隐私策略
This version of the policy was updated on 04 November 2023
 
Drcam (hereinafter referred to as "Drcam" or "this product") is a software and hardware combination product provided by Shenzhen Tange Intelligent Technology Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "we", or "the company" or "Drcam").
Smart hardware devices refer to Drcam smart hardware devices (hereinafter referred to as "cameras") and Drcam smart doorbell smart hardware devices (hereinafter referred to as "doorbells"). Mobile client software refers to the App (hereinafter referred to as "App") that can manage the smart hardware device after being bound with the smart hardware device. You can view the real-time and historically recorded videos of smart hardware devices on the App; at the same time, we also provide functions such as image and video event alarm, sound event alarm, and voice intercom through the App.
Thank you very much for your trust in us. We are well aware of the importance of personal information to users, and also know that effective protection of users' personal information is the cornerstone of the healthy and sustainable development of our business. Thank you for your use and trust in our products and services! We know that this trust is not easy to come by, and we will take corresponding security protection measures to protect your personal information in accordance with the mature security standards in the industry to make this trust stronger.
We hope to explain to you through this privacy policy (hereinafter referred to as "this policy") how we collect, use, store, share and transfer your personal information and information of smart hardware devices when using DrcamApp to manage smart hardware devices, and How we provide you with access, update, deletion and protection of this information. Please read and understand this policy carefully before using the App, and use our products or services after confirming your full understanding and agreement. Once you start to use Drcam's products and services, it means that you have fully understood and agreed to this policy, and agree to our collection, use, storage and sharing of your relevant information in accordance with this policy. If you have any questions, comments or suggestions about the content of this policy, you can contact us through the various contact methods provided in this policy.
 
This Privacy Policy will help you understand the following:
  1. How we collect and use your personal information
  2. How we store your personal information
  3. How do we share, transfer and publicly disclose your personal information
  4. How we protect your personal information
  5. Your right to manage personal information
  6. Protection of Personal Information of Minors
  7. Scope of Application of Privacy Policy
  8. Changes and Amendments to the Privacy Policy
  9. How to contact us
 

1.How we collect and use your personal information

We will collect and use your personal information as described in this policy, which includes your personal sensitive information, location information, call logs made through the camera, and camera purchases and consumption records, and the purpose and use of the collection and use of such sensitive information is described in the following section of the functional description. The disclosure, unlawful provision or misuse of sensitive personal information may endanger the safety of persons and property, and may easily lead to damage to a person's reputation, physical or mental health, or discriminatory treatment, etc. Therefore, we will adopt compliant technology to ensure that all sensitive personal information is protected. Therefore, we will adopt compliant technology to protect the security of your personal information by encrypting and storing the sensitive information that you have explicitly agreed to and voluntarily provided. If we indirectly obtain personal information about you through other channels such as sharing, transferring, or collecting publicly available information, we will clearly inform you that we will only obtain the minimum amount of information necessary to fulfil the business function of our products or services, and we will clearly inform you of this and ask for your express consent before collecting and using the information. At the same time, we will ensure the legitimacy of the source of the information before collecting it, and understand the scope of authorised consent for the handling of personal information that has been obtained by the provider of the personal information, including the purpose of use, authorised consent for transfer, sharing, and public disclosure. In the event that we need to carry out business activities that exceed the scope of the authorised consent for the processing of personal information, we will obtain your express consent within a reasonable period of time after obtaining the personal information or prior to the processing of the personal information.
Details of the purposes and uses for which we collect and use your information are set out below:

