Autodesk Privacy Statement

REVISED AND POSTED AS OF: March 27, 2012. 

Autodesk, Inc. and its subsidiaries worldwide (collectively “Autodesk,” “we,” or “us”) respect your rights and our obligations in regard to your privacy and personal information. 

Autodesk interacts with you in many ways: for example, through our website, desktop software, mobile applications, and our online services.  As you use our products and services to imagine, design and create a better world, you share information with us.  We want you to understand how we use your information, and how you can take steps to protect your privacy.

This Privacy Statement explains how we collect, store, use, share, transfer, and retain personal information, as well as how you can access and update both your personal information and choices.  We have tried to keep these explanations easy to understand while providing you with enough details to be clear about our practices. 

Click on the links in this Privacy Statement to get more information about a word or topic, or you can go to the Key Terms and Additional Information section first.  Thank you for taking the time to learn about our practices, and if you have questions you can contact us through our webform, by e-mail at privacy.questions@autodesk.com, or by postal mail to the address below:

Privacy Questions
Autodesk, Inc.
111 McInnis Parkway
San Rafael, CA 94903
U.S.A.

What this Privacy Statement covers
This Privacy Statement is applicable worldwide, and covers how Autodesk treats all personal information collected or received by us through our products, services, Autodesk-owned websites, from third parties, and offline. Certain Autodesk websites, products or services may include supplemental privacy notices or in special cases have their own privacy policies.

Autodesk does not exercise control over third party sites, including those that may offer Autodesk applications, products, and services. We may offer links to third party sites or provide social media features through our products, services, and websites that allow you to share information with your social networks and to interact with Autodesk on social media platforms. Depending on the feature, your use of these other sites and platforms may enable them to place their own cookies or other files on your computer, collect data, or solicit personal information from you. 

Autodesk is not responsible for the privacy practices of third parties. Be sure to review the privacy policies, supplemental notices, and settings of all websites or platforms that you visit so you can understand these practices and your options.

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Information Autodesk collects
Autodesk collects both personal information and non-personal information.

“Personal information” is information that personally identifies you and allows us to contact you on- or off-line, such as your name, e-mail address, postal address, telephone numbers (including mobile numbers) and fax numbers, and financial information (such as account or credit card number).

"Non-personal information" is aggregated information, demographic information, technical information, and any other information that does not reveal your specific identity and which does not enable us to contact you.

Here are ways in which Autodesk collects information.

  • Information you provide to us.  We receive personal and non-personal information from you when you register for, activate or request a product (including trial products) or service; create login credentials; e-mail, call, or send us postal mail, or complete and submit any webform on our website; interact with us through social media platforms; submit an error report; or participate in in-product analytics programs such as the Customer Involvement Program (the “CIP”). Sometimes you may provide us with third party personal information (for example, if you provide someone else’s contact information for follow up on a service request), and we will assume that you have asked for and received the third party’s permission to provide us their information.

  • Autodesk Online Store and channel partners. The branded Autodesk Online Store is operated by our ecommerce partner, who is the merchant of record in regard to online sales. This partner’s terms of sale and privacy policy apply when you make online purchases through the Autodesk Online Store. Our ecommerce partner transfers your information to us, and we treat that information as described in this Privacy Statement. Similarly, channel partners such as Autodesk authorized resellers and distributors make our product licenses available for sale. When these channel partners transfer information to us, we treat that information as described in this Privacy Statement.

  • Supplemental information. From time to time we may supplement personal information you provide to us or that we collect with information from other commercially available sources that we deem credible, such as business contact databases. For example, this helps us maintain the accuracy of the information we collect and keep in our records.  
     
  • Automatic data collection tools (including cookies). When you communicate with us, access Autodesk websites and services through a browser, application, or other client, our servers automatically collect and record certain information. These tools help make your visit to our website easier, more efficient and more valuable by recognizing you when you return and providing you with a customized experience. Autodesk and its service providers may collect environmental variables and use automatic data collection tools such as cookies, embedded web links, and other technologies to collect information. These data collection tools collect standard information from your browser such as browser type, browser language, and the website address you came from when you visited our website. They may also collect information about your Internet Protocol (IP) address, and clickstream behavior (for example, the pages you view and the links you click), along with the date and time of your visit or request, and one or more cookies that may uniquely identify your browser or your account.

