Privacy Policy

JASPAR is an open-access database of curated, non-redundant transcription factor (TF) binding profiles, stored as position frequency matrices (PFMs), as well as deep learning (DL) models, covering multiple species in six taxonomic groups. It is brought to you by a collaborative effort of several research labs and it is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

For your questions, please use our open Google Q&A Forum. For technical problems and feedback, please contact Anthony Mathelier: anthony.mathelier AT ncmbm.uio.no

The data collected through this website is processed under a joint controllership arrangement established pursuant to the Consortium Agreement for ELIXIR4OLS – Enabling Open Life Science in Norway (“the Consortium”).
The participating institutions acting as joint controllers are:

• University of Bergen (UiB), Department of Informatics (lead partner)
• Norwegian University of Life Sciences (NMBU) (lead partner)
• Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) (lead partner)
• University of Oslo (UiO) (lead partner)
• UiT The Arctic University of Norway (UiT) (lead partner)
• Norwegian Institute of Public Health (FHI) (additional partner)
• Norwegian Veterinary Institute (additional partner)

The processing of personal data is carried out on the basis of the Consortium’s legitimate interests, as provided for under applicable data protection legislation.

These legitimate interests include the monitoring and evaluation of website usage, the assessment of service performance, the maintenance of website security and functionality, the fulfilment of reporting and accountability obligations, and the continuous improvement and development of the services provided. Further details regarding these purposes are set out in the section entitled “Purpose of the Processing.”

JASPAR uses Matomo, an open-source web analytics platform. Web analytics tools enable website operators to measure, collect, analyse, and report information relating to website usage and visitor interactions. Such information supports the monitoring of service performance, the evaluation of user engagement, and the identification of opportunities for improvement.

Matomo is used to generate statistical and analytical insights regarding the operation and use of this service, thereby assisting in the enhancement, maintenance, and ongoing development of the website.

Check “Details of transfers to third countries and safeguards” in order to know more about where Matomo is hosted.

Additional information about Matomo, including a demonstration of its functionality and reporting features, is available at: https://demo.matomo.cloud.

Additional tools may be used on a case-by-case basis where necessary to support specific operational requirements. For example, monitoring and infrastructure tools such as Zabbix may be used to retrieve certain database values from client environments for diagnostic, performance, or support purposes, subject to the relevant configuration and applicable agreements.

The processing of data collected through this website is carried out for the following purposes:

• The processing of website analytics data serves several legitimate operational and reporting purposes. In particular, the information collected is used to establish and monitor key performance indicators (KPIs), including metrics relating to service usage, accessibility, and technical performance. The collection of such information is a mandatory requirement for ELIXIR Norway services and supports institutional reporting, performance assessment, and compliance with funding and governance obligations.
• Analytics data is also used to understand how visitors interact with the website and to identify opportunities for improvement. This includes the detection and analysis of issues such as broken links, “page not found” errors, search engine indexing problems, and other factors that may affect usability or discoverability. Aggregated usage statistics further enable the assessment of content relevance and user engagement.
• Following the processing and aggregation of collected data, Matomo generates statistical reports that assist website administrators in evaluating website performance and user experience. These insights may be used to inform decisions regarding website design, navigation, accessibility, content development, and other measures aimed at improving the quality, effectiveness, and usability of the service.

Under no circumstances will the collected data be used for unrelated purposes, including but not limited to marketing, advertising, profiling, behavioural targeting, or the operation of automated decision-making systems. The Consortium does not use analytics data to make decisions that produce legal effects concerning individuals or otherwise significantly affect them.

All processing activities are limited to what is necessary to fulfil the legitimate operational, analytical, and reporting objectives of the service and are conducted in accordance with applicable data protection legislation.

Matomo is processing the following personal data:

• Cookies (see the next section for details).
• User IP address
• In order to enhance the user’s privacy, its last 2 bytes are anonymized.
• User ID
• Relevant to differentiate among unique and recurrent visitors, including when they use different browsers and devices.
• It may really lead to identifying a user.
• A pseudonym is internally used to avoid identifying any actual user when managing the data.
• Date and time of the request.
• Title of the page being viewed (Page Title).
• URL of the page being viewed (Page URL).
• Type of page that was viewed prior to the current page (referrer URL) (search engine, social network, website, direct entry).
• Time in local user’s timezone.
• Files that were clicked and downloaded (if related stats are required).
• Links to an outside domain that were clicked (it is not possible to disable this functionality without disabling all link tracking).
• Pages generation time (the time it takes for webpages to be generated by the webserver and then downloaded by the user)
• Main Language of the browser being used (Accept-Language header)
• User Agent of the browser being used (User-Agent header)
• Executions / Processes / Uploads

Some information is also stored in first party cookies and then collected by Matomo:

• Random unique Visitor ID
• Time of the first visit for this user
• Time of the previous visit for this user
• Number of visits for this user

A third party cookie may be used for tracking User IDs when the site agrees to it and allows us to use it.

