Privacy Policy

Effective June 10, 2024.

This Privacy Policy describes our policies on the collection, use, and disclosure of information about you in connection with your use of our services, including those offered through our website, communications (e.g., emails, phone calls, and texts), and mobile application (collectively, the “Service”). The terms We, Us, and Adscod:

When you use the Service, you consent to our collection, use, and disclosure of information about you as described in this Privacy Policy.

INFORMATION WE COLLECT AND HOW WE USE IT

We may collect, transmit, and store information about you in connection with your use of the Service, including any information you send to or through the Service. We use that information to provide the Service’s functionality, fulfil your requests, improve the Service’s quality, engage in research and analysis relating to the Service, personalize your experience, track usage of the Service, provide feedback to third party businesses that are listed on the Service, display relevant advertising, market the Service, provide customer support, message you, back up our systems, allow for disaster recovery, enhance the security of the Service, and comply with legal obligations. Even when we do not retain such information, it still must be transmitted to our servers initially and stored long enough to process.

Account Information: When you create an Adscod account, we store and use the information you provide during that process, such as the first and last name you enter, email address, zip code, physical address, and any other information you may provide during the account creation process, such as gender, phone number, or birth date. We may publicly display the first name and last initial that you provide, as well as any photo or other content you submit through the account creation process, as part of your account profile.

Public Content: Your contributions to the Service are intended for public consumption and are therefore viewable by the public, including your photos, ratings, reviews, tips, lists, bookmarks and collections, compliments, and edits to Listing Page Information. Your account profile (e.g., first name, last initial, city, neighborhood, the month and year you created your Adscod account, profile photos, and list of friends on Adscod) is also intended for public consumption, as is some of your other activity through the Service, including; which contributions you like, where you check-in, which contributions or users you follow, and which businesses you follow.

Communications: When you sign up for an account or use certain features, you are opting to receive messages from other users, businesses, and Adscod. We may also track your actions in response to the messages you receive from us or through the Service, such as whether you deleted, opened, or forwarded such messages, and share that information with other parties to your messages (for example, to let them know if you have viewed their message).

If you exchange messages with others through the Service, we may store them to process and deliver them, allow you to manage them, and we may review and disclose them in connection with investigations related to the use of the Service, as well as our efforts to improve the Service.

We may not deliver messages that we believe are objectionable, such as spam messages, fraudulent solicitations, or requests to post, exchange, or remove reviews for compensation. If you send or receive messages through the Service via SMS, we may log phone numbers, phone carriers, and the date and time that any messages were processed. Carrier message and data rates may apply. We may also store information that you provide through communications with us, including; via phone calls, letters, emails, and other electronic messages, or in person. Any of our communications with you, including any phone calls, may be monitored and recorded for quality purposes. If you are a representative of a business listed on Adscod or use a phone number associated now or previously with such a business, we may contact you, including by phone or email, using the contact information you provide us, make publicly available, or that we have on record for your business.

Transactions: If you initiate a transaction through the Service, such as making a reservation, joining a waitlist, making an appointment, or making a purchase, we will collect and store information you provide associated with your transaction, such as your name, phone number, address, email, and payment information, as well as any other information you provide relating to the transaction or request, to process your transaction, send you communications related to the transaction, and to facilitate future transactions. We may also use aggregated or anonymized information regarding those transactions for analytics purposes and to improve Adscod’s services. This information may be shared with third parties, and third parties may share such information with Us, for the same purposes. When you submit credit card numbers and other sensitive payment information, that information is encrypted using industry-standard technology. If you write reviews about businesses with which you transact through the Service, we may publicly display the fact that you transacted with those businesses in connection with such reviews.

Activity: Adscod stores information about your use of the Service, such as your search activity, the pages you view, the date and time of your visits, businesses you contact, and reservations, purchases, or transactions you make through the Service. We also store information that your computer or mobile device may provide to us in connection with your use of the Service, such as your browser type, type of computer or mobile device, browser language, IP address, Wi-Fi information, mobile carrier, phone number, unique device identifier, advertising identifier, location (including geolocation, beacon-based location, and GPS location), and requested and referring URLs and mobile applications. Adscod may also receive and store your location whenever our mobile applications are running, including when running in the background, if you enable our system to access such information in the course of use.

