Inhabitat.com (the “Site”)

We are committed to safeguarding your online privacy. This privacy policy applies to your personal information that we collect and receive; it does not apply to practices of businesses that we do not own or control or people we do not employ. Personal information is data that can be used to uniquely identify or contact a single person.

By using the Site, you agree to the terms of this privacy policy. Please read the following policy to understand how we collect, use, disclose, transfer and store your personal information.

Personal information we collect

You may browse through the Site without providing any personal information directly. When you create or register an account, purchase a product, download a software update, participate in a contest, sweepstake, or survey, access certain content or features, we may collect information such as:

username and password
information posted in community forums, on chat boards and other interactive online features;
contact information, such as name, email address, mailing address, phone number, and contact preferences
search queries conducted on the Site
credit card information

We may access information about you from third-party sources such as social networking sites, including:

if you access third-party social networking services like Facebook Connect or Twitter through the Site, your username and connection lists for those services
demographic data, such as age range, gender, and interests
advertisement interaction and viewing data, such as ad click-through rates and information about how many times you viewed a particular ad

How we use your personal information

We may use your personal information to send you important notices, such as communications about changes to your account, the Site’s terms, conditions, and policies
Personal information we collect allows us keep you updated on announcements and it also helps us to develop, deliver, and improve our products, services, content, and advertising
We may use personal information for internal purposes such as auditing, data analysis, and research to improve our products, services, and communications
If you enter into a sweepstake, giveaway, contest, or similar promotion on the Site, we may use the information you provide to administer those activities
In addition to the uses described above, we may use the information that we collect for any other purposes disclosed to you at the time we collect information or pursuant to your consent

Collection and use of non-personal information

As is true of most websites, we gather certain other information that does not identify you personally (i.e., non-personal information) automatically and store it in log files, including:

Internet Protocol (IP) addresses
browser type and language
operating system
referring and exit pages
activities within community discussions on the Site
access date/time stamp
web pages and advertisements viewed, and links that you click on within the Site
bandwidth speed and software programs
aggregated data about email click-through rates and user video viewing
clickstream data
standard server log information

We use this information to understand and analyze trends, to administer the Site, to learn about user behavior on the Site, and to gather demographic information about our user base as a whole. We may use this information in our marketing and advertising services.

Reasons your information may be shared or disclosed

While we are fully committed to maintaining your privacy, we may share information about you under certain limited circumstances, including:

If you participate in public activities on the Site, such as posting comments on community forums or message boards, any information you submit can be read, collected, or used by others
We may share aggregated non-personal information with third parties to help us develop content, services and advertising
We may engage third parties to perform Site-related services, including maintenance services, analytics, marketing, data processing, email and text message distribution, and surveys
We may disclose information about you to investigate, prevent, or take action regarding illegal activities, suspected fraud, situations involving potential threats to the physical safety or other rights and interests of any person, violations of the Site’s Terms of Use, or as otherwise required by law
We may disclose information about you to respond to subpoenas, search warrants, judicial proceedings, court orders, legal process, or other law enforcement measures, to establish or exercise our legal rights, or to defend against legal claims
In the event that the Site is acquired by or merged with another company or a similar corporate transaction takes place, we may need share information about you
We may share information about you for any other purposes disclosed to you at the time we collect your information or with to your consent

Third Party Sites

The Site contains links to other websites. These include links to resources in related topics and third-party sites that offer other related products. If you visit another website through a link on the Site, please consult the privacy policy of the website you are visiting. We are not responsible for the privacy practices or the content of other websites that you may visit.

Cookies

We may place “cookies” on your personal computer. “Cookies” are small identifiers sent from a web server and stored on your computer’s hard drive, similar to a license plate, that help us to recognize you if you visit our website again. Also, our site uses cookies to track how you found our site. Cookies are not designed to be used to get data from your hard drive, your e-mail or any other personal data about you. To protect your privacy, we do not use cookies to store or transmit any personal information about you on the Internet. You can reject cookies by changing your browser settings. Please note, however, that if you reject our cookies, it is possible that some web pages may not properly load, your access to certain information might be denied or you might have to enter information about yourself more than once.

Security and retention

The Site has commercially reasonable administrative, technical, physical and security measures in place to safeguard your personal information against unauthorized access, disclosure, loss, misuse and alteration. We will retain your personal information for the period necessary to fulfill the purposes outlined in this Privacy Policy unless a longer retention period is required or permitted by law.

Children

We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13. If we learn that we have collected the personal information of a child under 13, we will take steps to delete the information as soon as possible.

International users

The Site’s offices are located in the United States. If you visit the site from another country, be aware that information you provide to us or that we obtain as a result of your use of the Site may be processed in and transferred to the United States and will be subject to U.S. law. Be aware U.S. privacy and data protection laws may not be equivalent to the laws in your country of residence. By using the Site or providing us with your information, you consent to the collection, transfer, storage, and processing of information to and in the U.S.

California resident users

Residents of the State of California may request a list of all third parties to which the Site has disclosed certain information for the third parties’ direct marketing purposes during the preceding year. If you are a California resident and would like a copy of this list, contact us at legal@internetbrands.com. For all requests, you must put the phrase “Your California Privacy Rights” in the body of your request and include the name of the Site, your name, street address, city, state, and zip code. Please note that we will not accept requests via the telephone, mail, or by facsimile, and we are not responsible for notices that are not labeled or sent properly, or that do not have complete information.

Contacting the Site

If you have any questions or concerns about this Privacy Policy you can contact our privacy team at legal@internetbrands.com

Please be aware that we may revise our Privacy Policy from time to time. If we do, we will update this Privacy Policy at our website and modify the Revised date, so be sure to check back here periodically.

Revised: December 2011