Papers with Code Data Policy

Last Updated: 12 May, 2023

Papers with Code is a free resource supported by Meta Platforms, Inc. (together, “Meta Platforms”, “us”, “our”) for papers, code, evaluation tables, libraries, methods, datasets and other materials relating to Machine Learning.

This Data Policy explains our practices for handling your information collected in connection with the Papers with Code website (the “Website”), including the materials hosted on the Website.

Collection of Information

When you interact with us through the Website, we may collect or receive the following types of information from you:

Information you provide directly

For certain activities, we may collect the following types of information:

  • Contact information, such as your name (first and last name) and email address;
  • Content that you upload on the website, such as papers, code, evaluation tables, research developments, libraries, methods, datasets and other materials;
  • Other information you choose to provide to us, such as when you send us correspondence or provide feedback to us.

Information collected as part of the account creation includes your username, email address and password. If you choose to customise your profile, we also process the description and location you choose to add as well as your avatar or photo that you decide to upload.

Information collected automatically

We may collect certain account and profile activity information, such as your join date, last post, last log-in date, profile views, days visited, read time, topics viewed, posts viewed, hearts given and received, topics created and posts created on your profile. Depending on the type of device used to visit the Website, we may also collect certain additional information automatically, such as:

  • Device attributes: information such as the operating system, hardware and software versions, battery level, signal strength, available storage space, browser type, app and file names and types, and plugins.
  • Device operations: information about operations and behaviors performed on the device, such as whether a window is placed in the foreground or background, or mouse movements (which can help distinguish humans from bots), as well as pages visited.
  • Identifiers: unique identifiers, device IDs, and other identifiers, and Family Device IDs associated with the same device or account.
  • Device signals: Bluetooth signals, and information about nearby Wi-Fi access points, beacons, and cell towers.
  • Data from device settings: information you allow us to receive through device settings you turn on, such as access to your GPS location.
  • Network and connections: information such as the name of your mobile operator or ISP, language, time zone, mobile phone number, IP address, and connection speed.
  • Cookie data: data from cookies stored on your device, including cookie IDs and settings. Learn more about how we use cookies in our Cookie Policy.

Information from other sources

You may link out to papers and/or code from a third-party platform, such as GitHub, arxiv.org or other platforms (such as openreview.net, aclweb.org, openaccess.thecvf.com, icml.cc, papers.nips.cc), and we will display thumbnails and paper abstracts that may contain personal data (but if you access the paper and/or code, you are accessing it on GitHub or arvix.org). You may also interact with us on Slack. If you do so, you will be asked to sign in using your account with such third-party platform. Your e-mail address with such third-party website will be verified by the login via the third-party website. If you sign in using your account with certain third-party platforms (such as Slack) and interact on our channel or with us on such platforms, we may retrieve and store your profile picture, user name, first name, last name and e-mail address (to the extent that you have provided such information on the third party website). Please note that even though we provide you the capability to 'embed' pages from the above-mentioned websites, the privacy of any data you provide or make available on those platforms remains subject to their privacy policy and we do not assume responsibility for the enforcement of their privacy policy.

If you decide to join our Slack discussion group, any information that you provide on Slack or that is collected by Slack will be subject to Slack's terms of use and privacy policy. The terms of service and privacy policy for Slack are available here.

How We Use Information

We will use the information described above for the purpose of operating and providing the Website. Specifically, we will use the information for the following purposes:

  • Provide, personalize and improve our Website: We use the information we have in order to deliver, personalise and improve the Website, including to register your account with us, personalise features and content, create and update your profile. If you interact on our channel or with us, or contribute through a third party platform (e.g. Slack or GitHub), we also collect such information to deliver, personalise and improve the Website. We also process your data in order to operate and administer our Website. For example, whenever you make an edit, we process your data in order to publish your message and to attribute messages and edits to users.
  • Communicating with you: We use the information that we have to communicate with you and let you know about our policies and terms. If you sign up to our newsletter, we will process your data in accordance with your preferences. We also use your information to respond to you when you contact us.
  • Promote safety, integrity and security: We use the information that we have to verify accounts and activity, combat harmful conduct, detect and prevent spam and other bad experiences, investigate suspicious activity and enforce our terms and policies and to protect our, and the rights of, others.
  • Complying with our legal obligations: We process information when cooperating with public and government authorities, courts or regulators to prevent activities that are prohibited by law or our Terms of Service and in accordance with our legal obligations under applicable laws to the extent this involves the processing or disclosure of personal information.

Third Party Links

Some links on our Website may redirect you to third party resources, including websites and services that we do not operate. For example, if you choose to ‘embed’ copies of pages from a third-party platform (such as arXiv or GitHub) onto this Website, the terms of service and privacy practices of such third-party platforms and services will be governed by their own terms and policies.