Different Devices: You may access the Service through different devices (e.g., your mobile phone, personal computer, or other internet-connected device) and different platforms (e.g., through the Adscod website or Adscod mobile app). The information that Adscod collects and stores through those different uses may be cross-referenced and combined, and your contributions through one Adscod platform will typically be similarly visible and accessible through all other Adscod platforms.

Professional Information: If you represent a business on Adscod, the system may collect and display information about you related to your business activities, such as a business name that may incorporate your name or a publicly available business address that is also used as a home address. Adscod will also collect and display information about your professional background that you choose to share with us through the Service, such as information about your professional licenses or certifications, or your professional history or specialties.

Sensitive Personal Information: In the course of using the Service, you may choose to allow Adscod to collect and store sensitive personal information about you, such as your precise geolocation. You may choose to share other sensitive personal information through the content you share on Adscod, for example, when leaving a review, sending a direct message, or otherwise sharing information on Adscod.

Suggested text: If you upload images to the website, you should avoid uploading images with embedded location data (EXIF GPS) included. Visitors to the website can download and extract any location data from images on the website.

COOKIES

We, and our third party service providers, may use cookies, web beacons, tags, scripts, local shared objects, advertising identifiers (including mobile identifiers such as Apple’s Identifier for Advertisers (“IDFA”) or Google’s Advertising ID (“GAID”)) and similar technology (“Cookies”) in connection with your use of the Service, third party websites, and mobile applications. Cookies may contain unique identifiers, and reside, among other places, on your computer or mobile device, in emails we send to you, and on our web pages. Cookies may transmit information about you and your use of the Service, such as your browser type, search preferences, IP address, data relating to advertisements that have been displayed to you or that you have interacted with, and the date and time of your use. Cookies may be persistent or stored only during an individual session.

MANAGING COOKIES

The purposes for which Adscod uses Cookies in the Service include:

Purpose	Explanation
Processes	Intended to make the Service work in the way you expect. For example, Adscod uses a Cookie that tells whether you Have already signed up for an account.
Authentication, Security, and Compliance	Intended to prevent fraud, protect your data from unauthorized parties, and comply with legal requirements. For example, Adscod uses Cookies to determine if you are logged in.
Preferences	Intended to remember information about how you prefer the Service to behave and look. For example, Adscod uses a Cookie that tells whether you have declined to allow us to send push notifications to your phone.
Notifications	Intended to allow or prevent notices of information or options that could improve your use of the Service. For example, Adscod uses a Cookie that stops us from showing you the signup notification if you have already seen it.
Advertising	Intended to make advertising more relevant to users and more valuable to advertisers. For example, Adscod may use Cookies to serve you interest-based ads, such as ads that are displayed to you based on your visits to other websites, or to tell if you have recently interacted with any ad(s).
Analytics	Intended to help us understand how visitors use the Service. For example, we use a Cookie that tells us how our search suggestions correlate to your interactions with the search page.

You can also set some Cookie preferences through your device or browser settings, but doing so may affect the functionality of the Service. The method for disabling Cookies may vary by device and browser, but can usually be found in your device or browser preferences or security settings. For example, iOS and Android devices each have settings that are designed to limit forms of ad tracking. Please note that changing any of these settings does not prevent the display of certain advertisements to you.

THIRD PARTIES

Third parties may share, receive or process information about you as follows:

Advertisers: Adscod may share some non-identifiable, de-identified, or aggregated information from or about you with third parties in connection with advertising programs and data analytics. Adscod also shares certain information described below with businesses on Adscod, who may or may not be advertisers.

Content and Data Partners: Adscod allows third party partners to use and display some of the public content available through the Service, such as your photos, reviews, and other information listed under “Public Content” in Section 1 above.

Acquired Data: Adscod may acquire information enabling Us to identify and contact representatives of local businesses from third parties. Such acquired data may be combined with other data Adscod receives from or about you, and used for the purposes described in Section 1 of this Privacy Policy.

