Privacy Policy

Last modified: October 4, 2024

SXSW, LLC, its agents, subsidiaries and affiliates (“SXSW" or “we”) produces the SXSW Conference and Festivals, SXSW EDU Conference and Festival, SXSW Online and SXSW EDU Online (collectively, the “Events”), and is committed to respecting your privacy. By using or accessing our products, services or Site (defined below) in any manner, you agree to this Privacy Policy and the website Terms of Use. If you do not agree to be bound by these terms, please leave the Site. 

As we continually work to improve our Services (defined below), we may need to change this Privacy Policy from time to time. Upon material changes, we will alert you to any such changes by placing a notice on the SXSW Site, by sending you an email and/or by some other means. Please note that if you’ve opted not to receive legal notice emails from us (or you haven’t provided us with your email address), those legal notices will still govern your use of the Services, and you are still responsible for reading and understanding them. If you use the Services after any changes to the Privacy Policy have been posted, that means you agree to all of the changes.

PRIVACY POLICY TABLE OF CONTENTS

What This Privacy Policy Covers

This Privacy Policy identifies what Personal Data (defined below) is collected about you and how it’s used by SXSW when you use the websites sxsw.com, sxswedu.com, explore.sxsw.com, explore.sxswedu.com, schedule.sxsw.com, social.sxsw.com, wristbands.sxsw.com, panelpicker.sxsw.com, cart.sxsw.com, volunteer.sxsw.com, id.sxsw.com, merch.sxsw.com, my.sxsw.com, my.sxswedu.com, or other related sites as well as the SXSW and SXSW EDU TV apps and SXSW GO and SXSW EDU GO mobile apps (collectively, the “Site”), register for or attend Events, purchase goods or services, or communicate with SXSW (together with the Site, the “Services”).

“Personal Data” means any information that identifies or relates to a particular individual and also includes information referred to as “personally identifiable information” or “personal information” under applicable data privacy laws, rules or regulations.

This Privacy Policy does not cover the practices of companies we don’t own or control or people we don’t manage, including companies or websites that you access through linked advertisements. Our Site or emails may include links to external websites of third party sponsors, SXSW business partners or advertisers. Third parties may use their own cookies, tracking codes, or web beacons when you click on their advertisement or link to their site or service, even if the advertisement simply appears on a page or in an email that you are viewing. In certain situations, you may be temporarily redirected to another website, which may not be apparent to you. We do not control the use of cookies, tracking codes, or web beacons by third parties, or how they manage personal data you provide to them. You should review the privacy policy of the sites you visit to understand their privacy practices before you share personal data.

Personal Data Overview

Below is an overview of the type of personal data SXSW commonly collects, and how we use that personal data. The column on the left details which category of Personal Data is applicable for the entry on that row. Please note that we do not collect all of this information from each individual we interact with. Some of the information below may be collected only if voluntarily provided by you.

Category of Personal Data What Data is Collected Categories of Third Parties With Whom We Share This Personal Data
Profile or Contact Data
  • First and last name
  • Email
  • Phone number
  • Mailing address
  • Affiliates
  • Service Providers
  • Advertising Partners
  • Analytics Partners
  • Parties You Authorize, Access or Authenticate
Identifiers
  • Cultural or social identifiers (for example Participation in the Event as a speaker, artist, filmmaker, or More)
  • Service Providers
  • Advertising Partners
  • Analytics Partners
  • Parties You Authorize, Access or Authenticate
Payment Data
  • Financial account information
  • Payment card type
  • Last 4 digits of payment card
  • Name and billing address, phone number, and email
  • Service Providers, specifically our payment processing partners, currently: Paypal, Chase Orbital, Shopify, and Square
Commercial Data
  • Purchase history
  • Consumer profiles
  • Service Providers
  • Advertising Partners
  • Parties You Authorize, Access or Authenticate
Device/IP Data
  • IP address
  • Device ID
  • Type of device/operating system/browser used to access the Services
  • IP-address based location data
  • Service Providers
  • Advertising Partners
  • Analytics Partners
  • Parties You Authorize, Access or Authenticate
Web Analytics
  • Web page interactions
  • Referring webpage/source through which you accessed the Services
  • Statistics associated with the interaction between device or browser and the Services.
  • Service Providers
  • Advertising Partners
  • Analytics Partners
  • Business Partners
  • Parties You Authorize, Access or Authenticate
Demographic Data
  • Age Range or date of birth
  • Zip code
  • Gender
  • Service Providers
  • Advertising Partners
  • Analytics Partners
  • Business Partners
  • Parties You Authorize, Access or Authenticate
Professional or Employment-Related Data
  • Education background
  • Job title
  • Company name
  • Industry
  • Role
  • Seniority
  • Buying Role
  • Income range/household income
  • Service Providers
  • Advertising Partners
  • Analytics Partners
  • Parties You Authorize, Access or Authenticate
Sensory Data
  • Photos, videos, or recordings of you and/or your environment
  • Service Providers
  • Analytics Partners
  • Parties You Authorize, Access or Authenticate
Categories of Data Considered "Sensitive" Under the State Privacy Laws (as defined below)
  • Geolocation data, specifically, a QR code and unique RFID (radio frequency Identification - which you can read more about here) code imbedded in each SXSW badge and wristband, each of which, if scanned, can identify the location of events you attend)
  • Race
  • Ethnicity
  • Service Providers
  • Parties You Authorize, Access or Authenticate
Other Identifying Information that You Voluntarily Choose to Provide
  • Identifying information in emails, letters, texts, or other communications you send us.
  • Service Providers
  • Parties You Authorize, Access or Authenticate

How We Collect Personal Data

Categories of Sources of Personal Data

We collect Personal Data about you from the following categories of sources:

