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Plain-English summary
OverDrive's policy includes several points of concern related to data handling and potential user impact. Your information, including personal identifying information (PII) and non-PII, may be transferred to and stored in countries that may not offer the same level of data protection as your home country (risk_flags-1). For support issues, OverDrive support personnel may gain visibility of your borrowing information (risk_flags-2). You are explicitly prohibited from sharing your login credentials, including passwords, for your OverDrive account (risk_flags-3). OverDrive also collects PII and non-PII related to your interactions and device use (data_use-1), using this information for personalization and remarketing (data_use-2). The company may share anonymized and aggregated data with third parties for analysis and service improvement (data_use-3) and utilizes third-party services for various functions, including advertising and email tracking (data_use-4). Additionally, third-party APIs integrated with OverDrive may use Google Analytics to track anonymous usage data (data_use-5), and OverDrive retains information for as long as it deems necessary to provide services, which could be an extended period (data_use-6).
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Risk Flags
Critical issues and red flags that could lead to significant harm or privacy loss.
high95% confidence confidence
Information transfer to countries with different data protection levels
By using the Services, you acknowledge and consent to the transfer of your information outside your country of residence to any country where OverDrive has facilities or engages third parties, and you understand that these countries may not have as comprehensive a level of data protection as your home country.
Why it matters: Your personal information may be transferred to and stored in countries that do not offer the same level of data protection as your country of residence, potentially subjecting your data to different privacy laws and protections.
Therefore, by using the Services, you acknowledge and consent to the transfer of your information outside your country of residence to any country where we have facilities or engage third parties (including but not limited to, payment processors, cloud service or other Information Technology providers, and other companies that provide services to us). If you are visiting the Services from the EU, [please click here to visit the section of this Privacy Policy that applies to transfers from the EU to the US](https://www.overdrive.com/policies/privacy-policy.htm?_ga=2.
We collect information from you in order to:, paragraph 17 · Citation strength: strong
high95% confidence confidence
Support personnel may view borrowing information
If you contact OverDrive directly for support, it may be necessary for OverDrive to use support tools that provide support personnel with visibility of your borrowing information while your support case is being resolved.
Why it matters: When you seek support, OverDrive's support staff might be able to see your borrowing information, potentially exposing details about your reading habits or other personal usage to them.
If you contact OverDrive directly for assistance resolving an issue with the Services, it may be necessary for OverDrive to use support tools to resolve your issue. For a limited number of issues, these tools may provide OverDrive support personnel with visibility of your borrowing information while your support case is being resolved.
We collect information from you in order to:, paragraph 19 · Citation strength: strong
high90% confidence confidence
No sharing of login credentials, such as password
You may not share your information regarding your OverDrive account, including but not limited to your login credentials such as your password.
Why it matters: Sharing your password for your OverDrive account is prohibited, which could lead to account compromise if you do share it.
You may not share your information regarding your OverDrive account, including but not limited to your login credentials such as your password.
We collect information from you in order to:, paragraph 21 · Citation strength: strong
Data Use
How your data is collected, processed, and shared with others.
medium90% confidence confidence
Collection of PII and non-PII through service interaction
OverDrive may collect and store certain PII and non-PII related to your interactions and use of its Services, including IP address, device type, device ID, operating system, and online activity.
Why it matters: OverDrive automatically collects various pieces of your personal and non-personal information, including technical details about your device and how you interact with the services, which could be used to track your activity.
OverDrive may collect and store certain PII and non-PII related to your interactions and use of our Services, including but not limited to, IP address, device type, device ID, operating system, library card number, Adobe ID, library name, lending history, holds, reading progress, bookmarks, highlights, notes, and online activity.
What is PII and non-PII?[](https://www.overdrive.com/policies/privacy-policy#what-is-pii-and-non-pii), paragraph 8 · Citation strength: strong
medium90% confidence confidence
Personalized services and remarketing based on interests
OverDrive collects information to personalize its Services to better reflect particular interests and preferences, and in certain instances, for remarketing.
Why it matters: Your data may be used to deliver personalized content and ads (remarketing) based on your interests and preferences, which could feel like targeted advertising.
Personalize our Services to better reflect particular interests and preferences and in certain instances for remarketing; and
We collect information from you in order to:, paragraph 1 · Citation strength: strong
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Sharing anonymized and aggregated data with third parties
OverDrive may anonymize certain PII and share it in an aggregated form with third parties to analyze Service usage, improve the Service, or for other similar purposes.
