Privacy Policy

 

Privacy Policy

Wikipedia Store Privacy Policy

Welcome to the Wikipedia Store!  The Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., which runs the Wikipedia store, is a nonprofit charitable organization whose mission is to empower and engage people around the world to collect and develop educational content that is under a free license or is otherwise in the public domain, and to disseminate it effectively, globally, and always free of charge.  

We are committed to protecting the privacy of our customers.  This privacy policy— which is specific to the Wikipedia store— seeks to help you understand why and how we use your personal information when you shop with us.

  1. What information we collect and how we collect it

As part of the shopping experience, we collect “Personal Information”, which is information that identifies or relates to the identifiable individual. For example, when you purchase an item from us, we collect your shipping information, which includes your name, address, email address or phone number. If your billing address differs from your shipping address, we will collect that as well. If you choose to create an account with us, we also collect your username and password. Due to the technical operation of websites, your IP address is also transferred to us. 

We collect this Personal Information in order to operate the Wikipedia store, to allow you to purchase items and to complete your transactions. If you do not provide the information requested, we may not be able to provide these services to you.

Like most websites, we also collect other information that does not reveal an individual’s specific identity or does not directly relate to an identifiable individual (“Other Information”), including technical information, as part of our standard web operations. This Other Information that we collect includes data on browser type, operating system, language preferences, referring domain, pages visited, mobile carrier or device, and the date and time of each visitor request.

We make use of cookie technology, including third-party cookies, to collect data from visitors. A cookie is a small data file that is transferred to a computer’s hard disk that allows us to collect additional data about website usage to improve services. We and our service providers use cookies to better understand your use of the Wikipedia store, to make the shopping experience better and safer, and to improve the Wikipedia store’s design and functionality. You may remove or disable some or all cookies through your browser settings, depending on your browser, although some features may not function properly if you disable cookies.


For more information, please visit our Cookie Statement.

  1. Why we need your information and how we use it

We use Personal Information to operate the Wikipedia store and to fulfill your requests.  This includes: 

  • Supporting and facilitating your shopping in the Wikipedia store;
  • Completing your transactions and providing you with related customer service;
  • Supporting user account functionality; and
  • Sending administrative information to you, such as changes to our terms and conditions. 

We engage in the foregoing activities to manage our contractual relationship with you or because we have a legitimate interest.

We also use Personal Information to send you news and other marketing materials related to our activities. This includes:

  • Communicating with you about the Wikipedia store and products, as well as other Wikimedia projects.

We engage in this activity with your consent, where required by law, or where we have a legitimate interest.

Additionally, we use Personal Information in support of our organizational mission and objectives. This includes: 

  • Supporting, facilitating and analyzing the operations of the Wikipedia store and the Wikimedia Foundation; and
  • Developing new products and services, and enhancing, improving or modifying our current products and services.

We engage in the foregoing activities to comply with legal obligations or because we have a legitimate interest.

We may use Other Information for any purpose, except where we are required to do otherwise under applicable law. In some instances, we combine Other Information with Personal Information. If we do, we will treat the combined information as Personal Information as long as it is combined.

  1. When we disclose your information

 We disclose Personal Information:

  • To our third-party service providers, to facilitate services they provide to us, such as website hosting, data analysis, payment processing, order fulfillment, information technology and related infrastructure provision, customer service email delivery, auditing, and other services.
  1. Other uses and disclosures

We also use and disclose your Personal Information to public authorities and other persons as necessary or appropriate, especially when we have a legal obligation or legitimate interest to do so:

  • To comply with applicable law and regulations (including outside of your country of residence);
  • To cooperate with public and government authorities or law enforcement (including outside of your country of residence). For example, on certain rare occasions, we may respond to law enforcement requests and orders or provide information we believe is important;
  • For other legal reasons. For example, we may disclose your Personal Information to enforce our terms and conditions or protect our rights, privacy, safety or property, and/or yours, and/or that of others; and
  • In connection with a sale or business transaction. In the extremely unlikely event that ownership of all or substantially all of the Wikimedia Foundation changes, or we undergo a reorganization (such as a merger, acquisition, consolidation or dissolution), we may disclose or transfer your Personal Information to a third party.
  1. Your choices 