  • You
    • When you provide such information directly to us.
    • When you create an account or use our interactive tools or the Site.      
    • When you voluntarily provide information in free-form text boxes through the Site or through responses to surveys or questionnaires.     
    • When you send us an email or otherwise contact us.
    • When you make a purchase     
    • When you participate in SXSW Events as a speaker, artist, filmmaker, etc.
    • When you use the Site, including when information is collected automatically.
      • Through cookies, web beacons, and other tracking technologies (described in the “Tracking Technologies” section below). Please see “How We Use Cookie and Web Beacon Information” for more details. 
      • If you download our mobile application or use a location-enabled browser, we may receive information about your location and mobile device, as applicable.    
      • If you download and install certain applications and software we make available, we may receive and collect information transmitted from your computing device for the purpose of providing you with the relevant services, such as information regarding when you are logged on and available to receive updates or alert notices. 
  • Third Parties
    • Vendors.
      • We may use analytics providers to analyze how you interact and engage with the Site, or third parties to help us provide you with customer support.
      • We may use vendors to obtain information to generate leads and create user profiles.
    • Advertising Partners.
      • We receive information about you from some of our vendors who assist us with marketing or promotional services related to how you interact with our Site, applications, products, services, advertisements or communications.      

Our Commercial or Business Purposes for Collecting or Disclosing Personal Data

  • Providing, Customizing and Improving the Services
    • Creating and managing your account or other user profiles.
    • Processing orders or other transactions; billing.
    • Providing you with the products, services or information
    • Meeting or fulfilling the reason you provided the information to us.
    • Providing support and assistance for the Services.
    • Improving the Services, including testing, research, internal analytics and product development.
    • Personalizing the Services, website content and communications based on your preferences.
    • Doing fraud protection, security and debugging.
    • Carrying out other business purposes stated when collecting your Personal Data or as otherwise permitted pursuant to applicable data privacy laws, such as the California Consumer Privacy Act, as amended (by the California Privacy Rights Act of 2020 (the “CCPA”), the Virginia Consumer Data Protection Act (the “VCDPA”), the Texas Data Privacy and Security Act (the “TDPSA”), or the Utah Consumer Privacy Act (the “UCPA”) (collectively, the “State Privacy Laws).
  • Marketing the Services
    • Marketing and selling the Services.
    • Showing you advertisements, including interest-based or online behavioral advertising. 
  • Corresponding with You
    • Responding to correspondence that we receive from you, contacting you when necessary or requested, and sending you information about SXSW or the Services.
    • Sending emails and other communications according to your preferences or that display content that we think will interest you.
  • Meeting Legal Requirements and Enforcing Legal Terms
    • Fulfilling our legal obligations under applicable law, regulation, court order or other legal process, such as preventing, detecting and investigating security incidents and potentially illegal or prohibited activities.
    • Protecting the rights, property or safety of you, SXSW or another party.
    • Enforcing any agreement with you.
    • Responding to claims that any posting or other content violates third party rights.
    • Resolving disputes. 

We will not collect additional categories of Personal Data or use the Personal Data we collected for materially different, unrelated or incompatible purposes without providing you notice. If you are a California resident, please note that we only use or disclose your sensitive personal information for the purposes set forth in section 7027(m) of the CCPA regulations and we do not collect or process sensitive personal information with the purpose of inferring any characteristics about California residents.

How We Disclose Your Personal Data

SXSW will only disclose your Personal Data to a third-party (i) for a legitimate business or commercial purpose; (ii) with your consent; (iii) as necessary to answer your questions, provide the products and/or services you request or purchase from SXSW; or (iv) to comply with governmental, legal, or internal record-keeping requirements as reasonably required or permitted by applicable laws. When we disclose Personal Data for a legitimate business or commercial purpose, we enter into a contract with the third party that describes the purpose and requires the recipient both keep that Personal Data confidential and not use it for any purpose except as permitted pursuant to our contract. We disclose your Personal Data to the categories of service providers and other parties listed in this section. Depending on state laws that may be applicable to you, some of these disclosures may constitute a “sale” of your Personal Data. For more information, please refer to the “Rights Under U.S. State Privacy Laws” sections below.

  • Affiliates. We may disclose certain Personal Data to our corporate affiliates.
  • Service Providers. SXSW may engage service providers to help us provide the Services or perform business functions on our behalf.  In doing so, these service providers may have access to your Personal Data. Access to your Personal Data by these vendors is limited to the information necessary for it to perform its function for SXSW. For example, if you purchase a badge to attend SXSW or SXSW EDU, we work with online event vendors with whom we share your name and email address to create accounts that allow you to access the online event environment. These service providers may include:
  • Vendors and suppliers that provide us with technology, services, and/or content related to operation and maintenance of our Site, the SXSW systems, and the Events.
  • Security and fraud prevention consultants.
  • Support and customer service vendors.
  • Product fulfillment and delivery providers.
  • Payment processors.
  • Our payment processing partners, PayPal, Chase Orbital, Shopify, and Square (and their subsidiary service providers) collect your voluntarily provided payment card information necessary to process your payment. We may also work with additional payment processors who you may already have a relationship with or who may process your personal information with your consent. 
  • Please see PayPal’s, Chase Orbital’s, Shopify’s, Square’s and/or 2CP/TPRO’s (as applicable) terms of service and privacy policy for information on their use and storage of your Personal Data.
  • Advertising Partners. These parties help us market our services and provide you with other offers that may be of interest to you. For example, SXSW works with third party service providers to collect information about your Site activity using common tracking technologies, such as cookies, web beacons, and tags. These tools allow SXSW to customize your experience on the Site by analyzing Site traffic and providing you with content and advertising that is tailored to your interests. If you don’t wish to have your activity tracked, learn more about the Do Not Track tool and/or vendor opt-outs in the “Tracking Technologies” section below. SXSW also uses linked advertisements and newsletters to deliver information to you that is interest-based or about the Event. These Advertising Partners include:
    • Ad networks. 
    • Marketing providers.
  • Analytics Partners. These parties provide analytics on web traffic or usage of the Services. They include:
    • Companies that track how users found or were referred to the Services.
    • Companies that track how users interact with the Services.
  • Business Partners. These parties partner with us in offering various services. For example, SXSW links to co-branded products and/or services to websites hosted and operated by companies other than SXSW, such as video content distributors and  hotel reservations providers (each a “Channel Partner Website(s)”). The co-branded SXSW pages that you may access through a Channel Partner Website may have different registration processes and privacy policies. If you visit a Channel Partner Website, please read the privacy policy that is posted on that site. Our Business Partners may also include:

