Your Privacy

We take your privacy seriously at all times. We ensure your personal information and data is secure and always protected. We harness leading technology and security protocol to maintain the integrity of your personal information and are committed to GDPR compliance throughout. Your can read more what GDPR actually means for you and your data over here.

Our privacy policy

Effective: July, 2023

Who are we?

This is the Privacy Policy for ethy. A sustainability verification and communications solution designed to empower brands in showcasing their commitment to sustainability with transparency, and in compliance with UK regulations. ethy also operates a consumer facing mobile app and website portal, for individuals to connect with its verified brands, access informative content on sustainable living and take action to live more sustainably.

While ethy is our trade name, the app is owned and operated by Scratch the Surface Ltd (company number 12443947). The registered address of Scratch the Surface Ltd. Is Beyond, Aldgate Tower, 2 Leman St, London, E1 8FA.

The intentions of this Privacy Policy

This Privacy Policy explains in detail how ethy collects and processes the data submitted by our users. We aim to provide complete transparency on how our users personal information is handled and stored.

This Privacy Policy is applicable to all those who download ethy, register an account with ethy, apply to our ambassador program, interact with our website features or communicate directly with ethy.

How do we collect users personal data?

  • Directly: You provide personal information when you register an account on the ethy app, signup to our website newsletter, apply to become an ambassador or correspond with us directly by phone, email or in person.

Information we get when you use our services

When you use ethy, we collect information about which of those services you’ve used and how you’ve used them. Here’s a full explanation of the types of information we collect when you use our services:

  • Usage Information. We collect information about your activity through our services. For example, we may collect information about:
    • how you interact with our services, such as which collections, to help write better collections in the future.
    • how you interact with businesses on the app, such as if you visit their website through our app.
  • Device Information. We collect information from and about the devices you use. For example, we collect:
    • information about your hardware and software, such as the hardware model, operating system version, device memory, advertising identifiers, unique application identifiers, apps installed, unique device identifiers, browser type, language, battery level, and time zone;
    • information about your wireless and mobile network connections, such as your IP address.
  • Location Information. When you use our services we may collect information about your location. With your permission, we may also collect information about your precise location using methods that include GPS, wireless networks, cell towers and Wi-Fi access points.
  • Information Collected by Cookies and Other Technologies. Like most online services and mobile applications, we may use cookies and other technologies, such as web beacons, web storage, and unique advertising identifiers, to collect information about your activity, browser, and device. Most web browsers are set to accept cookies by default. If you prefer, you can usually remove or reject browser cookies through the settings on your browser or device. Keep in mind, though, that removing or rejecting cookies could affect the availability and functionality of our services.
  • Log Information. We also collect log information when you use our website, such as:
    • details about how you’ve used our services;
    • device information, such as your web browser type and language;
    • access times;
    • pages viewed;
    • IP address;
    • identifiers associated with cookies or other technologies that may uniquely identify your device or browser; and
    • pages you visited before or after navigating to our website.

How We Use Information

  • develop, operate, improve, deliver, maintain, and protect our products and services.
  • send you communications, including by email. For example, we may use email to respond to support inquiries or to share information about our products, services, and promotional offers that we think may interest you.
  • monitor and analyze trends and usage.
  • personalize our services.
  • contextualize your experience.
  • enhance the safety and security of our products and services.
  • verify your identity and prevent fraud or other unauthorized or illegal activity.
  • use information we’ve collected from cookies and other technology to enhance our services and your experience with them.
  • enforce our Terms of Service and other usage policies and comply with legal requirements.

Google Analytics & Firebase Crashlytics

We use Google Analytics as described in “How Google uses data when you use our partners' sites or apps”. For example, Google Analytics tracks user interaction and behaviours with the different features on the app, so we can build a better product for our users and assess customer satisfaction with the app. Google Analytics also provides ethy with information on user demographics to assist with our marketing campaigns. Link to privacy policy of third party service providers used by the app:

Retention of Data

We will retain your personal data for as long as is reasonably necessary to fulfil the relevant purposes set out in this privacy notice and during the period required or permitted by law. The retention period will primarily be determined by relevant legal and regulatory obligation and/or duration of our business relationship with you. We will securely delete or erase your personal data if there is no valid business reason for retaining your data.

How we share information

We may share the following information with all ethy users as well as with our business partners and the general public:

  • Public information like your name.
  • Business recommendations and reviews. This content may be viewed and shared by the public at large both on and off our services, including through search results, on websites, in apps, and in online and offline broadcasts.

Security

The security of your personal data is of the upmost importance to ethy. We ensure to follow best practices to protect your information at all times and opt for leading technologies that offer the highest levels of security for your personal information. All of our databases are email & password protected and handled as confidential records. Access to such databases is only provided to ethy team members who require access for their role and not those who do not require access to this data. We encourage all of our users to take care to protect their own login credentials at all times and make sure that it is not made available to anyone else.

Service providers

We may employ third-party companies and individuals due to the following reasons:

  • To facilitate our Service;
  • To provide the Service on our behalf;
  • To perform Service-related services; or
  • To assist us in analyzing how our Service is used.

What are your rights?

In certain scenarios under data protection laws, you have the following rights:

  • Access to your information (Data Subject Access Request)
  • Request correction of your personal data
  • Request deletion of your personal data
  • Object to processing of your personal data
  • Request restriction of processing your personal data
  • Request transfer of your personal data
  • Right to withdraw consent
  • Right to review by an independent authority

It you wish to exercise any of these right, please contact ethy at support@ethy.co.uk.

More details on the information we collect

If you wish to know more on how ethy collects and stores your information, please do not hesitate to reach out directly at support@ethy.co.uk.

Links to Other Sites

The ethy app and website may contain links to other sites. If you click on a third-party link, you will be directed to that site. Note that these external sites are not operated by us. Therefore, we strongly advise you to review the Privacy Policy of these websites. We have no control over and assume no responsibility for the content, privacy policies, or practices of any third-party sites or services.

Changes to this privacy notice

This privacy notice does not form part of any contract with you and we reserve the right to update this privacy notice at any time. We will take appropriate measures to inform you of updates to our privacy notice (for example, by posting the updated privacy notice on our website or, in appropriate cases, using more direct measures to inform you, such as notification by email).

You can view when we last updated by viewing the ‘Effective as of’ date displayed at the top of this privacy notice.