Privacy Policy

Privacy Policy

At Speechmatics we are committed to safeguarding and preserving the privacy of our users, and value the confidence of our customers, employees and business partners. We strive always to comply with the laws of the countries in which we do business. The following Privacy Statement ("Privacy Statement") and Terms of Service ("Terms") govern your use of our Website at www.speechmatics.com (the "Website") and any services we provide to you in accordance with the Terms ("Services") and explain what happens to any personal data that you provide to us, or that we collect from you when you visit our Website and how we use cookies on our Website. In using our Website and/or Services you grant Speechmatics permission to process and store the data uploaded in the manner described in this Privacy Statement.

1. About Speechmatics

Cantab Research Limited (trading as "Speechmatics") is a company incorporated in England and Wales (Company Number: 05697423) with its registered address at 296 Cambridge Science Park, Milton Road, Cambridge, CB4 0WD, United Kingdom. Speechmatics is a data controller for the purposes of the applicable data protection legislation in respect of the data it gathers from you and other users of our Website and/or Services. Speechmatics is registered in the UK with the Information Commissioner's Office under registration number ZA137980. This Privacy Statement sets out how we will deal with all collected data, which can identify you or which can be used together with other information we are likely to have access to identify you (“Personal Data”).

2. Information that we collect

In running and maintaining our Website and/or the Services we may collect the following Personal Data:

Information You Give Us

This is information about you that you give us by filling in forms on our site, purchasing our Services or by corresponding with us by phone, e-mail or otherwise. It includes information you provide when you register to use our Services, register to subscribe to our newsletter, participate in social media functions on our site, enter a survey, and when you report a problem with our site. The information you give us may include names, addresses, email addresses and phone numbers.

Information We Collect About You

When you visit our site, we will automatically collect the following information:

  • technical information, including the Internet protocol (IP) address used to connect your computer to the internet, your login information, browser type and version, time zone setting, browser plug-in types and versions, screen resolution, operating system and platform; and • information about your visit, including the full Uniform Resource Locators, clickstream to, through and from our site (including date and time), page response times, download errors, length of visits to certain pages, page interaction information (such as scrolling, clicks, and mouse-overs) and methods used to browse away from the page.

Information we receive from other sources

Where you have ordered or contracted with us for any Services, we may also be provided with your Personal Data via organizations we interact within the relevant sector, such as our billing providers. We only use this data in order to deliver our Services We do not process any special categories of data (also commonly referred to as “sensitive personal data”).

3. How we use and process your Personal Data

The below paragraphs set out why we process your personal data, as well as the data processing conditions we rely on when processing this data. More information on what the data processing conditions mean and why they are important is available here. In some circumstances we may also need to share your personal data if we are under a duty to disclose or share personal data in order to comply with a legal obligation.

To enter into contracts with you

Where you enter into a contract with us for our Services, we need to process your personal data to provide these Services to you. Our use of your personal data in this way includes sharing your personal data with the third-party agents, consultants and contractors we need to in order to provide the Services, as well as for the purposes of assessing fraud, credit and/or security risks. We need to process your personal data in this way to enter into and perform the contract for the Services you have asked us to provide. If you do not wish to provide us with your personal data in this way, you will be unable to use our Services.

When you contact us and when we provide customer services to you

We may also process your personal data in order to provide various supporting customer services to you (such as where you contact us with a question in connection with our other services which we might be able to provide to you). Our legitimate interest to provide effective customer support services and we rely on your consent to handle your personal information in this way. If you do not provide us with the personal data we request from you for customer services purposes, we may not be able to fully answer your queries.

To make our site better

We will also process your personal data in order to provide you with a more effective user experience (such as by displaying our website in a way which is tailored for your device and browsing habits). This processing means that your experience of our site will be more tailored to you, and that the Services you see on our site may differ from someone accessing the same site with different browsing habits. We also use various cookies to help us improve our site (more details are set out in our Cookies section), and share your personal data with third party analytics and search engine providers that assist us in the improvement and optimization of our site. We will also process your personal data for the purposes of making our site more secure, and to administer our site and for internal operations, including troubleshooting, data analysis, testing, research, statistical and survey purposes. The data processing condition we use in these circumstances is our legitimate interest to provide you with the best customer experience we can, and to ensure that our site is kept secure. You can prevent us from using your personal information in this way by using the 'do not track' functionality in your internet browser. If you enable do not track functionality, our site may be less tailored to your needs and preferences.