    • Businesses that you have a relationship with.
    • Companies that we partner with to offer joint promotional offers and opportunities.      
  • Parties You Authorize, Access or Authenticate.

    • Third parties you access through the services.
    • Sponsors you consent to sharing Personal Data with (for instance, in connection with RFID scans, as discussed here.
    • Other users.
  • Legal Obligations. We may release your Personal Data to third parties when we have a good faith belief it is necessary (1) to comply with valid legal requirements such as a law, legal investigation, regulation, search warrant, subpoena or court order; or (2) in special circumstances, such as a financial or physical threat to you or others, including, without limitation, if SXSW detects that a fraudulent credit card charge may have occurred. In the event that SXSW is legally compelled to disclose your Personal Data to a third party, we will use our best efforts to notify you unless doing so would violate the law or court order or present risk of imminent bodily harm.

    Business Transfers. All of your Personal Data that we collect may be transferred to a third party if we undergo a merger, acquisition, bankruptcy or other transaction in which that third party assumes control of our business (in whole or in part). Should one of these events occur, we will make reasonable efforts to notify you before your information becomes subject to different privacy and security policies and practices.

    Aggregate Information. SXSW may create aggregated, de-identified or anonymized data from the Personal Data we collect, including by removing information that makes the data personally identifiable to a particular user. Such aggregated, de-identified or anonymized data is not Personal Data and we may provide third parties with non-Personal Data about you for our lawful business purposes, including, without limitation, to analyze, build and improve the Site and promote our business, provided that it does not allow you to be directly identified or contacted and that is combined with the non-Personal Data of other users. For example, we might inform third parties regarding the aggregate number of users of our Site.

    Tracking Technologies

    Cookies & Web Beacons. We use common tracking technologies, which include cookies, web beacons, and pixel tags (collectively, “Tracking Technologies”) to collect the information detailed in the chart at the beginning of this Privacy Policy. Cookies are small computer files that we transfer to your computer’s hard drive that allow us to know how often you visit the Site and the activities you conduct while on the Site (e.g., whether you purchase SXSW credentials, referred to here as a “Badge”). Every computer is assigned a different Cookie by SXSW. We also may use web beacons to collect anonymous, non-Personal Data about your use of our Site. Web beacons are tiny graphic image files embedded in a web page or email that provide a presence on the web page or email and send back to its home server information from the users’ browser. The information collected by web beacons allows us to statistically monitor how many people are using our Site or are opening our emails. We may use information from cookies and web beacons collected from your use of the Site to target your online activity, browser or apps, with certain advertisements, and/or to determine the popularity of certain content or advertisements. By using the Site, you agree to SXSW collecting and using your behavioral information for those purposes. Please note that because of our use of Cookies, the Site does not support “Do Not Track” requests sent from a browser at this time.

    We use the following types of Cookies:

    • Essential Cookies. Essential Cookies are required for providing you with features or services that you have requested. For example, certain Cookies enable you to log into secure areas of our Services. Disabling these Cookies may make certain features and services unavailable.
    • Functional Cookies. Functional Cookies are used to record your choices and settings regarding our Services, maintain your preferences over time and recognize you when you return to our Services. These Cookies help us to personalize our content for you, greet you by name and remember your preferences (for example, your choice of language or region).
    • Performance/Analytical Cookies. Performance/Analytical Cookies allow us to understand how visitors use our Services. They do this by collecting information about the number of visitors to the Services, what pages visitors view on our Services and how long visitors are viewing pages on the Services. Performance/Analytical Cookies also help us measure the performance of our advertising campaigns in order to help us improve our campaigns and the Services’ content for those who engage with our advertising. For example, Google LLC (“Google”) uses cookies in connection with its Google Analytics services. We use Google Analytics Demographics & Interests reports to improve our Site, track our success at reaching audiences, and optimize delivery of Site and ad content specifically targeted to your interests based on your use of our Site. We also use Google Display Network Impression Reporting in order to understand the effectiveness of different ad types across various platforms, and remarketing with Google Analytics to deliver relevant ads to you based on your use of our Site. We may use additional Google products and services that require Google Analytics to collect data for advertising purposes. We will not combine non-personally identifiable information collected through Google Analytics with your Personal Data. We will not attempt to disaggregate data that Google reports in aggregate. The Google Analytics Terms of Service and the Google Privacy Policy govern Google’s ability to use and share information collected through Google Analytics. You can prevent your data from being used by Google Analytics by using the Google Analytics Opt-Out tool at www.google.com/privacy_ads.html or the Google Analytics Opt-out Browser Add-on at https://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout/.
    • Retargeting/Advertising Cookies. Retargeting/Advertising Cookies collect data about your online activity and identify your interests so that we can provide advertising that we believe is relevant to you. For more information about this, please see the section below titled “Information about Interest-Based Advertisements.” SXSW works with advertisers that use tracking technology (e.g., Meta Pixel, LinkedIn Insight Tag, Twitter Pixel, etc.) to collect information about your Site activity and third party website activity that allows us to customize the content and advertising that is delivered to you. We may also use third party tracking technology to generate analytics reports used to improve our Site, track our success at reaching audiences, and optimize delivery of Site and ad content specifically targeted to your interests based on your use of our Site. We will not combine non-personally identifiable information collected through third party advertiser tracking with your Personal Data. We will not attempt to disaggregate data that third parties report in aggregate.

