Nomic Labs Privacy Policy

Nomic Labs LLC (“Nomic Labs,” “we,” or “us”) is a software development company building open source software to unlock developer productivity in the Ethereum ecosystem, accelerating the growth of an alternative financial system. This Privacy Policy applies to the Nomic Labs website (https://nomiclabs.io) (“website”) and the Hardhat software (“Hardhat”), all of which are referred to as “services” in this Privacy Policy. Users of the website and of Hardhat are referred to collectively as “Clients.”

This Privacy Policy describes what information Nomic Labs collects, how we use that information, and how we protect it. Nomic Labs collects and processes personal data in order to run our organization and offer our services to Clients. We do not share Client information with third parties except for the limited purposes described in this Privacy Policy.

By using our services, Clients understand that we will collect and use their information as described in this Privacy Policy. We recommend that Clients read this Privacy Policy in full to ensure they are fully informed.

If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy or how we handle personal data, please contact us at privacy@nomiclabs.io or use the contact information set out at bottom of this Privacy Policy.

What Personal Data Does Nomic Labs Collect, and Why?

The information that Nomic Labs gathers from Clients allows us to deliver and improve our services. For example, it allows us to communicate with Clients, provide support, and (with Clients’ permission) monitor deployments of Hardhat for performance-improvement and error-correction purposes.

A.        Information Our Clients Provide

We receive and store the information our Clients supply to us when they communicate with us by email, GitHub, and social media. This information may include the Client’s name, company, email address, username, postal address, and telephone number.

B.        Information Automatically Collected from Clients

We also collect certain information automatically, including:

1. Error and performance monitoring data

Hardhat collects automated error and performance monitoring data to help Nomic Labs fix bugs and improve the performance of our software. This data is only collected and processed if the Client opts in to this feature.

The information collected includes: 1) a unique cryptographic identifier to identify data from a single user; 2) the Hardhat version number; 3) whether Hardhat is running on a server or desktop; 4) the Client’s operating system (e.g. Windows, Mac, or Linux); 5) whether the Hardhat task running is a build-in or user-defined task; 6) the versions of Node.js and Sentry running on the Client’s computer; 7) error message text; 8) stack trace data; and 9) timestamps.

Nomic Labs uses a third-party service, Sentry, to collect and process this data. The data is anonymized before being sent to Sentry’s servers. Any piece of data resembling a path or a private key is removed on a best-effort basis. The data sent to Sentry is subject to a data processing agreement limiting Sentry’s use of the data and requiring Sentry to take appropriate security measures to protect the data.

2. Website cookies

Like many websites, the Nomic Labs website uses cookies to obtain certain types of information when your web browser accesses our site. Cookies are used most commonly to do things like tracking page views, identifying repeat users and utilizing login tokens for a session.

Other information we collect and analyze includes the Internet Protocol (IP) address used to connect your computer to the Internet, computer and connection information such as browser type, version, language, and time zone setting, browser plug-in type and version, screen resolution, and operating system and platform. This information is stored in log files and is collected automatically. We collect this technical information to better understand user needs and provide Clients with an optimal online experience.

We also collect aggregate usage data for our website, which may include browsing patterns and broad demographic information, to enable us to understand how our website is being used and to develop and refine it to better serve our Clients.

Our Legal Bases for Processing Personal Information

For personal data under Nomic Labs’s control, we rely on two bases to lawfully obtain and process personal information. First, where Clients have given us valid consent to use their data in certain ways, we rely on that consent. Second, as described in more detail below, in certain cases we may process information where this is necessary to meet legal obligations, such as compliance with law enforcement subpoenas or warrants, and/or to further our legitimate interests, so long as any such legitimate interests are not overridden by your rights or interests.

How and When Do We Share Information?

Nomic Labs does not sell your information. As set out below, we only share information on a limited basis in order to enable us to offer our services. We do not otherwise make Client data available to third parties.  

Service Providers

We employ other organizations and service providers to perform certain functions on our behalf. These third parties have only limited access to your information, may use your information only to perform these tasks on our behalf, and are obligated to Nomic Labs not to disclose or use your information for other purposes.