Why it matters: While your personal identification is removed, aggregated data about your usage might still be shared with third parties for analysis and service improvement, impacting your overall data privacy.
We may anonymize certain PII and share it in an aggregated form with third parties in order to analyze Service usage, improve the Service, or for other similar purposes. Such information is anonymous and cannot be used to identify you.
We collect information from you in order to:, paragraph 4 · Citation strength: strong
medium90% confidence confidence
Use of third parties for surveys, scheduling, customer support, advertising, and email tracking
OverDrive may use third parties such as Alchemer, OnceHub, and Salesforce for purposes like product surveys, meeting scheduling, and customer support, and may also use third-party services for advertising, marketing, or to track how you interact with emails.
Why it matters: Your willingly submitted information may be processed by various third-party services, and your interactions with promotional emails may be tracked by third parties, potentially expanding the scope of entities with access to your data or activity.
We may also use third parties to process information you willingly submit to OverDrive, such as Alchemer (fka SurveyGizmo, https://www.alchemer.com/) for product and experience surveys, OnceHub (https://www.oncehub.com/) for meeting scheduling, and Salesforce (https://www.salesforce.com/) for customer administration and support. We may also use third-party services for advertising or marketing purposes, or to track or analyze how you interact with the emails we send.
We collect information from you in order to:, paragraph 5 · Citation strength: strong
medium85% confidence confidence
Third-party APIs use Google Analytics for anonymous usage data
Third parties utilizing OverDrive’s APIs may use Google Analytics to track anonymous usage data for research and analytics purposes.
Why it matters: Even if your data is anonymous, third parties integrating with OverDrive's services via APIs might collect usage data through Google Analytics, contributing to broader data collection practices.
OverDrive APIs may use Google Analytics (https://analytics.google.com) to track anonymous usage data for research and analytics purposes.
We collect information from you in order to:, paragraph 6 · Citation strength: strong
medium85% confidence confidence
Information retention for as long as deemed necessary, or for educational purposes for school users
OverDrive retains information for as long as it deems necessary to provide the Services or as permitted by applicable law, while information for school users is retained only for the period necessary to support authorized school or educational purposes.
Why it matters: Your information may be kept by OverDrive for an indefinite period at their discretion, or as long as legally permitted, which could extend beyond your active use of the service.
We retain information for as long as OverDrive deems necessary to provide the Services or as otherwise permitted by applicable law. Information about users of school services is only retained by OverDrive for the time period necessary to support the authorized school or educational purposes.
We collect information from you in order to:, paragraph 8 · Citation strength: strong
Cancellation & Renewal
Terms related to ending your service or account.
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Gotchas
Potentially overlooked clauses that may be to your detriment.
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No hidden gotchas
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Protections
Commitments and features that benefit you.
Protection95% confidence confidence
Lending history confidentiality and limited sharing
Your lending history is protected by OverDrive as confidential and is not shared with any third parties, except to staff with appropriate authority for administrative duties of your institution.
Why it helps: Your lending history is treated as confidential and is only shared in very specific, authorized circumstances, helping to protect your personal reading choices from broader dissemination.
Your lending history is protected by OverDrive as confidential. It is not shared with any third parties, except to staff with appropriate authority acting within the scope of their duties for the administration of your institution (library, school, etc.).
What is PII and non-PII?[](https://www.overdrive.com/policies/privacy-policy#what-is-pii-and-non-pii), paragraph 9 · Citation strength: strong
Protection95% confidence confidence
No sale of PII or non-PII and commitment to specified use
OverDrive never sells your PII or non-PII and will not use your information for any purposes other than the specified use.
Why it helps: OverDrive explicitly commits to not selling your personal or non-personal information and to using it only for stated purposes, which reinforces a degree of privacy and control over your data.
OverDrive never sells your PII or non-PII. OverDrive will not use your information for any purposes other than the specified use.
We collect information from you in order to:, paragraph 2 · Citation strength: strong
Protection95% confidence confidence
Email not used for marketing without opt-in consent
Email addresses submitted for holds notifications are stored, but OverDrive will not use your email address to send you any marketing or promotional communications without your opt-in consent.
Why it helps: Your email address will not be used for marketing purposes unless you specifically agree to it, providing you with control over unwanted promotional communications.
OverDrive will not use your email address to send you any marketing or promotional communications without your opt-in consent.
We collect information from you in order to:, paragraph 3 · Citation strength: strong
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