Other user-related information we will collect:

• Events
• Viewing and clicking on Contents (downloads)
• Mouse clicks

For further information on how your information is used, how we maintain the security of your information, and your rights to access information we hold on you, please contact us.

Cookies are text files placed on your computer to collect standard internet log information and visitor behaviour information. This information is used to track visitor use of the website and to compile statistical reports on website activity.

For further information visit www.aboutcookies.org or www.allaboutcookies.org.

Matomo manages a set of cookies. For a full detailed description of them you can browse to: https://matomo.org/faq/general/faq_146

On one side, you can avoid Matomo to collect its cookies.

On the other side, you can set your browser not to accept any cookies at all (not just the ones from Matomo) and the above websites tell you how to remove cookies from your browser. However, in a few cases some of our website features may not function as a result.

The personal data we manage will only be shared in aggregated, anonymized form with any other entities.

The data processed through this service is hosted by the Norwegian Research and Education Cloud (NREC) within Norway. Appropriate technical and organisational measures are implemented to maintain the security, confidentiality, integrity, and availability of the data throughout its lifecycle.

All data managed by the Consortium is stored and processed within Norway and is not transferred to, stored in, or otherwise processed in any foreign jurisdiction. The Consortium is committed to ensuring that all data processing activities are conducted in accordance with applicable data protection legislation, information security requirements, and established governance procedures.

Personal data collected through Matomo is retained in its raw form for a period of 2 years from the date of collection. This retention period has been established to enable the analysis of medium- to long-term usage trends, support service evaluation, and facilitate reporting activities, including those associated with funding, performance assessment, and strategic planning.

Upon expiry of the retention period, raw personal data is deleted or otherwise rendered unavailable for further analysis. Aggregated data may be retained indefinitely for historical, analytical, reporting, and service improvement purposes. Such data is maintained in a manner that does not pose a privacy or security risk to data subjects.

We are committed to ensuring that you are fully informed of your rights relating to the processing of your personal data. In accordance with applicable data protection legislation, individuals whose personal data is processed by this service may exercise a range of rights designed to provide transparency, control, and protection in relation to their personal information.

Subject to the conditions and limitations set out in applicable law, you may exercise the following rights:

• Right to access: you can ask us at any time for a copy of your personal data.
• Right to rectification: you can ask us at any time to correct or complete any information you believe is inaccurate.
• Right to erasure: you can ask us at any time to delete all the personal data we are processing about you, under certain conditions.
• Right to portability: you can ask us at any time to transfer the data we have collected about you to another organisation or directly to you, under certain conditions.
• Right to restrict processing: you can ask us at any time to restrict the processing of your personal data, under certain conditions.
• Right to object to processing: you can withdraw your consent at any time by clicking on the following button:

  You may opt out at any time here.

  If you choose to exercise this option, no further analytics data relating to your visits will be collected, to the extent technically feasible.

  Your decision to opt out will have no adverse consequences and will not affect your ability to access, use, or benefit from the services and content provided through this website. The functionality and availability of the service will remain unchanged regardless of whether you consent to analytics tracking.

If you believe that the processing of your personal data does not comply with applicable data protection legislation, you have the right to lodge a complaint with the competent supervisory authority responsible for overseeing data protection matters in your jurisdiction.

For individuals in Norway, the relevant supervisory authority is the Norwegian Data Protection Authority (Datatilsynet). However, you may also contact the data protection authority in your country of residence, place of work, or the location where the alleged infringement occurred, as permitted under applicable data protection laws.

The right to lodge a complaint with a supervisory authority applies without prejudice to any other administrative or judicial remedies that may be available to you under applicable law.

We do not carry out solely automated decision-making, including profiling, that produces legal or similarly significant effects on individuals.

Our website contains links to other websites. This privacy policy only applies to this website so when you link to other websites you should read their own privacy policies.

We may revise and update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes in our practices, legal obligations, operational requirements, or the functionality of the service.

Where changes are material and may affect the way personal data is processed, we will take reasonable steps to inform users of such changes. Notification may be provided through a prominent notice on the website, by email where appropriate, or through other suitable communication channels.

Any revised version of this Privacy Policy will be published on this website and will become effective on the date specified as the “Effective Date” within the updated Policy. We encourage users to review this Privacy Policy periodically to remain informed about how their information is collected, used, and protected.

This privacy policy was last updated on 3 July 2026.

Please contact us if you have any question or request about our privacy policy or information we hold about you: