Privacy Policy
Last Updated May 1, 2024
This Privacy Policy explains how information is collected, used, and disclosed by Advice Company, a Public Benefit Corporation, and applies to information collected when you use, access, or submit information to Advice Company, AdviceCompany.com, ExpertPages.com, AttorneyPages.com, SeniorCareAdvice.com, America’sForemost.com, Advice.FreeAdvice.com and/or other websites (which are referred to as "Site" and "Sites") and applications and services (which are referred to as "Services"), owned and operated by Advice Company, a Delaware public benefit corporation and/or its affiliates, which are referred to as "AdviceCo," "Company," "us," or "we." This Privacy Policy shall also apply to any other website (or portion of a website) that is owned and/or operated by AdviceCo that links to this Privacy Policy. We respect the privacy rights of our users and recognize the importance of protecting information collected about you.
Please read this Privacy Policy carefully so that you will understand how we collect, use, and maintain your personal information, and what your choices are when it comes to using, accessing, and correcting that information.
We may change this Privacy Policy from time to time. If we make any changes, we will revise the Last Updated date at the top of this page. We encourage you to review our Privacy Policy whenever you access our Sites to stay informed about our information practices and the ways you can help protect your privacy.
The Services may contain links to other websites or applications for your convenience and information. We are not responsible for the privacy practices or the content of those sites or applications.
This Privacy Policy covers:
What information do we gather about you?
What do we do with the information we collect about you?
With whom do we share the information that we gather?
What is our email policy?
How do I change or update my personal information?
How do I opt-out from receiving emails?
Is my information protected?
Account Information and Retention
Compliance with Legal Process
Children’s Guidelines
Your California Privacy Rights
Changes to This Privacy Policy
WHAT INFORMATION DO WE GATHER ABOUT YOU?
The information gathered when you interact with the Services falls into two categories:
1) Personal information, which includes personal information you supply when you subscribe, order, complete a survey, register for one of our Sites, enter a contest, or provide your email address, and
2) Non-personal information that is collected through technology, which includes tracking information collected by us as well as third parties.
Personal Information That You Give Us or Ask a Third Party to Share with Us
Registration Information
Registration for one or more of the Services may require and/or encourage that you supply certain personal information, including a unique email address and demographic and/or professional information (such as ZIP code, age, sex, title, industry or licensure, a photo, etc.) to register or fully avail yourself of the benefits of our services.
In some instances, you may register or enhance your profile by linking certain of your external accounts (such as your Facebook, LinkedIn or Google accounts) to one or more of our Services. By doing that, you are asking those external accounts to send us certain information from those social media and other accounts, and you are authorizing us to collect, store, and use what they send us in accordance with this Privacy Policy. You can unlink your social media accounts or control what they share from their privacy controls.
Social media registration features may collect your IP address, the page(s) you are visiting on our site, and may set a cookie to enable the feature to function properly. Social media features and widgets are either hosted by a third party or hosted directly on one of our Sites.
You can disassociate your AdviceCo registration from third-party accounts any time. For more detail, please email us at admin@adviceco.com.
Billing and Credit Card Information
To enable payment and donations for certain Services, we may collect and store your name, address, telephone number, email address, credit card information and other billing information. This information will generally only be shared with third parties who help to complete the purchase transaction and renewals. Examples of this include fulfilling orders and processing credit card and debit payments.
User Generated Content and Public Activities (Including Comments and Reviews)
We may offer you opportunities to engage in public activities on AdviceCo Sites and Services. “Public Activities” are any actions you take on one or more of our Sites and/or Services that are designed to be visible to other users, including comments, recommendations, reviews, ratings or any other items that you submit. Any information you disclose in your Public Activities, along with your screen name or ID, or any image or photo, becomes public and may be used by AdviceCo or its designees for online and offline promotional or commercial uses in any and all media. If you choose to engage in Public Activities, you should be aware that any personal information you submit can be read, collected and used by visitors to our sites and members of the public. We are not responsible for the personal information you choose to submit in the course of your Public Activities and we have no responsibility to publish, take down, remove or edit any of your Public Activities or Submissions. For more information, please read the Forums, Discussions and User Generated Content section of the Terms of Service.