(1) Realize the main functions of the camera

Core functions refer to the basic functions that support the normal operation of the App and provide services. If you do not agree that we must collect and use your personal information in order to provide you with services, you will not be able to use this product.
  1. Information collected through account registration.
When you install the Camera App on your mobile phone, you will need to register or log in to your Drcam account on the App in order to use it. When you register for a Drcam account, you need to provide your mobile phone number and set an account password or use a third-party account to register and login. You can change your password through "My->Account Management". When you cancel your Drcam account, we will stop using and deleting the above information or anonymise your personal information, unless otherwise provided by laws and regulations.
  1. Bind smart hardware devices.
After you log in the App, you can achieve the connection and binding between the App and the smart hardware device via WiFi. In order to bind the App and the smart hardware device, we need to obtain your location information (for obtaining the WiFi list), WiFi network information, the status of the smart hardware device and mobile phone switching on and off and connecting to the network, the model of the smart hardware device, the mobile phone operator, the mobile phone operating system and version, the model of the mobile phone, and the local storage space of the mobile phone. The above information will be uploaded to Drcam's servers to prevent other identities other than your own from accessing and managing smart hardware devices and to better protect the security of your information. You can unbundle the smart hardware device and delete all your personal information related to the smart hardware device through "Settings->Unbundle and Delete the Camera".
  1. View video footage captured by smart hardware devices
After binding the smart hardware device, you can view the real-time video footage captured by the smart hardware device and the history of video recording through the App. You can also save the video locally or share it with your friends via third party Apps. When you share the video with your friends through a third party, we will not obtain any information about your third party App (including related account information). If your mobile phone is connected to a WiFi network and you are logged in on the App and have purchased the "Cloud Video" service or have a memory card inserted into your mobile phone, you can view and manage your Smartphone's videos in the "Cloud Video" and "Card Video" sections of the App. If you have purchased the "Cloud Video" service or have a memory card inserted in your mobile phone, you can view and manage the historical video recordings taken by your smart hardware device in "Cloud Video" and "Card Video" of the App. When you use "Cloud Recording" service, we will encrypt and upload all the videos recorded by the smart hardware device to Drcam's server when the smart hardware device is switched on and connected to WiFi, so as to synchronise with different devices and protect the video files, which will be retained for 30 days only; if you use "Card Recording" service, you can view and manage the historical video records through "Cloud Recording" and "Card Recording" in the App. If you use the "Card Video" service, the videos recorded by the smart hardware device will only be saved locally and will not be uploaded to Drcam's server.
Please note that the videos recorded by the Smart Hardware Devices may record the facial features of you, your family members or third party individuals. In order to protect the privacy information of all parties and respect the privacy rights of all parties, please fully understand the responsibilities, obligations and rights of both parties when installing, using and controlling the Smart Hardware Devices through the App. The video of the smart hardware device is an important private information of you and your family, if uploaded, we will strictly encrypt and store it to our server, and will not use the video recording for other places or share it with third parties.
  1. Control smart hardware devices
After you bind the smart hardware device, you can control the camera's functions and services through "Camera->Settings" in the App, including camera naming, service scenes, opening detection alarm, detection range, alarm sound settings and push messages. When you turn on the Home Do Not Disturb function of the smart hardware device, you need to authorise us to obtain the MAC address of your mobile phone, which is used to confirm that your mobile phone and the smart hardware device are in the same Wifi environment. The information you set and provide will be uploaded to our server as a command to the smart hardware device to realise the control of the smart hardware device.
 

(2) Implementing additional features for Drcam smart cameras

Additional features are service features other than core and third-party features that you may choose to enable on your own. We will not collect personal information from you if you do not turn them on. At the same time, you can turn off additional features by following the turn-off path mentioned below; after turning them off, we will no longer collect and use your personal information, and they will not affect your use of the App's core features.
  1. Screenshots and video recordings
This feature allows you to take a screenshot of the video recorded by the camcorder while you are viewing it. You can view the screenshots and photos in the local "Photo Album" of your mobile phone. Your screenshots will be uploaded to a server for synchronised viewing across devices. We will not use your screenshots for other purposes or share them with third parties.
  1. Alteration monitoring
We will identify the footage captured by the smart hardware devices for motion monitoring alerts and security protection for your family and home. You can view the recently captured motion monitoring and related videos. Meanwhile, you can choose whether to turn on or off the notification and monitoring in the camera settings.
  1. Share smart hardware devices.
You can share smart hardware devices, invite friends to share smart hardware devices via account number or link. After receiving the invitation, you can only view the real-time recording of the smart hardware device and all the alarm messages at any time. You can manage the list of invited family members in "Settings->Share".
  1. Buy Cloud Storage.
Cloud Video provides you with a service that allows you to watch and save historical videos taken by your smart hardware devices through the App at any time. In order to use this function, you need to purchase Cloud Video. When you choose to purchase and pay for the Cloud Video Recording package service for your Smart Hardware Device, payment can be made through a third-party payment method. We only obtain the name of the product you purchased, the order number, the order amount, and the payment status in order to provide you with the relevant cloud video recording service, and we do not obtain any information about the third-party payment account.
 