    Deactivating Cookies. You can block collection of your information and Site activity by turning off Cookies. You will find further information on how to turn off Cookies in the support page of your respective browser. Deactivating cookies may hinder our ability to provide you with certain services or your ability to enjoy certain features of the Site. 

    To explore what cookie and Tracking Technologies settings are available to you or to modify your preferences with respect to cookies and Tracking Technologies, you can access your Cookie management settings by clicking here.  To find out more information about Cookies generally, including information about how to manage and delete Cookies, please visit http://www.allaboutcookies.org/ or https://ico.org.uk/for-the-public/online/cookies/ if you are located in the European Union.

    How We Use Cookie and Web Beacon Information. The information collected by cookies and web beacons helps us dynamically generate content on the Site or in emails specifically designed for you, allows us to monitor Site traffic (i.e., where a user is geographically located, device type, browser selection, referring website, Site navigation, demographic information), and provide advertising tailored to you, as discussed in detail in the Marketing and Promotions section.

    We may serve advertisements, and also allow third party ad networks, including third party ad servers, ad agencies, ad technology vendors and research firms, to serve advertisements through the Services. These advertisements may be targeted to users who fit certain general profile categories or display certain preferences or behaviors (“Interest-Based Ads”). Information for Interest-Based Ads (including Personal Data) may be provided to us by you or derived from the usage patterns of particular users on the Services and/or services of third parties. Such information may be gathered through tracking users’ activities across time and unaffiliated properties, including when you leave the Services. To accomplish this, we or our service providers may deliver Cookies, including a file (known as a “web beacon”) from an ad network to you through the Services. Web beacons allow ad networks to provide anonymized, aggregated auditing, research and reporting for us and for advertisers. Web beacons also enable ad networks to serve targeted advertisements to you when you visit other websites. Web beacons allow ad networks to view, edit or set their own Cookies on your browser, just as if you had requested a web page from their site.

    We comply with the Digital Advertising Alliance (“DAA”) Self-Regulatory Principles for Online Behavioral Advertising. Through the DAA and Network Advertising Initiative (“NAI”), several media and marketing associations have developed an industry self-regulatory program to give consumers a better understanding of, and greater control over, ads that are customized based on a consumer’s online behavior across different websites and properties. To make choices about Interest-Based Ads from participating third parties, including to opt-out of receiving behaviorally targeted advertisements from participating organizations, please visit the DAA’s or NAI’s consumer opt-out pages, which are located at http://www.networkadvertising.org/choices/ or www.aboutads.info/choices.      Users in the European Union should visit the European Interactive Digital Advertising Alliance’s user information website http://www.youronlinechoices.eu/.

    European Union, United Kingdom, and Swiss Data Subject Rights

    If you are a resident of the European Union (“EU”), United Kingdom (“UK”), Lichtenstein, Norway or Iceland, you may have additional rights under the EU or UK General Data Protection Regulation (the “GDPR”) with respect to your Personal Data, as outlined below.

    For this section, we use the terms “Personal Data” and “processing” as they are defined in the GDPR, but “Personal Data” generally means information that can be used to individually identify a person, and “processing” generally covers actions that can be performed in connection with data such as collection, use, storage and disclosure. SXSW will be the controller (as defined in the GDPR) of your Personal Data processed in connection with the Services.

    If there are any conflicts between this section and any other provision of this Privacy Policy, the policy or portion that is more protective of Personal Data shall control to the extent of such conflict. If you have any questions about this section or whether any of the following applies to you, please contact us at info@sxsw.com. Note that we may also process Personal Data of our customers’ end users or employees in connection with our provision of certain services to customers, in which case we are the processor of Personal Data. If we are the processor of your Personal Data (i.e., not the controller), please contact the controller party in the first instance to address your rights with respect to such data.

    Personal Data We Collect

    The “Personal Data Overview” section above details the Personal Data that we collect from you.

    Personal Data Use and Processing Grounds

    The “Our Commercial or Business Purposes for Collecting or Disclosing Personal Data” section above explains how we use your Personal Data.

    We will only process your Personal Data if we have a lawful basis for doing so. Lawful bases for processing include consent, contractual necessity and our “legitimate interests” or the legitimate interest of others, as further described below.

    • Contractual Necessity: We process the following categories of Personal Data as a matter of “contractual necessity”, meaning that we need to process the data to perform under our Terms of Use with you, which enables us to provide you with the Services. When we process data due to contractual necessity, failure to provide such Personal Data will result in your inability to use some or all portions of the Services that require such data.
      • Profile or Contact Data
      • Identifiers
      • Payment Data
      • Commercial Data
      • Device/IP Data
      • Demographic Data
      • Professional or Employment-Related Data 
      • Categories of Data Considered “Sensitive” Under the CCPA and the VCDPA
      • Other Identifying Information that You Voluntarily Choose to Provide.  
    • Legitimate Interest: We process the following categories of Personal Data when we believe it furthers the legitimate interest of us or third parties:
      • Profile or Contact Data
      • Identifiers
      • Payment Data
      • Commercial Data
      • Device/IP Data
      • Web Analytics
      • Demographic Data
      • Professional or Employment-Related Data
      • Categories of Data Considered “Sensitive” Under the CCPA and the VCDPA
      • Other Identifying Information that You Voluntarily Choose to Provide
      • We may also de-identify or anonymize Personal Data to further our legitimate interests

    Examples of these legitimate interests include (as described in more detail above):

      • Providing, customizing and improving the Services
      • Marketing the Services
      • Corresponding with you
      • Meeting legal requirements and enforcing legal terms
      • Completing corporate transactions
      • Other legitimate interests as permitted pursuant to applicable laws
    • Consent: In some cases, we process Personal Data based on the consent you expressly grant to us at the time we collect such data. When we process Personal Data based on your consent, it will be expressly indicated to you at the point and time of collection.
    • Other Processing Grounds: From time to time, we may also need to process Personal Data to comply with a legal obligation, if it is necessary to protect the vital interests of you or other data subjects, or if it is necessary for a task carried out in the public interest.

