Stack Overflow for Teams: Free, Basic & Business - Microsoft Teams Integration Privacy Notice
This Privacy Notice describes how your personal data will be used when you use Stack Overflow for Teams: Free, Basic & Business, with our MS Teams integration. Stack Overflow’s Full Privacy Notice can be accessed via this link.
About Stack Overflow for Teams
Stack Exchange Inc, (“we” or “us”) takes the privacy and security of personal information seriously. This Privacy Notice explains who we are and how we collect, use, disclose, and safeguard your personal information when you, your organisation or team administrators (“you”) use Stack Overflow for Teams (SO for Teams or the “Application”). It also explains your rights in relation to your personal information and how to contact us.
Stack Overflow has teamed up with Microsoft Teams to provide an integrated functionality, Stack Overflow for Teams, that facilitates collaboration across the platforms.
The Stack Overflow for Teams integration with Microsoft Teams helps to enhance the business communication application through quick access to solutions, knowledge retention for future reuse, and awareness of new or updated information. The native Stack Overflow for Teams experience within your Microsoft Teams environment helps to reduce friction in the development process and minimize the need to switch between applications.
How does it work?
Organisations that are signed up with Stack Overflow Teams can install and authorize an integration to use Stack Overflow for Teams. When you click the Install button from the Stack Overflow for Teams app in the MS Teams directory, you will then be prompted with a card to log in to your Stack Overflow Team. Once you log in, you will be required to authorize the integration between MS Teams and Stack Overflow. You can then add the Team that you want to connect your MS Teams integration to. Once you do so, the Stack Overflow for Teams tab in MS Teams will confirm that you’re signed in, and ready to use the integration.
Stack Overflow for Teams allows users to:
- Search through your Team's content to find answers to your most pressing questions.
- Stay up-to-date on your Team's latest answers and information with automated notifications.
- Share and preview content from your Private Q&A right within your Microsoft Team
- Send data over the Internet
- Access personal information on the active message, such as phone numbers, postal addresses, or URLs. The add-in may send this data to a third-party service. Other items in your mailbox can’t be read or modified.
Stack Overflow as Controller
Stack Overflow is the controller for certain personal information that it holds about your organisation such as names and contact details of administrators, billing information, geo location, IP address and other information gathered from the App. Some of this data may be held by us as independent controller while your organisation may be controller for some of it.
Your organisation (Customer), is the controller for any personal information processed within the App following the integration. As the controller, it is the Customer’s responsibility to comply with all relevant data protection laws and regulations, including but not limited to: to informing any authorised users and teams within your organization about the collection and processing of their data in an appropriate privacy notice; having a lawful basis for collecting and processing data, including where required, obtaining necessary consent. Please review your organisation’s privacy policy for more information on how your personal data will be used and how you can exercise your rights.
Stack Overflow as Processor
When you choose to complete the MS Teams integration with Stack Overflow for Teams, Stack Overflow acts as processor in connection with any personal information that it processes as part of the service it provides. For this reason, Customers are required to agree to a Data Processing Agreement in compliance with applicable laws.
Personal information we collect about you as controller
When you install the MS Teams App and give permissions to integrate MS Teams with Stack Overflow for Teams, we will collect and use the following personal information about you:
- Microsoft identifiers including your Tenant ID, User ID, and the URL of your Team instance
- Mobile device data, and changing your device settings
- Analytics data about your actions within SO for teams
- We automatically collect your IP address, browser and device characteristics, operating system, language preferences, referring URLs, device name, country, location, information about how and when you use our Application and other technical information. This information is needed to maintain the security and operation of our Application.
The Application may request access or permissions to track location-based information or use certain features from your device. You can change the access or permission granted to the Application at any time using your device’s settings.
How your personal information is collected
We collect most of this personal information directly from you by telephone, text or email and/or via our website and the Stack Overflow for Team’s App. However, we may also collect information:
We collect this information in the following ways:
- Directly within SO for Teams and related cookies
- from cookies on our website - for more information on our use of cookies, please see our cookie policy
- Through data received from Microsoft via the Integration
- Through our IT systems logs
- from a third party with your consent, eg Microsoft
Your Rights
You have a number of rights in relation to your personal data and you can contact us if you want to exercise any of these.
Your rights include:
| Access | The right to be provided with a copy of your personal data also known as a "data subject access request" |
| Rectification | The right to require us to correct any mistakes in your personal data |
| Erasure | The right to require us to delete your personal data—in certain situations |
| Restriction of processing | The right to require us to restrict processing of your personal data in certain circumstances, e.g., if you contest the accuracy of the data |
| Data portability | The right to receive the personal data you provided to us, in a structured, commonly used and machine-readable format and/or transmit that data to a third party—in certain situations |
| To object | The right to object:
|
If you would like to exercise any of these rights, please email [email protected].
We may need to request specific information from you to help us confirm your identity before we can deal with your request. We will respond to your request within one month. If your request is complicated, it may take us longer. We will let you know if we need longer than one month to respond.
You also have the right to take your concerns at any time to the UK or EU Supervisory Authority, depending on your location.