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Children and privacy
Some Autodesk websites, products, and services are intended for general audiences; however, we do not knowingly collect any personal information from children aged 12 years old and under. Autodesk encourages parents to spend time online with their children, and we urge parents to teach their children about talking to strangers and not sharing personal information such as real names, addresses, or phone numbers online. In some jurisdictions, notification, prior written permission or other verifiable parental consent may be required of a parent or guardian for children from 13 to 17 years of age. No information should be submitted nor posted to Autodesk websites, products, or services by children 12 years old or under.

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Storage and security of personal information
We appreciate your trust in Autodesk by sharing your personal information with us, and we are committed to protecting it. We utilize a combination of security technologies, procedures, and organizational measures to help protect your personal information from unauthorized access, use, or disclosure. For example, when we transfer sensitive personal data (for example, credit card information) over the Internet, we protect it using Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) encryption technology. Access to personal information is restricted to those employees, contractors, and agents of Autodesk who need to know such data to perform their assigned functions and develop or improve our products and services.  However, despite our efforts, no method of transmission over the Internet, or method of electronic storage is 100% secure, and we cannot ensure or warrant the security of any information you transmit to us, we transmit to you or that we store.

You also have an important role to play in securing your personal information. Please do not send us sensitive information through e-mail. Create strong passwords.  Keep passwords secure, change passwords often, and use a secure browser. Also, remember to sign out of your Autodesk account and close your browser window when you have finished your work.

If you have reason to believe that your interaction with us is no longer secure (for example, if you feel that the security of any account you might have with us has been compromised), you must immediately notify us of the problem by contacting us in accordance with this Privacy Statement.  Please see the “Contact us” section below.  Note that if you choose to notify us via postal mail, this will delay the time it takes for us to respond to the problem.

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Autodesk’s use of personal information
As we explained in previous sections, Autodesk collects both personal information and non-personal information. 

Our primary purpose for collecting and using personal information is to provide you with an efficient, positive, and personalized user experience. In most cases, the more specific information you provide, the better we are able to personalize your experience with Autodesk.

You agree that we may use your personal information in the following ways:

  • to process orders and deliver a product or provide a service you have requested.

  • to conduct credit checks, determine appropriate payment terms and enter into contracts with you.

  • to contact you, and provide you with order shipping and billing information.

  • to meet contract obligations.

  • to provide you with product registration, activation, and technical and customer support.

  • to allow you to create sign on credentials, personal profiles, and view protected content.

  • to provide and administer promotions you enter such as a contest, sweepstakes, or other promotional activity.

  • to allow your participation in activities, such as online discussion groups and communities.

  • to conduct questionnaires and surveys in order to provide better products and services to our customers and end users. Your completion of any questionnaire or survey is voluntary.

  • to support recruitment inquiries.

  • to send you communications of interest that you have requested, such as e-mails or SMS (text) messages about Autodesk, our products and services, targeted marketing, and promotional offers, all subject to your communication choices. These communications may occasionally include information from other companies about products and services that can add value to Autodesk products and services.  Please see “How to access and update your personal information and choices” below to learn how you can change or withdraw marketing permissions.

  • to send you operational communications, such as service packs, or product or service notices communicating actions you should take regarding a product or service you have registered and/or purchased.

  • to allow you to use a “tell a friend,” “forward to a friend,” or similar feature that forwards information you select to another individual, such as a friend or co-worker who you believe is interested in receiving the information. Autodesk does not store the personal information that you submit about the third party when using these features. We use the e-mail address and contact name (if applicable) for the sole purpose of sending a one-time e-mail on your behalf.

  • to customize, measure and improve our products, services, content, and advertising.

  • to personalize your overall experience with Autodesk, our websites, products, and services.

  • to ensure the use of our products and services is licensed and in compliance with applicable law.