Adscod’s Service Providers: We rely on third party service providers to support or provide services for Us in connection with your use of the Service, such as delivery services, communications and hosting, security and fraud prevention, technical and customer support, tracking and reporting usage of the Service, quality assurance testing, payment processing, marketing, and other functions. Adscod shares information from or about you with these third party providers so that they can perform their services or complete your requests. For example, we may share your advertising identifiers (e.g., a cryptographic hash of your email address) with third party service providers that help us facilitate Adscod’s advertising programs and measure and report their effectiveness, including with third parties that help determine the efficacy of Adscod’s advertising programs by combining the information they receive about you from other sources than the Service. Adscod shares personal information with its service providers subject to obligations consistent with this Privacy Policy, and on the condition that personal information is only used on Adscod’s behalf and under our instructions. You may be able to limit our access to some of this information through your mobile device settings, as described in Section 2 above. Adscod’s third party service providers may likewise share information with Us that they obtain from or about you in connection with providing their services or completing your requests.

Adscod’s role as a Service Provider: Adscod collects, receives, and processes certain information about you on behalf of businesses for which Adscod is acting as a service provider. For example, when you make a hotel booking through Adscod, we collect your phone number, email address, and booking details on behalf of the business, and share that information with the business. Adscod however does not share information collected or received by Adscod outside of its role as a service provider with the business or other third parties, unless otherwise disclosed in this Privacy Policy, or at your direction. Third parties may also share information about you with Adscod for Adscod to provide services to them. For example, Adscod may receive information about you to target advertising, measure ad performance, or facilitate links to hotel loyalty programs or point-of-sale systems. Third parties’ collection, use, and disclosure of your information is subject to such third party’s privacy policy and any relevant terms.

Aggregate or Anonymous Information: Adscod shares user information in the aggregate with third parties, such as businesses that are listed on Adscod and content distributors. For example, we disclose the number of users that have been exposed to or interacted with advertisements, or that we estimate visited the physical location of a particular business.

Business Transfers: Adscod shares information from or about you with our parent companies, subsidiaries, joint ventures, or other companies under common control, and requires them to also honor this Privacy Policy. If another company acquires Adscod, or all or substantially all of our assets, that company will possess the same information and will collect, use, and disclose the information only as described in this Privacy Policy.

Businesses on Adscod: Adscod may share information from or about you (such as your city, and if you provide it, your age and gender), your device type, and your use of the Service (such as which businesses you bookmark or call, or if you visit a business’s URL) with businesses on Adscod. You may adjust your account settings to increase or decrease the amount of information we share. Keep in mind that businesses can also view your public activity and posts, and may receive information from or about you when you transact or communicate with them, through Adscod or otherwise, regardless of your settings (see Section 1 above). Additionally, if you make a phone call to a business through or in connection with your use of the Service, we may share information about your call with the business that the business would have received had you called them directly, such as the date and time of your call and your phone number. You may be able to limit our ability to collect and share your phone number through your phone settings or phone service provider.

Investigations and Legal Disclosures: Adscod may investigate and disclose information from or about you if we have a good faith belief that such investigation or disclosure: (a) is reasonably necessary to comply with legal or law enforcement processes, such as a search warrant, summon, statute, a judicial proceeding, or other legal process or law enforcement request; (b) is helpful to prevent, investigate, or identify possible wrongdoing in connection with the Service; or (c) protects our rights, reputation, property, or that of our users, affiliates, or the public, such as disclosures in connection with Adscod’s Consumer Alerts program. If you flag or otherwise complain to Us about content through the Service, we may share the substance of your complaint with the contributor of that content to provide an opportunity for the contributor to respond.

Links: The Service may link to third-party-controlled websites, like a business’s URL. Except as set forth herein, we do not share your personal information with them and are not responsible for their privacy practices.

Interaction with Third Party Platforms: If you sign up for, or log into Adscod using a third party platform like Facebook or Google, or link your Adscod account with a third party platform like Facebook and others, we may receive information about you from such third party platforms. If you post content to a third party platform through the Service, that third party platform will also receive that content, which will be visible to anyone that has access to it through that third party platform. Some of our web pages utilize framing techniques to serve content to you from third party platforms while preserving the look and feel of the Service. In such cases, please note that the information you provide may be transmitted directly to the identified third party. If you interact with businesses through Adscod, they will receive whatever information you choose to share with them, for example, the contact information you share through quote requests or direct messages to the business, or your phone number if you call the business. Adscod may share information with third parties where you direct Adscod to do so through the Service.

