I’m writing this to put some additional context to our Terms of Service.
There are two primary fears people bring to every demo & sales conversation we have at DSQ Technology. This post is about one of them: “Who owns my data?”
There’s a moment when a prospective customer realizes: “You’re going to know everything about my company. Every customer, every vendor, every profit that I make.”
And they interrupt to ask, “Who owns my data? Who can see it? Am I feeding my competitor somehow?”
It is true that any software you use to run your business will know most everything about your business. With DSQ, access to Your Data is limited to you and your team, plus the DSQ Help Desk & software development team as is appropriate. The Help Desk has limited, ticket-scoped and training-reinforced access.
What is Your Data?
Your Data is your files, content, messages, contacts, pricing, service levels, customer names, and customer locations. Your Data also includes information we obtain or retrieve from your accounts maintained by third parties, or information transmitted by you or on your behalf from third parties. That can include account status, service level, account balances, and similar information.
Astute readers will note those words come directly from our Terms of Service. (If the Terms have been updated since this was posted, this post will have been updated to match.)
Your Data is the information you enter into DSQ. To make this more tangible, think: invoices, contracts, vendor contacts, customer contacts, locations, services, customer and vendor notes. That’s all Your Data.
And no other customer of DSQ can see Your Data.
One follow-up we always get: “What about pricing?” That’s Your Data too. The specific price of the 8-yard, 3x/week at the Bluth’s Banana Stand on Cedar Avenue in Pittsburgh is Your Data and no one else’s.
So then what is DSQ Data?
DSQ Data is aggregated, non-identifiable information DSQ generates from your use of our Services. DSQ Data is owned by DSQ. It is separate and distinct from Your Data. The two are mutually exclusive.
DSQ Data exists so the software gets better at the job you hired it to do!
For example:
- Product decisions: which fields need their content adjusted or updated, where bugs are happening, which hauler portals to add.
- Better invoice extraction, line item matching and audit rules.
- New features we think would benefit everyone.
But what about the things that “could be”? Here it is in terms we both use.
Pricing: DSQ has aggregate pricing data. That does not mean “the price of an 8-yard, 3x/week on Cedar Avenue.” It means we could report on “the range of prices of an 8-yard, 3x/week in Bucks County.”
Customers & Contracts: DSQ Data has non-identifiable customer & contract data. It means DSQ could understand if “this hauler gained/lost market share in 2026 vs. 2025” across all users within the DSQ environment. Your customer list is Your Data. The name, the billing entity, the fact that you manage Bluth’s Banana Stand on Cedar Avenue - that’s yours. DSQ Data is stripped of identity.
Locations: DSQ has aggregate, non-identifiable location data. That does not mean “Bluth’s Banana Stand on Cedar Avenue” or the service mix at that address. It means things like “what percentage of commercial locations in Allegheny County are using 8-yard, 3x/week service,” or “what share of locations in a metro have both trash and recycling on the same vendor.” Any single pin that ties back to your customer is Your Data. A count of pins in a ZIP code is DSQ Data.
Vendors: DSQ Data is the non-identifiable layer: “this national hauler has more or fewer customers in 2026 vs. 2025 in this region,” or “there are multiple vendors in this area who can deliver these services.” We can know the market. We cannot know your deal as your deal. The vendor on your account - Bob’s Hauling at that Bluth’s Banana Stand, the contact who answers the phone, the rate sheet you negotiated - is Your Data.
Contacts: Names, emails, phone numbers, notes (“ask for Denise, she handles credits”) are Your Data. DSQ Data is only operational and anonymous: “average number of vendor contacts stored per tenant,” “how often a work order is opened from email vs. phone.” We do not build a directory from your contacts.
Note: We report an aggregate only when no single customer can be identified or inferred from the aggregate.
Who can see Your Data?
- You and your team: Your Data, inside your tenant.
- DSQ software development: access required to run and improve the product.
- Help Desk: limited access, tied to the ticket you opened.
- Everyone else: Nope. They don’t get Your Data. (Exceptions: infrastructure providers, and when legally compelled.)
Who owns Your Data?
You do.
You can export Your Data. You can delete or terminate records. You can leave. When you leave, you take Your Data with you. You do not take DSQ Data - the aggregates - because DSQ Data was never your customer list.
