Star Micronics USA Privacy Policy

Last updated: August 2023

Who We Are

In this privacy policy references to “we”, “us,” and “our” are to Star Micronics (Star Micronics America, Inc.). References to “our website” or “the website” are to www.starmicronics.com. Star Micronics is a manufacturer of point of sale printer products and is a wholly owned subsidiary of Star Micronics Co. Ltd., Japan. At Star Micronics, the privacy and security of our customers and website visitors are of the highest importance and we are committed to protecting the data you share with us. This privacy policy describes the types of information we may collect from you or that you may provide when you visit the website and our practices for collecting, using, maintaining, protecting and disclosing that information.

What Information We Collect and How

We may collect, record, and analyze information from and about users of our website. We may record your IP address and use cookies. Furthermore, Star Micronics may collect and process any Personal Data that you volunteer to us in our website’s forms, such as when you send an inquiry or sign up for information and newsletters. The information we collect via our websites may include:

• Any personal details you knowingly provide us with through contact forms such as your first and last name, your postal and email address, your telephone number, your job title, your social media information, your areas of interest in Star’s product range or the products you have already purchased, and certain information about the company you are working for (company name and address), as well as information as to the type of relationship that exists between Star Micronics and yourself.
• Your IP addresses. Data recorded by the website which allows us to recognize you and your preferred settings; this saves you from re-entering information on return visits to the site. Such data is recorded locally on your computer through the use of cookies. Most browsers can be programmed to reject or warn you before downloading cookies; information regarding this may be found in your browser’s ‘help’ facility.
• Star Micronics gathers and records data about visits to the website, including numbers of visitors and visits, geo-location data, length of time spent on the site, scroll depth, links clicked on, or where visitors have come from. Live session recordings are analyzed to improve user experience. Sensitive user data is masked in these sessions and is not visible.
• In case of the merely informational use of the website (i.e. if you do not register or otherwise provide us with information), we will only collect the personal data that your browser transmits to our server. If you wish to view our website, we collect the following information that is technically necessary for us to display on our website and to provide stability and security (the legal basis is Art. 6 para. 1 sentence 1 lit. f GDPR):
  • IP-address,
  • Date and time of the request,
  • Time zone difference to Greenwich Mean Time (GMT),
  • Content of the request (concrete page),
  • Access status / HTTP-status code,
  • Each transmitted amount of data,
  • Website the request comes from,
  • Browser,
  • Operating system and its interface

By visiting this website, you consent to the collection and use of your personal data. If required by applicable law, we will seek your explicit consent to process personal data collected on this website or volunteered by you. Purpose of Processing Personal Data Star Micronics uses the collected data to communicate with customers and to improve its website by analyzing how users navigate its website. By sending an inquiry through our website forms, visitors may provide information such as name, company name, email, address, telephone number, and other relevant data. This information is used by Star Micronics to identify the customer and provide them with requested product information, support, and services and to meet contractual obligations. By signing up to subscribe to our newsletter and to receive further product and marketing information, visitors may provide information such as name, company name, email, address, telephone, product interest, and other relevant data. This information is used by Star Micronics to identify the customer and provide them with requested product information, support, and services and to meet contractual obligations as well as contacting the customer with newsletters, mailings, and sales and marketing actions. Sharing Personal Data Star Micronics may share such information with service vendors and contractors to analyze the visitor behavior on its websites. Star Micronics may also share information with Star distributors and resellers and other companies within the Star Micronics group in order to provide a requested product or service and to meet contractual obligations. Cookies In addition to the aforementioned data, cookies are stored on your computer when you use our website. Cookies are small text files that are stored on your hard disk and assigned to the browser you are using, and that provide certain information to the body that sets the cookie (here, through us). Cookies cannot run programs or transmit viruses to your computer. They serve to make the Internet more user-friendly and more effective. This website uses the following types of cookies, the scope and operation of which are explained below: – Transient cookies, in addition a), – Persistent cookies, in addition b).

1. a) Transient cookies are automatically deleted when you close your browser. These include session-cookies, in particular. Session-cookies save a so-called session-ID with which the different inquiries of your browser can be allocated to one session. Consequently, your PC can recognize if you return to our website. The session-cookies are deleted if you log out or close your browser.
2. b) Persistent cookies are automatically deleted after a specific period of time, which can vary depending on the cookie. You can delete the cookies in the security settings of your browser at any time.

You can configure your browser setting according to your wishes (e.g. decline the acceptance of third-party cookies or all cookies). Please be aware that in that case you may not be able to use all features of the website. We use cookies to identify you for follow-up visits if you have an account with us. Otherwise, you would have to log in again for each visit. We use HTML5 storage objects, which are stored on your device. These objects store the required data regardless of the browser you are using and have no automatic expiration date. You can prevent the use of HTML5 storage objects by using the private mode of your browser. In addition, we recommend that you regularly delete your cookies and the browser history manually. Links to Other Sites While visiting our site, users can follow links to other sites that are beyond our control.  Star Micronics is not responsible for the content or privacy policy of these other sites. Retention and Deletion All personal information we collect through website inquiry forms will be stored in secure hosting facilities provided by HubSpot, Siteground, Ntirety, and Salesforce. All hosting is performed in accordance with the highest security regulations. If you have agreed via our contact form to be added to our database to receive further product and marketing information, your data will be stored using one of our secure subprocessors. Subprocessors In connection with the operation of our website, we may engage third parties (each a “Subprocessor”) to process your personal data. As a condition of permitting a Subprocessor to process your personal data, we will enter into a written agreement with each Subprocessor containing data protection obligations at least as protective as the technical and organizational measures Star Micronics has put into place to protect your personal data from accidental or unlawful destruction, loss, alteration, or unauthorized disclosure or access. We use the following Subprocessors to operate our website and provide our services:

Under GDPR, you have the right to request a copy of any information that we currently hold about you: https://starmicronics.com/data-privacy-request

You have the right to request rectification or deletion of your information from our database and/or to opt-out of any mailing lists which you have previously subscribed to. Furthermore, you have the right to request a restriction of processing of your personal data, the right to object the processing and the right to data portability.

