Privacy Policy

Our Approach to Privacy

Our approach to privacy is to help you to understand how your information is collected and used.

Information Published on WhitePages' Websites

Our Privacy Policy does not apply to information published on our websites. If you want to learn more about information published on WhitePages as well as how to remove information published on WhitePages' websites, visit our Privacy Central page.

WhitePages Privacy Policy

This policy is effective as of June 16, 2011.

Our privacy policy will help you understand the different types of information we collect when you use our services (the "Services"). By using our Services, you agree to our privacy policy and Terms of Service. We may change or update this policy from time to time. Any updated policy shall be effective immediately after it is posted.

The Information We Collect & How We Use It

There are several categories of information that we may collect from you:

  • Public Information
  • Imported Contacts
  • Private Information
  • Search Information
  • General Information

In addition to the specific uses noted below, we may use, store and review information we collect from you for a variety of internal business purposes, such as to provide, monitor and maintain the Services, provide you with a better user experience and develop new services. We also may use Public Information, Search Information and General Information to deliver advertisements that match your interests (though not unsolicited third-party email). Exceptions to the specific uses noted below are explained in the section titled "When We Share Information with Third Parties".

1. Public Information

This is any information that you voluntarily send, post, upload, or display to others through the Services (except for Imported Contacts). For example, a name, phone number or address that you choose to add to your public profile is Public Information. Information that you send or post to others via text message, SMS, or email is also Public Information. Generally, anything that you choose to make available to others - either by posting on our websites or through other communications - is Public Information.

How we use it:

Our use of Public Information is straightforward - we publish it, send it to the intended recipient or use it in accordance with any terms and conditions you agree upon when you submit the information. Although we allow you to set privacy options that limit access to certain pieces of information in your public profile, you should assume that Public Information may be accessible by anyone.

2. Imported Contacts

This is unique information that you provide through the use of our Hiya address book service that we have not already gathered from other sources.

How we use it:

  • We only use your Imported Contacts per your permission.

3. Private Information

This is information that you provide when using the Services which is not provided for publication, transmission, display or update through our Services AND identifies you by full name, full postal address, phone number or email address, or includes information necessary to process payment for the Services. Examples of Private Information include your username and password and payment information such as a credit card number, expiration date, and billing address.

To be very clear, Private Information does not include any contact or personal information you choose to publish or share on WhitePages' websites - that information is Public Information.

How we use it:

  • We may use Private Information for the purposes for which it was provided, such as to process transactions and to facilitate your use of our Services, including sending text messages or emails to others.
  • We may use your email address to send email about your account or marketing messages.
  • You can always choose not to receive any marketing email. We offer an "unsubscribe" in the marketing emails we send. If you choose not to receive marketing email, you may still receive WhitePages email and other communication (e.g. SMS, text messages, etc.) from us based on Services you may have signed up for.

4. Search Information

This is information about the searches you perform through our Services, including searches performed on our websites, via the WhitePages API, through our numerous mobile applications and through our premium search Services.

How we use it:

  • We use Search Information to provide you with search results.
  • We do not share or sell Search Information associated with you as an individual (exceptions noted under "When We Share Information with Third Parties.")
  • We may share or sell aggregate Search Information that does not identify you personally (e.g. total number of searches for “coffee shops” in Seattle, Washington).

5. General Information

This information includes things like your browser type, mobile device type, unique user ID, mobile carrier, IP address, the date and time of your visits, locality (your city and state), which web pages you viewed, and other communications through the Services. Through surveys we may collect General Information, such as your age, gender or interests.

We use cookies, web beacons and GPS information (for mobile devices) to collect General Information.

A cookie is a small file that we send to your computer to identify your web browser. Most browsers allow you to disable cookies, which prevents our servers from sending cookies to your browser. However, some of the Services may not function properly if you disable cookies.

A web beacon is a small graphic file used to identify if a page has been viewed.

GPS Information includes city, state and other information when you use our services on a GPS-enabled mobile device.

How we use it:

We use General Information to facilitate your use of our Services and to help us understand how people like you use our Services. For example, we may use cookies to keep you logged in to your account, track your use of our Services, pre-populate certain fields (like your default location), and to deliver advertising that matches your interests. We may use GPS information to pre-populate certain search fields on your GPS-enabled mobile device. Exceptions to the foregoing are noted under "When We Share Information with Third Parties."

