Privacy Policy

 

1.         Privacy Policy

This policy describes how PodSearch collects, uses, shares, and secures information on the PodSearch™ Site and the PodSearch™ Mobile App, as well as the services we use to communicate with consumers and to facilitate communications between Companies and Podcasters.

Although you should read through the entire policy for complete information, the following provides a summary of some of the most important aspects of our privacy practices:

  • We will track the activity of Registered Users on the PodSearch™ Directory and use the information for research purposes. For example, we may report to Podcasters data regarding the amount of traffic to their podcast profile pages and clicks on links displayed thereon, and aggregated information regarding the age, gender, and geographical location of Registered Users driving that traffic.

  • We do not share personally-identifying information of Registered Users with any third party.

  • We are committed to working with you to reach the right balance of what information we collect, use, and share, by providing you with ways to control information that we collect, through our opt-out mechanisms.

  • We take reasonable measures to secure your sensitive personally-identifiable information, but we cannot promise, and you should not expect, that your sensitive personally-identifiable information will remain secure in all circumstances.

1.1         Information Collected by PodSearch

When we use the term “information” we are referring to both personally-identifiable information and non-personally-identifiable information that we collect about you.

1.1.1        “Personally-identifiable information” refers to information that personally identifies you, or can reasonably be linked to you by us. Personally-identifiable information can either be “sensitive” or “non-sensitive.” “Sensitive personally-identifiable information” refers to information that is generally considered confidential such as your credit card number, billing information, and precise location.

1.1.2        “Non-sensitive personally-identifiable information” refers to information that is generally not considered confidential, such as your name, age, email address, general geographic information (e.g., zip code), account preferences, and business information.

1.1.3        “Non-personally-identifiable information” refers to information that does not specifically identify you, or has been processed so as to effectively prevent your identification, and may include data associated with a particular computer or device you are using that does not personally identify you.

1.2         How PodSearch Uses the Information

Our primary purpose in collecting information about you is to provide you with services, information, and advertisements that match your interests and preferences. For example, we may use this information to respond to your inquiries, administer your account, send marketing, and assess your needs and interests in order to better tailor advertising, improve our website and marketing, conduct research, display information based upon your interests, allow you to search information on our site and, in the case of Podcasters, list you and your podcasts in our PodSearch™ Directory. We do this on behalf of ourselves and the Podcasters that place information, banner ads in the PodSearch™ Directory, and display ads in PodSearch marketing materials. We also use traffic data received through our technologies to provide Podcasters information about the general demographic characteristics of Listeners who may be interested in the Podcasters’ podcasts.

1.3         How PodSearch Collects the Information

We collect information from you by asking that you provide it to us on-line, through a mobile application or device or via other means by which we communicate with you. We also collect information when you choose to communicate with us and when Companies choose to utilize our services to communicate with Podcasters. We also collect information about your interactions with third-party websites via links placed on our site or mobile app. Information we collect may include:

1.3.1        Identification data (for example, your name, username, password, and email address);

1.3.2        Profile information (for example, your age, gender, zip code, and any information that you choose to make available, such as your areas of interest, when you set up your Registered User account);

1.3.3        Services that you purchase through the PodSearch™ Site;

1.3.4        The content of any communications you choose to have with us related to the services we make available (for example, e-mails, instant messages, recorded telephone calls, etc.). We may also collect information from you automatically. For instance, we, like many websites and applications, may automatically collect information including the computer or wireless device you use, unique device identifier, location data, the type of browser and operating system that you use, the internet provider or wireless carrier you use, the webpages or applications you view, the time and duration of your visits, the search queries that you enter, and how you interact with advertising. Among other things, we may use the following technologies to automatically collect information:

1.3.4.1       “Cookies” are small data files placed on your computer by the websites you visit and the emails you read and can be used to help recognize you when you return to a website, or when you visit other sites. We, or third party service providers, may use cookies to, among other things, measure activity, personalize your experience, remember your viewing preferences, or track your status or progress when accessing our site. For some of these purposes our cookies may be tied to personally-identifiable information. If you choose, you can set your browser to reject cookies or you can manually delete some or all of the cookies, on your computer by following your browser’s help file directions. If your browser is set to reject cookies or you manually delete cookies, you may have trouble accessing and using some of the pages and features that are currently on our website, or that we may put on our website in the future.

1.3.4.2       PodSearch and our marketing partners, affiliates, analytics or service providers may use technologies such as cookies, beacons, scripts and tags. These technologies are used in analyzing trends, administering the website, tracking users’ movements around the site, and gathering demographic information about our user base as a whole. We may receive reports based on the use of these technologies by these companies on an individual and aggregated basis. Various browsers may offer their own management tools for removing these types of tracking technologies.

1.3.4.3       “Unique Identifiers” are unique strings of characters that are used to identify you, your computer, or your mobile device. Such identifiers may be preset on your computer or mobile device. We may use unique identifiers to recognize you when you visit our sites or use our mobile applications.