Our Legal Obligation to Disclose Personal Information

We will reveal a customer’s personal information without his/her prior permission only when we have reason to believe that the disclosure of this information is required to establish the identity of, to contact, or to initiate legal proceedings against a person or persons who are suspected of infringing rights or property belonging to Star Micronics or to others who could be harmed by the user’s activities or of persons who could (deliberately or otherwise) transgress upon these rights and property. We are permitted to disclose personal information when we have good reason to believe that this is legally required.

Star Micronics America, Inc. CCPA Statement

The California Consumer Protection Act (CCPA) is a California regulation which protects the rights of data subjects who are residents of the state of California, with respect to the processing of their personal data as defined in the CCPA.

Do Not Sell

There is no need to opt-out of the sale of your data because Star Micronics America, Inc. does not sell visitor or customer data. However, if you would like to exercise your rights, please visit our data rights portal: https://starmicronics.com/data-privacy-request

Under certain circumstances, we may be required to disclose personal information if necessary to comply with a subpoena or court order, to establish or exercise our legal rights or defend against legal claims, or to cooperate with government and/or law enforcement officials.

“Do Not Track”

Do Not Track (“DNT”) is a privacy preference that users can set in certain web browsers. DNT is a way for users to inform websites and services that they do not want certain information about their webpage visits collected over time and across websites or online services. Please note that we do not respond to or honor DNT signals or similar mechanisms transmitted by web browsers.

Your Rights

• You can opt-out of receiving certain marketing or promotional communications from Star Micronics America, Inc. at any time by using the unsubscribe link in the email communications we send.

• If you would like to request access, review, update, rectify, or delete any personal information we have about you, you can contact us here. Our privacy team will respond as soon as possible. Rights available under the GDPR are described in our Privacy Policy.

• California residents have the right to ask us for a notice identifying the categories of personal information we share with third parties for marketing purposes. California residents can exercise this right by submitting a written request here: https://starmicronics.com/data-privacy-request

California Privacy Rights Under the CCPA

The California Consumer Privacy Act of 2018 (“CCPA”) takes effect January 1, 2020 and provides California consumers with certain rights regarding their personal information.

The section “What Information We Collect and How We Collect It” explains the specific details of personal information Star Micronics America, Inc. collects. The CCPA also requires listing categories of personal information collected. As defined by the CCPA, we collect, or have collected in the past 12 months, the following categories of personal information:

• Identifiers (such as name, email address, postal address, phone number, IP address)

• Personal information categories listed in the California Customer Records statute (Cal. Civ. Code § 1798.80(e)) (such as name, contact information, employment)

• Internet or other electronic network activity information (such as browsing history, search history, online behavior)

• Professional or employment-related information (such as job title and your business contact information)

Personal information, as defined by the CCPA, does not include publicly available information from government records and de-identified or aggregated consumer information.

We use and disclose the categories of personal information we collect from and about you consistent with the business purposes discussed in the section “How We Use the Information We Collect”.

The CCPA also sets forth obligations for businesses that “sell” personal information to third parties.  We do not “sell” personal information and have not sold any personal information in the past 12 months.

If you are a California resident, you may have the following consumer rights under the CCPA:

1. Right to know about personal information collected, used, disclosed, or sold. You have the right to request that we disclose to you the categories of personal information we collect or disclose (or have collected or disclosed in the past 12 months) about you, the categories of sources of such information, the business or commercial purpose for collecting your personal information, and the categories of third parties with whom we share/disclose personal information.  This information is also explained throughout this Privacy Policy.

2. Right to request deletion of personal information. You have the right to request the deletion of your personal information we have collected from you, subject to certain conditions and limitations under the law.

3. Right to Opt-Out of the sale of personal information. The CCPA provides consumers with the right to opt-out of the sale of their personal information. We do not share, sell, rent, or trade User Personal Information with third parties for their commercial purposes as defined under the CCPA.

4. Right to non-discrimination for exercising a consumer privacy right. We will not discriminate against you for exercising any of your rights under the CCPA.

To exercise any of your rights as set out above on or after January 1, 2020, please contact us by submitting a request at: https://starmicronics.com/data-privacy-request////. You will be required to verify your identity before we are able to fulfill your request. You can designate an authorized agent to make a request on your behalf. To do so, you will need to provide a written authorization or power of attorney signed by you for the agent to act on your behalf. You will still need to verify your identity with us. Note that consumers may only make a personal information request twice in a 12-month period under the CCPA. We will work to respond to your verifiable request within 45 days of receipt. Certain information may be exempt from requests under applicable law.