Our Legal Grounds for using Your Data
How and why we use your personal information
Under data protection law, we can only use your personal information if we have a proper reason for doing so, eg:
- to comply with our legal and regulatory obligations;
- for the performance of our contract with you or to take steps at your request before entering into a contract;
- for our legitimate interests or those of a third party; or
- where you have given consent.
- A legitimate interest is when we have a business or commercial reason to use your information, so long as this is not overridden by your own rights and interests.
Once installed and within the MS Teams App, you give your permission to complete the integration and activate any relevant teams and for any personal information on stackoverflow.com to be shared with any third parties we have integrated with to provide you with the functionality. You can withdraw your permission at any time, but if you do, you will no longer be able to access the App.
More information is provided in the table below:
| What we use your personal information for | Our legal grounds |
|---|---|
| To provide SO for Teams to you | For the performance of our contract with you or to take steps at your request before entering into a contract |
| To Integrate Ms Teams with Stack Overflow for Teams | Your consent. You can withdraw your consent at any time, or delete the App, but if you do, you will not be able to use SO for Teams. |
| To prevent and detect fraud against you or Stack Overflow | For our legitimate interests or those of a third party, ie to minimise fraud that could be damaging for us and for you |
| Gathering and providing information required by or relating to audits, enquiries or investigations by regulatory bodies | To comply with our legal and regulatory obligations |
| Operational reasons, such as improving efficiency, training and quality control | For our legitimate interests or those of a third party, ie to be as efficient as we can so we can deliver the best service for you at the best price |
| Ensuring the confidentiality of commercially sensitive information |
For our legitimate interests or those of a third party, ie to protect trade secrets and other commercially valuable information To comply with our legal and regulatory obligations |
| Preventing unauthorised access and modifications to systems |
For our legitimate interests or those of a third party, ie to prevent and detect criminal activity that could be damaging for us and for you To comply with our legal and regulatory obligations |
| Updating customer records |
For the performance of our contract with you or to take steps at your request before entering into a contract To comply with our legal and regulatory obligations For our legitimate interests or those of a third party, eg making sure that we can keep in touch with our customers about existing orders and new products |
| Statutory returns | To comply with our legal and regulatory obligations |
Who do we share your personal data with?
We will share your personal information with:
- Companies within the Stack Overflow group
- Third parties approved by you, - eg social media sites you choose to link your account to or third party payment providers;
- Third-Party Service Providers - We share some of your information with third parties that perform services for us or on our behalf, including data analysis, hosting services (e.g. Microsoft Azure) and customer service as required for providing you with the core functionality of Stack Overflow for Teams.
We only allow our service providers to handle your personal information if we are satisfied that they take appropriate measures to protect your personal information. We also impose contractual obligations on service providers relating to ensure they can only use your personal information to provide services to us and to you. We may also share personal information with external auditors and regulators where required.
We may disclose and exchange information with law enforcement agencies and regulatory bodies to comply with our legal and regulatory obligations.
We may also need to share some personal information with other parties, such as potential buyers of some or all of our business or during a restructuring. Usually, information will be anonymised but this may not always be possible. The recipient of the information will be bound by confidentiality obligations. We may also share your personal data as described in our General Privacy Notice.
International Data Transfers
We may share your personal data with entities within Stack Overflow and transfer it to internal and third party systems and service providers including data centers and cloud services providers based outside the UK and the EEA. More details about international transfers can be found in our General Privacy Notice.
Where We Process Your Personal Data (Locations)
Details about where we process your information are described in our General Privacy Notice.
How Long Do We Retain Your Personal Data?
We will keep your personal data only for as long as is necessary for the purposes set out in this privacy notice and to fulfil our legal obligations.
If you have any questions about this Privacy Notice or the way we use your personal data please contact us at [email protected].
We will keep your personal information while you have an account with us or we are providing products and/or services to you. Thereafter, we will keep your personal information for as long as is necessary:
- to respond to any questions, complaints or claims made by you or on your behalf;
- to show that we treated you fairly; and
- to keep records required by law.
Full details of our retention policy can be found in our full privacy notice which can be accessed here.
Your Choices – How to Access and Control Your Personal Data
You can make choices about the collection and use of your data by Stack Overflow in the various ways set out below.
You may change or correct your account settings or you can inform your usual contact person.
You can also control your personal data that Stack Overflow has collected and exercise your data protection rights as set out in the ‘Your Rights’ section, or by using the tools described below.
Direct marketing Opt Out
You may opt-out of receiving Stack Overflow email marketing materials by using the unsubscribe link in these communications or by changing your Email Settings.
Additional Information for California Consumers
Please visit our General Privacy Notice for more information.
Children
The Stack Overflow Enterprise platform is not intended for children. We do not knowingly offer this service to anyone under the age of 16.
Privacy Policy Amendments
We may amend or update this policy from time to time and will notify you of any material changes to this policy. Previous versions of this privacy policy are available upon request.
Contact Us
Privacy Officer
- Privacy Officer, 14 Wall Street, 20th Floor, New York, NY 10005, [email protected]
UK Representative
- Privacy Officer, Bentima House, 168-172 Old Street, London EC1V 9BP, [email protected].
EU Representative
- The MD Stack Overflow GMBH HRB 234500, 3 Frieslandstraat, Amsterdam, [email protected].