We make no representation or warranty as to the privacy policies of any third parties, accordingly you should review and understand that party’s applicable terms and policies, including their privacy policy, before providing your information to them.

How We Share Information

There are certain circumstances in which we will share your information with certain third parties without further notice to you, as follows:

  • Authorized third-party vendors and service providers. We share your information with third-party vendors and service providers that help us with specialized services, including email communications, business analytics, data storage, and data processing. Some of these service providers are located in the United States and which store your personal data in the United States.
  • Law Enforcement Actors and Legal requests. We may disclose information where we are legally required to do so in order to comply with applicable law, governmental requests, a judicial proceeding, court order, or other legal process (including in response to public authorities to meet national security or law enforcement requirements).
  • Fraud prevention. We may disclose information where we believe it is necessary to investigate, prevent, or take action regarding illegal or harmful activities, suspected fraud or other security issues, violations of our terms, or policies, or as evidence in litigation in which we may be involved.
  • Business transfers. We may share or transfer information in connection with, or during negotiations of, any merger, sale of company assets, financing, or acquisition of all or a portion of our business to another company, provided that we inform the buyer it must use your personal information only for the purposes disclosed in this Data Policy.
  • With your consent. We may share your information with any other third party with your consent to the disclosure.

Cookies And Similar Technologies

Cookies are small text files placed on your device to store data that can be recalled by a web server in the domain that placed the cookie. The Website makes use of cookies for such things as session management, account access/authentication, to recognize returning users, for storing and honoring user preferences and settings, combating fraud, maintaining and monitoring the infrastructure of the Website, analyzing how our Websites performs and other analytics purposes, and fulfilling other legitimate purposes as further described in this Data Policy.

We use Google Analytics, which is a web analytics tool that helps us understand how users engage with the Website. Like many services, Google Analytics uses cookies to track user interactions, as in our case, where they are used to collect information about how users use our Website. This information is used to compile aggregated reports and to help us improve our Website. The reports disclose website trends without identifying individual visitors. You can opt out of Google Analytics without affecting how you visit our Website – for more information on opting out of being tracked by Google Analytics across all websites you use, visit this Google page: https://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout.

More information is available in our Cookie Policy.

Your Rights

In accordance with applicable laws, you may have the right to access, rectify, port and erase your information, as well as the right to restrict and object to certain processing of your information. To exercise such rights in relation to the information you provided to us for the Website, simply send an email to hello@paperswithcode.com from the email address you provided to create your account on the Website.

How We Protect Information

We take measures to help protect information from loss, theft, misuse and unauthorized access, disclosure, alteration, and destruction. However, no data storage system or transmission of data over the Internet or any other public network can be guaranteed to be 100 percent secure.

Data Retention

We retain information relating to the Website until it is no longer necessary to serve the purposes for which it was collected, e.g. to provide access to the Website and its content. Reasons we may retain some data for longer periods include security, fraud & abuse prevention, record keeping, complying with legal or regulatory requirements and ensuring the continuity of our services.

Children's Information

We do not knowingly collect or store information from children under the age of 13 (or under the age of majority in your jurisdiction of residence), unless permitted by law. We will delete any information we may have inadvertently received from a child under 13 upon notice. If you have reason to believe that a child under the age of 13 has provided personal information on our Website, please contact us and we will endeavor to delete that information from our databases.

Questions

If you have any questions about this Data Policy or our practices, you can contact us at hello@paperswithcode.com or by mail at:

Papers with Code
c/o Meta Platforms, Inc.
1601 Willow Road
Menlo Park, CA 94025

Privacy notice for United States residents

You can learn more about the consumer privacy rights that may be available to you by reviewing the United States Regional Privacy Notice.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION FOR INDIVIDUALS IN THE EUROPEAN REGION

If you are a user in a territory or country listed below (the “European Region”) or the United Kingdom the following information also applies to you and supplements the information contained above in the Data Policy in relation to your use of our Website.

Andorra, Austria, Azores, Belgium, Bulgaria, Canary Islands, Channel Islands, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, French Guiana, Germany, Greece, Guadeloupe, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Isle of Man, Italy, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Madeira, Malta, Martinique, Mayotte, Monaco, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Republic of Cyprus, Réunion, Romania, San Marino, Saint Barthélemy, Saint-Martin, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Vatican City, and the UK sovereign bases in Cyprus (Akrotiri and Dhekelia).

If you live in the European Region the data controller responsible for your information when you use the Website is Meta Platforms Ireland Limited. If you live in the United Kingdom the data controller responsible for your information when you use the Website is Meta Platforms, Inc.

What is our legal basis for processing data?