Public Activities may be included in our RSS feeds, APIs and other distribution formats. As a result, your Public Activities may appear on other websites, blogs, or feeds. We are not responsible for any personal information you choose to make public via your Public Activities, and you agree that such sharing will be deemed to have been done by you, not by us or our agents.
When you share or recommend links to content on a third-party platform (such as Facebook, LinkedIn or Twitter), that action and any information you share will be covered by the third party’s terms of use and privacy policy.
Contests, Sweepstakes and Special Offers
We collect personal information from you when you participate in sweepstakes, contests or special offers. If this information is also being collected by a third party, we normally will reflect that at the same time. If you do not want any personal information shared, you should not participate in the sweepstakes, contest or special offer.
Surveys, Polls, Panels and Market Research
We may collect personal information from you in connection with voluntary surveys or polls. Data may be collected through our own or a third party's Services, on the phone or through the mail. The information you provide may be shared, but only in the aggregate, with advertisers and partners unless we notify you otherwise at the time of collection.
Members of our Panels agree to participate in surveys, polls or discussions about their use of our Services.
Conferences and Live Events
We may receive information about participants and attendees at live events from sign-in and registration lists. We may share this information with event or function sponsors or participants.
Non-Personal Information Collected Using Technology
Information Collected by Us Using Technology
We use various Internet technologies to manage and track use of the Sites and Services. Non-personal information that we collect using these technologies may be combined with other information about you.
Device Information. We may collect non-personal information about the computer, mobile device or other device you use to access the Sites and Services, such as IP address, geographic location information, unique device identifiers, browser type, browser language and other transactional information.
Cookies and Other Similar Technologies. We use “cookies” and other similar technologies. A cookie is a small file containing a string of characters that is sent to your computer when you visit a website. When you visit the website again, the cookie allows that site to recognize your browser. These technologies allow us to manage access to and use of the Sites and Services, recognize you and provide personalization, and help us understand how people use our Sites and Services so that we can provide better site experiences and tools in the future. Some website features or services may not function properly if your computer does not accept cookies or uses ad blocking software. Or you elect to deny our servers the ability to add cookies.
Do Not Track. Some browsers offer a "do not track" ("DNT") option. Because no common industry or legal standard for DNT has been adopted by industry groups, technology companies, or regulators, we do not respond to DNT signals. We will make efforts to continue to monitor developments around DNT browser technology and the implementation of a standard.
We may transmit non-personally identifiable website usage information to third parties in order to show you advertising for another AdviceCo website or affiliate's website when you visit other sites or use Applications.
Analytics, Log Files, and Reading History
As is true of most websites, we gather certain information automatically and store it in log files. This information may include Internet protocol (IP) addresses (the region or general location where your computer or device is accessing the Internet), system activity, browser type, browser language, operating system, hardware settings, the date and time of your visit, the referral URL, and other usage information about the use of the Sites and Services, including a history of the pages you view.
We may combine this automatically-collected log information with other information we collect about you. We do this to improve services we offer to you, including customized recommendations, advertising and currency display, to improve marketing, and to track access and use of the Sites and Services across the devices that you use.
We may retain third parties to provide us information, reports and analysis about the usage and browsing patterns of our users. They may independently record the type of device and operating system you are using, general location information, as well as events that occur within our apps, such as how often you use our apps.
Location Information. Some of our mobile applications can deliver content based on your current location if you choose to enable that feature of the app. If you enable the location-based feature, your current location will be stored locally on your device, which will then be used by the app. If you elect to have a location-based search saved to your history, we may store that information on our servers. If you do not enable the location-based service, or if an app does not have that feature, the app will not transmit that information to us, and we will not collect or store location information.
The ads in our apps may be targeted to you based on your current GPS location, your ZIP code and/or device’s IP address.
Third Parties
Some of the services and advertisements included on the Sites and Services and within our mobile apps, are delivered or served by third-party companies, which may collect information about your use of the Sites and Services.