(3) Device permission call

In the process of providing services, the Drcam smart camera App will call some device permissions of your mobile phone. The following is the business function corresponding to the App invocation permission, the purpose of invoking the permission, and the inquiries to you before invoking the permission.
You can choose to turn off some or all of the permissions in the device's settings, thereby denying the App the collection of corresponding personal information. In different devices, the display method and closing method of permissions may be different. For details, please refer to the instructions or guidelines of the device and system developers.
Please note that if you open any permission, you authorize us to collect and use relevant personal information to provide you with corresponding services. If you close any permission, you cancel the authorization, and we will no longer continue to collect and use the corresponding permission. The use of relevant personal information will also stop providing you with corresponding services. However, your operation of closing the permission will not affect the previous collection and use of information based on your authorization.
Device permissions Corresponding business function Purpose of calling permission whether to ask Can users turn off permissions
phone permissions Core functions Used for risk control and operational security Yes Yes
Location permission Core functions Get a list of WiFi networks in your location, and enable smart hardware devices to connect to the WiFi network of your choice Yes Yes
storage permission Core functions Local storage of videos and images recorded by smart hardware devices on mobile phones Yes Yes
camera permission Additional features Add a camera by scanning a QR code Yes Yes
Microphone permissions Additional features intercom call Yes Yes

(4) To improve our products and services

  1. Product improvement and optimization.
In order to continuously improve our products, eliminate and reduce product crashes, and provide you with better product functions and services, we will obtain the following information about your mobile phone and the bound smart hardware devices through the public interface of the mobile phone system: Mobile identity code (IMEI), network device address (MAC), operator, mobile phone model, mobile phone system version number, system number, system ID number, screen resolution, Internet access type, name of the App in the mobile phone, version number, package name , App usage time and frequency, App crash log information. Used to count the number of users of our products, analyze product usage, troubleshoot crashes, and optimize product features. This information does not involve your personally identifiable information.
  1. Feedback and Information.
You can give us feedback or consult the problems you encountered in using the App through "My->Help and Feedback->I want to give feedback" of the App. When you give us your feedback or enquiry, we will analyse the information mentioned in the previous paragraph to find out the cause of the problem and try to solve it. The contact information you provide in your feedback will only be used for our customer service to communicate with you and give you feedback, and we will not provide the contact information you provide to any third party except with your explicit consent and as expressly provided by law.

(5) Security guarantee

In order to improve the security of your use of the services provided by us and our affiliates and partners, protect your or other personal and property safety of you or the public from being infringed, and better prevent phishing websites, fraud, network vulnerabilities, computer viruses, and network attacks , network intrusion and other security risks, more accurately identify violations of laws and regulations or Drcam related protocol rules. We may use or integrate your account information, smart hardware information, App usage information, and information that our affiliates and partners have authorized by you or shared in accordance with the law for identity verification, detection and prevention of security incidents, and to take necessary legal measures. records, audits, analyses, and dispositions.

(6) Exceptions to obtaining authorization and consent

  1. Related to national security and national defense security;
  2. Related to public safety, public health, and major public interests;
  3. Related to criminal investigation, prosecution, trial and execution of judgments;
  4. In order to protect the life and property of the personal information subject or other individuals, but it is difficult to obtain your consent;
  5. The collected personal information is disclosed to the public by you;
  6. Collecting personal information from legally publicly disclosed information, such as legal news reports, government information disclosure and other channels;
  7. Necessary to conclude a contract at your request;
  8. Necessary for maintaining the safe and stable operation of the products or services provided, such as finding and disposing of faults in the products or services;
  9. Necessary for legitimate news reporting;
  10. When it is necessary for academic research institutions to carry out statistical or academic research based on public interests, and when providing the results of academic research or description, the personal information contained in the results is de-identified;
  11. Other situations stipulated by laws and regulations. .

(7) Collection of information

App collection

  1. In order to allocate servers nearby and improve the overall access speed of users, we will use your IP address.
  2. In order to identify your device ID, improve service timeliness, security, and ensure operational quality and efficiency, we will collect your device information (including IMEI, MEID, AndroidID, IMSI, GUID, and MAC address), your installed Application information or running process information.