  • to undertake any of the activities described in the “Sharing of personal information” section below, including transfer within Autodesk companies and to Authorized Third Parties as described below.

  • for any related purpose that you would reasonably expect, such as general administrative functions.

We may aggregate personal information in a manner such that the end result is non-personal information -- for example, by using personal information to calculate the percentage of our users who live in a particular country or to get a better understanding of our subscriber base by analyzing on an aggregate basis our users' demographics, interests, and behavior.  Because the result does not identify you or any other user specifically, this is non-personal information and we may use it for any purpose, including sharing it with third parties. 

Sometimes we combine personal information with non-personal information.  Examples include combining your name with your geographic location (Europe) or your e-mail with your industry (media and entertainment).  When we combine personal information with non-personal information, we treat the combined information as personal information as long as it is combined and used together.

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Sharing of personal information
We may share your personal information within Autodesk or any of our subsidiary companies worldwide for purposes of data processing or storage and to guide decisions about their products, services, and communications. Autodesk, Inc. is the party responsible for the management of the jointly-used personal information.

Unless Autodesk has your permission to do so, we do not rent, sell, share, or trade your personal information to third parties for their direct marketing purposes.

By submitting your personal information to us, you agree that your personal information may be shared with and transferred to third parties under the following circumstances:

  • Authorized Third Parties. We may share your personal information, including personal information we have combined with other information, with authorized third parties (such as our business partners, service providers, vendors, licensees, authorized third-party agents or contractors) who help with our business operations, including the storage and processing of personal information for the uses listed in this Privacy Statement (“Authorized Third Parties”). Examples include fulfilling orders, sending communications, removing repetitive personal information from customer lists, ensuring accuracy of personal information, analyzing data and providing related services, providing marketing assistance, and processing credit card payments. We require that Authorized Third Parties to agree to implement reasonable safeguards to protect the personal information, and to use the personal information only for the purposes for which it was provided.  

  • Channel partners and other business partners. As noted above, we work with other companies, such as channel partners (including distributors and resellers), who sell our product licenses and services. If you submit personal information to Autodesk in order to evaluate, request information about purchasing, and/or to purchase a product or service that is offered by a channel partner or another company with whom we have a relationship, we may share your personal information with that company so the company can process your request (for example, order to ship, supply, maintain, renew or service the products or services that you requested) and you may be contacted by the company. We may combine non-personal information with the personal information shared in order to help personalize your experience. We require any such company to agree to implement reasonable safeguards to protect the personal information, and to use the personal information only for the purposes for which it was provided. AUTODESK IS NOT RESPONSIBLE OR LIABLE FOR THE USE OF PERSONAL INFORMATION ABOUT YOU BY SUCH COMPANIES.

  • Legal compliance. We may disclose your personal information to comply with applicable laws, legal processes, or court orders, and/or to establish or exercise our legal rights or defend against legal claims. 

  • Safety and enforcement of rights. We may disclose personal information and other information available to us when we believe, in our sole discretion, disclosure is necessary or appropriate in order to investigate, prevent, or take action (including action outside your country of residence) regarding: illegal activities; suspected fraud; brand and other intellectual property protection matters (such as gray market sales or use of Autodesk’s trademarks without a license); situations involving potential threats to the physical safety of any person; violations of Autodesk’s terms of service; violations of end user license agreements; or as otherwise required by law (including laws outside your country of residence).

  • Merger, bankruptcy and other transactions.  If Autodesk should merge with another company, file for bankruptcy, or if Autodesk should decide to sell or reorganize some part or all of its business, we may disclose your personal information to prospective or actual purchasers. We may also share personal information about you with our consultants and advisors (such as accountants and lawyers) in connection with such transactions.

WE ARE NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR THE USE OF ANY PERSONAL INFORMATION YOU OPENLY DISCLOSE THROUGH YOUR USE OF THE WEBSITE OR SERVICES. If you post or provide comments, for example in a discussion forum, blog, or community area on an Autodesk website, please remember that the personal and other information you provide there will be made broadly available to others, and can be read, collected, or used by other users, potentially inside or outside Autodesk.  We urge you to exercise discretion and caution when deciding to disclose personal information about you, or any other information, in such areas.