CONTROLLING YOUR PERSONAL DATA

Other users may be able to identify you or associate you with your account if you include personal information in the content you post publicly. You can reduce the risk of being personally identified by using the Service pseudonymously, though doing so could detract from the credibility of your contributions to the Service. Please also note that the messages you send or receive using the Service are only private to the extent that both you and the recipient(s) of your messages keep them private. For example, if you send a message to another user, that user may choose to publicly post it. We may access, review, and disclose such messages in connection with investigations related to the use of the Service, as well as with our efforts to improve the Service.

DATA RETENTION AND ACCOUNT TERMINATION

Adscod shall remove certain public posts from view and/or dissociate them from your account profile, but we may retain information about you for the purposes authorized under this Privacy Policy unless prohibited by law. For example, we may retain information to prevent, investigate, or identify possible wrongdoing in connection with the Service or to comply with legal obligations. We may also maintain residual copies of your personal information in our backup systems. Please note that businesses cannot remove their business pages, ratings, or reviews by closing their accounts. Adscod retains information for as long as reasonably necessary for the purposes for which it was collected, or as otherwise permitted or required by the law.

CHILDREN

The Service is intended for general audiences and is not directed to children under 13. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13. Although the use of Adscod by children is unlikely, if you become aware that a child has provided us with personal information without parental consent, please contact us through our communication channels. If we become aware that a child under 13 has provided us with personal information without parental consent, we take steps to remove such information and terminate the child’s account.

SECURITY

Adscod uses various safeguards to protect the personal information submitted to us, both during transmission and after we receive it. However, no method of transmission over the Internet or via mobile device, or method of electronic storage, is 100% secure. Therefore, while we strive to use commercially acceptable means to protect your personal information, we cannot guarantee its absolute security.

CONTACT INFORMATION

You may contact us concerning our Privacy Policy by emailing support@adscod.com. For security purposes, we will take such steps as we deem necessary to confirm your identity before completing your request or sharing any personal data with you.

MODIFICATIONS TO THIS PRIVACY POLICY

We may modify this Privacy Policy from time to time. The most current version of the Privacy Policy will govern our collection, use, and disclosure of information about you. If we make material changes to this Privacy Policy, we will notify you by email and/or by posting a notice on the Service before or on the effective date of the changes. By continuing to access or use the Service after those changes become effective, you acknowledge the revised Privacy Policy.

CONTENT GUIDELINES

General Guidelines

People come to Adscod to connect with great local businesses. We know that people won’t always agree, but we expect everyone on the site to treat one another and the platform with honesty and respect. We’ve put together these general guidelines to help set the tone for discourse on the site; just in case. Please also read the additional guidelines below for specific types of content that you might contribute to the site.

Relevance: Please make sure your contributions are appropriate to the forum. For example, reviews are not the place for rants about political ideologies, a business’s employment practices, extraordinary circumstances, or other matters that don’t address the core of the consumer experience.

Inappropriate content: Colorful language and imagery are fine, but there’s no place for threats, harassment, lewdness, hate speech, or other displays of bigotry.

Conflicts of interest: Your contributions to Adscod should be unbiased and objective. For example, you should not write reviews of your own business or employer, your friends or relatives’ business, your peers or competitors in your industry, or businesses in your networking group. More so, businesses should never ask customers to write reviews.

Privacy: Don’t publicize people’s private information. For instance, please don’t post close-up photos or videos of other patrons without their permission, and don’t post other people’s full names unless you’re referring to someone who is commonly referred to by their full name.

Promotional content: Don’t post promotional material unless it’s in connection with an Adscod advertising product and through a Become an Author Account. Let’s keep the site useful for consumers and not overrun with commercial noise from every user.

Post your content: Do not swipe content from other sites, users, or businesses. Write your copy and only share your photos and videos. This also means you should not use chatbots or other AI tools to create reviews.

