# Data privacy

Concept · [Cloud, hosting and security](https://ecosystem.samcarlton.com/cloud)

Also called: privacy, PII, personally identifiable information, personal data, privacy policy, customer data, data protection, data retention, training on your data

How a company collects, uses, stores and [shares](https://ecosystem.samcarlton.com/equity) information about people. Information that can identify a person is called PII. A privacy policy is a company's public statement of its practices, and the US regulator, [the FTC](https://ecosystem.samcarlton.com/ftc), expects a company to keep the [promises](https://ecosystem.samcarlton.com/promise-chain) it makes there.

**For example:** A [founder](https://ecosystem.samcarlton.com/founder) wants to paste customer emails into an AI tool. Whether the provider keeps that content or trains on it depends on the product, the plan and the settings, so the founder reads the provider's policy first.

## Connects to (36)

- [Compliance](https://ecosystem.samcarlton.com/compliance): Meeting the laws, regulations and standards that apply to a company.
- [Terms of service](https://ecosystem.samcarlton.com/terms-of-service): The legal agreement between a service and the people who use it.
- [Encryption](https://ecosystem.samcarlton.com/encryption): Scrambling data with a key so only someone with the right key can read it.
- [AI use policy](https://ecosystem.samcarlton.com/ai-use-policy): An organization's rules for which AI tools its people may use and what information they may put into them.
- [Local model](https://ecosystem.samcarlton.com/local-model): A model that is downloaded and run on a person's own computer or a company's own servers, not on a provider's.
- [SOC 2](https://ecosystem.samcarlton.com/soc-2): An examination of how a service company protects customer data.
- [Speech-to-text](https://ecosystem.samcarlton.com/speech-to-text): Software that turns spoken words into written text.
- [BSidesOK](https://ecosystem.samcarlton.com/bsidesok): A volunteer-run community security conference held in the Tulsa area.
- [Model provider](https://ecosystem.samcarlton.com/model-provider): The company or service that runs an AI model and answers requests to it, usually over the internet through an API.
- [Data management platform](https://ecosystem.samcarlton.com/data-management-platform): Software that collects and organizes audience data, such as interests and past behavior, so advertisers can target groups of people.
- [Tracking pixel](https://ecosystem.samcarlton.com/tracking-pixel): A tiny invisible image or snippet of code on a web page or email that reports back when someone views it or takes an action.
- [First-party tracking](https://ecosystem.samcarlton.com/first-party-tracking): Collecting analytics on your own website through your own systems, rather than sending visitor data to outside ad or analytics companies.
- [Geotargeting](https://ecosystem.samcarlton.com/geotargeting): Showing ads or content only to people in a chosen place, such as a city or a few miles around a store.
- [Offline attribution](https://ecosystem.samcarlton.com/offline-attribution): Connecting sales or sign-ups that happen outside a website, such as in a store or over the phone, back to the ads that led to them.
- [IRS Section 7216](https://ecosystem.samcarlton.com/irs-section-7216): A US tax rule that limits how tax return preparers may use or disclose clients' tax return information without the client's consent.
- [Cyber liability insurance](https://ecosystem.samcarlton.com/cyber-liability-insurance): Insurance that helps pay the costs of a data breach or cyberattack, such as investigation, customer notification, legal costs and recovery.
- [Multi-tenancy](https://ecosystem.samcarlton.com/multi-tenancy): One copy of a software system serving many customer organizations at once, with each one's data kept separate.
- [Data governance](https://ecosystem.samcarlton.com/data-governance): The rules and responsibilities for how an organization's data is collected, stored, used and protected.
- [VPC](https://ecosystem.samcarlton.com/vpc): Virtual private cloud.
- [Protected health information](https://ecosystem.samcarlton.com/protected-health-information): Under US health privacy law (HIPAA), health information that can identify a person, such as a diagnosis tied to a name.
- [Web analytics](https://ecosystem.samcarlton.com/web-analytics): Measuring how people find and use a website or app: how many visit, where they come from and what they click.
- [Signal](https://ecosystem.samcarlton.com/signal): A messaging app for texts, calls and groups that encrypts messages from end to end.
- [Obsidian](https://ecosystem.samcarlton.com/obsidian): A note-taking app that keeps notes as plain Markdown files on a person's own computer.
- [1Password](https://ecosystem.samcarlton.com/1password): A password manager.
- [Apple Foundation Models](https://ecosystem.samcarlton.com/apple-foundation-models): Apple's on-device AI model and the framework that lets app developers use it on iPhone, iPad and Mac.
- [Zen Browser](https://ecosystem.samcarlton.com/zen-browser): A free, open-source web browser based on Firefox, with vertical tabs and a focus on privacy.
- [Meta Conversions API](https://ecosystem.samcarlton.com/conversions-api): A Meta service that lets a business send sales and signup events from its own server to Meta, so ads can be measured without relying only…
- [Google Analytics](https://ecosystem.samcarlton.com/google-analytics): Google's free web analytics service.
- [Matomo](https://ecosystem.samcarlton.com/matomo): Open-source web analytics software that a site can host itself, so visitor data stays with the site owner.
- [MacWhisper](https://ecosystem.samcarlton.com/macwhisper): A Mac app that transcribes audio and video files and dictation on the computer itself, using open speech models such as OpenAI's Whisper.
- [Federal Trade Commission](https://ecosystem.samcarlton.com/ftc): The US federal agency that enforces laws against unfair, deceptive and anticompetitive business practices.
- [FutureCon](https://ecosystem.samcarlton.com/futurecon): A series of one-day cybersecurity conferences in cities across North America, run by FutureCon Events, with talks, a panel and sponsor…
- [OKATE](https://ecosystem.samcarlton.com/oklahoma-technology-association): A 501(c)(3) nonprofit association for education technology in Oklahoma, formerly known as OKSTE.
- [Data processing agreement](https://ecosystem.samcarlton.com/data-processing-agreement): A contract that says how a service provider may handle personal data for its customer: what it may do with the data, how it keeps the data…
- [Business associate agreement](https://ecosystem.samcarlton.com/business-associate-agreement): A contract that US health privacy law (HIPAA) requires before a clinic, health plan or other covered organization lets an outside company…
- [AI addendum](https://ecosystem.samcarlton.com/ai-addendum): An add-on to a software contract for a product that uses AI.

> This glossary is plain-language orientation, not legal or financial advice. Before you decide on a company structure, a contract, taxes or a fundraising deal, talk with a lawyer or an accountant.

Map view: https://ecosystem.samcarlton.com/data-privacy