    Disclosing Personal Data

    The “How We Disclose Your Personal Data” section above details how we disclose your Personal Data with third parties.

    EU, UK and Swiss Data Subject Rights

    You have certain rights with respect to your Personal Data, including those set forth below. For more information about these rights, or to submit a request, please email us at info@sxsw.com. Please note that in some circumstances, we may not be able to fully comply with your request, such as if it is frivolous or extremely impractical, if it jeopardizes the rights of others, or if it is not required by law, but in those circumstances, we will still respond to notify you of such a decision. In some cases, we may also need you to provide us with additional information, which may include Personal Data, if necessary to verify your identity and the nature of your request.

    • Access: You can request more information about the Personal Data we hold about you and request a copy of such Personal Data. You can also access certain of your Personal Data by logging on to your account.
    • Rectification: If you believe that any Personal Data we are holding about you is incorrect or incomplete, you can request that we correct or supplement such data. You can also correct some of this information directly by logging on to your account.
    • Erasure: You can request that we erase some or all of your Personal Data from our systems.
    • Withdrawal of Consent: If we are processing your Personal Data based on your consent (as indicated at the time of collection of such data), you have the right to withdraw your consent at any time. Please note, however, that if you exercise this right, you may have to then provide express consent on a case-by-case basis for the use or disclosure of certain of your Personal Data, if such use or disclosure is necessary to enable you to utilize some or all of our Services.
    • Portability: You can ask for a copy of your Personal Data in a machine-readable format. You can also request that we transmit the data to another controller where technically feasible.
    • Objection: You can contact us to let us know that you object to the further use or disclosure of your Personal Data for certain purposes, such as for direct marketing purposes.
    • Restriction of Processing: You can ask us to restrict further processing of your Personal Data.
    • Right to File Complaint: You have the right to lodge a complaint about SXSW’s practices with respect to your Personal Data with the supervisory authority of your country or EU Member State. A list of Supervisory Authorities is available here.

    Transfers of Personal Data

    The Services are hosted and operated in the United States (“U.S.”) through SXSW and its service providers, and if you do not reside in the U.S., laws in the U.S. may differ from the laws where you reside. By using the Services, you acknowledge that any Personal Data about you, regardless of whether provided by you or obtained from a third party, is being provided to SXSW in the U.S. and will be hosted on U.S. servers, and you authorize SXSW to transfer, store and process your information to and in the U.S., and possibly other countries. In some circumstances, your Personal Data may be transferred to the U.S. pursuant to a data processing agreement incorporating standard data protection clauses and/or the DPF, as discussed below.

    Data Privacy Framework(s)

    SXSW complies with the EU-U.S. Data Privacy Framework (“EU-U.S. DPF”), the UK Extension to the EU-U.S. DPF (“UK-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. SXSW has certified to the U.S. Department of Commerce that it adheres to the EU-U.S. Data Privacy Framework Principles (“EU-U.S. DPF Principles”) with regard to the processing of all personal data received from the European Union in reliance on the EU-U.S. DPF and from the United Kingdom (and Gibraltar) in reliance on the UK Extension to the EU-U.S. DPF (the “EU-UK DPF Principles”). SXSW has certified to the U.S. Department of Commerce that it adheres to the Swiss-U.S. Data Privacy Framework Principles (“Swiss-U.S. DPF Principles”) with regard to the processing of personal data received from Switzerland in reliance on the Swiss-U.S. DPF. If there is any conflict between the terms in this Privacy Policy and the EU-U.S. DPF Principles, the EU-UK DPF Principles, and the Swiss-U.S. DPF Principles, the EU-U.S. DPF Principles, the EU-UK DPF Principles, and the Swiss-U.S. DPF Principles shall govern. To learn more about the EU-U.S. DPF, the UK-U.S. DPF, and the Swiss-US DPF, and to view our certification, please visit https://www.dataprivacyframework.gov/.

    The Federal Trade Commission has jurisdiction over SXSW’s compliance with the EU-U.S. DPF, the EU-UK DPF, and the Swiss-U.S. DPF. This Privacy Policy describes the types of Personal Data we collect, the purposes for which we collect and use your Personal Data, and the purposes for which we disclose your Personal Data to certain types of third parties in the sections above. Pursuant to the EU-U.S. DPF, the EU-UK DPF, and the Swiss-U.S. DPF, EU, UK, and Swiss individuals have the right to obtain our confirmation of whether we maintain Personal Data relating to them in the U.S. Upon request, we will provide EU, UK, and Swiss individuals with access to the Personal Data that we hold about them. EU, UK, and Swiss individuals may also correct, amend, or delete the Personal Data we hold about them where it is inaccurate, or has been processed in violation of the EU-U.S. DPF Principles, the EU-UK DPF Principles, and the Swiss-U.S. DPF Principles, except where the burden or expense of providing access would be disproportionate to the risks to the individual’s privacy in the case in question, or where the rights of persons other than the individual would be violated. An EU, UK, and Swiss individual who seeks access, or who seeks to correct, amend, or delete inaccurate data transferred to the U.S. under the EU-U.S. DPF, the EU-UK DPF, and the Swiss-U.S. DPF, should direct their query to info@sxsw.com. If requested to remove data, we will respond within a reasonable timeframe. For more information about rights afforded to EU, UK, and Swiss individuals, please see the “European Union, United Kingdom, and Swiss Data Subject Rights” section of this Privacy Policy.