Each participant’s comments are his or her own and should not be considered as reflecting the opinion of Autodesk. From time to time we post customer testimonials, comments, and reviews which may contain personal information including name, title, and photograph. We do obtain the customer’s consent prior to posting personal information with their testimonial.

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Transfer of personal information
We may transfer, use, and store personal information about you to Autodesk, Inc. in the United States or other countries, to any Autodesk subsidiary worldwide, or to Authorized Third Parties acting on our behalf. If you are visiting from the European Union or other regions with laws governing data collection and use, please note that you are agreeing to the transfer of your personal information to the United States to Autodesk, Inc. and to other countries where Autodesk, and Authorized Third Parties acting on our behalf, operate, the privacy laws of which may be less strict than those of your country. By providing your personal information you fully understand and unambiguously consent to the transfer, processing, and storage of such information as described in this Privacy Statement.

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Retention and deletion of personal information
We will retain personal information about you only as long as we need it to honor your choices, fulfill the purposes described in this Privacy Statement, or as required or permitted by applicable laws and regulations. For example, certain laws and regulations may require us to retain certain transactional data. We take reasonable measures to destroy or permanently de-identify personal information in a secure manner when it is no longer required. For example, when the information is printed on paper, we take reasonable measures to delete or destroy it by shredding or incineration; where the information is stored electronically, we use technical means to render the information unusable.

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How to access and update your personal information and choices
We want to be sure the personal information we maintain is accurate, complete and up to date. You may have the right under applicable data protection laws to access the personal information that Autodesk keeps for you, on request to Autodesk, except in certain limited circumstances (for example, where an applicable law requires us to deny such access). 

You can use the links immediately below or contact us by e-mail or postal mail to request access to your personal information.

  • Autodesk ID. Autodesk provides a single sign-in account that enables you to sign in one time and use a single user ID and password to access multiple Autodesk websites (your “Autodesk ID”). You can access and update your Autodesk ID profile by logging in and following the relevant online links or instructions. To update your information for Registration & Activation, Subscription Center, Partner Center, and other services, log in to the service with your Autodesk ID and follow the online the links or instructions. A sign in help page is available if you have any problems. Users from Japan with a Contact ID, please use the Japan login page.

  • Marketing preferences. You can access and update your personal information and preferences, or unsubscribe from Autodesk marketing communications, using our webform, or follow the unsubscribe instructions in communications you receive.

  • Analytics programs. In connection with our many of our products, you can choose to participate or stop participating in the Customer Involvement Program at any time by opening the CIP dialog box in the product Help menu and following the relevant instructions. Your choice applies to all Autodesk products installed on your computer.  If you have any questions regarding the CIP, please contact CIP@autodesk.com. For trial, preview or beta products where accepting limited or full participation in an in-product analytics program is a condition of receiving access to those products, if you do not wish to participate please do not use these products.  For mobile applications, you will be provided with a specific privacy notice about product usage analytics in the application (if any), along with instructions about how to get more information and opt-out.

  • Autodesk Online Store. As noted above, the branded Autodesk Online Store is operated by our ecommerce partner, who is the merchant of record in regard to online sales. To update or change information you provided when purchasing Autodesk products online through the Autodesk Online Store you can contact our ecommerce vendor. (If this feature is not available in your country, the link may not be active.)

  • Hosted Services.  Autodesk customers may have invited you to participate in a customer-specific area of a hosted service, such as the Buzzsaw, Constructware or Streamline services.  The customer site administrator manages these invitations, and requests to change or update information you provided when registering should be directed to that site administrator.   AUTODESK ACTS ONLY AS A SERVICE PROVIDER TO OUR CUSTOMERS IN CONNECTION TO HOSTED SERVICES, AND IS NOT RESPONSIBLE OR LIABLE FOR THE USE AND/OR DISCLOSURE OF PERSONAL INFORMATION ABOUT YOU BY SUCH CUSTOMERS.
     
