Privacy Policy HomeAdvisor PRIVACY POLICY effective August 26, 2005 This privacy policy applies to http://www.homeadvisor.com and all websites and URL's and phone numbers controlled or operated by HomeAdvisor (a service of ImproveNet, Inc.), which link to this policy, unless otherwise specified. Where applicable, references in this Privacy Policy to the services on the HomeAdvisor Web site also include the phone-based services of HomeAdvisor. This is a new privacy policy effective as of the date set forth above. Even if you read and approved a prior policy, you need to review this new version as it has been updated and revised. Titles and headings are provided for general reference and ease of use only, as information may be covered in more than one heading or under other headings. If users have questions or concerns regarding this statement, they should first contact HomeAdvisor's privacy department at privacy@HomeAdvisor.com. Information Collection Registration and Service Professional Enrollment In order to enroll as a prospective Service Professional, a user must first complete a registration form. During registration a user is required to give contact information (such as name and email address). We use this information to contact Service Professionals about services on our site for which they have expressed interest, and to inform Service Professionals of leads. By providing this information to us, or by submitting a service request, you expressly consent to being contacted by us and by our Service Professionals and providers via phone, fax, email, mail or other reasonable means, at any of your contact numbers or addresses, in order that we may provide the services set forth on our Web site, service your account, reasonably address matters pertaining to your account or for other reasonable purposes related to our business. Unique identifiers (such as username and password) are required. It is optional for the user to provide demographic information (such as income level and gender) but encouraged so we can provide a more personalized experience on our Web site. We also require a US Service Professional's social security number or federal tax id number to complete a background check (credit is not checked), prior to a US Service Professional being approved to join our network. We collect personally identifiable data from consumers only when they knowingly provide us with such information, such as when the consumer completes an online survey, or participates in a contest or sweepstakes. Feedback, Ratings and Reviews and Testimonials Additionally, we collect feedback from users (called ratings and reviews) about the performance of Service Professionals who work for them. We may collect general feedback and testimonials from users of our service and system. By providing such feedback to us, you consent to our use, publication and/or distribution of such feedback at no compensation to you, and you acknowledge that all such ratings and reviews are solely owned by HomeAdvisor. Information Use Profile We store information that we collect through the Web site experience and activities, cookies, log files, clear gifs, and/or third parties to create a profile of our users. A profile is stored information that we keep on individual users that detail their viewing preferences, activities and interactions with HomeAdvisor. Consequently, collected information is tied to the user's personally identifiable information to provide offers and improve the content of the site for the user. This profile is used to tailor a user's visit to our Web site and to direct pertinent marketing promotions and communications to them. Cookies A cookie is a piece of data tied to information about the user and stored on the user's computer. We use both session cookies, which terminate when a user closes his browser, and persistent cookies, which remain on the user's computer until manually deleted. By setting a persistent cookie, we enable our users to not have to log in with a password more than once, thereby saving time while on our Web site. If users reject these cookies, they may still use our Web site. The only drawback to this is that the experience and/or access of a user may be limited in some areas of our Web site. For example, the user may not be able to participate in any of our sweepstakes, contests or monthly drawings that may take place. See the "Profile" section. We may use third-party advertising companies to serve ads on our behalf and to monitor certain pages of our Web site for the purpose of reporting web traffic, statistics, advertisement 'click-throughs', and/or other activities on our site. These companies, which may include OPM Performance Marketing ("OPM"), a division of Overture Services, Inc. ("Overture") and Microsoft, Inc., may employ cookies and action tags (also known as single pixel gifs or web beacons) to measure advertising effectiveness. Any information that these third parties collect via cookies and action tags is completely anonymous. If you would like more information about this practice and your choices, click here. Third Party Advertising Some of our business partners may use cookies on our Web site (for example, advertisers). We have no access to or control over these cookies once our business partners have been given permission to set cookies. This privacy statement covers the use of cookies by HomeAdvisor only and does not cover the use of cookies by any advertisers. Log Files Like most standard Web site servers we use log files. This includes internet protocol (IP) addresses, browser type, internet service provider (ISP), referring/exit pages, platform type, date/time stamp, and number of clicks to analyze trends, administer the Web site, track user's movement in the aggregate, and gather broad demographic information for aggregate use. Clear Gifs (Web Beacons/Web Bugs) We employ and/or our third party advertisers employ a software technology called clear gifs (a.k.a. Web Beacons/Web Bugs), that help us