Privacy Policy

1. Introduction

Thank you for your interest in TechTarget, Inc. (“TechTarget”) a leading publisher for enterprise technology decision making! One of our key missions is to help business professionals embarking on their research journey to obtain relevant information to guide their buying decisions and to connect them with other businesses and professionals that provide those products or services. Our websites and services appeal to a wide range of business professionals, some of whom casually visit our websites to learn more about a specific research topic or our services and others who register to become members of TechTarget and our growing network of websites (“Websites”). Our members (i) gain access to a wide range of articles, blogs, newsletters, definitions, surveys, research, videos, webinars, events and other original, branded, and sponsored premium content and (ii) benefit from engaging directly with our customers (who we call “Partners”) through email, phone, and other means, that may provide the products or services relevant to our member’s professional interests (collectively, our “Premium Services”). In order for us to provide Premium Services for free, members agree to receive personalized content, ads, and direct sales and marketing communications from us and our Partners. 

If you do not want to receive personalized content, ads, and direct sales and marketing communications from TechTarget and our Partners, please do not become a member. Importantly, you can choose to unsubscribe from any TechTarget or individual Partner communication at any time, while continuing to receive free access to our Premium Services.

2. What Does this Privacy Policy Cover

This policy is intended to provide you with information about your personal data as it relates to our Premium Services, our own marketing activities and outreach, our tracking activities and, importantly, on the types of data we collect, why we collect it, how we use it, who we may share it with, and how you can control its use and disclosure. We are deemed a “data controller” as it relates to any personal data collected in connection with your use of our Websites. If you use the website of our subsidiary BrightTALK, then they are the “data controller” and the terms of their privacy policy governs the collection of your information. For information about where we and our subsidiaries or affiliates are located and how you may contact us, please refer to the section entitled “Contact Us” below.

3. What Information Do We Collect or Receive

We collect your personal data in several different ways. Generally, the personal data we collect is the type of information typically included on a business card, including your name, job title, email address, phone number, business name and address. We may collect other information as well such as the type of industry you are in, the size of your company, and your job function. We also collect personal and professional information from third parties which we combine with your data to enhance and supplement our records, to ensure it remains accurate, and to help personalize the delivery of our Premium Services.

For example, we may collect your personal data (i) from you when you provide it to us directly through our Websites or websites hosting our registration form, through email and telephone communications, and through comments and reviews you leave on our Websites, (ii) from your activity on our Websites or based on the content you view or interact with, (iii) from our Partners, (iv) from service providers, contractors, or other third parties we license it from, (v) from our business partners or affiliates running co-branded campaigns, registration pages, or membership initiatives, and (vi) from publicly accessible sources like corporate websites, business listings, social networking platforms, or other commercially available sources.

Subject to your consent, where applicable, our Websites may also use cookies, tracking pixels, transparent or clear GIFs, web beacons, and other similar technologies to collect or receive information. Additionally, we may use similar tracking technologies when you read an email, newsletter, or otherwise interact with content from us and to improve our Premium Services. Consent may not be required where the technology is necessary to provide a specific functionality or service that you request. These tracking technologies may include first party cookies (e.g., those placed by the website being visited) and third-party cookies (e.g., those placed by a website other than the one being visited). For more information about how we use these tracking technologies, please refer to the section entitled “Cookies and Similar Technologies” below.

4. Cookies and Similar Technologies

Cookies are small data files which are placed on your computer or mobile device when you visit a website or use an online service. Cookies have many different functions. In some regions, the use of certain cookies requires your consent and you will be prompted, through a cookie management platform, to choose to provide it or not provide it. If you do not provide it, those cookies will not be placed onto your device or utilized to collect specific information. Some cookie usage is essential for our Websites to work.

Overall cookies can enable us to identify and authenticate you and remember your preferences so we can enhance your experience on our Websites. They also help us serve you ads relevant to your professional interests, to provide aggregated auditing, research, and reporting for advertisers and customers, to understand and improve our service, and to know when content has been shown to you. Because your web browser may request advertisements and beacons directly from third party ad network servers, these networks can view, edit, or set third party cookies, just as if you had requested a web page from their site. Ads served by us may also set third party cookies. Most browsers are initially set up to accept cookies, but you can set your browser to refuse all cookies or to indicate when a cookie is being set.

Cookies enable you to take advantage of some of our website features so, if you decline or delete them, then certain parts of our website and Premium Services may not work properly. Even if you decline or delete cookies, you will continue to be served with advertisements; however, they will not be tailored to your preferences, usage patterns, or professional interests. We use several different types of cookies on our Websites, including:

Strictly Necessary or Functional Cookies.