If our business is sold

We will transfer your personal data to a third party:

  1. In the event that we sell or buy any business or assets, in which case we will disclose your personal data to the prospective seller or buyer of such business or assets (at all times in accordance with data protection legislation); or

  2. If Cantab Research Limited or substantially all its assets are acquired by a third party, in which case Personal Data held by us about our customers will be one of the assets transferred to the purchaser.

In each case, the data processing condition we rely on when we process your data in these circumstances is our legitimate interest to ensure our business can be continued by a purchaser. If you object to our use of your personal data in this way, the relevant seller or buyer of our business may not be able to provide services to you.

For marketing purposes

If you have opted in via our website to receive marketing communications from us, we will handle your personal information for example (your name, email address and postal address and telephone number) to provide you with marketing communications in line with any preferences you have told us about. When we send you marketing emails, we rely on your consent to contact you for marketing purposes. Every email we send to you for marketing purposes will also contain instructions on how to unsubscribe from receiving them. You are not under any obligation to provide us with your personal data for marketing purposes. You can tell us that you do not want your personal information to be processed in this way at any time by contacting us at info@speechmatics.com or, where relevant, by following the unsubscribe link shown in every marketing communication you receive from us.

4. Keeping your information secure

Speechmatics takes seriously the trust you place in us. To prevent unauthorized access or disclosure, to maintain data accuracy, and to ensure the appropriate use of the information, Speechmatics utilizes reasonable and appropriate physical, technical, and administrative procedures to safeguard the information you send us. Speechmatics retains data only as required or permitted by local law and while it has a legitimate business purpose.

5. Where we store your data

As some of our hosting is provided by third party cloud providers, the data that we collect from you may be stored and processed in a location outside of the European Economic Area, United Kingdom or Switzerland. For example, some of our third party cloud providers use servers that are located in the USA. We take all steps reasonably necessary to ensure that your data is treated securely and in accordance with this privacy policy.

6. Customer Data
Customer Data (Customer Service)

In providing our Services, including technical support services, our customers may upload data to our Services, or we may collect data on their behalf, which may include personal information or data about our customers’ end users or other people with no direct relationship to us or our customers (“Customer Data”). We collect and process Customer Data as needed to provide our Services to our customers in accordance with our customer agreements.

European Economic Area, United Kingdom or Switzerland Territorial Scope: Cantab Research Limited acts as a data processor for purposes of Regulation (EU) 2016/679 (the “EU GDPR“) or, where applicable, the “UK GDPR” as defined in the UK Data Protection Act (collectively “GDPR”). As such, our customers act as data controllers, or are data processors acting on behalf of the relevant data controllers, in relation to the data processed by Cantab Research Limited in the performance of the Services. We process Customer Data solely on behalf of, and as directed by, our customers. We enter into data processing agreements with our customers which set out our obligations under the GDPR, including to direct any end user individual rights requests to our customers. In addition, where appropriate we enter into the EU Commission’s Standard Contractual Clauses with our customers in order to protect the transfer of Customer Data outside of the European Economic Area, United Kingdom or Switzerland.

Partner Data (R&D)

In developing and enhancing our Service, our partners may upload data, or we may collect data on their behalf, which may include personal information or data about our partners’ end users or other people with no direct relationship to us or our partners (“Partner Data”). We collect and process Partner Data as needed to develop and enhance our Services. This is done in accordance with our customer or partner data-sharing agreements.

European Economic Area, United Kingdom or Switzerland Territorial Scope: Cantab Research Limited acts as a data controller for purposes of Regulation (EU) 2016/679 (the “EU GDPR“) or, where applicable, the “UK GDPR” as defined in the UK Data Protection Act (collectively “GDPR”). As such, our partners act as data controllers in relation to the data shared with Cantab Research Limited for the purpose of developing or enhancing our Services. We process Partner Data for R&D purposes on the basis of our legitimate interest in developing market-leading ASR products. We enter into data processing agreements with our partners which set out our obligations under the GDPR, including to direct any end user individual rights requests to our partners. In addition, where appropriate we enter into the EU Commission’s Standard Contractual Clauses with our partners in order to protect the transfer of Customer Data outside of the European Economic Area, United Kingdom or Switzerland.