2.How we store your personal information

The personal information we collect and generate in the region where the user is located will be stored within the local territory and does not involve cross-border transmission.
In the future, if your relevant personal information is subject to cross-border data processing, and it is necessary to transmit the relevant personal information collected within the territory to an organisation outside the territory, we will implement the provisions in accordance with the laws, administrative regulations and relevant regulatory authorities. We will also seek your consent and permission again before the cross-border data transfer. At the same time, we ensure that we will specify the location and purpose of data transfer in our privacy policy, so that you can always know where your personal information is stored. At the same time, we will implement Appropriate encryption, anonymisation and other techniques to ensure that your personal information is adequately protected during transmission.
We will only store your personal information for the minimum period necessary for the purposes of this policy and for the period required by law and regulation. In order to provide you with cloud video recording services, the maximum length of time that videos captured by smart hardware can be stored on the server is based on the duration of the "Cloud Video" package you purchased, and when you no longer use cloud video recording, the relevant video files will not be stored on the server. If you stop using the App or unbundle your smart hardware, we will immediately stop collecting your personal information and anonymise the personal information you have provided to us within a reasonable period of time.
If we cease to operate Drcam's products or services, we will promptly cease activities that continue to collect your personal information, notify you of the cessation of operations by individual delivery or announcement, and delete or anonymise the personal information we have stored.
 

3.How do we share, transfer and publicly disclose your personal information

(1)share

We will not share your personal information with any companies, organizations and individuals, with the following exceptions:
  1. With your explicit consent, we will share your personal information with other parties.
  2. We may share your personal information externally in accordance with laws and regulations, litigation and dispute resolution needs, or as required by administrative and judicial authorities.
To the extent permitted by laws and regulations, it is necessary to share your personal information in order to protect Drcam, Drcam's affiliates or partners, you or other Drcam users or the public interest, property or safety from harm.
  1. Sharing between affiliates: We may share your personal information with our affiliates in the context of our affiliates providing services to you or to us. However, we only share necessary personal information, and the processing of your information by related parties is governed by this policy. If the affiliated company wants to change the purpose of processing your personal information, it will seek your authorization and consent again.
For companies, organizations and individuals with whom we share personal information, we will sign strict data protection agreements with them, requiring them to process personal information in accordance with our instructions, this policy and any other relevant confidentiality and security measures.

(2) Transfer

We will not transfer your personal information to any other companies, organizations and individuals, except in the following cases:
  1. With the development of the company's business, we and our affiliates may conduct mergers, acquisitions, asset transfers or other similar transactions. If the relevant transaction involves the transfer of your personal information, we will require the new company, organization and individual holding your personal information to continue to be bound by this policy, otherwise we will require the company, organization and individual to obtain your authorization and consent again.
  2. To meet the requirements of laws and regulations, legal procedures or mandatory government requirements or judicial rulings.
  3. Transfer with your explicit consent, that is, after obtaining your explicit consent, we will transfer your personal information that we have acquired to other parties.

(3) Disclosure

We will only publicly disclose your personal information in the following circumstances:
  1. Your express consent has been obtained.
  2. We may publicly disclose your personal information when required by law, legal process, litigation or government authorities.
  3. To the extent permitted by laws and regulations, it is necessary to disclose your personal information in order to protect Drcam, Drcam's affiliates or partners, you or other Drcam users or the public interest, property or safety from damage.
  4. Other situations stipulated by laws and regulations.
According to the law, sharing and transferring de-identified personal information and ensuring that the recipient of the data cannot recover and re-identify the subject of the personal information is not an external sharing, transfer or public disclosure of personal information. Storage and processing will not be required to notify you and obtain your consent.
 