You may provide us your name and email address to receive useful information such as educational and promotional materials. These are “opt-in” interactions which require you to sign-up to receive communications from us. You can unsubscribe from future mailings at any time by going to our Unsubscribe Page. These direct communications may be performed with the help of a third party service provider, who may interact with and manage database information (including Personal Information) on our behalf.

If you would like to access, correct, update, suppress, restrict or delete the Personal Information we have about you, object to our processing of such Personal Information or if you would like to request to receive an electronic copy of your Personal Information for purposes of transmitting it to another organization (to the extent this right is provided to you by applicable law), or if you would like to change your communication preferences, you can let us know by contacting us as described in “Some final words,” below. While we will make reasonable efforts to comply with your request, there are certain situations where we will not grant your request (such as when we cannot adequately verify your identity to give you access to Personal Information, when we are legally required to retain information, or when we are not technologically able to change or delete Personal Information at that time).

  1. Our retention of Personal Information

We seek to retain Personal Information for as long as needed, in light of the purpose(s) for which it was obtained. We take into account these criteria: (i) your use of the Wikipedia store, (ii) legal obligations to which we are subject (such as reporting and regulatory) and (iii) the requirements of applicable law. 

  1. Security

We use reasonable security procedures designed to protect Personal Information from loss, misuse or alteration of the information under our control. Although we make good faith efforts to control information, we cannot guarantee the complete security of your information. 

  1. Jurisdictional issues

Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. and the Wikipedia store are based in the United States of America. Your Personal Information may be stored and processed in the United States and any other country where we have facilities or in which we engage third party service providers, and by using the Wikipedia store you understand that your Personal Information will be transferred to the United States and other countries outside of your country of residence, which may have data protection rules that are different from those of your country.

  1. Changes to this policy

We may modify this privacy policy from time to time. Your continued use of the Wikipedia store constitutes your acceptance of any new version of the privacy policy, so please check this policy for any updates.

  1. Some final words

If you do not agree with this privacy policy, please refrain from using the Wikipedia store.

The Wikipedia store is not for children under the age of thirteen (13), and we request that children under 13 not provide Personal Information to the Wikipedia store.

This policy does not address, and we are not responsible for, the privacy, information or other practices of any third parties, including any third party operating any website or service to which the Wikipedia store links.  The inclusion of a link on the Wikipedia store does not imply endorsement of the linked site or service by us or by our service providers. 

For more information about your user account or our practices with respect to your Personal Information, you can refer to our account page or contact us at: 

Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. 

Attn: Wikipedia store 

101 Montgomery Street, Suite 1600 

San Francisco, CA 94104

Or at: 

[email protected] 

Depending on your jurisdiction, you also may have the right to lodge a complaint with a supervisory authority competent for your country or region.

If you are located in the European Economic Area and have questions about your personal data or would like to request to access, update, or delete it, you may contact our representative via email at [email protected], or via mail at:

Bird & Bird GDPR Representative Ireland
29 Earlsfort Terrace
Dublin 2
D02 AY28
Ireland

Main point of contact: Vincent Rezzouk-Hammachi

If you are an individual located in the United Kingdom, and have questions about your personal data or would like to request to access, update, or delete it, you may contact our representative via email at [email protected], or via mail at:

Bird & Bird GDPR Representative Services UK
12 New Fetter Lane
London
EC4A 1JP
United Kingdom

Main point of contact: Vincent Rezzouk-Hammachi

Our European Economic Area and United Kingdom Representative can only be contacted for queries in relation to data protection.

Last updated: June 25, 2021