The Roku Channel / Roku Account
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Plain-English summary
Roku's policy indicates several notable concerns regarding data collection and sharing. You are responsible for obtaining permissions when providing personal information about others (risk_flags-1), and Roku explicitly states they may review your uploaded files for content moderation (risk_flags-2). Information you post on Roku Sites can become public (risk_flags-3). Data collection practices extend to broad categories of information from third-party partners (data_use-1) and extensive data sharing with app, content, and feature providers for various purposes, including personalized ads and analytics (data_use-2). Your information, including demographics and audience segments, may be disclosed to advertising measurement providers (data_use-4), and third-party advertising partners can use their own tracking technologies, collecting data across different services and devices (data_use-3). Furthermore, third-party streaming services can collect data from your Roku Devices even when their apps are not actively streaming (gotchas-1), and linking your Roku account to non-Roku services allows those providers to collect extensive device information (gotchas-2). Your activity can inadvertently lead to the collection of personal information from other individuals, including through Smart Home devices (gotchas-3). Lastly, Roku combines collected information to derive inferences about you for various uses (gotchas-4), and third-party platforms you use to access Roku services may also collect your data (gotchas-5).
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You are responsible for obtaining any required permissions before providing personal information about other people to Roku.
Why it matters: You are explicitly made responsible for obtaining permissions to share personal information of others with Roku, which could lead to legal liabilities if not properly managed.
We rely on you to obtain any required permissions in advance to allow us to collect their personal information.
Roku collects and may review files you upload, including photos, videos, or audio files, for purposes such as content moderation.
Why it matters: Files you upload to Roku, such as photos, videos, or audio, may be reviewed by Roku for content moderation, which could impact the privacy of your uploaded content.
Roku collects and may review (for example, for content moderation purposes) any files, including photos, videos or audio files, that you choose to upload or make accessible to the Roku Services.
Information posted on Roku Sites, such as comments, reviews, and feedback, may be publicly available.
Why it matters: Any comments, reviews, or feedback you provide on Roku Sites may become public, meaning you should be careful about what personal information you choose to share.
You can provide comments, reviews and feedback on Roku Sites (e.g., Roku’s developer forums, blogs, message boards, community pages), and accounts on third-party social networking sites. Information posted in these venues may be available to the public. Please be mindful of your own privacy needs and those of others as you choose what to disclose and make public. We cannot control the privacy or security of information you choose to make public.
How your data is used, shared, and for what purpose.
Roku collects various types of data about users from third-party data providers, ad networks, and other advertising partners, including online activities, interests, household information, demographics, health, and wellness.
Why it matters: Roku gathers extensive personal data about you from third-party sources, potentially including sensitive categories like health and wellness, which they use to understand your interests and activities.
**Data providers, ad networks and other advertising partners**.These business partners may provide IP addresses, device IDs, other unique identifiers, and information about you, such as information about your online activities, interests, household information, demographics, health, and wellness.
Roku may disclose personal information, including account registration and interaction data, with partners such as Third-Party Channels or media content providers. This disclosure is for purposes like reporting, analytics, subscriptions, tailoring user experience, and personalizing ads.
Why it matters: Your personal and interaction information may be shared with various third-party providers on Roku, affecting how your experience is tailored and how ads are personalized.
We may disclose personal information with partners whose services are available through the Roku Services such as providers of Third-Party Channels, media content, or other services on the Roku Services. This information may include Roku account registration information, and information about your interactions with these providers, their services and the Roku Services, and it is disclosed for different purposes, including for reporting and analytics, helping you subscribe to apps or access paid content, providing services to you, tailoring your user experience, customizing your searches and discovery, and personalizing ads to you.
Roku discloses information to ad networks, advertising partners, and advertisers to show personalized ads. These third parties may also collect information about you across different online services and devices using their own tracking technologies.