    In addition, under the EU-U.S. DPF, the EU-UK DPF, and the Swiss-U.S. DPF, we will provide EU, UK, and Swiss individuals with the choice to opt-out from the sharing of their Personal Data with any third parties (other than our agents or those that act on our behalf or under our instruction), or before we use it for a purpose that is materially different from the purpose for which it was originally collected or subsequently authorized.

    We will provide EU, UK, and Swiss individuals with the choice to opt-in to sharing their sensitive Personal Data with any third parties or if we plan to process their Personal Data for a purpose other than those for which it was originally collected or subsequently authorized. EU, UK, and Swiss individuals may request to limit the use and disclosure of your Personal Data by submitting a written request to info@sxsw.com.

    In addition to any other disclosures described in our Privacy Policy, 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.

    SXSW’s accountability for Personal Data that it receives in the U.S. under the EU-U.S. DPF, the EU-UK DPF, and the Swiss-U.S. DPF and subsequently transfers to a third party acting as an agent on our behalf is described in the EU-U.S. DPF Principles, the EU-UK DPF Principles, and the Swiss-U.S. DPF Principles. In particular, SXSW remains liable under the EU-U.S. DPF Principles, the EU-UK DPF Principles, and the Swiss-U.S. DPF Principles if our agents process Personal Data in a manner inconsistent with the EU-U.S. DPF Principles, the EU-UK DPF Principles, and the Swiss-U.S. DPF Principles, unless SXSW proves that we are not responsible for the event giving rise to the damage.

    In compliance with the EU-U.S. DPF, the EU-UK DPF, and the Swiss-U.S. DPF, SXSW commits to resolve EU-U.S. DPF Principles, EU-UK DPF Principles, and Swiss-U.S. DPF Principles-related complaints about our collection and use of your Personal Data. EU, UK, and Swiss individuals with inquiries or complaints regarding our handling of personal data received in reliance on the DPF should first contact SXSW at info@sxsw.com.

    SXSW has further committed to refer unresolved complaints concerning our handling of personal data received in reliance on the EU-U.S. DPF, the EU-UK DPF, and the Swiss-U.S. DPF program to JAMS, an alternative dispute resolution provider based in the U.S. If you are an EU, UK, or Swiss individual and you do not receive timely acknowledgment of your EU-U.S. DPF Principles, EU-UK DPF Principles, or Swiss-U.S. DPF Principles-related complaint, or if your complaint is not satisfactorily addressed, please visit https://www.jamsadr.com/dpf-dispute-resolution for more information and to file a complaint. The services of JAMS are provided at no cost to you.

    In addition, under the EU-U.S. DPF, the EU-UK DPF, and the Swiss-U.S. DPF, we will provide EU, UK, and Swiss individuals with the choice to opt-out from the sharing of their Personal Data with any third parties (other than our agents or those that act on our behalf or under our instruction), or before we use it for a purpose that is materially different from the purpose for which it was originally collected or subsequently authorized.

    If your EU-U.S. DPF, the EU-UK DPF, or Swiss-U.S. 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. See Annex 1 of the Data Privacy Framework Principles, located at https://www.dataprivacyframework.gov/s/article/ANNEX-I-introduction-dpf?tabset-35584=2.

    Managing Your Preferences And Privacy Rights

    You may manage your preferences and exercise certain rights with respect to your Personal Data as provided by applicable privacy laws and as described in this section. In managing your preferences and exercising your rights, please keep in mind the following:

    • We respond to requests we receive from individuals wishing to manage their preferences or exercise their data protection rights in accordance with applicable data protection laws. This means that we may ask you for information to verify your request, and that your rights may be restricted by certain requirements or exceptions as provided by applicable privacy laws. 

    Opting-Out of Marketing Communications and Push Notifications     

    • Opting-In. You may opt-in or sign up to receive email subscriptions that contain content about the Event based on your preferences and other recurring informational and/or promotional emails from SXSW at www.sxsw.com/newsletters. Additionally, SXSW may suggest certain newsletter subscriptions to you based on your Site activity. You may also opt in to sharing your Personal Data with other registrants in SXSW Social.
    • Opting-Out. You may opt-out of receiving emails, newsletters or other communications from SXSW at any time by following these steps:
      1. When you have received a newsletter you wish to stop, navigate to the bottom of the email, and select the link "unsubscribe or update your email preferences here." In the alternative, please visit sxsw.com/newsletters and make your desired updates, or email SXSW for assistance.
      2. You may opt-out of geolocation notifications by visiting your profile in the SXSW GO mobile app, clicking on the setting cog in the right-hand corner of the website, and under “Notifications and Alerts” set to “Opt Out.”
      3. You may opt-out of push notifications by disabling notifications in your cell phone settings, or by visiting the SXSW GO mobile app Settings page and disabling the notifications you no longer want to receive.
      4. To opt-out of other forms of marketing (such as postal marketing or telemarketing), please contact us using the contact details provided under the “How to Contact SXSW” section.

    Rights Under U.S. State Privacy Laws

    If you reside in certain U.S. states such as California, Virginia, Texas, and Utah, you may have certain rights afforded to you (as described below) depending on your state of residence. Please see the “Exercising Your Rights under U.S. Privacy Laws” section below for instructions regarding how to exercise these rights. Please note that we may process Personal Data of our customers’ end users or employees in connection with our provision of certain services to our customers. If we are processing your Personal Data as a service provider, you should contact the entity that collected your Personal Data in the first instance to address your rights with respect to such data. Please note that your rights may be subject to certain conditions or exceptions in accordance with applicable law.