Our use of third party service providers includes:

• Google: for website analytics
• Sentry: for collection and processing of error and performance monitoring data for Hardhat

If you have any questions about the specific service providers we currently use, please contact us at privacy@nomiclabs.io or by using the contact information set out at the bottom of this Privacy Policy.

Legal Compliance / Protection of the Public and Our Business / Legitimate Interests 

We will release personal and account information: to comply with a subpoena, court order, legal process, or other legal requirement when we believe in good faith that such disclosure is necessary to comply with the law; to protect, establish, or exercise our legal rights or defend against legal claims; when we believe doing so is reasonably necessary to prevent harm to an individual; or take action regarding illegal activities, suspected fraud, threats to our property, or violations of our legal terms.

We may also share your information during an organizational transaction like a merger or distribution of our assets to a successor organization. If such a transaction occurs, we will provide notification of any changes to control of your information, as well as choices you may have.

Children’s Privacy

The services are not intended for children under the age of 13. We do not knowingly collect personal information from anyone under the age of sixteen. If you are under the age of sixteen, your parent or guardian must provide their consent for you to use the services.

Data Transfers

Nomic Labs is based in the United States, processes and stores data in the United States, and makes its services available around the world. The United States, Member States of the European Economic Area (“EEA”), and other countries are governed by different laws. When your data is moved from its home country to another country, the laws and rules that protect your personal information in the country to which your information is transferred may be different from those in the country where you reside. For example, the legal requirements for law enforcement to gain access to personal information may vary between countries. If your personal data is in the United States, it may be accessed by government authorities in accordance with United States law.

Nomic Labs provides a voluntary service and Clients can choose whether or not they wish to use it. Because we offer our services to people in different countries and use technical infrastructure based in the United States, we may need to transfer your personal information across borders in order to deliver our services.

How Secure Is Your Information?

We maintain administrative, technical, and physical safeguards designed to protect the privacy and security of the information we maintain about you. The connection between your computer and our website server is encrypted using Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) software that encrypts that information. We use a Digital Certificate and secure pages will be identified by a padlock sign and “https://” in the address bar. Likewise, all Hardhat error and performance monitoring data is transmitted over HTTPS transport layer security (TLS)-secured connections.

However, no method of transmission or storage is 100% secure. As a result, while we strive to protect your personal information, you acknowledge that: (a) there are security and privacy limitations inherent to the Internet which are beyond our control; and (b) security, integrity, and privacy of any and all information and data exchanged between you and us through this Site cannot be guaranteed.

What Are Your Rights?

Upon request, Nomic Labs will provide Clients with information about whether we hold any of their personal information. In certain cases, subject to relevant legal rights, Clients have the right to object to the processing of their personal information, to request changes, corrections, or the deletion of their personal information, and to obtain a copy of their personal information in an easily accessible format. In order to do this, Clients can contact us using the contact information set out at the bottom of this Privacy Policy. We will respond to every request within a reasonable timeframe and may need to take reasonable steps to confirm identity before proceeding.

You can also withdraw your consent to our processing of your information and the use of our services, and/or delete your Client account at any time, by using the contact information below to request that your personal information be deleted. If you are an EU resident and believe that our processing of your personal data is contrary to the EU General Data Protection Regulation, you have the right to lodge a complaint with the appropriate supervisory authority.

If you withdraw your consent to the use or sharing of your personal information for the purposes set out in this policy, we may not be able to provide you with our services. Please note that in certain cases we may continue to process your information after you have withdrawn consent and requested that we delete your information if we have a legal basis/need to do so.

Data Retention

For personal data under its control, Nomic Labs will retain such data only for as long as is necessary for the purposes set out in this policy, or as needed to provide Clients with our services.

If a Client no longer wishes to use our services then it may request deletion of its data at any time.

Notwithstanding the above, Nomic Labs will retain and use Client information to the extent necessary to comply with our legal obligations (for example, if we are required to retain your information to comply with applicable tax/revenue laws), resolve disputes, and enforce our agreements. We may also retain log files for the purpose of internal analysis, for site safety, security and fraud prevention, to improve site functionality, or where we are legally required to retain them for longer time periods.

Contact Us

If you have any questions, comments or suggestions about how we handle personal information you can contact Nomic Labs at privacy@nomiclabs.io.