These companies may place or recognize cookies, web beacons or other technology to track certain non-personal information about our website users. For example, in the course of serving certain advertisements, an advertiser may place or recognize a unique cookie on your browser in order to collect certain information about your use of the Sites or Services. For another example, an advertiser or ad server may also be able to collect your device's unique identifier in the course of serving an ad. In many cases, this information could be used to show you ads on other websites based on your interests.
We normally do not have access to, nor control over, third-party use of cookies or other tracking technologies or how they may be used.
We use Google, Bing, and other services to serve advertisements on some of our Sites and Services, and may use the Google Doubleclick cookie, and in some cases, a unique device identifier, to show you ads based on your visit to our Sites, Services, and other sites on the Internet. You may opt out of the use of the Google Doubleclick cookie by visiting the Google ad and content network privacy policy.
You may have choices about the collection of information by third parties on our Sites and Services, and if you wish such information, please contact us at admin@adviceco.com.
Your access to our websites may be affected if you do not accept cookies or advertisements served by us or third parties.
WHAT DO WE DO WITH THE INFORMATION WE GATHER ABOUT YOU?
Provide the Services You Request
We use the information we gather about you to enable your use of the Sites and Services and fulfill your requests for certain products and services, such as sending out electronic newsletters and enabling you to participate in and renew paid services, polls, contests and Forums, discussion and message boards, and for certain of our Services.
Statistical Analysis
We perform statistical, demographic and marketing analyses of users of the Sites and Services, and their subscribing and purchasing patterns, for product development purposes and to generally inform advertisers about the nature of our subscriber base. We use this information for analytical purposes, including analysis to improve customer relationships.
Customizing Your Experience
We use the information that we collect to allow advertising to be targeted to the users for whom such advertising is most relevant. We also use this information to customize certain features of the Sites and Services to provide you with an enhanced experienced based on the type of device you are using to access the Sites and Services, and in certain cases, provide you with requested services.
Relevant Advertising
We may use demographic and preference information to allow advertising on the Sites and Services to be targeted to the users for whom they are most relevant. This means users see advertising that is most likely of interest to them. Advertisers send their messages to people who are most likely to be receptive, improving both the viewer's experience and the effectiveness of the ads. We disclose information to third parties only in aggregate or anonymized form.
Email Newsletters
We may periodically send you email newsletters or promotional email about services offered by us, our affiliates, and our advertisers.
WITH WHOM DO WE SHARE THE INFORMATION THAT WE GATHER?
Within AdviceCo and Its Affiliated Entities
If you have registered to use one or more of our Sites and/or any of the Services, we do not sell, rent, swap or authorize any third party to use your email address without your permission. In the future, should we sell, buy, merge or partner with other companies or businesses, in any such transaction, we may include your information among the transferred assets, and we may not control what then occurs. You may be notified by email if any such change in ownership or control of your personal information occurs.
Third Parties
We may also share information about our audience in aggregate and/or anonymized form. This is data that does not directly identify you. Nothing in this Privacy Policy is intended to restrict our use or sharing of aggregated and/or anonymized information in any way.
We may share information about attendees to our live events with sponsors or other third parties. If so, we generally will notify you when you provide us the information.
Service Providers
We contract with other companies to provide services on our behalf, including credit card and billing processing, ad serving, shipping, email distribution, list processing and analytics or promotions management. We provide these companies only with the information they need to perform their services. These service providers are normally restricted from using personal information in any way other than to provide services for us, and they should not normally share, resell or use the data for their own direct marketing purposes.
We reserve the right to disclose your opt-out information to third parties so they can suppress your name from future solicitations, in accordance with applicable laws. We may occasionally release personal information as required by law, for example, to comply with a court order or subpoena. (For more information, see the “Compliance with Legal Process” section of this policy.)
WHAT IS OUR EMAIL POLICY?
AdviceCo endeavors to comply with the federal CAN-SPAM Act, as amended. We will not knowingly send marketing messages to those who opt-out. You can choose not to receive messages in the future by following the “unsubscribe” instructions located near the bottom of each email. We will use diligent efforts not to share, sell, rent, swap or authorize any third party to use your email address for commercial purposes without your permission. If you feel you have received an email from us in error, please contact admin@adviceco.com.
