Privacy Notice

This Notice applies to the Briefly app (the “App”), and related services, websites and resources we provide (together, “Briefly”).

Briefly is operated by Digital Science & Research Solutions Inc., a Delaware corporation with offices at 625 Massachusetts Ave, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA (“Digital Science” or “we”). We respect your concerns about privacy and value our relationship with you. This Notice explains what personal data we collect, how we may use and manage it and the rights you may have in relation to such personal data. When we refer to “personal data” in this Notice, we mean information relating to an identified or identifiable individual that we collect and use in connection with DS Mobile; not aggregate or other anonymized data or information we process on behalf of our customers.

How do we collect and use personal data?

We collect personal data in the following ways:

Information you provide to us directly online. For example, when you register to use Briefly, complete one of our web forms, subscribe to updates or make a support request, we collect the personal data you provide, like your name, email address and other basic contact details / professional information. We will use this information to enable you to access and use Briefly or fulfill the request you’ve made. More occasional examples could include where you respond to a survey or enter into a competition.
Information we collect from your use of Briefly. When you use Overleaf, we may collect information about that usage and other technical information, such as your IP address, browser type and any referring website addresses. We may combine this automatically collected log information with other information we collect about you and use it to keep a record of our interaction and to enable us to support, personalize and improve Overleaf.
When you use Briefly, we may collect information about that usage, including information about how you are interacting with the App, and other technical information, such as your IP address, device type and OS. We may combine this automatically collected log information with other information we collect about you and use it to keep a record of our interaction and to enable us to support, personalize and improve Briefly. When you use the App, the information we collect may differ depending on which OS you are using. For example, on Android, we may collect information on which sites referred you to download and use the app. On iOS, we receive aggregated attribution reports from Apple, which are not linked to you or your device. These reports contain no personal data. You can read the Apple Privacy Policy if you want to know more about how Apple uses your personal data, including your device information used to prepare the aggregate reports.
Information you provide to us in person. For example, when you visit one of our exhibition booths or attend one of our events, you may provide us with your contact details. We will use this information to answer your enquiries or provide other information requested by you.
Information you authorise us to retrieve from Connected Apps. When you use the App to interact with a Connected App, we may retrieve (and share) certain user and other information, such as the account ID of the Connected App, the email address associated with your Connected App account, and the name you have provided to the Connected app. We may use this information to ensure interoperation between the Connected App and the App and it may be combined to deliver an improved and more integrated overall solution across multiple Digital Science Products.
Information collected when you sign in using third-party identity providers. When you sign in to the App using a third-party single sign-on service, such as Apple or Google, we collect the email address associated with your chosen sign-on service account, together with identifiers required to authenticate your account. In some cases, such as where you use “Sign in with Apple”, this may include a private or relay email address provided by the sign-on service provider. We may use this information to create, authenticate and manage your App account, including to provide service-related messages.
Information we collect from our other interactions / business dealings. For example, if you attend a webinar, contact us via social media or otherwise interact with our business, including as a representative of a current / prospective customer, supplier or business partner, we may track and make a record of those interactions, which may contain personal data. If you visit one of our offices, this may be captured on CCTV and used for security reasons; and photographs / videos may be taken at our events and used for promotional purposes, details of which will be available on request at the relevant site.

In all the above cases, where we have a relationship with you, we may also use the personal data we collect to manage and keep a record of that relationship and other business administration purposes you’d reasonably expect and, subject always to your preferences, to provide information we think may be of interest to you.

In many of the above cases, we may also use the information collected to create aggregate or other non-personal data to enable us to benchmark and improve Briefly and for other analytical / research purposes.

Unless we specifically request it, you should not provide us with any sensitive personal information. If you provide personal data to us about someone else (such as one of your colleagues), please ensure that you have their permission to do so and that they’re aware of the contents of this Notice.

The legal basis for Digital Science’s use of your personal data

In order to comply with European data privacy laws, we are required to set out the legal bases for our use of your personal data, which are as follows:

where you have given us your explicit consent, which you can withdraw at any time. For example, we rely on your consent to fulfill specific requests you’ve made, such as to receive our blog emails, or provide information you’ve opted-in to receive;
where the processing is necessary for the performance of our contract with you, or to enter into such a contract. For example, if you register to use any part of Briefly, we will need to use your details to set-up and administer your account;
where the processing is necessary to comply with our legal obligations; or
the processing is in our legitimate interests, provided these are not overridden by your individual rights. For example, we rely on our legitimate interests:
- to contact you when you’ve not previously given us your consent to do so, such as to tell you about things that we think might be of interest to you, or to ask for your feedback or opinion on us or our products/services.
- to combine the account, usage or other personal data we have collected in connection with Briefly with data collected in connection with other Digital Science products to enable us to deliver an improved and more integrated overall service.
- to track usage of Briefly and create aggregated or other non-personal data from your personal data.

Who we share your personal data with

We may share your personal data within the Digital Science group on a confidential basis for our internal administrative, billing and other business purposes, including to improve the products and services that may be used by or offered to you, and to fulfil requests that you might have made. We do not generally disclose or share personal data with third parties, except where it’s necessary for legitimate business reasons, such as:

to the agents, advisers and service providers that assist us in running / we use to administer our business;
to the subcontractors and service providers* we use to provide and support Briefly, for example providers of hosting, security and infrastructure services and user support platforms no notification systems;
if you express interest in an initiative we’re involved in, to other participants in such initiative;
to Apps you interact with, or the owners of third party resources accessed or procured via / used on, Briefly;

for services you have registered for using an organizational email address, to authorized representatives of that organization, so they can understand how DS Mobile is being used at their organization and get in contact with you about your account (for example to make you aware of available upgrades), but limited to your email address and statistics on usage;
where you sign in using Apple, Google or other single sign-on provider, to those providers, limited to information required as part of the sign-in process such as confirmation that you have successfully authenticated;

if part of our business is sold to or integrated with another business, to our advisers and any prospective purchasers (and their advisers);
in such circumstances for which you have given your consent;
if necessary for the performance of the contract we have with you or in order to enforce any claims we are entitled to;
if required by law or ordered by a court;
if you register for a webinar or other event, to other attendees and co-organisers of that event.

* We include appropriate confidentiality and security obligations in our contracts with our service providers and only permit them to process your personal data for specified purposes and in accordance with our instructions (not for their own purposes).

Note, if you are using the App pursuant to an organization’s subscription, that organization may have certain admin rights over your account, including the ability to track your usage; and we will act in accordance with any instructions they may give in respect of such information (if any) they may provide to us about you or which we may collect on their behalf (whose policies – not this policy – will govern how the personal data we process on their behalf is used).

Security and storage

We take appropriate technical and organizational security measures to protect personal data from accidental or unlawful destruction, accidental loss and unauthorized access, destruction, misuse, modification or disclosure, including generally accepted standards designed to protect personal data provided to us, both during transmission and once it is received.

We only keep your personal data for as long as it is necessary for the purposes for which it was collected, after which it will be destroyed, erased or anonymized.

Options to delete your Briefly account, and associated personal data, are available within the App.

International transfers

Digital Science’s primary business operations, and much of the Briefly infrastructure, is based in the United States (“USA”). This means that in order to run our business and provide Briefly, personal data may be transferred to the USA, as well as to other locations where our affiliates and service providers are based. Whenever we make such transfers, we will ensure an appropriate level of protection is afforded to your personal data, which in the case of personal data originating from the UK or the European Economic Area (EEA) shall involve implementing at least one of the following safeguards:

making sure the destination country has been deemed to provide an adequate level of protection for personal data;
by using model form contracts that have been officially declared to afford your personal data an appropriate protection;
relying on an alternative recognized compliance standard for the lawful transfer of personal data.

Please email us at briefly@digital-science.com if you would like more information about these safeguards.

Marketing and emails

Depending on your preferences, we may contact you about things we think might be of interest to you. Some of these messages may be tailored to you, based on your interests (e.g. previous browsing activity), public profile and posts (e.g. on social media), use of our products/services, public research history and other information we may hold.

If you no longer wish to receive particular communications (including those you have previously signed up to receive), you can also click the unsubscribe button that will be included in our emails. If you use the App, separate email preferences may also apply. Note, even if you unsubscribe from marketing messages, we may still send you emails about the services you use, such as details of new functionality / changes to legal terms of use.

Cookies

We may use cookies and similar technologies in respect of certain parts of Briefly, in which case we will provide information about them and options to accept and reject them, as may be required by applicable law. In the case of the App, the use of cookies and other technologies, and the way in which you can opt-in and opt-out of them, may be determined by the operating system you are using.

Your rights

Various data privacy laws give rights to individuals in respect of personal data that organizations hold about them. For example, under European data privacy laws, you may be entitled:

to request a copy of the personal data that we hold about you;
to object to the processing of your personal data; or
to request that your personal data is rectified or deleted, or its processing limited.

To make any requests regarding your personal data, please email us at briefly@digital-science.com. We will comply with any such requests as required in accordance with applicable law. Please be aware, however, that there are typically a number of limitations to these rights, and there may be circumstances where we’re not able to comply with your request.

Additional information for certain jurisdictions

For additional information relevant to certain jurisdictions about the personal data we collect, how we may use and manage it and the rights you may have in relation to such personal data, please visit this page.

Third party sites

If any part of Briefly is made available on or through other Digital Science or third party websites or other resources, includes links to such resources, or other resources contain links to any part of Briefly, this is done for convenience only. We recommend that you check the privacy and security policies of such resources as they are not subject to this Notice.

Contact details

If you would like any further information, or have any questions or concerns, regarding your personal data, as a first step, please email us at briefly@digital-science.com or write to us at:

If you’re based in Europe: 6 Briset Street, Farringdon, London, EC1M 5NR, UK
If you’re based outside of Europe: 625 Massachusetts Ave, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA

You have the right to make a complaint at any time to your local supervisory authority for data protection issues. We would, however, appreciate the chance to deal with your concerns in the first instance.

Changes to this Notice

We reserve the right to modify or replace this Notice at any time by posting the revised Notice on our website. You are responsible for reviewing any such change each time you access any part of Briefly.

Last Updated: January 2026