4.How we protect your personal information

We have implemented industry-standard security safeguards to protect the personal information you provide from unauthorized access, public disclosure, use, modification, damage or loss. We will take all reasonably practicable steps to protect your personal information.
  1. We attach great importance to the security of your personal information and will strive to take reasonable security measures to protect your personal information. At present, Drcam has passed the information system security level test and record of the Ministry of Public Security, and has been Approved and issued by the Ministry of Public Security. At the same time, Drcam has also passed the international authoritative ISO 27001 information security management system certification.
  2. We deploy an access control mechanism on the server, adopt the principle of least sufficient authorization for staff who may have access to your personal information, and regularly check the list of access personnel and access records.
  3. The server systems where we store your personal information are all security-hardened operating systems. We conduct account auditing and monitoring of server operations. If an externally announced server operating system with security problems is found, Drcam will upgrade the server security as soon as possible to ensure the security of all Drcam server systems and Applications.
  4. We regularly hold trainings on laws and regulations related to personal information protection for staff to enhance the staff's awareness of your personal privacy protection.
  5. In the unfortunate event that our physical, technical or management protection measures are damaged, we will promptly activate emergency plans to prevent the expansion of security incidents, report them to the competent national authorities in accordance with the requirements of laws and regulations, and take reasonable measures such as push notifications and announcements in a timely manner. , Inform you of the basic situation of security incidents, possible impacts, measures that have been taken or measures to be taken, etc. in an effective way.
 

5.Your right to manage personal information

During your use of the App, you can access and manage your personal information in the following ways
(1) Access and Correction of Your Personal Information
You can change your account name and account password in the App account settings.
(2) Delete your personal information
You have the right to request Drcam to delete your personal information in the following circumstances:
  1. We have collected your personal information without your explicit consent.
  2. Our processing of your personal information violates the requirements of laws and regulations.
  3. We use and process your personal information in violation of our agreement with you.
  4. You cancel your Drcam account, uninstall or stop using our products (or services).
  5. We stop providing services to you.
You can contact us to request deletion of your personal information through the methods provided in Section IX of this Privacy Policy, and we will respond within 15 working days. When we delete your personal information from the server, we may not delete the corresponding data from the backup system immediately, but will delete the information when the system updates the backup information.
(3) Cancelling your personal account
You can log in to the App and go to Account Settings -> Other Account Settings -> Logout Account. Log out of your Drcam account. Please note that if you choose to cancel your Drcam account, then your Drcam account will not be available and the relevant account information will be cleared, and you will no longer be able to log in through your Drcam account and use Drcam's product functions and services (but this will not affect your use services and features that do not require an account login).
After you cancel your account, we will stop providing you with corresponding products (or services), and delete or anonymize your personal information within 10 working days, unless laws and regulations require us to keep relevant information.
(4) Withdraw your consent or authorization
In the App, you can withdraw your consent and authorization to us in the following ways.
  1. You can enter the permission management interface for your authorization of Drcam smart camera through the local "Settings->App Settings->Drcam->Permission Management" on the mobile phone, and withdraw the authorization and consent to the Drcam smart camera App.
  2. Turn off related functions or unbind smart hardware devices through the specific shutdown paths and methods in the functional description of the "1. How We Collect and Use Your Personal Information" module of this policy. Closing it revokes the corresponding authorization for this function.
Please understand that each business function requires some basic personal information to be completed (see Section 1 of this policy). After you withdraw your consent or authorization, we cannot continue to provide you with the services corresponding to the withdrawal of consent or authorization, nor The corresponding personal information will no longer be processed. However, your decision to withdraw your consent will not affect the previous processing of personal information based on your authorization.
(5) Responding to your above request
For security, you may be required to provide a written request or otherwise prove your identity. We may ask you to verify your identity before processing your request. However, please understand that some of your information may not be accessible, modified or deleted due to legal and regulatory requirements, information security, technical restrictions and other reasons.
 

6.Protection of Personal Information of Minors

This product is not specifically designed for minors. Minors under the age of 18 need the consent and authorization of the minor or guardian when using this product. When children under the age of fourteen use this product, they need their parents and other guardians to read this policy, and children should seek the consent and guidance of their parents and other guardians before submitting personal information. If you are the parent or guardian of a child, when you have questions about the personal information of the child under your guardianship, you can contact us through the contact information in Section IX of this policy.
 

7.Scope of Application of Privacy Policy

This Privacy Policy Applies only to the Drcam App. Other products and services of Drcam will use the privacy policy of the relevant product or service. In particular, this Privacy Policy does not Apply to the following situations:
  1. Embed Drcam products (or services) into third-party products (or services), and the information collected by third-party products (or services).
  2. Information collected by third-party services, advertisements or other companies, organizations or individuals accessed in Drcam products (or services).
We hereby remind you that when you use third-party products and/or services, please carefully read the relevant user agreement and privacy policy displayed to you by the third-party, and take good care of and provide your personal information with care.
 