Why it matters: Your data is shared with various advertising platforms to enable targeted advertising, and these advertising partners can track your online activities across different services and devices, potentially leading to widespread tracking and personalized ads.
We work with ad networks and other advertising partners to show you ads that we think may interest you for Roku’s products and services on Roku Services and on other companies’ websites, apps, and devices. We also work with them to show you ads from advertisers on Roku Services and on other companies’ websites, apps, and devices. We disclose information to these ad networks, advertising partners and our advertisers, and they may set and access their own cookies, pixel tags and similar technologies on the Roku Services and they may otherwise collect or have access to information about you which they collect over time and across different online services and devices.
Roku may disclose your demographics data and audience segments (e.g., sports fans, sitcom enthusiasts, cord cutters) to advertising measurement providers and their service providers.
Why it matters: Information about your demographics and interests, categorized into audience segments, may be shared with advertising measurement companies, which could be used for targeted advertising and market research.
We may also disclose your demographics data and audience segments (e.g., sports fans, sitcom enthusiasts, cord cutters, etc.) with advertising measurement providers and their service providers.
Terms related to subscription changes and account termination.
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Third-party streaming services accessed through Roku may collect information about your Roku Devices and usage of their service, even when their app is installed but not actively streaming. You may also be interacting directly with the provider and their advertising partners, leading to data collection.
Why it matters: Third-party streaming services can gather data from your Roku devices and how you use them, including unique identifiers and usage data, even when their apps are not actively in use. This broad collection extends beyond Roku's own policies.
These streaming services may collect some of the information described in this section when their app is installed but not actively streaming.
Linking your Roku Device or account to a non-Roku service (e.g., Alexa, Google Home) allows that service provider to collect information about you and your Roku Device, including device type, state, installed apps, and HDMI port names.
Why it matters: Connecting your Roku account to services like Alexa or Google Home means those third-party providers will collect detailed information about your Roku device and its usage, which is then governed by their own privacy policies.
If you link your Roku Device or Roku account to a non-Roku service (e.g., Google Photos, Alexa and Google Assistant), you are choosing to have the provider of that service collect information about you and your Roku Device, which may include device type and name, device identifiers, its state (e.g., whether the device is powered on, whether the device is playing video), names of installed streaming service apps, and the names of your device HDMI ports. If you direct a virtual assistant to display content (such as the feed of your Roku home security camera), you are authorizing Roku to provide that information to the virtual assistant provider to carry out your request.
Roku may collect personal information about other people, such as names or email addresses if you invite or refer them, or postal addresses for gift purchases. Your Smart Home Devices may also capture videos, images, or voice content of other individuals.
Why it matters: When you use Roku's services, you could inadvertently cause Roku to collect personal information from other people, including family and friends, or even captured videos and audio of individuals via Smart Home devices, placing responsibility on you to obtain necessary permissions.
We also collect the personal information of other people. For example, if you invite or refer our products or services to families and friends by providing their names or email addresses, or if you provide the postal addresses and other contact information of recipients for gift purchases. Personal information about other people may be collected and used when you use Roku Smart Home devices and services. For instance, your Smart Home Devices may capture videos, images or voice content of other individuals.
Roku may combine collected information and use it to derive other information and inferences about you.
Why it matters: Roku combines various pieces of your data to create additional information and inferences about you, which are then used for purposes like tailoring your experience and advertising.
We may combine the information we collect about you and use it to derive other information and inferences about you.
When accessing Roku services on platforms, online services, and devices operated by other companies (e.g., third-party smart TVs, streaming devices, mobile phones), these companies may also collect information about you.
Why it matters: When you use Roku services on other companies' platforms or devices, those companies can also collect data about you, and their data use practices are not covered by Roku's policy.
If you access our services, such as Roku’s Channels, on platforms, online services, and devices operated by other companies, including third-party smart TVs, streaming devices, mobile phones, or websites, these companies may also collect information about you. You should review the privacy policy for these companies to understand how your data is used by them and their partners.
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