Review Guidelines

The best reviews are personal, passionate, and reflect your consumer experience. They offer a rich narrative, a wealth of detail, and a helpful tip or two for other consumers. Here are some additional thoughts for conscientious reviewers:

Personal Experience: We want to hear about your firsthand experience, not what you heard from your partner or co-worker, or what you saw in the news. Tell your own story without resorting to broad generalizations and conclusory allegations.

Accuracy: Make sure your review is factually correct. Feel free to air your opinions, but don’t exaggerate or misrepresent your experience. We don’t take sides when it comes to factual disputes, so we expect you to stand behind your review.

Demanding Payment: Writing a review should be informative and meant to help the broader Adscod community. You should not threaten to post or offer to remove a negative review as a way to extract payment from a business.

Review Updates: Review updates should reflect a new experience or interaction with the business. Don’t keep posting about the same old story you’ve already told. If you’d like to add new insight to an old experience, you can edit your review.

Photo and Video Guidelines

Photos and videos should be broadly relevant to the business and reflect the typical consumer experience (e.g., what the business looks like, what the business offers to help the consumer, etc.). If you are a business, show us what you offer and what makes your business unique.

Here are some additional things to keep in mind:

Keep it relevant to everyone: We may remove a photo or video that showcases a unique personal experience that is not relevant to other people (e.g., a receipt or email exchange with a business) from the photo gallery for the business, but it may appear alongside your review if you write one about the business.

Keep it clean: We do not want imagery of violence, drug use, nudity, near nudity, or suggestive acts; even if those images are an accurate representation of the business’s services or products.

Keep it friendly: Do not use your photos or videos to attack or mock others. A picture speaks more than 1,000 words, so it’s best to pick those words carefully and make your point in a review, direct message, or review response.

Authors’ Guidelines

Don’t be shy. Use your account profile to let people know who you are and what makes you tick. Your peers want to read reviews from people they know and trust (not those with profiles that are empty or laced with inappropriate content).

User Profiles: Since user trust and transparency are important to us, anonymous users who are disruptive will be dealt with more strictly than those who stand behind their words. We encourage users to tell people a little something about themselves, but ask that you keep it relevant and not attack competitors, reviewers, or Adscod.

Consumer Messaging: Adscod has a handy messaging feature to keep you connected with your fellows. Please do not use this feature to harass other users or send other inappropriate content, and remember, consumer accounts are for personal, non-commercial use only.

Business Messaging: Businesses should message reviewers. Direct messaging is often the best way to resolve a dispute with an unhappy customer, but you can also address issues publicly by posting a public comment in response to a review. As with consumers, we ask that business representatives upload a clear photo of themselves to help personalize their messaging. Hopefully, it goes without saying, but do not use direct messages or public comments to launch personal attacks or offer an incentive to change a review.

Ask the Community: Being able to ask and answer community questions about a business is extremely valuable, but as they say, with great power comes great responsibility. Stick to questions that are also relevant to others, do not ask loaded questions or make presumptions, and keep the tone civil and non-argumentative. If you do not have anything meaningful to add, best not to say anything. Clear questions with enough context and details will get more focused answers and meaningful conversations. For example, topics like “What is the best pizza place in town in Entebbe” are best discussed in Talk.

Infringement Policies

We do not take kindly to those who abuse the intellectual property rights of others. If you believe that your copyright or trademark is being infringed on the Site, please send us a written notice with the following information:

Identification of the copyrighted or trademarked work that you claim has been infringed;
Identification of the allegedly infringing content, and information reasonably sufficient to permit Adscod to locate it on the Site (e.g., the URL for the web page on which the content appears);
A statement by you that you have a good faith belief that the use of the content identified in your notice in the manner complained of is not authorized by the copyright/trademark owner, its agent, or the law;
A statement by you that you confirm, under penalty of perjury, that the information in your notice is accurate and that you are the copyright/trademark owner or authorized to act on the owner’s behalf; and
Your physical or electronic signature and your contact information (address, telephone number, and, if available, email address).

