POLICIES

F5 California Privacy Summary

Published on: 1 July 2020

F5 California Privacy Summary

This is a summary of the collection and use of personal information about California residents by F5, Inc. and its affiliates, including Shape Security, Inc. and Volterra, Inc., and through the NGINX brand (collectively, “F5”).  For more detail, you can read our Privacy Notice. This summary does not cover all of F5’s handling of personal information (i) in its role as an employer, (ii) in situations where F5 handles the personal information as a service provider to its customers, or (iii) in situations where the information is handled in deidentified form or is otherwise not subject to the California Consumer Privacy Act’s “notice at collection” requirements.

Categories of Personal Information Collected

F5 collects:

  • Identifiers such as contact details, such as name, email address, phone number, title, employer's name, device identifiers, usernames, passwords and other login credentials.
  • Commercial information, such as:
    • Information about our users' experiences with F5 products, services, events, webinars, and online forums and communities, such as DevCentral.
    • Information about actual or prospective users' interests.
    • Other information derived from interactions with F5 by our actual or prospective customers’ employees (e.g., interactions with customer service).
    • Information about interactions with our customers and their users.
  • Financial information such as payment details for purchases.
  • Audio and visual information, such as CCTV footage and recordings of calls, meetings and events.
  • Additional details about certification candidates, including:
    • Identity documents and other personal data collected to authenticate the candidate's identity and for test security (such as photographs, demographic information, and biometric data like fingerprints or palm vein scans).
    • Personal data submitted for test accommodations (such as information about health or language concerns, or other protected classifications under California or federal law).
    • Certification test results.
  • Internet or other electronic network activity information, such as personally identifiable browsing records and other personally identifiable information regarding a consumer’s interaction with an internet website, application, or advertisement, along with data used to generate such information, such as personally identifiable cookie information or personally identifiable device or browser information.
  • Other personal information.
  • Inferences drawn from the data above.

F5 uses personal information for the following purposes:

  • To analyze, improve, and develop F5 products and services.
  • To provide our products, services, events, websites, communities, training, and other business offerings.
  • To process payments.
  • To manage our relationships with customers, partners, resellers, distributors, event attendees, investors, and others.
  • For marketing, advertising, and other communications (including customizing those communications for specific recipients).
  • To provide a third party (such as an employer) with confirmation or denial of an individual's claimed certification status.
  • For surveys and other market research.
  • For security, IT management, and related research.
  • To enforce the legal terms that govern our business and commercial relationships.
  • To provide security and business continuity.
  • To follow the law, or in other cases where we believe that using or disclosing the data is appropriate to protect the rights, safety, and property of F5 or others (for example, when required to make disclosures in response to lawful requests by public authorities, such as to meet national security or law enforcement requirements).
  • For an actual or contemplated business sale, merger, consolidation, change in control, transfer of substantial assets, or reorganization, or due diligence in anticipation of such an event.
  • For other purposes requested or permitted by our customers or users.

“Sale” Opt-Out Right

Some of these uses involve what the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) labels a “sale” of personal information. To exercise your CCPA right to ask us to opt out of “sales,” click Do Not Sell My Personal Information and follow the instructions.