We collect, use and share data on the basis of the following:

  • Contractual necessity: The majority of the processing of personal data described in this Data Policy is justified on the basis that it is necessary for the performance of a contract and specifically, for the purposes of the Website's Terms of Use. For example, we rely on this legal basis to create your account, provide access to the Website and to communicate and issue communications in relation to the Website. If you choose not to provide your data necessary for us to provide you with the Website, the quality of your experience may be affected and we might not be in a position to enable you to use it
  • Legitimate interests: Our legitimate interests or the legitimate interests of a third party, where not outweighed by your interests or fundamental rights and freedoms. We rely on this legal basis to share information with others, including law enforcement, and to respond to legal requests. The legitimate interests we rely on for this processing are to prevent and address fraud, unauthorized use of the Website, breaches of our terms and policies, or other harmful or illegal activity; or to protect ourselves (including our rights, property or products), our users or others, including as part of investigations or regulatory enquiries.
  • Compliance with a legal obligation: We rely on this legal basis for processing data when the law requires it, including, for example, if there is a valid legal request for certain data.

When we process your data as necessary for the purposes of legitimate interests, you have the right to object to, and seek restriction of, our processing. To exercise your rights, you can email mailto:hello@paperswithcode.com . In evaluating an objection, we will evaluate several factors, including: reasonable user expectations; the benefits and risks to you and third parties; and other available means to achieve the same purpose that may be less invasive and do not require disproportional effort. Your objection will be upheld and we will cease processing your information, unless the processing is based on compelling legitimate grounds or is needed for legal reasons.

Data Transfers

We transfer personal data both internally within the Meta Platforms Companies and externally with our partners. Information may be transferred or transmitted to, or stored and processed in, the United States or other countries for the purposes described in this policy. These data transfers are necessary to provide the services set forth in the Website's Terms of Use. Meta Platforms Ireland Limited utilizes standard contract clauses approved by the European Commission and relies on the European Commission’s adequacy decisions about certain countries, as applicable, for data transfers from the EEA to the United States and other countries. No data subject to this Data Policy is transferred pursuant to the Privacy Shield framework. You may request a copy of the Standard Contractual Clauses which Meta Platforms Ireland Limited have entered into with the entity processing your data by contacting hello@paperswithcode.com (please note that certain commercial information may be redacted). For transfers to countries outside the UK, Meta Platforms, Inc. relies on approved standard contractual transfer mechanisms and relevant UK adequacy regulations, as applicable.

Your rights

You have the right to access, rectify, port and erase your data under certain circumstances. You also have the right to restrict certain processing of your data and object to the processing of your data for our legitimate interests (as explained above in the paragraph “What is our legal basis for processing data?”). Please note that to protect your information, we may need to verify your identity before processing your request. In some cases, we may need to collect additional information to verify your identity, such as a government issued ID. To exercise your rights, you can send an email to hello@paperswithcode.com or contact us by mail at the address provided below.

Contact information

If you live in the European Region, defined above, or in Switzerland, the data controller responsible for your information when you use the Website is Meta Platforms Ireland Limited. You can contact Meta Platforms Ireland Limited online or by post at:

Papers with Code
c/o Meta Platforms Ireland Limited
Merrion Road
Dublin 4, D04 X2K5, Ireland

You may also contact hello@paperswithcode.com the Data Protection Officer for Meta Platforms Ireland Limited. In addition, you have the right to lodge a complaint with our lead supervisory authority, the Irish Data Protection Commissioner, or with your local supervisory authority

If you do not live in one of the countries or territories listed above, the data controller responsible for your information when you use the Website is Meta Platforms, Inc.

If you live in the United Kingdom, the data controller responsible for your information is Meta Platforms, Inc., which you can contact online, or by writing to:

Papers with Code
c/o Meta Platforms, Inc.
1601 Willow Road
Menlo Park, CA 94025, USA

Contact the Data Protection Officer for Meta Platforms, Inc. You also have the right to lodge a complaint with the UK’s Information Commissioner’s Office.

Additional Information for Individuals in Brazil

Under the Brazilian General Data Protection Law (the LGPD), you have the right to access, rectify, port, erase, and confirm that we process your data. In certain circumstances, you also have the right to object to and to restrict the processing of your personal data or you may withdraw your consent when we process data you provide to us based on your consent. If you would like to exercise any of these rights, please contact us using the details provided below.

If you are residing in Brazil, the data controller responsible for your information is Meta Platforms, Inc. You may contact the Data Protection Officer for Meta Platforms, Inc. through the DPO Contact Form, and you have the right to lodge a complaint with the Brazilian Data Protection Authority by contacting the Data Protection Authority directly.

Changes to this Policy

We may update or modify this Data Policy at any time without prior notice. When we update the Data Policy, we will revise the “Last Updated” date above and post the new Data Policy. We recommend that you review the Data Policy each time you visit the Website to stay informed of our privacy practices. Any changes will be effective when we post the revised policy.

Questions

If you have any questions about this Data Policy or our practices, you can contact us by email at hello@paperswithcode.com or by mail at:

Papers with Code
c/o Meta Platforms, Inc.
1601 Willow Road
Menlo Park, CA 94025