Scoota, 60 Gray's Inn Road, London, WC1X 8AQ, UK.

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Scoota is the trading name of Rockabox Media Ltd.

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Last updated 21st November 2023