• Necessary cookies facilitate the operation of our Websites. Without the use of these cookies, portions of our Websites would not function properly. For example, we use these cookies to help us identify which of our visitors have previously registered in order to access our Premium Services.

• Functional cookies are used to remember your preferences on our Websites and to authenticate your identity. For example, we use functional cookies to manage our cookie consent management platform.

Cookies that require consent in some regions (e.g., the EU/EEA):

• Performance Cookies. These cookies monitor the performance of our Websites and how users interact with them. For example, these cookies collect information such as how often users visit our Websites, what pages they visit when they do, and what other websites they used prior to coming to our Websites. These cookies also provide us with information that allows us to improve our Websites and services.

• Behavioral Advertising Cookies. We may use behavioral advertising cookies in order to provide you with advertising which is tailored to your professional interests when you visit websites on and off our network. For example, these cookies analyze information about your interests and your browsing history and provide you with advertisements on and off our network that match these interests. Behavioral advertising is a type of advertising that is based upon your web browsing activity over a period of time – so it is different than advertising you may see when you are looking for something online using a search engine or on a website you may be visiting at a particular time. For example, you may be doing research on products and services related to data center virtualization. If a Partner that provides data center virtualization products and services is conducting an advertising campaign with us, then we may serve you with an advertisement related to that Partner.

Although our Websites currently do not respond to “do not track” browser headers, you can limit tracking through third-party programs and by taking the other steps discussed in this section (including by removing cookies or by setting your web browser settings to refuse cookies and similar technologies). Many web browsers operate using different identifiers so you may need to adjust your settings in each web browser and for each computer or device. Additionally, if you only delete your cookies, then you may need to remove cookies from your device after every website visit. You may block cookies entirely by disabling cookie use in your browser or by setting your browser to ask for your permission before setting a cookie. The use of online tracking mechanisms by third parties, including our Partners, when you access their websites, is subject to those third parties’ privacy policies, and not this policy.

You may remove yourself from the targeted advertising of companies within the Network Advertising Initiative by opting out here, or of companies participating in the Digital Advertising Alliance program by opting out here, the Digital Advertising Alliance of Canada (for Canadian residents) by opting out here, or the European Interactive Digital Advertising Alliance (for EU residents) by opting out here.

5. What is the Legal Basis for the Processing of Personal Data

For residents located in the European Economic Area, the United Kingdom, and Switzerland certain laws and regulations, like the EU General Data Protection Regulation (“EU GDPR”), the UK GDPR, and other similar laws require data controllers like TechTarget to identify the lawful basis that applies to and is relied upon to process the personal data of these residents, including:

“Consent” – If you are a member of TechTarget and receive access to our Premium Services, we rely on your consent as the legal basis for processing your personal data. Your consent may also be obtained by third parties acting on our behalf including, for example, through affiliated websites, co-branded campaigns, or other membership initiatives. We also rely on consent for the purpose of tracking activity (e.g., cookies and other similar tracking technologies) on our Websites, for us and our Partners to communicate with you for purposes of direct marketing and sales, and to provide you with relevant content. You have the right to withdraw your consent at any time and we will cease to process your personal data after your consent is withdrawn. (EU/EEA: Art. 6 I lit. a GDPR).

“Legitimate interest” – If you are website visitor or a prospective customer, we rely on legitimate interests as the legal basis to process your personal data, for example, for purposes of business to business sales and marketing of our products and services. We will not use your personal data where your interests or fundamental rights and freedoms are overridden by our legitimate interest. You have the right to object to our processing at any time and we will cease to process your personal data. (EU/EEA: Art. 6 I lit. f GDPR).

“Performance of Contract” – If we need to process your personal data to comply with our obligations under a contract with you including, for example, for purposes of fulfilling our obligations under our Terms of Use to you. (EU/EEA: Art. 6 I lit. b GDPR).

“Compliance with a legal obligation” – If we need to comply with a legal obligation to which we are subject including, for example, to secure and maintain technical and organizational measures to protect the security of your data, to investigate and report any (suspected) breaches of those technical and organizational measures, or to comply with legal and regulatory obligations including, but not limited to, complying with minimum retention periods for certain types of data. (EU/EEA: Art. 6 I lit. c GDPR).

