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4INFO SMS Alerts Privacy Policy

Effective Date: February 15, 2013

This Privacy Policy applies to information collected on the 4INFO web site www.4info.com and through the 4INFO SMS "Alerts" products and services ("4INFO Alerts"). This Privacy Policy applies to our "Alerts" whether you sign up for it on http://alerts.4info.com (the "Website") or through other websites and media entities that use or co-brand our services (our "Partners" or "Clients"). The Privacy Policy applies to all users of our service (collectively "Users") whether you sign up to receive our SMS alerts by creating an account with us, through a web-based registration path, or whether you sign up simply by providing us with your cellular number, such as through a mobile application or interface, or by signing up through telephonic access.

This Privacy Policy explains how our "Alerts" service collects and uses your information within the service, and also describes how to unsubscribe from our service. It does not fully describe our AdHaven Advertising Platform: to learn about that Platform, please click here.

4INFO values your privacy. We abide by the Mobile Marketing Association Code of Conduct for Mobile Marketing and other generally accepted industry standards.

1. The 4INFO "Alerts" Service

4INFO "Alerts" is a free, ad-supported service we offer Users, providing Users with text messages on a wide range of subjects and interest categories. These range from "Alerts" that provide sports scores, to weather updates, to celebrity birthdays, and fashion tips. For instance, a User might receive a text message notification when her favorite team scores, or when a stock’s price drops a certain amount. Users select the types of messages they receive.

2. Information We Collect When You Use Our SMS "Alerts"

We gather the following information about you when you register for one of our "Alerts" services, through our own Website or a Website operated by a partner who provides access to our Alerts product:
  • We collect the information you willingly provide to us when you register, create an account, request service, respond to a survey, or communicate with us directly in another way. We may, for instance, also ask you to provide your wireless carrier, gender, zip code, occupation, industry, the make and model of your mobile device, and to select your personal interests. Sometimes, we act on behalf of a Partner site, such as to operate a survey or sweepstakes; when we do so, we receive the information you provide.
  • When you opt-in to receive an SMS message from one of our clients, we gather certain information associated with your mobile device. We may gather your phone number, demographic data, connection data associated with your mobile device or computer, your zip+4 postal code, your location, the wireless carrier to which you subscribe, and/or actions you have taken on advertising served by our platform.
  • For all users 4INFO automatically receives and records information on our server logs from your product or service usage including your cell phone number and all messages sent to 4INFO short codes.
4INFO may combine information about you that we have obtained in these ways with information we obtain from our business partners or other sources.

3. How We Use the Information We Collect In Providing Alerts

We use the information we collect for the following purposes:
  • To help us deliver and customize the SMS messages that we send, we may use the information that you provide to us, and may merge that information with additional information we obtain from our partners and other sources. For example, we may use your cell number to run a lookup through your wireless carrier to determine the type of phone you have in order to provide you with more relevant advertising.
  • To improve, or to better understand how our products or services are used.
  • To fulfill your requests for products and services.
  • To analyze trends and to help tailor advertisement placement on behalf of our Clients.
  • When you communicate with us, we may respond to your inquiry or fulfill a request you’ve made. We may store your contact information for a reasonable time for record keeping purposes. We may use your information to conduct research by sending you a survey. However, we don't combine the survey results with other information under our control.
  • We may send you communications relating to your 4INFO account, such as service announcements and administrative messages.

4. How We Share the Information We Collect

We may share your information (including your personal information) with third parties in certain circumstances, in particular when such sharing is important to provide a service you’ve requested. We may share that information in the following circumstances:
  • We may provide your information to companies that perform services for us, like helping us send email and text messages to users, analyzing data we’ve collected, providing consumer or technical support, platform services, billing (if we ever bill for our services) or other user services. These entities are contractually required to handle information in a way that is consistent with this Privacy Policy.
  • We may share your information with third parties if we think it is necessary to comply with applicable law; enforce or apply our Terms of Use and other agreements; protect the rights, property, or safety of 4INFO, our employees, our users, or others; or for fraud prevention purposes.
  • If 4INFO or all or substantially all of its assets were acquired, or in the unlikely event that 4INFO goes out of business or enters bankruptcy, your information may be transferred or acquired by a third party, subject to the conditions of this Privacy Policy.
  • If you request products or services from certain of our Partners, we may need to share with each other your information, in order to provide those to you.
  • We facilitate the delivery of text messages on behalf of some of our Clients. However, our Clients may choose to use a different service provider to facilitate that delivery. If that happens, we may transfer your information back to our Client so they may deliver messages to you through another technology provider.
We may de-identify personal information and share it in a de-identified or aggregated form with third parties, advertisers and/or business partners in order to analyze use of our services, improve the services, or for other similar purposes.