better manage content on our site and marketing campaigns by informing us what content and which campaigns are effective. Clear gifs are tiny graphics, about the size of a period at the end of a sentence, with a unique identifier. Clear gifs are similar in function to cookies and are used to track the online movements of Web users. Clear Gifs can "work with" existing cookies on a computer if they are both from the same Web site or advertising company. That means, for example, that if a person visited "www.companyX.com", which uses an advertising company's clear gif, the Web site or advertising company would match the clear gif's identifier and the advertising company's cookie ID number, to show the past online behavior for that computer. This collected information would then be given to the advertising company or Web site. To learn more about our advertising partners' use of clear gifs, please contact us at privacy@HomeAdvisor.com. In addition, HomeAdvisor and its advertisers use clear gifs in HTML-based emails. This allows us to gauge the effectiveness of certain communications and the effectiveness of our marketing campaigns by showing how may emails have been opened by the recipients. If users would like to opt-out of these emails, please see the Opt-out section. Communications from HomeAdvisor and its Service Professionals Special Offers and Updates Service Professionals will occasionally receive information on products, services, and special deals. Out of respect for the privacy of our users we present the option to not receive these types of communications. Please see the Choice and Opt-out sections. Service Announcements On rare occasions it is necessary to send out a strictly service related announcement. For instance, if our service is temporarily suspended for maintenance we might send users an email. Generally, users may not opt-out of these communications, though they can deactivate their account. However, these communications are not promotional in nature. Customer Service We communicate with Service Professional users to provide requested services and in regards to issues relating to their account via email, fax, phone or mail, and we reply to user inquiries via email or phone, or other reasonable means, in accordance with the user's wishes where applicable. Sharing Information to Provide Services and to Conduct Our Business When a Service Professional user submits information to HomeAdvisor, they authorize us to share this information with our parent companies, subsidiaries and affiliates, which may be used to provide the Service Professional user with information regarding similar or complementary product and service offerings. For Service Professionals using our services pursuant to a membership with one of our partners, HomeAdvisor may share your service request activity information with such partner in certain circumstances. We may also release information to collection and/or credit agencies for past due Service Professional accounts. When a consumer user submits information to HomeAdvisor, they authorize us to share this information with our parent companies, subsidiaries and affiliates. We collect personally identifiable data from consumers only when they knowingly provide us with such information, such as when the consumer completes an online survey, or participates in a contest or sweepstakes. We may also post and publish users' ratings and reviews of Service Professionals' performance, as well as feedback and testimonials at our sole discretion. Though we strive to preserve user privacy, due to the existing regulatory environment, we cannot ensure that all of your private communications and other personal information will always remain confidential. By way of example, we may disclose personal information when required by law wherein we have a belief that such action is necessary or advisable to comply with a judicial proceeding, court order, legal proceeding, process or investigation served on our business or Web site(s), or when we believe parties are misusing or attempting to misuse our Web sites or services, including but not limited to violating the law, committing fraud, deception, theft, attempting to harm or divert our business, engaging in threatening or inappropriate behavior or threatening to place, or placing themselves or others in danger. You should also be aware that courts of equity, such as U.S. Bankruptcy Courts, may have the authority under certain circumstances to require us to share or transfer your information to third parties. Finally, although we strive to protect your privacy, third parties beyond our control may unlawfully intercept or access transmissions or private communications. Therefore, we do not promise, and you should not expect, that your personal information or private communications will always remain private. HomeAdvisor will not be responsible or otherwise liable for any use or disclosure of your personal information by a third party to whom HomeAdvisor is allowed to disclose you personal information under this privacy policy. Aggregate Information (non-personally identifiable) HomeAdvisor may share aggregated activity or statistical information with partners, advertisers or others, but such information shall not contain personally identifiable information. Business Transitions In the event HomeAdvisor goes through a business transition such as a merger, being acquired by another company, or selling a portion of its assets, users' personal information will, in most instances, be part of the assets transferred. See also, section entitled "Changes and updates to this policy�" set forth below. Choice/Opt-out Our users are given the opportunity to 'opt-out' of having their information used for purposes not directly related to our Web site at the point where we ask for information. Users who no longer wish to receive our newsletter and promotional communications may opt-out of receiving these communications by replying to unsubscribe in the email or email us at