1.3.4.4       We may use mobile analytics software to allow us to better understand the functionality of our mobile software on your phone. This software may record information such as how often you use the application, the events that occur within the application, aggregated usage, performance data, and where the application was downloaded from. We do not link the information we store within the analytics software to any personally identifiable information you submit within the mobile application.

1.3.4.5       “Local Shared Objects,” “LSO’s,” or “Flash Cookies” are data files similar to cookies, except that they can store more complex data. Third parties with whom we partner to provide certain features on our website may use Flash cookies to remember settings, preferences, and usage. Cookie management tools provided by your browser will not remove them. To learn how to manage privacy and storage settings for LSO’s or Flash Cookies click here:

(http://www.macromedia.com/support/documentation/en/flashplayer/help/settings_manager.html#117118).

1.3.4.6       We may use Local Storage, such as HTML5, to store content information and preferences. Third parties with whom we may partner to provide certain features on our website or to display advertising based upon your web browsing activity may also use HTML5 to collect and store information. Various browsers may offer their own management tools for removing HTML5.

1.3.4.7       “Telephone Caller ID” refers to information automatically transmitted about you when you call someone. If you call a telephone number that we have provided to you, your caller ID may be recorded. Most telephone providers will, upon request, block your caller ID. Such services may not always be effective if you choose to call a pay-per-call (900) or toll-free number.

1.3.4.8       “Web beacons” or “clear pixels” are small graphic images on a Web page or in an e-mail that can be used for such things as recording the pages and advertisements clicked on by users, or tracking the performance of e-mail marketing campaigns. A “web server log” is a record of activity created by the computer that delivers the webpages you request to your browser. For example, a web server log may record the search term you entered or the link you clicked to bring you the webpage. The Web server log also may record information about your browser, such as your IP address and the cookies set on your browser by the server.

1.3.4.9       A “widget” is a program or application that can be embedded in a web page or mobile application. Widgets can provide real-time information, such as stock quotes or weather reports, or take information, such as restaurant reservations or online food orders. Widgets are often provided and hosted by a third party, and may allow that third party to collect data about users viewing that page or interacting with that widget, possibly subject to privacy policies other than PodSearch’s. We may also use Social Media Features, such as the Facebook Like button. In addition to information you fill in, these features may collect your IP address, which page you are visiting on our site, and may set a cookie to enable the feature to function properly.

1.3.4.10   We may allow you to log in to our site using “sign-in services” such as Facebook Connect or an Open ID provider. These services will authenticate your identity and provide you the option to share certain personally-identifiable information with us, such as your name and email address to prepopulate our sign-up form, or to post information to your account.

1.3.4.11   “Geo-location technologies” refers to technologies that permit us to determine your location. We may ask you to manually provide precise location information on our website, or to enable your mobile device to send us precise location information in order to collect data that assist Podcasters.

1.3.4.12   We may also automatically use information from your web server or computer to determine general location information, such as the city in which you live.

1.3.5        In addition to information that we collect from you, we may collect information about you from third parties for purposes such as ad targeting, optimization and reporting.

1.4         With Whom PodSearch Shares the Information

We may share information about you with third parties in certain circumstances including in the following situations:

1.4.1        Companies using PodSearch DIY™.  If you decide to communicate with a Podcaster by clicking on the “contact” button in PodSearch DIY™, we may share non-personally-identifiable information with the Podcaster, including clicks.

1.4.2        Business Transition. In the event that we, or part, or all, of our assets are acquired, we may share all types of information with the acquiring company. You will be notified via email or a notice on our website of any change in ownership or uses of your personally-identifiable information, as well as any choices you may have regarding your personally-identifiable information.

1.4.3        In-line Applications & Tools. We may offer applications, tools, or widgets on our website or in our applications that indicate that they are “powered by” a third party. If you use those applications and tools we may share non-sensitive personally-identifiable information and any additional information you provide as part of that use with that third party. The third party’s use of that information is subject to their privacy policy.

1.4.4        Law Enforcement. We may report to law enforcement agencies any activities that we reasonably believe to be unlawful, or that we believe may aid a law enforcement investigation. In addition, we reserve the right to release all types of information to law enforcement agencies if we determine, in our sole judgment, that either you have violated our policies, or the release of information about you may protect the rights, property or safety of us or another person.

1.4.5        Legal Processes. We may share all types of information with others as required by, or permitted by, law. This may include sharing all types of information with governmental entities, or third parties in response to subpoenas, court orders, other legal process, or as we believe is necessary to exercise our legal rights, to defend against legal claims that have been brought against us, or to defend against possible legal claims that we determine in our sole discretion might be brought against us.