  • Other issues. If these links do not address your access or choice needs, you can contact us through our webform, e-mail us at privacy.questions@autodesk.com, or contact us by postal mail at: Privacy Questions, Autodesk, Inc., 111 McInnis Parkway, San Rafael, CA 94903, U.S.A. Please include your contact information, the name of the Autodesk website, product, communication, or other service about which you are contacting us, and a detailed description of your specific request.  We will comply with your request as soon as reasonably practicable.

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Contact us
Autodesk regularly reviews its compliance with this Privacy Statement, including as new products and services are developed. Please note that parts of this Privacy Statement may not apply to you if you are in a country or region where certain products or services are not offered. If you have questions regarding this Privacy Statement, please contact us using our webform, by e-mail at privacy.questions@autodesk.com, or by postal mail:

Privacy Questions
Autodesk, Inc.
111 McInnis Parkway
San Rafael, CA 94903
U.S.A.

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Privacy Statement updates
By visiting our websites and using our products and services, you agree to be bound by the terms and conditions of this Privacy Statement. If you do not agree, please do not use or access Autodesk websites, products, or services.

We reserve the right to change this Privacy Statement from time to time, and may do so at our discretion, consistent with applicable laws. Check the “last updated” section at the top of this Privacy Statement to check on the last time the Privacy Statement was changed. 

If we decide to make material changes to our Privacy Statement, we will notify you and other users by placing a notice on www.autodesk.com and/or by sending you a notice to the e-mail address (if any) we have on file for you. We may supplement this process by sending notices through our products and services and on other Autodesk websites. The revised Privacy Statement will supersede and replace any previous privacy policies or statements effective as of the date on which it is posted. You should periodically check www.autodesk.com and this Privacy Statement for updates.

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Key Terms and Additional Information

Personal information
Personal information such as your name, e-mail address, postal address, telephone numbers (including mobile numbers) and fax numbers, and financial information (such as account or credit card number).

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Non-personal information
There are lots of different types of non-personal information, so to help make it easier to understand what information Autodesk collects and how we use it, we’ve broken it into general categories (aggregated information, demographic information, technical information), but basically it is information that does not reveal your specific identity and which does not permit us to contact you.

Aggregated information. Some examples of aggregated information are the percentage of customers who live in a particular country or who have a particular area code.

Demographic information. Demographic information includes information such as title, geographic location, the industry that you work in, country domain, the language you selected for viewing order forms or other documents, and the currency in which you viewed prices if such feature is available.

Technical information. Examples of technical information include: your browser type and language choice; operating system name and version; system configuration information (such as processor, memory, and graphics card); Autodesk product commands and operations used;  request and activation codes; product release, version, and language; graphics configuration driver name and version; list of applications running at the time of an error and other error conditions; list of Autodesk products and services installed on the computer you are using; Autodesk product serial numbers; and format and source of data imported or exported from Autodesk products or services.

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Error reports
Autodesk offers the Customer Error Reporting (“CER”) tool, and from time to time offers other product specific error reporting tools.

The CER tool. The CER dialog box appears whenever the Autodesk product you are using closes unexpectedly. If you choose to send an error report to Autodesk, the report is sent to Autodesk in encrypted form. When Autodesk receives the error report, automated systems sort the reports so that Autodesk developers can review and analyze the data. Once a software error is believed to be fixed, it is included in either a future maintenance update or the next release of the product. Autodesk may also notify those customers who initially reported the error, if they included their e-mail address in the customer error report.

CER collects and sends the following information as part of the error reporting process:

  • Operating system name and version
  • Autodesk product name, version, and serial number
  • Graphics configuration driver name and version
  • List of Autodesk applications loaded when an error occurs
  • List of recent Autodesk commands
  • Portion of Autodesk program in memory when an error occurs  
    • If personal information or confidential information is in the system memory when the software error occurs, it may be sent to Autodesk with the error report through the CER feature. If you have concerns about information being sent to Autodesk through CER, do not send the error report.