6. How is Your Personal Data Used

We use your Personal Data to provide you with relevant content and information about our products and services, to provide you with the opportunity to connect with our Partners that may be providing products and services relevant to your activity and business needs, and to help us operate our business and provide you our Premium Services. We also use your Personal Data for one or more of the purposes described below:

• For direct sales and marketing purposes, including by us and our Partners, regarding information about, and invitations for, products, services, and events relevant to your professional interests and responsibilities;
• Create, supplement, and update your member account, to remember your website selections and log-in information, and to link your tracking activity (e.g., your purchase-intent history) to your member account;
• Tailor and personalize your experience in connection with our Premium Services;
• Identify new and emerging content topics and trends and identify market sensitivities and relative market interest in specific product categories;
• Provide you with articles, blogs, newsletters, definitions, surveys, research, videos, webinars and other original, branded, and sponsored content from us and our Partners;
• Provide you with information that you request, access, or which may be of interest to you;
• Send you questionnaires, incentives, surveys, promotions, sponsored event information and other rewards or program offers;
• Deliver or display original, branded, or sponsored content, advertisements, and other materials that match your professional interests and responsibilities for the purposes of online behavioral advertising;
• Communicate with you more effectively regarding our Premium Services and for purposes of informing you of service changes, policy changes, and other related administrative information;
• Offer you opportunities to connect directly with your peers and with providers of technologies, goods, and services that may be of interest to you;
• Operate, maintain, improve, and customize our Websites, products, services, and content, including their quality and presentation to you in connection with the Premium Services;
• Understand trends, usage statistics, and overall purchase-intent data;
• Respond to your product and service inquiries, questions, or support requests;
• Test and evaluate potential new products, services, and features;
• Honor website visitor and member data subject rights requests as outlined in this policy;
• Diagnose, investigate, and resolve problems and disputes, monitor usage, and evaluate resource needs;
• Track, accumulate, and report information on our website and content usage to relating to our Premium Services and tracking activity so we and our Partners can measure the effectiveness of advertisements and content viewed on our Websites; and
• For any other purpose that we tell you about when you give us your personal data.

7. Who Do We Share Your Information With

We share your information, for any of the purposes described in this policy, with our Partners, research customers, certain service providers, contractors, and other third parties. Where required, we will obtain your consent prior to sharing your information with such third parties as further described below:

• Partners. We provide certain Partners (e.g., that may be interested in contacting you or that are relevant to your specific interests) with your information, including your contact information and other relevant professional information, based on your areas of interest derived from your activity on our network, your interactions with our original, branded, and sponsored content, and your communications with us. Our Partners use this information, depending on the products or services they have purchased from us, for their direct marketing and sales activities to help target buyers that are interested in their specific products and services and to provide information that is relevant to their professional interests.
• Research Customers. TechTarget may disclose certain aggregated and deidentified user information to customers to assist them in performing market, trend, and statistical research and analysis activities and to provide them with other relevant market insight including, for example, to evaluate current and emerging topics, to assess market growth opportunities, to consider general engagement trends on an industry basis and for other lawful purposes.
• Service Providers, Contractors, and Third Parties. We may provide your information to certain service providers, contractors, and third parties who require access to this information for the provision of our Premium Services or for the delivery of our services to our Partners, for data storage, data processing, and other similar or related data activities, and to support functions related to the operation of our Websites. We attempt to limit the information or level of access that we provide to these parties to what is reasonably sufficient for them to carry out their responsibilities and we do so in accordance with our information security and privacy practices, policies and procedures.
• Third Party Analytics and Interest-Based Advertising Partners. We provide our third-party analytics and interest-based advertising partners with information or allow them to collect certain information on our Websites as described in the section entitled “What Information do we Collect or Receive” above.
• Business transfers, Affiliates, and Subsidiaries. We may share or transfer your information in connection with any merger, sale of company assets, financing, or acquisition of all or a portion of our business to another company. We may also share your information within our organization, including with our affiliates and subsidiaries, or any future parent, affiliates, and subsidiaries, and other companies that may be under common control and ownership with us.
• Government Authorities and Law Enforcement. We may share your information with government authorities or law enforcement to the extent that we are required to do so by law, in connection with any legal or regulatory proceedings or prospective legal or regulatory proceedings, and in order to protect and defend our rights and that of our customers.

8. Data Retention

We retain your information as necessary to comply with our legal obligations, resolve disputes, enforce our agreements, and provide our Premium Services. We will retain members’ personal data for so long as a member’s account remains in existence and as needed to continue to provide our Premium Services. We may retain a member’s information after their account has been cancelled or deleted if retention is reasonably necessary to comply with any other legal or regulatory requirements, to prevent fraud and abuse, or to enforce our Terms of Use. We may also retain your information, for a limited period, if requested by a government agency or law enforcement.