1.4.6        Service Providers. We may share some information with people and companies that provide us with applicable services. These services may include, among other things, helping us provide services that you request, create or maintain our databases, research or analyze the people who use our websites, a mapping service provider to provide a map of the location you are in, and/or process payment card information. Unless you consent, we do not permit our service providers to market their own products or services to you directly. We also require our service providers to agree to take reasonable steps to keep the personally-identifiable information that we provide to them secure. In some instances, we may maintain the look and feel of our site while you are on our service provider’s site. You should look for the “privacy policy” link of any page on which you are submitting information to determine if this privacy policy, or another company’s privacy policy, governs.

1.4.7        Other Third Parties (without your consent).  We may share non-personally-identifiable information with other third parties that are not described above. When we do so we endeavor to either aggregate or de-identify the information so that a third party would not be likely to link data to you, your computer, or your device.  Aggregation means that we combine the non-personally-identifiable information of numerous people together so that the data does not relate to any one person.  De-identify means that we remove or change (for example, hash) certain pieces of information that might be used to link data to a particular person.

1.4.8        Other Third Parties (with your consent).  We may share any information, including sensitive personally-identifiable information, with other third parties that are not described above if you give us consent to do so.

1.5         How PodSearch Secures Your Information

We take our commitment to securing personally-identifiable information in our possession seriously.  When you provide your credit card number we protect your information during transmission and storage through the use of encryption. For other types of information, we use reasonable measures to help prevent the information from becoming disclosed to individuals who are not described in this policy.  It is important for you to protect against unauthorized access to your password and to your computer.  No security measures are perfect and we cannot promise that the information about you will remain secure in all circumstances.

1.6         Your Privacy Choices

We provide you with the following information management choices:

1.6.1        Revising Your Information.  If your personally-identifiable information changes, or if you no longer desire our services, you may correct, update, or delete information about you, or ask that it be removed from the PodSearch™ Site by logging in and viewing your user profile via the “Profile” and “Account Settings” links on PodSearch.com or by contacting us at the email address or mailing address indicated below. We will attempt to respond to your requests within 30 days. In some cases, we may not be able to remove your personally-identifiable information, in which case we will let you know if we are unable to do so and why.

1.6.2        Do Not Track signal.  We treat the data of everyone who comes to our site in accordance with this privacy policy, whatever their Do Not Track setting.

You can exercise your choices as described in this section of our privacy policy. We will retain your personally-identifiable information for the period necessary to fulfill the purposes outlined in this Privacy Policy unless a longer retention period is permitted by law.

1.7         Additional Information

1.7.1        Other Websites.  This privacy policy does not apply to websites or applications offered by other companies or individuals, including sites that may be displayed on a Podcaster’s profile page. We encourage you to read the privacy policies of any third-party website before transmitting personally-identifiable information.

1.7.2        Other Contractual Relationships.  If you enter into a separate contractual relationship with us which requires, or contemplates, collecting, using, sharing, or securing information about you in a manner that is different than that which is described in this policy, the terms of that contract will apply.

1.7.3        Your California Privacy Rights.  Under California Civil Code sections 1798.83-1798.84, California residents who have an established business relationship with us are entitled to ask us for a notice describing what categories of personal customer information we share with third parties or corporate affiliates for those third parties or corporate affiliates’ direct marketing purposes. That notice will identify the categories of information shared and will include a list of the third parties and affiliates with which it was shared, along with their names and addresses. If you are a California resident and would like a copy of this notice, please submit a written request to the following address:

BAKER WILLIAMS MATTHIESEN LLP

5005 Woodway Drive Suite 201, Houston, Texas 77056

713.888.2507

rocky@bwmtx.com

Please allow 30 days for a response.

1.7.4        Children.  Our site is intended for a general, adult audience, and we never knowingly collect personally identifiable information from anyone under the age of 13.

1.7.5        Changes to The Privacy Policy.  We may update this privacy policy to reflect changes to our information practices. If we make any material changes to our policy, those changes will apply to information collected after the effective date listed, and we will notify you by placing a notice on our websites prior to the change becoming effective. We encourage you to periodically review this page for the latest information on our privacy practices.

1.7.6        How We Communicate With You.  If you have any questions or concerns regarding our privacy policy please contact us at: Email address: customerservice@podsearch.com, Mailing address: 21550 Oxnard Street Suite 460, Woodland Hills, CA 91367. If we need, or are required, to contact you concerning any event that involves information about you, we may do so by email, telephone, or mail.

1.7.7        Effective Date: May 2, 2017

1.8         Email Communications Policy

PodSearch may communicate with you via email.  If you do not want to receive emails from us about products or services that we offer, you can “opt-out” from receiving such emails by clicking on the “unsubscribe” link provided at the bottom of any marketing email that you receive. Please note that if you choose to opt-out we may still send you non-marketing emails.  For example, we may send you an email about a specific product or service that you request, we may respond to a message from you, or we may send you an email about the terms and conditions of our websites. If you decide at a later time that you would like to receive commercial emails from us, you can re-add yourself to our communication list.