In addition to the above information, you may choose to include the following optional information:

  • E-mail address
  • Step-by-step description of the error

Other error reporting tools. From time to time Autodesk offers product specific error reporting tools.  A dialog box will appear, and you will be told what information the tool will collect, how it will be sent to Autodesk, and any other relevant information about the tool or its use.

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The Customer Involvement Program
The Autodesk Customer Involvement Program (the “CIP”) provides Autodesk with a method for gathering and analyzing data on how Autodesk customers use our products. By participating in the program, you add valuable input that helps us understand how to best improve your overall experience with Autodesk and our software.

If a customer chooses to participate in the CIP, the CIP client automatically collects information about the customer’s use of product features, system configuration, and software errors. About once a day, a small file containing this CIP information is sent in encrypted form to Autodesk’s CIP servers.

The following types of information may be collected from all CIP participants:

  • Operating system name and version
  • System configuration information, such as processor, memory, and graphics card
  • Autodesk product commands and operations used
  • Name, serial number, and version of Autodesk products
  • Error conditions
  • Format and source of data imported or exported from Autodesk products
  • IP address 

In addition to the information listed above, the CIP may allow a participant to submit contact information (such as the participant’s e-mail address and company name). Contact information is required if a participant seeks to participate in beta (pre-release) programs, and if the participant is willing to receive communication from Autodesk developers and product managers.

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Environmental variables
“Environmental variables” include Media Access Control (“MAC”) address, computer type (Windows or Macintosh), screen resolution, operating system name and version, Internet browser, and Internet browser version.

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Automatic data collection tools
As is common with websites, Autodesk and our service providers may use “cookies,” "pixel tags," "web beacons," "clear GIFs," or other similar technologies in connection with website pages and HTML-formatted e-mail messages to, among other things, track the actions of website users and e-mail recipients, determine the success of marketing campaigns, compile aggregate statistics about website usage and response rates and make it easier for you to navigate our website or better personalize your experience with us, for example by not requiring you to submit login credentials repeatedly or by showing you content targeted to your interests. 

A “cookie” is a commonly used automated data collection tool.  A cookie is a small amount of data that is sent to a browser from a web server and gets saved on the hard drive of the computer that you are using. If you do not want information collected through the use of cookies, there is a simple procedure in most browsers that allows you to automatically decline cookies, or to be given the choice of declining or accepting the transfer of a particular cookie, or cookies from a particular web site, to your computer. If you choose to reject all cookies, however, you will be unable to use those Autodesk services that require registration or customization in order to participate. If you choose to accept cookies from us and our service providers, you are granting us and our service providers your consent to set cookies on your computer. To learn more about cookies and other automatic data collection tools, please visit http://www.allaboutcookies.org/.

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Internet Protocol (IP) address
Your Internet Protocol (IP) address is a number that is automatically assigned to the computer that you are using by your Internet Service Provider (ISP). Depending on your service provider, your IP address may be “variable,” which means you are assigned a different IP address each time you connect to the Internet.  IP addresses are assigned to countries in blocks, so even if your IP address is variable we can determine the country with which your IP address is associated.

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Strong passwords
Strong passwords have the following characteristics:

  • Contain both upper and lower case characters (e.g., a-z, A-Z)
  • Have digits and /or punctuation characters as well as letters, for example: the numbers 0 through 9; or special characters such as: !, @, or  #.  Be aware however that some applications and systems cannot handle passwords containing special characters.
  • Are at least eight alphanumeric characters long.
  • Are not a word in any language, slang, dialect, or jargon.
  • Are not based on information such as names of family members or pets.
  • Do not contain three or more characters from the user’s account name.

Passwords to be avoided are:

  • Words found in a dictionary
  • Common usage words such as:
    • Names of family, pets, friends, co-workers, popular television or fantasy characters.
    • Computer terms and names, commands, sites, companies, hardware, software.
    • Birthdays and other personal information such as addresses and phone numbers.
    • Word or number patterns like aaabbb, qwerty, zyxwvuts, 123321, etc.
    • Any of the above spelled backwards.
    • Any of the above preceded or followed by a digit (for example, secret1, 1secret)

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