customerservice@HomeAdvisor.com. Users of our Web site are always notified when their information is being collected by any outside parties (excluding our affiliates, Service Professionals, or agents) for marketing purposes. We do this so our users can make an informed choice as to whether or not they should proceed with services that require an outside party. Links to Third Party Sites This Web site contains links from and to other Web sites. Please be aware that HomeAdvisor is not responsible for the privacy practices of such other Web sites. We encourage our users to be aware of this when they leave our Web site and to read the privacy statements of each and every Web site that collects personally identifiable information. This privacy statement applies solely to information collected by HomeAdvisor's Web site. Surveys & Contests From time-to-time, HomeAdvisor may request information from users via surveys or contests. Participation in these surveys or contests is completely voluntary and the user therefore has a choice whether or not to disclose this information. The requested information typically includes contact information (such as name and mailing address), and demographic information (such as zip code). Contact information will be shared with the contest or survey sponsors (if HomeAdvisor elects to utilize an outside promotions or survey company) to notify the winners and award prizes. Survey information will be used for purposes of monitoring or improving the use and satisfaction of our services and this Web site, and will be used only in accordance with this Privacy Policy. Security "Perfect security" does not exist on the Internet and we do not guarantee security of information or that unauthorized access will not occur. However, we take all reasonable precautions when protecting your personal information. Servers that store personally identifiable information are located in a supervised and/or locked facility. Users' personal information off line is restricted by our internal security procedures, and authorized access to such information is only provided to our employees and contractors who reasonably need the information for their areas of responsibility (for example, a billing clerk, a sales rep, a customer service representative or management). Your information may be transferred to and maintained in whole or in part on computer networks which may be located outside of the state, province, country or other governmental jurisdiction in which you reside, and may be stored on equipment or in facilities leased or licensed from third parties. If users have any questions about the security at our Web site, users can send an email to privacy@HomeAdvisor.com. Verification and Supplementation of Information In order for us to better conduct our business it is sometimes advisable or necessary for us to verify and/or supplement the information we receive from Service Professionals and users of our Web site with information from 3rd party sources, provided that such sources confirm to us that they are permitted to share such information, such information is publicly available or the collection is required or authorized by law. Examples of collection from other sources include collections from: insurance companies; government agencies or registries; and the Better Business Bureau; Enhancement of Marketing Profile Occasionally, we purchase third party marketing data and add it to our existing user database to better target our advertising and provide pertinent offers we think our users would be interested in. We use this information to enhance or overlay the 'profile' of individual users. This aggregate marketing data is therefore tied to the users' personally identifiable information. See also the "Profile." Correcting/Updating/Deleting/Deactivating Personal Information If a user's personally identifiable information changes (such as zip code, phone, email or postal address), or if a user no longer desires our service, we provide a means to access, correct, update or delete/deactivate users' personally identifiable information. This can be done by emailing our Customer Support at customerservice@HomeAdvisor.com. Or, contact us by telephone or postal mail at the contact information listed below. Please note that deleting your account information will not delete all of your contact information or other information contained on our systems, as much or all of this information will be retained to preserve records of our commercial relationship with you, or as required by law. Further, certain information may have already been provided to third parties as described herein. Denial of Access to Personal Information Your rights to access your personal information are not absolute. We may deny access: when denial of access is required or authorized by law; when granting you access would have an unreasonable impact on other people's privacy; to protect our Company's rights and property; or where the request is frivolous or vexatious. If we deny your request for access to, or refuse a request to correct Personal Information, we will explain why. Changes and Updates to This Policy and to HomeAdvisor Services, Products and Functionality of Web Site(s) We reserve the right to change our information, features, services, products, policies, promotions, disclosures and disclaimers at any time. Changes to this Policy will be in writing and be posted on our Web site as applicable. Please check these terms periodically for changes. At the top of the policy we indicate the date of an update. The continued use of any HomeAdvisor services or of the applicable HomeAdvisor affiliated web sites following the posting of changes to these terms will mean you accept those changes. Contact Information If users have any questions or suggestions regarding our privacy policy, please contact us at: HomeAdvisor Privacy Department 14023 Denver West Parkway Bldg. 64, Suite 200 Golden, CO 80401 customerservice@HomeAdvisor.com or privacy@HomeAdvisor.com