    If there are any conflicts between this section and any other provision of this Privacy Policy and you are a California, Virginia, Texas, or Utah resident, the portion that is more protective of Personal Data shall control to the extent of such conflict. If you have any questions about this section or whether any of the following rights apply to you, please contact us at info@sxsw.com.

    • Access: You have the right to request confirmation of or access to the Personal Data that we process about you.
    • Deletion: You have the right to request that we delete the Personal Data that we have collected about you.
    • Correction: You have the right to request that we correct any inaccurate Personal Data we have collected about you.
    • Portability: You have the right to request a copy of your Personal Data in a machine-readable format, to the extent technically feasible.

    Targeted Advertising or "Sharing"

    In this section, we use the term “share” to include the sharing of your Personal Data for the purposes of cross-contextual behavioral or targeted advertising purposes, as described in this section. Under some State Privacy Laws, a “share” may also be considered a “sell.”

    As described in the “Tracking Technologies” section above, we have incorporated Cookies from certain third parties into our Services. These Cookies allow those third parties to receive information about your activity on our Services that is associated with your browser or device. Those third parties may use that data to serve you relevant ads on our Services or on other websites you visit. Under certain State Privacy Laws, disclosing your data through third party Cookies for online advertising can be considered a “sale” or a “sharing” of your Personal Data. You can opt out of this sale or sharing of your Personal Data by following the instructions in the “How to Opt-Out from the Sale or Sharing of your Personal Data” section below.

    We may sell or share your Personal Data to the following categories of third parties for the purposes of targeted or cross-contextual behavioral advertising:

    • Affiliates
    • Advertising Partners

    We share the following categories of your Personal Data with the categories of third parties listed above for the purposes of targeted or cross-contextual behavioral advertising:

    • Profile or Contact Data
    • Identifiers
    • Commercial Data
    • Device/IP Data
    • Web Analytics
    • Demographic Data
    • Professional or Employment-Related Data

    We have sold or shared the foregoing categories of Personal Data for the following business or commercial purposes:

    • Marketing and selling the Services.
    • Showing you advertisements, including interest-based or online behavioral advertising.

    Other Personal Data Sales

    We may also sell your Personal Data as described in this section, subject to your right to opt-out. In this section, we use the term “sell” as such or similar term is defined under the applicable State Privacy Law.

    We may sell your Personal Data to the following categories of third parties for their own commercial use:

    • Affiliates
    • Advertising Partners

    We may sell the following categories of your Personal Data to the following third parties listed above:

    • Profile or Contact Data

    We sell the foregoing categories of Personal Data for the following business or commercial purposes:

    • Marketing and selling the Services.
    • Showing you advertisements, including interest-based or online behavioral advertising.

    How to Opt-Out from the Sale or Sharing of Your Personal Data

    You can opt-out of the selling or sharing of your personal data done through Cookies by:

    • Accessing your Cookie management settings, available here; or
    • Implementing the Global Privacy Control or similar control that is legally recognized by a government agency or industry standard. Please note that this does not include Do Not Track Signals.

    You can opt out of any other selling of your Personal Data by:

    To our knowledge, we do not sell or share the Personal Data of children under sixteen (16) years of age. 

    We Will Not Discriminate Against You for Exercising Your Rights under the State Privacy Laws

    We will not discriminate against you for exercising your rights under the State Privacy Laws. We will not deny you our goods or services, charge you different prices or rates, or provide you a lower quality of goods and services if you exercise your rights under the State Privacy Laws. However, we may offer different tiers of our Services as allowed by applicable data privacy laws (including the CCPA, VCDPA, TDPSA, and UCPA) with varying prices, rates or levels of quality of the goods or services you receive related to the value of Personal Data that we receive from you.

    Other California Resident Rights     

    • Processing of Sensitive Personal Information: Consumers have the right to request that we limit the use or sharing disclosure of their Sensitive Personal Information (“Right to Limit”). However, since our use and disclosure of Sensitive Information are limited to the purposes set forth in section 7027(m) of the CCPA regulations, including: 1) performing the services or providing the goods reasonably expected, 2) preventing, detecting, and investigating security incidents, 3) resisting malicious, deceptive, fraudulent, or illegal actions, 4) ensuring physical safety of natural persons, 5) for short-term transient use, 6) performing services on behalf of the business, 7) verifying or maintaining quality or safety of a product or service, and 8) collecting or processing Sensitive Personal Information but not for the purpose of inferring characteristics, we do not offer a way for you to submit such a request.
    • Notice of Financial Incentive Subject to additional terms and conditions, we may offer financial incentives, which may change from time to time, including, among other things, tickets or badges for entry to SXSW Events, SXSW branded products and gift cards in return for the collection of your Personal Data through surveys, mailing list sign-ups, or other opportunities we may provide. At the time that any such incentive is offered to you, we may provide you with additional terms, and will provide you with an opportunity to opt-in and description of how you can opt-out of such offering. Our good faith estimate of value of your Personal Data in connection with any of our financial incentive programs is reasonably related to the financial incentive provided, taking into consideration our expenses related to the offer, provision, or imposition of any financial incentive or price or service difference, revenue generated by us from the sale, collection, or retention of Personal Data, and the value of any improvements we can make to our products and services based on aggregating information obtained through the financial incentive program. You have the right to opt-out of our financial incentive program at any time by emailing stats@sxsw.com. Please see the “Personal Data Overview” section above for more information about the categories of Personal Data we collect in connection with our financial incentives. If you have any questions or issues with your participation in the program, you can reach out to us at stats@sxsw.com.
    • Under California Civil Code Sections 1798.83-1798.84, California residents are entitled to contact us to prevent disclosure of Personal Data to third parties for such third parties’ direct marketing purposes; in order to submit such a request, please contact us at datarequest@sxsw.com.