Email Newsletters. AdviceCo offers several email newsletters. If you no longer wish to receive a specific newsletter, follow the “unsubscribe” instructions located near the bottom of each newsletter.
Survey Email. We may invite you to participate in user surveys asking for feedback on one of our websites or applications and existing or prospective products and services, as well as information to better understand our users. User surveys greatly help us to improve our Sites and Services, and we do not share any personal information we obtain in such surveys with third parties, except in aggregate and/or anonymized form.
Emails from You. If you send us an email, we will use your email address to respond directly to your questions or comments.
Email This Article Feature. Addresses you provide in the "Email" share feature may be saved for your convenience for future articles you may wish to share by email; but they are not normally used for any other purpose, and they are not routinely shared with any third parties.
HOW DO I OPT-OUT?
If, at any time, you prefer not to receive email information from us, simply follow the unsubscribe options at the bottom of each email.
If you experience difficulty with the unsubscribe process, feel free to contact us at admin@adviceco.com or mail a letter to us at Post Office Box 1739, Sausalito, CA 94966-1739 and provide your email address along with the name of the newsletter or Service from which you would like to unsubscribe.
IS MY INFORMATION PROTECTED?
To prevent unauthorized access, maintain data accuracy, and ensure the appropriate use of information, we have put in place what we regard as commercially reasonable physical, technical and administrative controls to protect the information. For some Sites and Services, you may access your profile information through the use of an individual user ID and password. To protect the confidentiality of personal information, we strongly suggest that you keep your password confidential and that you do not disclose it to any other person. Please advise us immediately if you believe your password has been compromised in any way, or if someone else has gained access to one of our sites by impersonating you or your credentials, by emailing us at admin@adviceco.com. In addition, we suggest that visitors always log out and close their browsers when they finish a session to ensure additional security for their profiles. Please note that we will never ask you to disclose your password to us. Also note that no method of transmission over the Internet, and no method of storage, electronic or otherwise, can be 100% secure or invulnerable to hacking, and we are NOT and WILL NOT BE responsible NOR SHALL WE BEAR ANY LIABILITY in the event of any data breaches on our Services or elsewhere, regardless of the circumstances.
If you have any questions about the security of your personal information, you can contact us at admin@adviceco.com.
ACCOUNT INFORMATION AND RETENTION
You may update, correct, or delete information about you at any time by logging into your profile (if you have one) and modifying your information, or request that we try to make specific information about you non-public by sending us an email at admin@adviceco.com. While we will generally comply with such a request, we reserve the right to deny such a request, and to restore deleted information if we conclude there is a compelling reason to do so. We will retain your personal information for a period necessary to fulfill the purposes outlined in this Privacy Policy. If you wish to deactivate your profile, please email us at admin@adviceco.com, but note that we may retain certain information as required by law or for legitimate business purposes. We may also retain cached or archived copies of information about you for a certain period of time. We normally respond to access requests within 20 business days.
We may retain your information in publicly available portions of the Sites for as long as your profile (if you have one) is active or as needed to provide you with Services, and thereafter, to the extent we deem it proper, we may retain your information on non-publicly available portions of our Sites for archival purposes in order to establish provenance, comply with legal obligations, resolve disputes, and/or enforce our agreements.
We will retain personal data we process on behalf of our customers as directed by paying customers. We will retain this personal information as necessary to comply with legal obligations, resolve disputes, and enforce agreements.
Upon written request, we will provide you with information about whether we hold, or process on behalf of a third party, any of your personal information that we are aware of. To request this information, contact us at admin@adviceco.com, but please be aware that to establish that a request is bona fide from the correct person or his or her authorized representative, we may require such additional documentation as our counsel deems appropriate, such as a duly notarized form.
OTHER INFORMATION
Compliance with Legal Process
We may access, preserve and disclose personal information if we are required to do so by law or legal process, or we have a good faith belief that such action is necessary or appropriate to (1) comply with the law, with legal process, or with a bona fide official request from an authorized law enforcement agency; (2) protect and defend our rights and property and keep our Sites free from abusive conduct; (3) protect against misuse or unauthorized use of the Sites or Services; or (4) protect the personal safety or property of our users, members of the public, or our staff. (Among other things, this means that if you provide false or misleading information or attempt to pose as someone else, or make threatening or harassing posts, we may disclose or report information about you in connection with any investigation into your actions or litigation involving you or your conduct.)