8.Changes and Amendments to the Privacy Policy

Our Privacy Policy is subject to change. We will not limit your rights under this Privacy Policy without your express consent.
For major changes to this Privacy Policy, we will also provide prominent notices (for example, when the App is revised or upgraded, or when you log in again, you will be notified in a timely manner in the form of a pop-up window).
Material changes referred to in this policy include, but are not limited to:
  1. Significant changes to our service model. Such as the purpose of processing personal information, the type of personal information processed, the way of using personal information, etc.;
  2. Significant changes in our control, etc. Such as changes in owners caused by mergers and acquisitions, etc.;
  3. The main object of personal information sharing, transfer or public disclosure has changed;
  4. Significant changes in your rights to participate in the processing of personal information and the way they are exercised;
  5. When our responsible department responsible for handling personal information security, contact information and complaint channels change;
  6. When the personal information security impact assessment report indicates that there is a high risk.

9.How to contact us

If you have any questions, comments, suggestions or complaints about our Privacy Policy and the handling of your personal information, please contact us via the methods below.
Contact email: service@tange.ai , under normal circumstances, we will reply to your request within 15 working days.
 
 

10.Appendix 1 Description of Third Party SDK Partners and Shared Information

In order to ensure the realisation of Drcam App related functions and the safe and stable operation of the Application, we may access software development kits (SDK) provided by third parties to achieve related purposes.
We will strictly monitor the security of the software development kits (SDKs) used by our partners to access information in order to protect data security.
The relevant third-party SDKs we access are listed in our catalogue, and we recommend that you carefully read and understand the third-party's privacy policy. The information of the third party SDKs currently accessed by DrcamApp is as follows:
Third Party SDK Name purpose of use Function Type Concerning personal privacy privacy policy
Facebook Login Provide third party login Embedding third-party SDKs Get device serial number view
Google Login Provide third party login Embedding third-party SDKs Get device serial number view
LINE Login Provide third party login Embedding third-party SDKs Get device serial number view
Apple Login Provide third party login Embedding third-party SDKs Get device serial number view
Google Push Service Provide google device message push service Embedding third-party SDKs Get device serial number view
AliCloud Push Service Provide AliCloud message push service Embedding third-party SDKs Get device serial number view
 
 
 
 

11.Appendix 2 Definition of Terms

  1. Personal information:
refers to various information recorded by electronic or other means that can identify the identity of a specific natural person or reflect the activities of a specific natural person alone or in combination with other information. Personal information includes: basic information (including personal name, birthday, gender, address, personal phone number, e-mail); personal identification information (including ID card, military ID card, passport, driver's license, etc.); personal biometric information (including voice fingerprints, facial features, etc.); network identification information (including system account numbers, IP addresses, etc.); personal property information (including bank accounts, transaction and consumption records, game exchange codes and other virtual property information); personal communication information ( Including address book content, etc.); personal online records (including website browsing records, software usage records, click records, etc.); personal commonly used device information (including hardware model, device MAC address, software list, unique device identification code (such as IMEI/IDFA) /AndroidID/OPENUDID/GUID/SIM card IMSI information and other information describing the basic situation of personal commonly used devices); personal location information (including track, precise positioning information, accommodation information, latitude and longitude, etc.).
  1. Sensitive personal information:
refers to personal information that may endanger personal and property safety once it is leaked, illegally provided or abused, and can easily lead to damage to personal reputation, physical and mental health, or discriminatory treatment. Sensitive personal information includes: personal property information (including bank accounts, transaction and consumption records, game exchange codes and other virtual property information); personal biometric information (including voiceprints, fingerprints, facial features, etc.); personal identification information (including ID cards, military ID cards, passports, driver's licenses, etc. ); other information (including address book, whereabouts, web browsing records, accommodation information, precise positioning information).
  1. De-identification:
refers to the process of making it impossible to identify the subject of personal information without the aid of additional information through technical processing of personal information.
  1. Anonymization:
refers to the process in which the subject of personal information can not be identified through the technical processing of personal information, and the processed information can not be recovered.
  1. Deletion of personal information:
refers to the act of removing personal information from the system involved in the realization of daily business functions, so that it remains unretrievable and accessible.
  1. Children:
refers to minors under the age of fourteen.
  1. SDK：
A software development kit (SDK) is a set of tools provided by the manufacturer of (usually) a hardware platform, operating system (OS), or programming language