PublicSonar FAQ

PublicSonar provides insight into information that is available on the open internet. This information may contain ‘personal data’ and therefore, we have high demand on how we handle this data on behalf of our clients. We are open and clear about this. That is why we answer questions about PublicSonar and personal data below.

Might you not find your question listed below, feel free to contact us via info@publicsonar.com.

What is PublicSonar?

PublicSonar helps to find information that is freely available on open social media and other public sources on the internet. This is information that says something about what people experience or see. Because the number of messages on this is overwhelming, our clients use PublicSonar. With PublicSonar they find the right and relevant messages within this vast amount.

Who uses PublicSonar?

PublicSonar is used by organisations that perform a public task and want to do their job better. The users of PublicSonar are mainly looking for information about what is happening in the here and now. This allows them to respond faster and better. They decide themselves what information they want to find with PublicSonar.

What is PublicSonar used for?

PublicSonar is used to identify risks or to get a better view of an incident or a certain situation or about the service in general. It is about cases that we all have to deal with in everyday life: safety, mobility or other necessities in life such as having drinking water. It can be about weather conditions, nuisance, violence, accidents, crowds, quality of drinking water etc.

What is PublicSonar not used for?

PublicSonar has been developed for obtaining real-time insights from open sources on the internet. PublicSonar is not used for investigative or detective work. Also, with PublicSonar you cannot perform social network analyses or systematically build a profile of specific people. PublicSonar is therefore, not a surveillance or digital investigation tool.

How does PublicSonar respect the privacy of the users of the open internet?

First of all, by adhering to the laws and regulations. We are just as responsible for that as our clients are. However, the law and regulations, such as the GDPR, are not the only thing we adhere to. On the open internet a lot happens with data, we actively follow that to ask ourselves, regardless of laws and regulations, whether we are careful enough.

What data does PublicSonar offers access to?

With PublicSonar you can only collect public information that is visible to everyone, everywhere and always. We retrieve the username and the message itself from public messages, but we do not retrieve background information about the profile (bio information). In addition, we do not retrieve meta data about how a message spreads or how and with whom the message is shared. We do not, in principle, offer access to private messages or to information from closed sources. If an account is marked as private by users as private or if an author uses a closed social network, our service has no access.

How are the data collected with PublicSonar used?

The personal data found with PublicSonar are only used for the reason for which they were collected. We therefore, do not ‘create’ new information. If we use data to improve things in our technology, we ensure that this happens as prescribed by the GDPR.

How does PublicSonar ensure that the data is secure?

The data are safe within PublicSonar. Throughout our entire organization and technology, we have taken measures to protect both the data and our technology. For this, we are certified, but we also let ourselves be checked, solicited and unsolicited. In addition, together with our clients, we ensure that the data are not stored any longer than necessary. Making sure that data are secure is something we permanently do.