How We Use Automatic Data Collection Tools
We use and allow certain other companies to use cookies, clickstream capture, pixels, web beacons, web collection forms and other similar technologies (collectively “Automatic Data Collection Tools”) on our HP Services. We do this to understand your use of our HP Services; improve your user experience and enable personalized features and content; optimize our advertisements and marketing; and to enable third-party advertising companies to assist us in serving ads specific to your interests across the Internet.
You can find more information about Automatic Data Collection Tools at: www.allaboutcookies.org.
ONLINE AUTOMATIC DATA COLLECTION TOOLS
When you visit any HP website, it may store or retrieve information on your browser, mostly in the form of cookies, which are text files containing small amounts of information. This information might be about you, your preferences or your device and is mostly used to make the site work as you expect it to. The information does not usually directly identify you, but it can give you a more personalized web experience.
HP uses Automatic Data Collection Tools for the following reasons:
- Strictly Necessary Tools: These are necessary for the website to function and cannot be switched off. Without these, the website or service you are requesting would be impossible to provide because we cannot enable appropriate content based on the type of device you are using.
- Performance and Analytics Tools: These tools collect aggregated, anonymous, statistical-type information to enable HP to measure, optimize and improve the content, quality and performance of its websites.
We use our own and/or third-party Automatic Data Collection Tools to see how you use our websites and services in order to enhance their performance and develop them according to the preferences of our customers and visitors. For example, Automatic Data Collection Tools may be used to: test different designs and to ensure that we maintain a consistent look and feel across our websites; track and provide trend analysis on how our users interact with our websites and communications; track errors and measure the effectiveness of our promotional campaigns. We use Adobe Analytics & Google Analytics, run by Google Inc., for example, to track website usage and activity.
The data collected will generally be aggregated to provide trends and usage patterns for business analysis, site/platform improvement and performance metrics. Our Automatic Data Collection Tools or the resulting analysis may be also shared with our business partners. The type of information we collect includes how many visitors visit our websites, how many customers log in, when they visited, for how long and which areas of our websites and services but is generally not used to identify you individually. We may also receive similar information about visitors to our partner websites.
- Personalization Tools: These allow us to remember choices you make on our websites (such as your preferred language or the region you are in) and provide enhanced, more personalized features. These can also be used to remember changes you have made to text size, fonts and other parts of web pages that you can customize. They may also be used to provide services you have asked for such as watching a video or commenting on a blog. The information collected may be anonymized and they cannot track your browsing activity on other websites.
We also use Automatic Data Collection Tools to change the way our websites behave or look in order to personalize your experience from information we infer from your behavior on our websites or information we may already know about you because, for example, you are a registered customer. These may be used to tailor the services you receive from us or the content, look and feel delivered to you on subsequent sessions to our websites. For example, if you personalize webpages, or register for products or services, Automatic Data Collection Tools help our webpage server recall your specific information. When you next visit our websites, the information you previously provided can be retrieved, so you can easily use the website features that you previously chose. If you use more than one device or computer on a regular basis, we may link Automatic Data Collection Tools together so you will still receive a personalized online experience. We can also personalize the information you see based on what we already know about you, so that you spend less time looking for things. With the use of Automatic Data Collection Tools, each visitor to our site can have a web experience which is unique to them.
- Targeting Tools: These are set by HP and other third parties (such as select retail or advertising partners) and used to build a profile to deliver targeted advertising both on and off HP websites that is more relevant and useful to you. These may reflect de-identified demographic or other data linked to data you voluntarily have submitted to us (e.g. your email address).
These also allow us to collect data related to the HP site and page you visited and your activities on the HP site. As an example, if you visited one of our product pages, via the use of cookies, we may retarget you across partner sites with additional offers and promotions for a certain period of time.
You can find out more about some of our interest- based advertising partners by visiting these websites:
- http://www.oracle.com/us/legal/privacy/marketing-cloud-data-cloud-privacy-policy/index.html
- https://www.google.com/policies/technologies/ads/
- https://www.adobe.com/privacy/marketing-cloud.html
Please note that the above is not an exhaustive list and may be updated by us from time to time.
If you are a registered user, the information collected from our websites is not anonymous and we may use this information along with other information we know or infer about you including your preferences to tailor content, services, advertising and offers for you.
Automatic Data Tools that are Strictly Necessary or used for Performance & Analytics or Personalization are set to expire after 364 days. Automatic Data Collection Tools used for targeting are set to expire after 90 days since your last visit.
When you share information using a social media sharing button on HP websites, the social network will record that you have done this. This information may be linked to targeting/advertising activities. The types of tools used by these third parties and how they use the information generated by them will be governed by those companies’ privacy policies.
OTHER AUTOMATIC DATA COLLECTION TOOLS
We may use Automatic Data Collection Tools such as web beacons, which are typically a transparent graphic image (usually 1 pixel x 1 pixel), to compile information about your interaction with email or other communications. A web beacon can be embedded in HP subscription or marketing communications to determine whether our messages have been opened or acted upon and whether our mailing tools are working correctly.