Other Data (R&D)

In developing and enhancing our Service, we may collect or obtain data that is made publicly or commercially available, which may include personal information or data about people with no direct relationship to us (“Other Data”). We collect and process Other Data as needed to develop and enhance our Services to our customers. This is done in accordance with applicable licensing terms or commercial agreements. We process Other Data for R&D purposes on the basis of our legitimate interest in developing market-leading ASR products.

7. Use of cookies

Cookies provide information regarding the computer used by a visitor. We may use cookies, where appropriate, to gather information about your computer in order to assist us in improving our Website.

Please refer to our cookie policy for a full explanation, use and your management options for the control of cookies.

8. Your rights under data protection laws
Right of Access

You have the right to receive confirmation as to whether your personal data is being processed by us, as well as various other information relating to our use of your personal data. You also have the right to access your personal data which we are processing. You can exercise the right in a variety of ways, and the easiest way for you do to this is likely to be contacting us at the email address detailed at the bottom of this Privacy Statement.

Right to Rectification

You have the right to require us to rectify any inaccurate personal data we hold about you. You also have the right to have incomplete personal data we hold about you completed, by providing a supplementary statement to us.

Right to Restriction

You have the right to restrict our processing of your personal data where:

  1. The accuracy of the personal data is being contested by you;

  2. The processing by us of your personal data is unlawful, but you do not want the relevant Personal Data erased;

  3. We no longer need to process your personal data for the agreed purposes, but you want to preserve your personal data for the establishment, exercise or defence of legal claims; or

  4. We are processing your personal data because of our legitimate interest to improve our site, provide customer services, or on the sale of our business (as set out above) and you:

  5. Object to our processing as set out above; and

  6. Want processing of the relevant personal data to be restricted until it can be determined whether our legitimate interest overrides your legitimate interest.

Where any exercise by you of your right to restriction determines that our processing of particular personal data is to be restricted, we will then only process the relevant personal data in accordance with your consent and, in addition, for storage purposes and for the purpose of legal claims.

Right to Data Portability

You have the right to receive your personal data in a structured, standard machine-readable format and the right to transmit such personal data to another controller.

Right to Data Erasure

You have the right to require we erase your personal data which we are processing where one of the following grounds applies:

  1. The processing is no longer necessary in relation to the purposes for which your personal data were collected or otherwise processed;

  2. Our processing of your personal data is based on your consent, you have subsequently withdrawn your consent and there is no other legal ground we can use to process your personal data;

  3. You object to the processing in as set out in this Privacy Statement and we have no overriding legitimate interest for our processing;

  4. The Personal Data have been unlawfully processed; and

  5. The erasure is required for compliance with a law to which we are subject.

You also have the right to lodge a complaint with the Information Commissioner's Office, the supervisory authority for data protection issues in England and Wales.

9. Your right to object under data protection laws

You have the right to object to us processing your personal data where we are processing your personal data:

  1. Based on our legitimate interests to improve our site, provide customer services, or on the sale of our business (as set out above). If you ask us to stop processing your personal data for these reasons, we will stop processing your personal data unless we can demonstrate compelling grounds as to why the processing should continue in accordance with data protection laws; and

  2. For direct marking purposes. If you ask us to stop processing your personal data on this basis, we will stop.

10. Children's Privacy

Our services are not intended for children under the age of 13. We do not knowingly solicit or collect personal information from children under the age of 13. If we learn that any personal information has been collected inadvertently from a child under 13, we will delete the information as soon as possible. If you believe that we might have collected information from a child under 13, please contact us at compliance@speechmatics.com

11. Third Party Links

On occasion we include links to third party applications, websites, products or services on our Website for your convenience and information. Where we provide a link, it does not mean that we endorse, make representations or approve that site's policy towards visitor privacy. You should review their privacy policy before sending them any personal data.

12. Changes to our Privacy Statement

Any changes we may make to our Privacy Statement in the future will be posted on our Website and, where appropriate, notified to you by email. Please check back frequently to see any updates or changes to our Privacy Statement.

13. Contacting us

Please do not hesitate to Contact Us regarding any matter relating to this Privacy Statement and our Terms & Conditions at compliance@speechmatics.com This Privacy Statement was last updated on 10th May 2023.