At the same time, we do not take kindly to those who abuse the scope of their intellectual property rights. If you believe that your content should not have been removed for alleged copyright or trademark infringement, you may send us a written counter-notice with the following information:

Identification of the copyrighted or trademarked work that was removed, and the location on the Site where it would have been found before its removal;
A statement, under penalty of perjury, that you have a good faith belief that the content was removed as a result of a mistake or misidentification. For trademark disputes only: information reasonably sufficient to explain why you believe you are not infringing the trademarked work;
A statement that you consent either to the jurisdiction of the Federal District Court for the judicial district in which your address is located if you live in Uganda. Please also include a statement that you will accept service of process from the person who sent the original infringement notice to Adscod, or an agent of such person;
Your physical or electronic signature and your contact information (address, telephone number, and if available, email address).

We will respond to all such notices and comply with applicable law. We reserve the right to remove content alleged to be infringing without prior notice and at our sole discretion. We also reserve the right to terminate a user’s account if the user is determined to be a repeat infringer.

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

Adscod values your privacy and therefore has set up this broad privacy policy to inform you of your rights. It is important to read this policy to understand the uses of your data.

1. How does Adscod collect personal data?

Adscod collects personal data in two ways:

The first is when you provide it with your data while using its site, including filling out forms, making purchases, or contacting it via the contact page;

Adscod collects personal data in two ways:

The first is when you provide it with your data while using its site, including filling out forms, making purchases, or contacting it via the contact page;
The second is when you browse its website, where technical and non-identifiable data are being collected.

2. What personal data does Adscod retain?

Adscod may retain any personal data you provided directly when filling out forms or making purchases, including your name, address, contact information, and email address. Adscod may also collect your IP address used to access the services. Adscod may also store a cookie on your computer or smartphone to authenticate your identity. Moreover, Adscod uses Third Party cookies that allow it to provide you with better services.

3. What non-personal data does Adscod retain?

Adscod may also retain some statistical, non-personally identifiable data, including your browser type, your referring pages, your use of the services, the pages you viewed, and other similar information. Adscod may also retain data relating to the affiliate that referred you to the website.

4. Who has access to this data?

Adscod’s employees, contractors, and Third Party service providers have access to this data; moreover, if you choose to share third parties with the data, then Adscod may also share the data with them. To execute the affiliate program, Adscod may also provide the affiliate that referred you to the service some statistical, aggregated, non-personally identifiable data.

Cookies and third party cookies.

Adscod uses cookies to identify you. In short, a cookie is a small file stored on your device that allows Adscod to verify your identity. Adscod uses a First Party cookie, which allows it to identify you when you use the Adscod website or mobile Application. Adscod also allows third parties to place a Third Party cookie. These Third Party cookies may be used to identify you across websites, and are used for Adscod’s statistical services and marketing services. These third parties are; Google, Bing, Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, etc.

5. How is the data processed?

The data about you is processed in several forms: Personally, identifiable data is used by Adscod to authenticate your identity, to publish content, to contact you (including through newsletters), to provide you with better service, and to enforce these terms of service. Moreover, Non-personally identifiable data may be used by Adscod to improve the service, display advertisements, or provide Adscod’s advertisers with profiles.

6. What third party services have access to your data?

The Website employs several third-party services that act to provide you with better access, advertising, social shares, and other services. The following third parties have limited access to some of your personal data.

We use Google Ads, Facebook Ads, Instagram Ads, X Ads, Youtube Ads, TikTok Ads, and LinkedIn Ads to reach our target audiences with relevant ads. We use the data to track sales and other business goals, all the data is masked and Adscod cannot identify any action from a specific customer or user.
We may use Google Meet, Zoom, and Twitter Space to communicate with customers and visitors, each interaction is logged in Facebook Messenger. We use Mail Chimp and Twitter Space to communicate with users on new updates content, promotions, and transactional emails.
We use Google Analytics, Google Search Console, and similar products to analyze marketing goals and integrate different data sources.

Timely newsletters and contacts: If you provide Adscod with your data, and subscribe to Adscod’s newsletter, then you provide your consent to allow Adscod to send you promotional messages, as defined under the Uganda Communications Act, 2013, Act 1, Part IV.

7. How can you review your data or delete it?

To review the stored data or remove it, you can send an email to support@adscod.com. Moreover, most of the personal data may be reviewed by the website’s panel.

Yearly privacy reports: Adscod’s privacy team shall inspect the website from time to time and compile yearly reports which shall include a summary of the complaints received.