How Third Parties Collect & Use Your Information & How to Opt-Out

WhitePages works with Audience Science and other third party companies to deliver advertisements on our websites, mobile website and mobile applications. These third parties may collect and use General Information to deliver more relevant advertising to you and for their own business purposes. Such use and collection is subject to the privacy policies of those third party companies, such as the privacy policy of AdMarvel located at http://www.admarvel.com/AdMarvel_Privacy_Policy_2011.pdf. To stop information collection and targeted advertising from Audience Science and other third party companies that provide online ads, click here. (At this time, there is no industry solution to opt-out of receiving mobile third party targeted ads. If you do not wish to share mobile-related information to provide targeted advertising, please refrain from using our mobile services.)

Certain third parties may collect and use the more specific General Information, such as which web pages you viewed, in order to deliver interest-based advertising. WhitePages follows the Self-Regulatory Principles for Online Behavioral Advertising (about the collection and use of such data) and requires such third parties to comply with the disclosure and notification program specified by principles. This means that third parties collecting and using this data will provide a standard icon/link in or near their advertisements that will provide you with additional data about their privacy and advertising practices, as well as with the opportunity to directly opt-out of having your information collected for behavioral advertising purposes. To stop information collection regarding your past online activity and targeted interest-based advertising from third party companies, click here

Advertising Forms, Surveys and Third Party Links

Some third-party advertisements include surveys or forms, which prompt you to enter search criteria or other General Information, such as your age or gender. An advertiser may receive the information you enter into a form or survey contained in an advertisement. Similarly, advertisements typically link to third-party websites.

There are links to other websites and pages provided by third parties on WhitePages. Any personal information you enter is provided directly to that third party and is subject to that third party's privacy policy. It's important to remember that we do not have control over the privacy policies of advertisers or other third-party websites. So before you enter any information into a form or survey contained in an advertisement, or click through to a third-party website linked from an advertisement, we encourage you to read the privacy policy of the advertiser or third-party website.

Websites that contain a "Powered by WhitePages" logo may not be controlled by WhitePages, therefore please review the privacy policies on such web pages as our privacy policy might not apply.

Analysis of Your Data

We may use third parties to help measure the effectiveness of our advertising and to analyze usage of the Services. Third parties help us analyze General Information we obtain from you (we generally place restrictions on those third parties' use of such information). Third parties may also use the General Information for their business purposes, such as to report aggregate, non-personally identifiable information about the use of their services and technologies in connection with the Services. To stop certain companies from analyzing your data, click here

When We Share Information with Third Parties

We may share the information subject to this policy, but only in the following circumstances:

1. To help us provide the Services to you. We may share information with third parties to complete transactions you've requested or to perform services on our behalf. Third parties who perform services on our behalf are obligated to use the information for the purpose it was provided.

2. To comply with the law. We may disclose information we collect (including Private Information) when we believe it is appropriate to comply with the law, such as in response to a subpoena or court order.

3. For safety reasons or to protect our interests. We may disclose information we collect (including Private Information) in order to prevent damage to our property (tangible and intangible), for safety reasons or in the course of collecting amounts owed to us.

4. Business transfers. We will not sell Private Information unless it is in the context of a merger, acquisition, business reorganization, debt financing or sale of company assets, or in the event of an insolvency, bankruptcy or receivership. In these transactions, the information which we collect may be transferred to third parties as one of our business assets.

5. You authorize it. We may disclose information if you authorize it. Sometimes, your authorization may be implicit. For example, if you use our "Send Listing to Email" or SMS message service, information you provide, which may include your name, email address and phone number, as well as any message content, may be sent to the recipient.

The Security of Your Information

We use reasonable security measures to protect your Private Information, Imported Contacts and Uploaded Files, and Search Information from unauthorized use and disclosure while in our control. We use Secure Socket Layer (SSL) encryption to protect certain Private Information, such as when you provide credit card information for a purchase through our website. However, no security measures are perfect, and we cannot guarantee that any information will be secure from unauthorized access or use.

Children & WhitePages

Our Services are not intended for children under the age of 13. We do not knowingly publish information for anyone under the age of 13 through our Services. If you know of anyone under the age of 13 whose information is published through our Services, or have other concerns about children's privacy, please write to WhitePages Privacy Manager, 1301 Fifth Ave, Suite 1600, Seattle, WA 98101.

Contact Us

If you have any questions about this policy, write to WhitePages Privacy Manager, 1301 Fifth Ave, Suite 1600, Seattle, WA 98101.

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