    Other Nevada Resident Rights     

    If we refuse to take action on a request within a reasonable period of time after receiving your request in accordance with this section and you are a resident of Virginia, you may appeal our decision. In such appeal, you must (1) provide sufficient information to allow us to verify that you are the person about whom the original request pertains and to identify the original request, and (2) provide a description of the basis of your appeal. Please note that your appeal will be subject to your rights and obligations afforded to you under the VCDPA. We will respond to your appeal within 60 days of receiving your request. If we deny your appeal, you have the right to contact the Virginia Attorney General using the methods described at https://www.oag.state.va.us/consumer-protection/index.php/file-a-complaint.

    You may appeal a decision by emailing us at datarequest@sxsw.com (title must include “VCDPA Appeal”).

    Nevada Resident Rights

    If you are a Nevada resident, you have the right to opt-out of the sale of certain Personal Data to third parties who intend to license or sell that Personal Data. You can exercise this right by emailing us at datarequest@sxsw.com with the subject line “Nevada Do Not Sell Request” and providing us with your name and the email address associated with your account. 

    Exercising Your Rights under U.S. Privacy Laws

    Except as otherwise provided in the above sections, to exercise any of the applicable rights described above, please submit a Verifiable Consumer Request (defined below) to us by either:

    • Emailing datarequest@sxsw.com
    • Visiting sxsw.com/datarequestform logging in and filling out the webform
    • Calling +1 (877) 833-1634 and leaving a detailed message
    • Mailing your request along with proof of your identity to:

    SXSW, LLC
    Attn: Privacy Officer
    P.O. Box 685289, Austin, TX, 78768

    Only you, or, if you are a California resident, your Authorized Agent (defined below), may make a verifiable request related to your Personal Data. You may also make a verifiable request on behalf of your minor child.

    If you are a California resident, you may also authorize an agent (an “Authorized Agent”) to exercise your rights on your behalf. To do this, you must provide your Authorized Agent with written permission to exercise your rights on your behalf, and we may request a copy of this written permission from your Authorized Agent when they make a request on your behalf.

    We cannot respond to your request or provide you with Personal Data if we cannot verify your identity or authority to make the request and confirm the Personal Data relates to you. We’ve created the webform available at sxsw.com/datarequestform to aid in verification by asking consumers to: (1) provide sufficient information that allows us to reasonably verify you are the person about whom we collected Personal Data or an authorized representative; and (2) describe your request with sufficient detail that allows us to properly understand, evaluate, and respond to it. Each request that meets both of these criteria will be considered a “Verifiable Consumer Request.” We may not respond to requests that do not meet these criteria.

    Making a Verifiable Consumer Request does not require you to create an account with us. We will only use Personal Data provided in a Verifiable Consumer Request to verify the requestor's identity or authority to make the request. We will work to respond to your Verifiable Consumer Request within the time period required by applicable law. We will not charge you a fee for making a Verifiable Consumer Request unless your Verifiable Consumer Request(s) is excessive, repetitive or manifestly unfounded. If we determine that your Verifiable Consumer Request warrants a fee, we will notify you of the fee and explain that decision before completing your request.     

    Other Important Privacy Information

    Our Retention of Personal Data. SXSW retains Personal Data for as long as necessary to provide the products and fulfill the transactions you have requested, or to comply with our legal obligations, resolve issues, or enforce our agreements. When establishing a retention period for specific categories of data, we consider who we collected the data from, our need for the Personal Data, why we collected the Personal Data, and the sensitivity of the Personal Data. Actual retention periods vary depending on the data types,    the goods or services you purchased and our legitimate business or legal interests. We may further retain information in an anonymous or aggregated form where that information would not identify you personally.

    For example:

    • We retain your profile information and credentials for as long as you have an account with us.
    • We retain your payment data for as long as we need to process your purchase or subscription.
    • We retain your device/IP data for as long as we need it to ensure that our systems are working appropriately, effectively and efficiently. 
    • We retain your profile, credentials, and event interest, and attendance data for as long as we need to improve our events.

    Collection of Data From Children. This Site is not intended for use by persons under thirteen (13) years of age and shall not be used without the consent from a parent and/or guardian. SXSW does not knowingly collect Personal Data from or about children under the age of thirteen (13). If a parent or guardian believes that a child under thirteen (13) years of age has shared Personal Data with SXSW without the parent or guardian’s consent, please contact us at info@sxsw.com.

    Data Security. SXSW has put in place reasonable safeguards to prevent unauthorized access to your Personal Data. Although we take such efforts to protect your Personal Data from loss, misuse, or alteration by third parties, you should be aware that there is always some risk involved in transmitting information over the Internet. 

    How To Contact SXSW

    If you have a complaint or problem you may email us at info@sxsw.com and the customer service department will forward your complaint to the appropriate internal SXSW department for a response or resolution. We try to answer every email in a timely manner but are not always able to do so.

    You may also contact us by U.S. mail with any questions about this Privacy Policy at: SXSW, LLC, ATTN: Privacy Officer, P.O. Box 685289, Austin, TX, 78768, USA, or email info@sxsw.com for general inquiries and datarequest@sxsw.com for Personal Data inquiries.

    If you are located in the EU or UK, you may use the following information to contact our EU or UK-Based Member Representative:

    EU Representative

    Osano International Compliance Services Limited

    ATTN: TKXM

    3 Dublin Landings
    North Wall Quay
    Dublin 1
    D01C4E0

    UK Representative

    Osano UK Compliance LTD

    ATTN: TKXM

    42-46 Fountain Street
    Belfast
    Antrim
    BT1 - 5EF


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