9. How Do We Protect Your Information?

We take the security of the data that we collect very seriously and have implemented various technical, organizational, and administrative measures to protect this information. These measures include, but are not limited to, the implementation of current security technologies and processes to protect information from loss, misuse, and unauthorized access, disclosure, alteration, or destruction, the use of encryption to protect our data and services as well as data transmitted to and from our Websites, and the use of other security systems that require authenticated access to internal databases, regular audits of our policies, processes, and procedures, and scheduled reviews of overall web security. Importantly, while we have implemented these measures to enhance the security of the information we collect, process, and maintain, no system can prevent all potential security breaches.

10. Your EU and UK GDPR Privacy Rights and Controlling Your Personal Data

For residents located in the European Economic Area, the United Kingdom, and Switzerland, if you wish to access, rectify, erase, restrict, transfer, object to the use of your information, or cancel your membership, please use our EU and UK GDPR Rights Request Form. If you have any other questions in connection with this policy or our use of your information, please refer to the section entitled “Contact Us” below. Emails sent by or on behalf of TechTarget include information about how you can easily unsubscribe from future communications.

Subject to applicable law, you have the following rights in relation to your personal data:

• Right of access
• Right to rectification
• Right to erasure
• Right to restrict processing
• Right to data portability
• Right to object  

Where we rely on your consent to process your personal data, including for the delivery of Premium Services, you have the right to withdraw that consent at any time. Your withdrawal of consent will not affect any data that was processed prior to our receipt of your withdrawal of consent.

Complaint to Supervisory Authorities

If you have a concern about our privacy practices or feel that we have not adequately addressed your complaints or concerns, then you can report it to the competent data protection authority that is authorized to hear those concerns.

Information for Authorized Agents

Authorized Agents who have the regulatory authority to submit a request may use our Authorized Agent Portal available here to submit rights requests on behalf of individuals from whom they have received prior authorization to act on their behalf.

In order to ensure the security of an individual’s personal data, we ask that all requests from Authorized Agents be submitted via this method. Evidence of a signed authorization to act on behalf of the individual that is the subject of the request, should be submitted as a PDF as part of this process. Authorized Agents must also attest to their legal authority to submit information on behalf of each individual they represent. If an Authorized Agent is unable to provide proof of authorization, their request may be rejected.

Providing missing or inaccurate personal data on behalf of the individual you are representing may also result in the request being denied, unless that information is promptly corrected by the Authorized Agent.

11. EU Standard Contractual Clauses / Transfer of Your Information

We may transfer, store, and process your personal data outside of your home country, including in the United States, for the purposes described in this policy including to provide our Premium Services in accordance with our Terms of Use. This includes information and data that we transfer, store, and process from website visitors, members, service providers, contractors, and other third parties who perform services for us. We will protect your personal data in accordance with this policy wherever it is processed, however, the privacy protections and the rights of authorities to access your personal data in such countries may not be equivalent to those of your home country. If we transfer your information from the EEA, the UK, or Switzerland to another country such as the United States, we will implement an appropriate data transfer solution such as entering into “standard contractual clauses” approved by the European Commission or an applicable competent governmental authority with the data importer. If you are a TechTarget customer, you can access our standard customer standard contractual clauses on our legal page here. Following the adequacy decision by the European Commission, we rely on the EU-U.S. Data Privacy Framework.

See the section entitled “EU-U.S. Data Privacy Framework / Notice” below to learn more about our use of the Data Privacy Framework.

12. EU-U.S. Data Privacy Framework / Notice

TechTarget complies with the EU-U.S. Data Privacy Framework (EU-U.S. DPF), the UK Extension to the EU-U.S. DPF, and the Swiss-U.S. Data Privacy Framework (Swiss-U.S. DPF) as set forth by the U.S. Department of Commerce (collectively, the “DPF”). TechTarget has certified to the U.S. Department of Commerce that it adheres to the DPF with regard to the processing of personal data received from the European Union, from the United Kingdom (and Gibraltar), and from Switzerland. The Swiss-U.S. DPF and UK Extension to the EU-U.S. DPF will not be relied upon in relation to transfers of any relevant personal information to the U.S. until approved by appropriate authorities. If there is any conflict between the terms in this privacy policy and the DPF, the applicable DPF principles shall govern. To learn more about the DPF program, and to view our certification, please visit https://www.dataprivacyframework.gov/.

