We are committed to privacy

Privacy is one of the core principles at StreetLight Data. Our analytics only describe the movement of groups of people – not the movement of individuals.

This means that we do not process, use, or distribute personally identifiable information in our products. Our services do not enable marketing messages targeted to individual devices such as cell phones. However, we recognize that there are risks and misconceptions regarding the emerging area of market analytics using location-based information. These risks include the possibility that anonymized data could be linked together to subsequently re-identify an individual. We follow a proven approach to minimize the possibility that data could be linked together to re-identify an individual. In addition, we contractually require our customers to commit to not using our metrics to re-identify individuals.

What we expect from our data suppliers

The data we use for the creation of our products comes from a variety of sources. These sources include navigation-GPS and other location-based data from connected cars, trucks, and location apps collected on an “opt-in” basis. StreetLight also uses publicly available Census, traffic counts, and points of interest data.

We have established guidelines for our data suppliers to promote responsible data practices and ensure the data they provide meets our high standards for privacy protection. Data source material must meet the following requirements:

Data files are not to contain personally identifiable information. We expect our suppliers to remove personally identifiable information from all location records and to take reasonable steps to “de-identify” the remaining information using best practices. For example, records may contain encrypted device identifiers for which StreetLight does not have access to the decryption algorithms.

StreetLight is committed to supporting suppliers who embrace privacy as a core value and adhere to best practices for data protection, including Privacy by Design.

How we protect our location data resources

Once in house, the data sources are algorithmically processed into metrics. This process occurs in our secure data repository that sits behind a multilayered network security architecture supported by system audits and controls. Here are some highlights of the steps we take to transform the data into metrics:

1. Records are decomposed and contribute to the creation of multidimensional probability distribution functions for analysis with other materials through normalization, aggregation and contextualization.
2. The resulting output is provided as metrics about aggregated composite groups; for example, “half of the group of people who travel to this location live 10 miles away or more.”
3. Every analysis in the StreetLight InSight® platform goes through an automated coverage and privacy check to ensure sufficient source material penetration and aggregation by factors such as time, space, and land use.

What we expect from our customers

We expect our customers to use responsible data practices. We require our customers to contractually commit to not using StreetLight metrics in combination with other materials to try to identify individuals.

Are you interested in learning more about location privacy?

We invite you to review the website of the Future of Privacy Forum, a nonprofit organization StreetLight is a member of that serves as a catalyst for privacy leadership and scholarship, advancing principled data practices in support of emerging technologies.

Our contact information

If you have any questions about our privacy practices, please contact us at privacy@streetlightdata.com or:

StreetLight Data, Inc.
Attn: Privacy Office
677 Harrison Street
San Francisco, CA 94107