5. Unsubscribing and Deleting Your Information

You may stop receiving SMS messages from any single 4INFO program by texting STOP to any of our termination "short codes," in response to any message from that program. You may stop receiving SMS messages from all 4INFO programs and services by sending the text message STOP ALL to 44636. You will receive a message confirming the opt-out.

Some SMS programs that we deploy on behalf of our Clients have other "short codes." For a list of Common Short Codes, click here. Short codes that 4INFO deploys on behalf of our Clients are labeled as "Powered by 4INFO" at the point of registration. In addition, some of our Clients deploy short codes on the Platform that are not labeled as "4INFO."

If you are having trouble unsubscribing from any program using our short codes please email us at support@4info.com. However, please note that we cannot help you unsubscribe from any short codes other than 44636 and those marked as "Powered by 4INFO."

You may request deletion of your 4INFO account by sending an e-mail to support@4info.com. Please note that some information may remain in our records after deletion of your account.

6. Security

We have implemented reasonable security measures to protect the information in our care, both during transmission and once we receive it. This includes, but is not limited to, the use of firewalls and encryption. No method of transmission over the Internet, or method of electronic storage, is 100% secure, however. Therefore, while we strive to use commercially acceptable means to protect your information, we cannot guarantee its absolute security.

7. Our Partners and Third Party Websites

When you obtain our "Alerts" service through one of our Partners, such as through one of their websites, you may have to provide them with information including your personal information. They will have separate privacy policies that are likely to contain other terms, in addition to these, and you will be bound by those privacy policies as well as this one. You should read those privacy policies carefully.

In addition, the 4INFO Website may contain links to other sites. 4INFO is not responsible for the privacy policies and/or practices on other sites. When linking to another site, you should read the privacy policy stated on that site.

Nor is 4INFO responsible for privacy policies or practices of our advertisers – they are separate entities, and are responsible for their own content, policies and data practices.

8. Information Collected When You Visit Our Website

Whether or not you use our Alerts service, when you visit our Website, we collect certain information such as IP host address, pages viewed, browser type, Internet browsing and usage habits, Internet Service Provider, the wireless carrier to which you subscribe, domain name, the time/date of your visit to this Website, the referring URL and your computer's operating system, and if you visit our website through a mobile device, the type of mobile device used, connection data associated with your mobile device or computer, and the unique identifier of your mobile device.

Cookies

In particular, we use "cookies" and similar technologies on this Website in order to retain your login preferences if you sign up to receive our SMS alerts. Cookies are small text files that contain a string of alphanumeric characters. A persistent cookie remains on your hard drive for an extended period of time. You can remove cookies by following directions provided in your Internet browser's "help" file. Please note that removing or otherwise disabling cookies may reduce your ability to enjoy the full functionality of the Website. For more information about cookies please visit http://www.allaboutcookies.org/cookies/.

Third Party Advertisers

We may use third-party advertising companies to serve ads when you visit our website. These companies may collect information about your visits to our Website and other websites, such as the number of times you have viewed an ad (but not your name, address, or other personal information), using cookies and other technologies. These companies may also use that information, or cookies that we have placed to serve ads about goods and services that may be of interest to you on this Website, and other websites. If you would like more information about this practice and your choices about not having this information used by these companies, please visit the following links:

9. OTHER INFORMATION:

Changes to this Privacy Policy

From time to time, we may revise this Privacy Policy to reflect changes to the Services or for other reasons. Therefore, it is important to check this Privacy Policy periodically. If we make any material revisions to this Privacy Policy, we will provide advance notice on our website. It is the obligation of users visiting this website to learn of changes to the Privacy Policy since their last visit. Any change to this Privacy Policy shall be effective as to all visitors once instituted.

Unsolicited Message Policy

We support our Alerts service with advertising. However, clients of 4INFO agree not to send unsolicited SMS messages through 4INFO. If you have received an unsolicited commercial text message from 4INFO directly, or on behalf of any of our clients, please send an email (preferably with the reported violation included and the applicable short code) to: support@4info.com.

Information Relating to Children

Our Website is designed for those 13 years of age and older. We do not knowingly collect personal information from anyone under the age of 13 and we do not knowingly create data segments of those under 13. If we are made aware that we have received personal information from someone under 13, we will remove that information from our records.

Questions or Concerns?

If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy, please feel free to contact us with a detailed message at support@4info.com, or by writing to us at:

Privacy Officer
4INFO, Inc.
155 Bovet Road, Suite 200
San Mateo, CA 94402