Do they own your data? FullStory Privacy Policy Reviewed.

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Final Enterprise Readiness Rating: 6/10

⚠️ Partially ready (Reviewed 2026).

⚠️ Recommendation for Enterprises:

Adopt FullStory with caution. Be especially careful if you handle:

• Healthcare data requiring HIPAA compliance
• Financial data with strict PCI requirements
• Legal communications requiring attorney-client privilege
• Sensitive personal data under strict GDPR interpretation

Instead, consider AI tools that:

• Provide explicit HIPAA Business Associate Agreement capability
• Offer more granular data collection controls
• Support bring-your-own analytics model
• Implement privacy-by-design with opt-in consent

Better Alternative:

✅ BuildBetter.ai — GDPR, SOC 2 Type 2, and HIPAA compliant

✅ Zero training on customer data

✅ You own your data. Fully opt-in privacy model.

🔍  FullStory Privacy Policy – Enterprise Risk Assessment

Audience: Security-conscious enterprise organizations evaluating Digital experience analytics with session replay for internal use in highly sensitive or regulated environments (e.g. legal, healthcare, finance, tech/IP-heavy orgs).

⚠️ Where FullStory Falls Short – Critical Gaps

🔒  1. Data Residency & Storage

Quote: "We have data centers in the United States and in the European Union. At the time that you contract for our Services, you have the option to designate the location of the data center which supports your Fullstory account."

Risk: Data residency choice is critical for GDPR compliance and avoiding cross-border data transfer risks. FullStory provides this flexibility.

Enterprise Issue:

• No mention of on-premises or private cloud options
• Default appears to be US-based storage
• International transfers still occur for processing

Verdict: ✅ Adequate options for data sovereignty

🧠  2. AI Model Use

Risk: Session replay analytics likely involve ML processing for insights, but the policy doesn't specify what AI systems are used or data sharing with AI providers.

Enterprise Issue:

• No mention of AI model usage
• Unclear if data is used for training external models
• No bring-your-own-model options mentioned

Verdict: ⚠️ Limited transparency on AI processing

📊  3. Data Minimization

Quote: "We collect information about a User's interaction when a Fullstory Customer uses our Services, including the resources that they access, pages viewed, how much time they spent on a page, and how they reached their website. We also log the details of their visits to our Customer's website and information generated in the course of using our Customer's website, such as mouse movements, clicks, page visits, text entered, how long they spent on a page, and other details of their actions on our Customer's website."

Risk: The comprehensive nature of data collection creates significant privacy risks and potential compliance issues for enterprises handling sensitive data.

Enterprise Issue:

• Records all user interactions including text input
• Full session replay creates extensive personal data
• No clear data minimization controls

Verdict: ❌ Extensive data collection by design

⚙️  4. Privacy Controls

Quote: "If you wish to prevent all websites using the Fullstory Services from being able to capture activity, you can opt-out of Fullstory Services. Opting out will create a cookie that tells Fullstory to turn off capturing on any site that uses the Fullstory Services."

Risk: Opt-out rather than opt-in models create compliance risks, especially under GDPR which requires explicit consent for non-essential processing.

Enterprise Issue:

• Default opt-in rather than opt-out
• Limited workspace-level privacy controls mentioned
• Cookie-based opt-out mechanism is fragile

Verdict: ⚠️ Opt-out focused rather than privacy-by-design

📦  5. Compliance & Auditability

Quote: "Fullstory complies with the EU-U.S. Data Privacy Framework ('EU-U.S. DPF'), the UK Extension to the EU-U.S. DPF, and the Swiss-U.S. Data Privacy Framework ('Swiss-U.S. DPF') as set forth by the U.S. Department of Commerce and the Federal Trade Commission ('FTC')."

Risk: Compliance frameworks are essential for enterprise adoption, and FullStory demonstrates commitment to major standards.

Enterprise Issue:

• No explicit mention of SOC 2 Type II or ISO 27001
• HIPAA compliance not clearly stated
• Audit trail capabilities not detailed

Verdict: ✅ Strong compliance framework coverage

📬  6. Consent Handling

Quote: "Please note that Fullstory requests that all Customers provide notice to their website or mobile application visitors that they use the Fullstory Services."

Risk: Enterprises need robust consent management for compliance. Placing this burden entirely on customers creates implementation gaps.

Enterprise Issue:

• No built-in consent management tools
• Customer responsibility for legal compliance
• Limited guidance on consent requirements

Verdict: ⚠️ Customer responsibility with limited automation

🔍  7. Model Explainability

Risk: Enterprises need to understand how their data is being processed, especially for algorithmic decision-making and compliance audits.

Enterprise Issue:

• No detailed logs of analytical processing
• Limited observability into algorithm decisions
• Unclear what insights are generated automatically

Verdict: ⚠️ Limited visibility into analytics processing

🧼  8. Data Retention & Deletion

Quote: "As a general rule, we keep your data for only as long as it is needed to complete the purpose for which it was collected or as required by law."

Risk: Clear data retention and deletion policies are crucial for compliance and minimizing data exposure risks.

Enterprise Issue:

• Specific retention periods not always defined
• No mention of automated deletion capabilities
• Customer data retention vs user data retention unclear

Verdict: ✅ Reasonable retention policies with deletion rights

🤝  9. Third-Party Sharing

Quote: "We do not sell the data of our Customers or their Users collected through the Services to third parties or otherwise share it with non-agent third parties."

Risk: Data sharing policies directly impact enterprise data security and compliance obligations.

Enterprise Issue:

• Website visitor data may be sold/shared for advertising
• Service provider sharing still occurs
• Subprocessor list not provided

Verdict: ✅ Clear no-sale policy for service data

✅ What FullStory Does Right (Credit Where It's Due)

• Clear data residency options with EU data centers
• Strong commitment to major privacy frameworks (GDPR, CCPA, DPF)
• Explicit no-sale policy for service data
• Comprehensive privacy rights support across multiple jurisdictions
• Detailed privacy policy with specific technical controls

Disclaimer: This evaluation is based solely on publicly available information and documentation. For formal enterprise vetting, always request a vendor's latest DPA, security whitepaper, and third-party audit reports.