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2025 Heltec Maker Contest Privacy Policy

· 7 min read

Data Controller: Heltec Automation Co., Ltd.

Contact: If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to reach out to us at support@heltec.cn Protecting your privacy is important to Heltec. This Privacy Statement explains how Heltec processes personal data collected through websites, products, and services (“applications”), including those distributed by our resellers and other channel partners, and through in-person and digital events, webinars, surveys, marketing activities, and visits to our premises (along with applications, collectively our “offerings”). This Privacy Statement describes how we process personal data for our own purposes. We also process personal data on behalf of our customers subject to a written contract.

  1. Publicity, display & license to use submissions By entering the Contest, you grant Heltec the following rights:
  • a non-exclusive, royalty-free, perpetual,worldwide, transferable, sublicensable license to reproduce, publish, distribute, display, perform, and otherwise use or adapt your submission materials (including nickname, team name and region/country) for Heltec’s promotional, marketing, editorial, and archival purposes in any media, now known or later developed; and
  • the right to display or publish winning and shortlisted entries (including nicknames, team names, regions/countries) on Heltec channels and partner channels. You retain ownership of intellectual property in your submission except. You represent that you have the necessary rights in all submitted materials and that the submission does not infringe third-party rights.

Information You Provide to Us We collect information directly from you when you: sign up for an account or use our services, register a product or service, subscribe to our newsletter or events, participate in surveys or social media activities, visit our premises, or otherwise contact us. This information may include:

  • Identifiers: Name, phone number, physical and email addresses, account username, and password.
  • Professional information: Occupation, industry, licenses, work experience, employment history, and qualifications.
  • Commercial information: Details about subscriptions, purchases, usage, interests, and attended events.
  • Financial information (if required): Payment details provided during transactions (processed by third-party providers such as Cleverbridge, PayPal, Stripe, Worldpay, Adyen, Chargebee). We do not store credit card information, except to confirm payments.
  • Education information: Educational background and training records.
  • Protected characteristics: Date of birth, where applicable.
  • Sensitive information: Usernames, passwords, government ID numbers, and information about children.
  • Visual, audio, and electronic information: Photographs, signatures, records of interactions (including correspondence, complaints, and resolutions), service records, preferences (e.g., language, tools, and marketing communications).

Information We Automatically Collect or Generate We may also collect or generate personal information automatically based on your interactions with our services, which may be linked to your account. Which includes:

  • Identifiers: Unique user or device IDs, IP addresses, cookie IDs, product license information, and usernames.
  • Internet and network activity: Websites visited, activities and offerings used, engagement in blogs, forums, or chat rooms, and use of downloadable content or hyperlinks.
  • Geolocation: Region, country, state, ZIP/postal code, and, in limited circumstances, precise location.
  • Device and technical information: Operating system, device type, browser details, automatic updates, technical errors, and usage patterns of our offerings.
  • Commercial information: Interest in our offerings or completed purchases.
  • Sensitive information: Account usernames and passwords, precise geolocation data (if applicable).
  • Inferences: Insights derived from the personal and usage information we collect.
  1. Sharing & third parties We may share entrant data in limited, necessary ways:
  • Internal use: Heltec employees, contest organizers, and technical staff for Contest operations;
  • External experts / judges / partners: limited submission details and team identifiers for purposes of expert evaluation and partnership activities;
  • Public disclosure: winning entries and promotional materials (including nicknames, team names, regions, and countries) may be published for promotional purposes;
  • Third-party service providers: we use reputable third-party providers (e.g., payment processors, fulfillment/shipping vendors, cloud hosting, analytics services) who perform services on our behalf and are contractually limited to use data only as needed to provide those services. And we may use cookies and other tracking technologies to collect and store your information.

  1. Payment & card data If collection of payment or billing information is required for prize disbursement, shipping costs, taxes, or optional paid items, such data will be processed by our designated payment processors. Heltec will not ask you to send full card numbers to Heltec’s email.Heltec will ask you for full card numbers from Heltec’s official email Where payment card details are transmitted or handled, they will be processed under industry standards (e.g., PCI DSS) by the payment service provider. Entrants should review the payment processor’s privacy terms. PCI Security Standards CouncilHeltec Automation

  2. International transfers Entrant data may be transferred to, stored, and processed in countries other than your country of residence. Where required by applicable law, Heltec will implement appropriate safeguards (for example, standard contractual clauses or other lawful transfer mechanisms) to protect personal data during international transfer and storage. Entrants consent to such transfers by participating. If you are a resident in the European Economic Area (EEA), United Kingdom (UK), or Switzerland, then these countries may not necessarily have data protection laws or other similar laws as comprehensive as those in your country. However, we will take all necessary measures to protect your personal information in accordance with this Privacy Notice and applicable law.

  3. Data retention We retain personal data only for as long as necessary to fulfill the purposes outlined above (including Contest administration, prize fulfillment, and any legal, tax or reporting obligations). Unless a different retention period is required or permitted by law, we will retain Contest data for as long as it is necessary for the purposes set out in this Privacy Notice, after which we will delete or anonymize the data. When we have no ongoing legitimate business need to process your personal information, we will either delete or anonymize such information, or, if this is not possible (for example, because your personal information has been stored in backup archives), then we will securely store your personal information and isolate it from any further processing until deletion is possible.

  4. Your rights Depending on where you are located, you may have statutory rights regarding your personal data, such as the right to:

  • access, correct, login or update your personal data;
  • request deletion or restriction of processing;
  • withdraw consent where processing is based on consent;
  • object to certain processing (including direct marketing); and
  • lodge a complaint with a data protection authority. Cookies and similar technologies: Most Web browsers are set to accept cookies by default. If you prefer, you can usually choose to set your browser to remove cookies and to reject cookies. If you choose to remove cookies or reject cookies, this could affect certain features or services of our Services. Upon your request to terminate your account, we will deactivate or delete your account and information from our active databases. However, we may retain some information in our files to prevent fraud, troubleshoot problems, assist with any investigations, enforce our legal terms and/or comply with applicable legal requirements. For certain jurisdictions (e.g., California residents), additional rights and mechanisms may apply under laws such as the CCPA. California DOJ To exercise any rights or for enquiries about personal data, please contact us at [support@heltec.cn].

  1. Minors Entrants must meet the minimum age requirement stated in the Contest rules. If you are a minor under applicable law, a parent or legal guardian must provide consent and submit the entry on your behalf. Heltec reserves the right to disqualify entries that fail to comply with age requirements.

  2. Security Heltec maintains reasonable technical, administrative and organizational safeguards designed to protect personal data from unauthorized access, disclosure, alteration, or destruction. However, no security measure is absolute; Heltec cannot guarantee complete security of data transmitted over the internet.

  3. Opt-out & choices Where processing is based on consent, you may withdraw consent at any time by contacting [hilbert.wang@heltec.cn]. Withdrawal of consent will not affect the lawfulness of processing prior to withdrawal. Note that withdrawal of publicity consent may affect your eligibility to participate in or benefit from certain promotional aspects of the Contest.

  4. Changes to this Notice We may modify this Contest Privacy Notice where necessary (e.g., to reflect changes in law or our practices). Material changes will be communicated via Heltec’s website or direct email to affected entrants.

  5. Contact & supervisory authority Questions, requests, or complaints can be sent to [support@heltec.cn]. Entrants also have the right to lodge a complaint with an applicable data protection authority in their jurisdiction.