TechTarget receives personal data about individuals in the EU, UK and Switzerland, including website visitors, members, service providers, contractors, and other third parties. The personal data collected, its purposes, its uses, and the third parties to whom we disclose such data are described in Sections 3, 4, 6 and 7, above. TechTarget remains responsible for all onward transfers of personal data from the EU, UK, and Switzerland to third parties who process personal data in a manner inconsistent with the DPF, unless TechTarget can provide that we are not responsible for the event giving rise to the damage.

The U.S. Federal Trade Commission has jurisdiction over our compliance with the DPF. In certain situations, we may be required to disclose personal data in response to lawful requests by public authorities, including to meet national security or law enforcement requirements.

EU, UK, and Swiss individuals with inquiries or complaints regarding our handling of personal data received in reliance on the DPF or otherwise wishing to access their personal data, limit its use and disclosure, or exercise other applicable data privacy rights should first contact us using one of the contact methods provided in the “Contact Us” section below.

In compliance with the DPF, TechTarget commits to refer unresolved complaints concerning our handling of personal data received in reliance on the DPF to JAMS, an alternative dispute resolution provider based in the United States. If you do not receive timely acknowledgment of your DPF-related complaint from us, or if we have not addressed your DPF-related complaint to your satisfaction, please visit https://www.jamsadr.com/dpf-dispute-resolution for more information or to file a complaint. The services of JAMS are provided at no cost to you.

If your DPF complaint cannot be resolved through the above channels, under certain conditions, you may invoke binding arbitration for some residual claims not resolved by other redress mechanisms. For more information regarding your right to binding arbitration please see Annex I of the DPF, available on the DPF website.

This policy may be amended or modified from time to time consistent with the DPF.

13. Children’s Privacy

Our products, services, events and offerings are directed to professionals. Our business is not directed at children, and we do not solicit or knowingly collect any personal data from children under the age of 16 without verifiable parental consent. If you are not 18 or older, you are not authorized to use our Websites or services. Parents should be aware that there are parental control tools available online that you can use to prevent children from submitting information online without parental permission or from accessing material that is harmful to minors. If you learn that a child under 13 has provided us with personal data without consent, please contact us using one of the contact methods provided in the “Contact Us” section below.

14. Your California Privacy Rights

If you are a California resident, the California Consumer Privacy Act, as amended (CCPA), permits you to request information regarding the disclosure of your personal data. To learn more about your California privacy rights, please read our CCPA Privacy Notice and to exercise any of your privacy rights, please use our CCPA Rights Request Form. Please note, for CCPA requests we will take reasonable steps to verify your identity and the authenticity of your request. Authorized Agents may submit requests through our Authorized Agent Portal available here. For more information, please refer to the section entitled “Your EU and UK GDPR Privacy Rights and Controlling Your Data – Information for Authorized Agents” above. If you have questions about our CCPA Privacy Notice, please contact us using one of the contact methods provided in the “Contact Us” section below.

15. Your LGPD Privacy Rights

If you are a resident of Brazil, the Lei Geral de Proteção de Dados Pessoais (LGPD), Federal Law No. 13,709/2018, may provide you with additional privacy rights with respect to the collection and use of your personal data. To learn more about your privacy rights, please read our LGPD Privacy Notice. If you have questions about our LGPD Privacy Notice, please contact us using one of the contact methods provided in the “Contact Us” section below.

16. Changes to this Privacy Policy

We may modify or amend this policy from time to time concerning matters we do not need consent for. If we change our policy, we will post those changes to our website (and update the “Last Updated” date at the top of this policy) and we will notify you. Additionally, where and when required based on our legal basis for processing, we will seek your consent. We encourage you to read this policy regularly.

17. Contact Us

If you wish to exercise any rights that you may have to your Personal Data, you can contact us via one of the below methods:

1. For EU and UK GDPR Data Subject Rights Requests, click here.
2. For California CCPA Consumer Rights Requests, click here.
3. For Other Questions related to privacy, click here.

For general questions related to privacy, you can email [email protected].

In addition to the above, you can also send questions regarding this privacy policy or other privacy related questions by either emailing [email protected], or writing a letter to the attention of our Data Protection Officer at our corporate office located at TechTarget, Inc., 275 Grove Street, Newton, MA 02466, USA, to any of our global offices listed here, and/or by calling us at (617) 431-9200.

To the extent of any conflict between the English language version of our policy and any translations available on any of our foreign language websites, this policy shall govern.

Translated versions of our policy are provided for convenience only.