Children’s Guidelines
COPPA Compliance. AdviceCo and its affiliates do not knowingly collect or store any personal information about children under the age of 18. If you become aware that a child has provided us with personal information, please contact us at admin@adviceco.com. If we become aware that a child under 18 has provided us with personal information, we will take steps to delete such information. Please note that if you are under the age of 18, you may NOT use our website, products, or services.
Additional California Privacy Rights
Although AdviceCo understands it is not subject to the terms of the California "Shine The Light" law or the California Consumer Privacy Act, which enables California residents to opt-out of the disclosure of personal information to third parties for their direct marketing purposes, AdviceCo believes in the spirit of such laws and intends to voluntarily comply with the general tenor of such laws. As detailed above, if you wish to opt-out of the sharing of your personal information with third parties for marketing purposes at any time, please submit a request in writing to AdviceCo Customer Care, P.O. Box 1739, Sausalito, CA 94966-1739 and also emailing us at admin@adviceco.com. It is important to note that this opt-out does not prohibit disclosures made for non-marketing purposes, and we disclaim all liability for any inadvertent or accidental disclosures. In accordance with California Civil Code Section 1789.3, California resident users are entitled to know that they may file grievances and complaints with the California Department of Consumer Affairs, 400 R Street, STE 1080, Sacramento, CA 95814; or by phone at (916) 445-1254 or (800) 952-5210; or by email to dca@dca.ca.gov.
Additional Privacy Provisions and Changes to This Policy
Some of our Sites and Services may have additional privacy provisions as part of or supplemental to their terms and conditions. The terms of such privacy provisions also shall apply, except to the extent they are inconsistent with this Privacy Policy. This Privacy Policy may be amended from time to time. Any such changes will be posted on this page. If we make a significant or material change in the way we use your personal information, we will endeavor to highlight the change by posting it on this page thirty (30) days prior to taking effect and will endeavor to notify any registered users via email.
No Liability for Violation of This Privacy Policy
This Privacy Policy sets forth AdviceCo's aspirations and policy with regard to privacy. While we will endeavor to comply with the letter and spirit of our Privacy Policy, we cannot ensure that we will always do or be able to do so, and under no circumstances shall this Privacy Policy be construed to create any private or other right of action in any person, firm, organization or government agency, or permit any person, firm, organization or governmental authority to recover damages or obtain injunctive or other relief should AdviceCo or any of its affiliates fail to abide by any provision of this Privacy Policy.
Additional Provisions to Comply With Applicable Local Laws
AdviceCo has prepared this Privacy Policy to protect the privacy of its visitors. However, numerous jurisdictions may have, adopt or amend laws specifying privacy standards they deem necessary or appropriate for the protection of residents of their jurisdiction. To the extent that this Privacy Policy may at any time fall short of providing the full protections to which an individual residing in such jurisdiction is entitled by a law of his or her jurisdiction, this Privacy Policy shall be deemed amended, with respect to such individual, to provide him or her with any additional privacy rights to which he or she is entitled under applicable law.
Notwithstanding the foregoing, nothing herein shall entitle any such individual to any right to civil or other damages unless such individual has provided AdviceCo with written notice, by certified or registered mail addressed to General Counsel, Advice Company, P.O. Box 1739, Sausalito, CA 94966-1739, specifying his or her concerns and the precise section of the law involved, at least 60 days prior to any right to damages accruing, thus enabling us to make any and all needed revisions to protect all residents of his or her jurisdiction.
Contacting Us
Any questions about this Privacy Policy should be addressed to admin@adviceco.com with a physical copy mailed to: AdviceCo Customer Care, P.O. Box 1739, Sausalito, CA 94966-1739. As email spam blockers may prevent email from reaching the intended recipient, and postal service is not 100% reliable, we strongly suggest that all important questions and requests relating to this Privacy Policy also be sent to us by certified or registered mail at the above address.
